A War of Frontier and Empire: The Philippine-American War, 1899-1902

A War of Frontier and Empire: The Philippine-American War, 1899-1902 by David J. Silbey, is the history of a little known conflict, an outgrowth of the Spanish-American War. Our nation, takings its first steps as a world power, easily defeated the Spanish in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. But the Philippines had a native, organized army, which actually fought most of the war against the Spanish. It was the hope of this government that American intervention would lead to immediate independence.This was not the case. The United States instead fought a conventional campaign against the Filipino army. These set piece battles caused high casualty rates on the Filipino side. Then war then shifted to an insurgency/guerrilla campaign, and although the Filipinos were more successful at this stage, eventually America won the war and occupied the island. Silbey’s conclusions about the war and American presence in the Philippines will no doubt ruffle some feathers. He views the American occupation as beneficial to the Philippines and its people. No doubt, many would argue this point.Despite this, Sibley shines a fascinating light on American intervention abroad in the early days of our nation as a world power.

Previously, historians have framed the American-Philippine War in the context of an insurgency. David Silbey, however, argues that even though "at the time of the conflict, the Philippine nation was barely formed," to label the war as an insurgency disregards the fact that "the two sides were both states substantially sovereign, using conventional armies, fighting conventional battles, with conventional lines and weapons" (xvi, 215). It was indeed a war of revolution and freedom from imperial rule from the Philippine perspective and a war that inaugurated the United States as a "Pacific power" under the auspices of "a new manifest destiny that saw the United States as too powerful to confine itself to one continent or hemisphere" (213, 215). Silbey's tome provides a brief military and political analysis of the American-Philippine War, arguing that the war itself can be separated into three separate conflicts: The Filipino struggle against Spanish rule, the formal struggle against the U.S. military and the ensuing guerrilla war. Moreover, Silbey argues that the U.S. was not as brutal in the conflict or as an imperial power as is often portrayed. The transition to Philippine independence following WWII was eased due to the relationships that formed with Filipino elites who "came to an accommodation with the Americans," and "in essence agreeing to integration rather than submission" (208). Filipinos, although still viewed as "inferior" in American eyes, were still held in higher esteem than other races. Overall, Silbey's book provides a solid introduction and overview of the war.In his first two chapters, Silbey lays out the relationship between the Philippines and their centuries old colonial masters, the Spanish, by the dawn of the twentieth century. He indicates the Spanish economic priority given to Manila, as well as the regional trade networks, while briefly discussing the role of the Catholic Church in the remaining islands. Furthermore, he details his "first conflict" in which Filipino forces unite, although loosely, under the leadership of the elitist Emilio Aguinaldo, throwing off Spanish control with the assistance of U.S. forces during the Spanish-American War. He also sets the stage for U.S. Pacific imperialism with the build-up of its naval forces (after the publishing of Mahan's groundbreaking book on naval power) and the "continuing sense of American exceptionalism" that demanded a "new frontier" (23-24).Silbey introduces, arguably, the first "imperial president," William McKinley and the push toward war with Spain due to perceived Spanish mistreatment of Cubans, yellow journalism and the explosion of the USS Maine in his second chapter. Silbey informs the reader of McKinley's main rationales for keeping the Philippines as well as the key reasons for why war finally broke out between Filipino and American military forces. Throughout his book, Silbey also provides decent descriptions of the ambitions, relative to their roles in the war, of major U.S. political and military leaders such as Theodore Roosevelt, George Dewey, Arthur MacArthur, William McKinley and others. He also delves into the role of Emilio Aguinaldo and his struggles to unite the various generals and elites who represent the Filipino army and insurectos.In the second conflict, Silbey accounts for the defeat of the Filipino army (the Army of Liberation), pointing out that it was predominantly a "patron army," whose leadership lacked unity. Key Filipino generals sought their own empowerment, including Aguinaldo who had at least one of his generals assassinated. Furthermore, following U.S. victory in 1899 (although this was in reality a perceived victory), the U.S. Senate, torn between imperialists and anti-imperialists, engaged in a heated debate over ratification of a treaty to annex the Philippines.Silbey indicates a critical transition in the conflict in his fifth chapter. Here, he describes the impact of the Filipino decision to transition to guerrilla warfare. By turning to guerrilla warfare, Silbey contends, the populace was convinced that the hope for an independent nation was lost. Moreover, generals and other Filipino elites increasingly acquiesced to the Americans, taking government roles in the new U.S. administration. The U.S. established Western law codes (a supreme court, for example) as well as taxation systems under the guidance of local elites. However, by 1900, guerrilla attacks on U.S. forces in the Philippines were increasing while political (Taft) and military (MacArthur) officials "butted heads." Silbey's account of the guerrilla warfare of this period is eerily similar to the Vietnam War.Although Silbey's account is militarily and politically focused, he does mention, in various chapters, issues of racial perceptions amongst American citizens and soldiers. Moreover, his comparisons between African-American and Filipino treatment by the U.S. is brief, but certainly appropriate. However, this played a larger role in the conflict than Silbey cares to admit. U.S. atrocities are barely mentioned. This book is, at best, a superficial analysis. I highly recommend Paul Kramer's Blood in Government rather than this work.

The book is excellent and well researched!

This is a fascinating and detailed (yet not too lengthy of a read) overview of a relatively little known aspect of U. S. history, albeit one which can get a bit tedious in its details at times. In view of some of today's political and "interracial" goings on, would strongly recommend its reading however.

A solid, balanced treatment of America's imperial "adventure" in the Philippines. While recognizing American atrocities and brutality on a number of occasions, the text makes clear Aguinaldo was no democrat and not above executing his rivals. Further, it argues that American improvements in infrastructure, education, and other domains had positive impacts--whatever our initial purpose, biases, or shortcomings. One of the better books in a growing literature on the Philippine-American War.

I am an avid read of historical books but tend to shy away from military history as I often find them unsatisfying from the perspective of social history and there is a tendency to skate over the human stories so that the history becomes rather cold and impersonal. In addition, in the UK I find that many military historians are politically Right wing and therefore not necessarily as robust as I would expect from those historians who write about earlier periods in history which I have more interest in who are very much on the Left . If you like, as someone who likes their history to include first hand sources and archaeology complimenting each other, military history can be underwhelming and frequently no objective. Silbey's "A war of frontier and Empire" is a welcome exception I have to say that this book offers an execellent overview of a war that is little known in the UK and that it explores it's topic in a fashion that completely understands the politics of the time which drove the conflict, The book is unflinching in it's criticism of both the American and PH Revolutionary Armies. I felt that this book did offer a more balanced if slightly Left Wing interpretation which was succinct but also a thorough overview. Silbey has no axe to grind and I felt that he handled his subject deftly. For me, this is history how I like it told.I bought this book after reading William Boyd's exceptional novel "The Blue Afternoon" which was set during this conflict and due to the fact that a dear friend from the PH only had an outline knowledge of the conflict, I wanted to learn more. The writer David J Silbey has produced a tome which I think offers a thorough resume of this conflict and how America conquored the PH with a view to build it's own Empire. The politics of the time are shown to be divided along the lines of Imperialists and Anti-Imperialists with some forward thinking Americans acknowledging that their treatment of Black Americans was something that needed to be addressed before righting the wrongs in countries like PH where Spanish rule was increasingly useless. Set in this context, the Americans come across as a bit cynical to our 21st century understanding.The poor performance of the American army prior to this campaign is considered in detail whilst the national hero of the Philippines, Emilio Aguinaldo appears as bordering on inept. Effectively, the few battles or skirmishes that were thought typically ended up in routs by the Americans and it was only when the Filipinos turned to guerilla warfare that the war became totally dehumanised. Despite this, the military operations were still pretty small scale in comparison with the Boer War. The accounts of the conflict are interesting and I would have been interested to have read more by the solders who fought on both sides. I was aware of Douglas MacArthur but had never heard of his father Arthur who was instrumental in this campaign. Similarly, the president William McKinley is a name known in the UK but he is not someone with a great reputation. I had no idea he was ultimately assassinated! The cast of this campaign features some larger than life characters yet I felt that the voices of the ordinary soldiers were able to cut through 120 years of time and still sound either sympathetic or afford the same impression of ignorance which blights how so many other countries inckdng the UK still perceive the US today. Other than those readers who have enjoyed Boyd's excellent novel, you may ask yourself who in the UK would wish to read this book. I would argue that Silbey's book is actually hugely prescient at a time when the Americans are again humiliated by the foreign campaign in Afghanistan. There is also the increasing importance of geo-politics in this region where you can foresee China fighting for greater influence in the PH at the expense of the US. So much of this book is applicable to 2021 as1899-1902 that you feel that the Americans have learned nothing. They have not fixed the problems. I found the atttitudes of the American soldiers quoted in the book to be fascinating and not always flattering. Silbey's book is well researched. Luckily for the Americans, the PH were quickly assimilated and ended up being considered with affection which I found staggering to have been reciprocatedvbyt the Filipinos too. I found this book to effectively take an objective view on it's topic and afforded criticism to both sides where it was due - including attocities carried out by both sides. Where the book is not so good is probably attributable to the publisher who reprinted both photographs and maps in a fashion that is so blurred as to look like third generation photocopies. Luckily found a lot of the geographical info on line and was able to overcome this difficulty. The 4 star review reflects this issue. In conclusion, I felt that this book dealt with it's topic in a rewarding fashion and i feel that the down -to-earth telling of this campaign by David Silbey will appeal to a more demanding and straight talking British audience. All in all, an excellent account of a campaign I was intrigued to learn about and told in a very readable fashion. I would recommend this book.

Well, written and well informed. Highly recommended