Philippine – American War 1899 – 1902
The natives of the Philippines were involved in a war for independence from Spain when the United States took the Philippines from the Spanish as prize following the Spanish – American War. Finding subjugation by the Americans to be as distasteful as subjugation by the Spanish, the troops of the First Philippine Republic (recognized by neither the US nor Spain) engaged the new American occupiers of the islands in bloody combat for several months after the Spanish had departed.
The war saw atrocities committed by both sides, civilians confined to concentration camps by the Americans, summary executions, and severe criticism in the American press. The Philippine-American War was noted for its savagery on both sides, reflected in the casualty figures. The Americans had up to 6,000 killed and another 3,000 wounded in combat, with the Filipino casualties exceeding 18,000 dead. Another quarter of a million Filipinos are believed to have died from disease, the vast majority of those from cholera.
American commanders regarded the insurrectionists as criminals rather than as an opposing army and refused to follow standard military conventions regarding treatment of the enemy. The press was heavily censored by the US military, and the International Red Cross was prevented from making independent observations of the behavior of American troops.
As the war degenerated into seemingly unconnected guerrilla actions the atrocities committed by troops of both sides increased, even as the First Philippine Republic deteriorated into anarchy. In 1902 Congress passed the Philippine Organic Act which established the form of a new Philippine government, followed in July by the establishment of amnesty for insurrectionists and the end of the American office of Military Governor of the Philippines.
American military presence in the islands would continue, and further civil war was already brewing when the United States essentially declared the Philippine-American War to be over in 1902.