An often overlooked casualty of the Spanish-American conflict.

The Spanish-American War is historically the war between the United States and the Imperial Spanish nation. The "liberation" of Puerto Rico, Cuba, Guam, and the Philippines took place after the defeat of Spain and a US win. What many people fail to realize is that the Philippines (as a whole) did not accept that they were placed in the dominion of the United States. Within the Spanish territory, before the American take-over, movements to make the Philippines an autonomous state were long underway. The "pact" the United States made with Philippine forces to help aid in fighting the Spaniards was just another cop of a larger power taking advantage of a smaller power to meet its present desired objectives. In fact, the government established by the Philippine Republic did not receive recognition by any foreign entity. The Philippine nationalists remained at war with the United States well after the Spanish-American war. The US was seen as the oppressor, taking the place of Spain. Thus, the Philippine-American war began during which United States forces began a brutal and aggressive campaign to quell the insurrection. An estimated 15 Filipinos (both soldiers and civilians) were killed per American soldier. The United States did not want to lose the Philippines as it was both a trade and military point of interest as it was the closest US land to Asia. It makes strategic sense at a time when Chinese and Japanese powers began to emerge in the Pacific. But, I doubt the strategic value of the Philippine archipelago was worth the estimated 250,000-1,000,000 civilian and military casualties endured by the Philippine people. During this time the US also tortured and placed Filipinos in concentration camps to try to reduce allegiance to the nationalist movement. This blog post is not meant to be "anti-American", but to be a reminder that the US has had its share of screw-ups and atrocities not just now, but spread out throughout history.