Manila Bay 1898: Dawn of an American Empire
96 pages
Prof Andrew Lambert
This illuminating account of the conquest and occupation of the Philippines, and the financial arrangement that secured key locations across the Pacific for an aggressive, expansionist imperial United States is an excellent introduction to a dramatic and much misunderstood campaign that changed the geopolitics of Asia. It marked America’s entry into the latest round of western imperialism, one that would launch America on a path to global hegemony, overturn old certainties – and inspire the development of geopolitics. The search for new markets, and access to critical resources, continues to create tension, while late 19th century legacies still cloud global decision-making. Imperialism came in two forms, military occupation which enabled the coloniser to control the local economy as a ‘Closed Door’ trade system that served the colonial power, or an ‘Open Door’ agreement that respected the sovereignty of the weaker power. Britain had long favoured an ‘Open Door’ for tariff free trade with Imperial China, a position American adopted. By contrast Russia preferred military conquest and a ‘Closed Door’ to ensure it could secure export sales. Russia maintained high protectionist tariffs to protect domestic industries. Large swathes of Chinese territory had been seized by Russia across the 19th century, and they remain Russian to this day, a permanent, if silent grievance in Beijing. In 1898 China was entering a period of crisis, with weak central Government, open to exploitation. Japan was among the powers gathering to dismember a Chinese empire it had defeated as recently as1894. America already viewed Japan as a rival, one that was far better placed to profit from the chaos in China.
While the 1898 war was ‘caused’ by inaccurately reported events in Havana harbour, the USS Maine was destroyed by its own ammunition, not a Spanish mine. The resulting wildly inaccurate press outburst enabled the administration to pursue well-established economic and strategic interests in Cuba, and the Philippines. Once the war began the American seizure of the Philippines, critically the superb harbours at Manila and Subic, was inevitable. A naval base in the Philippines would enable American naval power to support diplomacy in Asia, against Russia and Japan. Critically Herder connects the Philippines campaign to the annexation of Hawaii in 1896, an act of dubious legality that secured control of trans-Pacific routes to China, then as now the largest market on earth. America wanted ‘Open Door’ access to the Chinese market, without the cost of occupation. American naval expansion and imperial ambition, the ‘New Navy’ of the 1890s, which transformed a hemispheric defence force into a tool for global power projection, in support of domestic economic ambitions, a role that has endured.
Herder’s account of the entirely one-sided battle is strikingly sober: American gunnery was unimpressive, despite the favourable odds, and overwhelming firepower. Admiral Montojo, the veteran Spanish commander, chose to fight inshore, and at anchor. Aware that his old gunboats, many of them wooden hulled and unarmoured, were toothless death traps he refused sacrifice his men to weakness and incompetence of a government that had failed to provide adequate ships and weapons. In 1898 Spanish weakness and disorder handed America an empire without displaying much ability. The most impressive element of the American war effort was the carefully developed public narrative of Spanish ‘decline’ deployed to validate naked aggression.
When the shooting was over the German Navy’s Pacific Squadron arrived in Manila Bay, hoping to secure the prize from the out-matched Americans. American claims were supported by the British armoured cruiser HMS Immortalite, by far the most powerful ship in the Bay, defying the unwelcome visitors. Britain had no desire to see Germany take over the Spanish Empire. While the Germans retired from the Philippines, they bought the Spanish Northern Marinas – which became Japanese in 1919. Even the American occupation of Manila turned into a comedy, with Spanish and American forces staging a mock battle to exclude the large Filipino rebel forces from the peace process. The quality of the text is matched by high production values. Excellent.
