19 - Was the Philippine-American War a “Total War”?

Summary

Starting in February 1899 until roughly April 1902, the United States fought an ugly little war in the Philippines. At the height of the conflict, almost 10,000 U.S. soldiers served on Philippine soil, opposed by no fewer than 100,000 Filipino regulars and irregulars. The conflict resulted in the deaths of 4,234 Americans. On the Filipino side, at least 20,000 soldiers were killed. Civilian casualties, according to some accounts, numbered in the hundreds of thousands. In addition, a massive amount of damage was done to Philippine livestock, agricultural land, homes, churches, and public buildings.

At the time of the war there was widespread criticism of the U.S. Army's policies and actions. Anti-imperialists, opposed to America's acquisition of an overseas empire, deplored the appalling destructiveness of the American campaign, its many acts of torture, the huge loss of life on the Filipino side, and much more; over the years, a number of historians have agreed with their critique. Indeed, there can be little doubt that in that ugly little war U.S. soldiers committed many acts that went well beyond the bounds of generally accepted military practice. But did the U.S. Army's prosecution of that conflict amount to something akin to “total war”? Can we find in that turn-of-the-century war any foreshadowing of or connection to the harsh military practices we tend to associate with World War II? In the pages that follow, I will attempt to answer those questions.