Splendid Little War Essay Example

Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. America also acquired colonies in Africa and Asia after it joined imperial European nations. Hawaii, which was an independent state, was annexed by America immediately after the war claiming that the action had mutual benefits to both countries (LeoGrande, 1981).

The country had a vast economic growth and industrialization in the previous decades and it made America one of the great powers of the world but the country most probably felt that it needed to announce to the world and the involvement in the war was the best chance. At the time, the rest of the great powers had colonies and maybe America felt that it needed to acquire some too to fit in the set.

The Philippine-American War lasted for three years from 1899 to 1902 with 4,200 deaths from the American army, 20,000 deaths from the Philippines combats and about 200,000 civilian deaths as a result of violence, famine, and diseases (Linn, 2000). The Americans claimed that the Philippines could not rule themselves but the Philippines resisted, hence, they annexed the country which gives rise to into the war.

The war is largely ignored in history probably because the president of America at the time, Roosevelt, also ignored it since it was painful to him and the Americans in general. The war was also as a result of the resistance from Philippine and it ruins the image of America. The Americans had to ignore the war since the main reason for their involvement in the Spanish-American war would be revealed.

In chapter 21, section one, the Americans are depicted as having a lot of enthusiasm and there were a lot of

volunteers. Ninety percent of the deaths were as a result of tropical diseases rather than violence. The chapter talks about the economic and political changes that arose in the country in section two of chapter 21. The Spanish-American war was little and short and was meant to be helpful to the Cuba and Philippine people. However, the results of the war which were splendid give a different view of the initial intentions of the Americans.

References

1. LeoGrande, W. M. (1981). A Splendid Little War: Drawing the Line in El Salvador. International Security, 6(1), 27-52.
2. Linn, B. M. (2000). The Philippine War, 1899-1902. University Press of Kansas.
3. Mayers, D. (1999). Splendid Little War. In Wars and Peace (pp. 23-37). Palgrave Macmillan US.
4. Potter, L. A. (2002). OurDocuments.gov.(Teaching with Documents). Social Education, 66(7), 390-400.