2019 Year 12 IB Extended Essays

The Philippine Revolution The Philippines are an archipelago made up of thousands of islands and hundreds of people groups. The Spanish colonised the Philippines in the 16th century and used them as large trade port and naval base. The Spanish government cared little for the Philippines outside Manila, resulting in most Filipinos’ contact with Spain being limited. The decline of the Spain Empire led many Filipinos to feeling that they no-longer needed the Spanish. The lack of faith in the Spanish was compounded by increasing access to public education, the opening of Philippine ports to foreign trade and the spread of liberal-nationalist ideas. The governors became more conservative and began focusing on eradicating the nascent Philippine nationalist movement. The diversity of the archipelago hampered the Philippine nationalist movement as little united them beyond opposition against the Spanish. There was no pan-Filipino identity, and the islands were only considered one unit because Spain ruled them collectively. (Cullinane & Hernandez, 2019) In 1892, Andres Bonifacio and other prominent Filipinos formed the secret society Katipunan. Katipunan is the Tagalog word for assembly, and it was dominated by Tagalog revolutionaries. In 1896, disputes between Katipunan members resulted in the organisation being revealed to Spanish authorities, who tried to eradicate it. This caused Bonifacio to call for national revolution against Spain on August 24 1896, birthing First Philippine Republic. (Silbey D. J., 2007) Bonifacio launched a failed attack on Manila, which caused the Spanish to try and reinforce Luzon, resulting mutinies and popular uprisings spreading the Revolution across the archipelago. Katipunan split into a pro-Bonifacio faction and a pro-Emilio Aguinaldo faction (Aguinaldo was a mixed Tagalog-Chinese revolutionary). The divisions between the Filipino groups hampered the independence revolt and the Philippine Republic struggled to take the form of a proper state. In 1897, the first president was elected solely by members of Katipunan. Aguinaldo managed to win the election, and subsequently sidelined Bonifacio in favour of Mariano Trias (who received fewer votes than Bonifacio). The furious Bonifacio stormed out of Cavite province, foraging for supplies along the way. While foraging, Bonifacio’s men committed some atrocities and harassed the local Tagalog populace. In Aguinaldo used this as an excuse to purge his rival, Bonifacio’s camp was assaulted and Bonifacio was executed. The infighting and ill-discipline compromised the Philippine forces, who were unable able to resist the Spanish Cavite Offensive, forcing them to retreat to Montalban. Aguinaldo, along with several other revolutionary leaders surrendered themselves to the Spanish. Aguinaldo went into exile in Hong Kong with a Spanish ‘bribe’, and he spent his exile plotting his return to the Philippines.

Although the uprising had floundered and Aguinaldo was in exile, the rebels still in the Philippines continued the fight. At this stage it had become clear that conventional methods of warfare would fail in the face of the Spanish army. To circumvent this, the rebels started massing guerilla forces in the jungles and hills of central Luzon. This strategy would be replicated in the later wars for independence.