The Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War have often been categorized as either where the United States went wrong and became an imperialist power or where it went right and exerted its right to protect and promote democratic values. Historically the literature about United States involvement in the Spanish-American War has been to commemorate 1898 as the moment in which the nation first projected itself as a world power. The year 1898 was a watershed moment in history, it has been frequently been studied by historians on either side of the conflict and contains various approaches to the conflict. Kristin Hoganson’s, Fighting for American Manhood attempts to address the entrance of the United States in Cuba and the Philippines
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Pérez does not discuss the Philippine-American War, unlike Hoganson, and he focuses solely on Cuba, Spain, and the United States. Pérez’s work was published in 1998, 100-years after the Spanish-American War, and his work is an excellent assessment of where the literature on the subject stood at the point of the late 1990s. Pérez addresses three main points in his analysis of the historiography of the Spanish-American War. First, he emphasizes that the Cuban insurgents deserved much more credit for their involvement in the defeat of the Spanish, and that they have never received this credit in United States historiography on the subject. Second, The War of 1898 should be labeled the “Spanish-Cuban-American War” since Cuban independence was never among United States’ war aims and it rewrites Cubans back into the narrative. Finally, the continued failure of most United States historians to recognize that the United States war effort was really prosecuted against two opponents has served to perpetuate the myth of United States involvement in 1898 as disinterested idealism. The historiography of historians who focus on the Spanish-American War has been predominated by the continued perpetuation of the myth of “American Exceptionalism.” In this way Pérez attempts to address the traditional narrative of the Spanish-American War and to make it readily apparent the need …show more content…
Glenn May’s “Why the United States Won the War in the Philippines” is an excellent article that attempts to compare the United States’ success in the Philippines to their failure in Vietnam almost seventy years later. May attempts to explain why the United States won the war in the Philippines. During this period the United States was clearly a powerful nation and the Philippines was not, but the same could be said for Vietnam. According to May, the awareness of differences between the Philippine and Vietnam Wars can help to understand why the United States was so much more successful in the former. May discusses various important issues that allowed for United States victory and where the Filipinos diverged from the Vietnamese. They were: Aguinaldo’s inept leadership and his choice to initially fight a conventional war, Aguinaldo and his army received lukewarm support from the Filipino masses, ethnic tensions, Filipino officers from the same province argued regularly, failure of the Filipinos to secure outside support, and geography. Overall, May provides a clear explanation of the factors that resulted in victory for the United States. May also provides analysis of an area that had previously been neglected by other
Pérez does not discuss the Philippine-American War, unlike Hoganson, and he focuses solely on Cuba, Spain, and the United States. Pérez’s work was published in 1998, 100-years after the Spanish-American War, and his work is an excellent assessment of where the literature on the subject stood at the point of the late 1990s. Pérez addresses three main points in his analysis of the historiography of the Spanish-American War. First, he emphasizes that the Cuban insurgents deserved much more credit for their involvement in the defeat of the Spanish, and that they have never received this credit in United States historiography on the subject. Second, The War of 1898 should be labeled the “Spanish-Cuban-American War” since Cuban independence was never among United States’ war aims and it rewrites Cubans back into the narrative. Finally, the continued failure of most United States historians to recognize that the United States war effort was really prosecuted against two opponents has served to perpetuate the myth of United States involvement in 1898 as disinterested idealism. The historiography of historians who focus on the Spanish-American War has been predominated by the continued perpetuation of the myth of “American Exceptionalism.” In this way Pérez attempts to address the traditional narrative of the Spanish-American War and to make it readily apparent the need …show more content…
Glenn May’s “Why the United States Won the War in the Philippines” is an excellent article that attempts to compare the United States’ success in the Philippines to their failure in Vietnam almost seventy years later. May attempts to explain why the United States won the war in the Philippines. During this period the United States was clearly a powerful nation and the Philippines was not, but the same could be said for Vietnam. According to May, the awareness of differences between the Philippine and Vietnam Wars can help to understand why the United States was so much more successful in the former. May discusses various important issues that allowed for United States victory and where the Filipinos diverged from the Vietnamese. They were: Aguinaldo’s inept leadership and his choice to initially fight a conventional war, Aguinaldo and his army received lukewarm support from the Filipino masses, ethnic tensions, Filipino officers from the same province argued regularly, failure of the Filipinos to secure outside support, and geography. Overall, May provides a clear explanation of the factors that resulted in victory for the United States. May also provides analysis of an area that had previously been neglected by other