How Did the Philippines Gain Their Independence?
How did the Philippines gain their independence? The Philippines had many different countries who tried to control them at various times:
Ultimately, the Philippines gained independence through the Philippine American War and through the U.S. signing a treaty at the end of World War II after the US had taken the Philippines back from Japan.
The Philippines signed a treaty to become independent after a long road to get there. The Philippines had to fight for their independence from outside occupation twice, over a period of almost 50 years.
- The first fight was for freedom from the control of Spain, which occupied the country under Spanish rule.
- They once again had to fight for independence from the United States after the Spanish-American War resulted in the United States purchasing the Philippine Islands for just over $20 million dollars.
The Philippines still had to gain their independence to become their own country.
Philippine Revolution
The Filipino people were under the impression that the American government was going to assist them in forming their own government, but soon came to find that the U.S. quickly instituted its own form of military government which took control of the entirety of the Philippines.
This control over the Filipino people lasted until 1946, when the Filipino people finally achieved their independence through revolution on, quite fittingly, July 4th.
Fighting for Independence from the U.S.
The Filipino revolution was led by Emilio Aguinaldo, who fought with the Filipino people to establish a free Filipino state after the American occupation of the country did not go as the people of the Philippines had assumed it would.
- When the Filipino people came to realize that the American government was ruling rather than allowing them to become independent, they began to resist the action.
- This incited the United States to enforce its influence with a heavy military deployment.
- This was the beginning of the Philippine-American war, which was incited by Aguinaldo after he had assisted the American military in the Spanish-American War.
- The American military government quickly established its power by installing its military government within the country, which lasted until after the 2nd World War.
Independence at Last
In the early 1940s, however, there was a power shift that neither the Filipino people nor the United States were expecting.
- During WWII, Japan took over ruling the Filipino islands, for a period of three years, from 1942 until the United States re-invaded and took control of the Philippines once again in 1945.
- With the United States having fought in WWII and not wishing to continue to battle the Filipino people who were only fighting for their own freedom, another treaty was decreed between the United States and the Filipino people on July 4th, 1946.
- As part of the treaty, the United States military was withdrawn completely after assisting the Filipino people in establishing a governmental system of their own.
Even after granting the Philippines independence there continued to be criticisms against the United States government for its war tactics in both the Philippines as well as during the Second World War. Regardless of the criticism against the U.S., this is how the Philippines established independence, and they were their own nation from that point forward.