6 JULY

1898 - In what will prove to be a most stupid military decision,  Dictator Emilio Aguinaldo of the fledgling Philippine Republic  assures imperialist American Gen. Thomas M. Anderson that he has  already ordered his "people not to interfere" with the American  forces who has been entering the Southeast Asian archipelago  during the Spanish-American War; Aguinaldo, who has led Filipinos to defeat the Spanish forces at almost every encounter and win control over almost the entire northern provinces and the bay coast from colonial Spanish forces, had  earlier been deceptively assured by United States Commodore  George Dewey that the United States is an ally, thus forging an alliance with the Bald Eagle forces; in a few months, the  sinister and eventually successful American invasion plan against the Philippines will be revealed, initially through the infamous Mock Battle of Manila that will falsely show to the world that it is the Americans instead of the Filipinos that have defeated the Spaniards in the islands, and then when the imperialist US generals will instigate the bloody and protracted  Philippine-American War (1899-1914) seven months later.


Photo credit: University of Texas