11 AUGUST

Imperialist United States soldiers march to Manila

1898 - The camp of Philippine President Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy, which has already seized control of most of the archipelago away from the Spanish colonial forces, finally realizes that the Yankees are preparing to take the city of Manila as Filipino forces besieging Intramuros notice a general movement among American militia units; some three or four months earlier, amidst the Spanish-American War roughly intersecting with a supposed lull in the Philippine Revolution, Bald Eagle Admiral George Dewey forged an "alliance" with Aguinaldo in fighting Spain, with the latter and other imperialist American military and diplomatic officials taking turns in conning the Filipino general into believing that the U.S. was an ally;  the old and the new colonial power would in a few days stage the infamous Mock Battle of Manila designed to falsely show the world that it is the Americans instead of the Filipino revolutionaries that have defeated Spain in the Southeast Asian archipelago; five weeks earlier, Aguinaldo has stupidly ordered his soldiers  "not to interfere" with the American forces which have been entering the country following American officers' deceptive assurances that the US is in sympathy with the independentist cause of the Filipinos and will honor their independence; within six months, the imperialist United States will invade the Philippines, with the ensuring Philippine-American War (1899-1914) to be latter dubbed by certain historians as the "First Vietnam."  


Photo credit: Filipiniana.net