Japanese Spanish War 1913-14
By 1913 Japan was a growing powerhouse in Asia. After wars against the Chinese and Russians had witness the rise of the Japanese Empire with fairly large territorial expansion for a nation as small as Japan who was totally depended on imported resources. They were also a growing economic power. This is all the more impressive when you remembered that Japan had only come out of a period of self-imposed isolationist period in the 1850s. Yet following the Russo-Japanese War the Japanese faced a question of what next. In both their wars with the Chinese then later with the Russian their goals hadn’t been fully reached even through they had an unchecked string of victories. They had gave into foreign pressures in both wars and that stopped them from getting everything they wanted in these wars. Also following the war with the Russians they were left with a question of where to expand next. Both Russia and China were out of the question for a vast number of reasons. To the north was the bastard Kingdom of Manchuria which they couldn’t touch for geopolitical reasons. To their east was the United States who had stayed out the balance of power but was clearly anti-British by 1913. To the south were a mess of European empires, including their allies the British. The French had clearly become the favorited European nation of the British which put them off limits. There was the Dutch but the logical challenges of such an operation were such they didn’t think it was possible. Finally there was the Spanish in the Philippines which looked more possible but also put forward a number of problems as well.
Spain was having issues everywhere one looked. They were holding on to a bygone empire for all it was worth. The United States in the 1870s had finally kicked the Spanish out of the New World. Then early in 20th century the US reduced the Spanish reach in the Pacific by buying a host of Pacific Islands. By 1913 Spanish was left with only a few colonies in Africa and the Philippines. Yet in the Philippines the Spanish weren’t welcome and the Filipino had rebelled a number of times. The Eight Years War of 1895-1903 and the period in the Philippines know as La Violencia which started in 1909 were two of more well-known efforts by Filipino people to throw off the Spanish Yoke. Yet the Spanish were hanging on to the Philippines for all it was worth under the idea they were still a great power even through they weren’t in the balance of power in the world.
For Spain through the greatest challenge to holding the Philippines started on October 30 1913. The Japanese had a team of government and business men in Manila looking at the possibly of gaining trade deals with the Spanish in the Philippines that favored the Japanese. This team however was caught up in La Violencia. A team of rebels launched an attack in Manila on that day in an effort to kill the Spanish Governor General of the Philippines. Yet in this attack they killed seven Japanese and missed the Governor General of the Philippines. This attack sparked a crisis between the Spanish and the Japanese.
In Japan there was a debate about going to war over this or forcing the Spanish into paying an indemnity for this attack on their government officials and business men. As there was the question of if they when to war what was their end game here? The Filipinos were clearly hell bend on becoming their own nation and the task of taming the whole of the Philippines was a challenging one. Yet in talks between the Japanese and Spanish at The Hague were the two were trying to work out a peaceful end to the crisis, the Japanese were pushed back by the Spanish who frankly were fairly incompetent and were trying to treat the Japanese as another group of Asians who could be pushed around. The Japanese didn’t take well to this.
Finally, after six weeks of talks at The Hague the Japanese broke contact with the Spanish for the last time. After many hours of talks the Genro the Japanese had decided on war. And on December 17 1913 Japanese Emperor Yasuhito[1] decarded war on Spain. This was after the fleet had rallied at Takao[2] and then set sail for Spanish fleet at Manila Bay. The modern Japanese Fleet with two modern Hercules battleships and host of pre-Hercules battleships and lesser ships. Against them was the Spanish Pacific Fleet, a force that was largely outdated and been mostly used to support the army in their efforts to destroy Filipinos rebels. This force included 4 Armored Cruisers, 5 Protected Cruisers, 3 Unprotected Cruisers, and lesser ships. Yet unlike the two earlier wars Japan had fought everyone was betting on the Japanese to win this war.
On December 24th, the Japanese fleet entered Manila Bay. They were engaged by the Spanish fort system along with the Spanish Fleet at the same time. Here the Japanese training in gunnery and improved optics proved that this was a far better choice than trying to engage a fleet with old ships and coastal forts. The Japanese were simply able to withdraw to distances that forced the Spanish ships to either exit the cover the guns of the forts or allow the forts to be destroyed by the well-aimed fire of the Japanese battleline which was greater than the range of the guns in the forts. After some debate on the Spanish flagship of its Pacific Squadron it was decided to take the fleet out to try and at least cause some damage against the Japanese fleet. The Spanish Admiral had no illusions about the outcome of the battle through.
In doing so, the Spanish Pacific Squadron ceased to be. It was totally destroyed by the Japanese fleet in a three hour battle. None of the Spanish ships struck their colors, instead they decided to have their ships sent to the bottom. For the loss of the whole Spanish Pacific Squadron they managed to damage three cruisers of the Japanese Fleet, one so badly that she would be written off as a total loss when she reached Formosa. Following the defeat of the Spanish Pacific Squadron, the Japanese destroyed the fort system defending Manila before withdrawing.
With control of the seas the Japanese launched landings on Luzon that started on January 8th 1914. The Battle of Manila was the first major land battle of the war. Like the Battle of Manila Bay only weeks earlier this was a totally one sided affair. The Japanese destroyed the Spanish garrison in the city and by January 10th Manila was under their control and their flag flew high. Following Manila, the Japanese Army started moving to take locations across Luzon which would be needed to hold the island and destroy any resistance from the Filipinos.
Events in Europe however would change the course of the war and bring it to a quick end. Spain had decided on January 19th to reinforce the Philippines with their home fleet. However, the Spanish sailors had other ideas as they knew what happened to the Russians when they had tried to do this same move less than a decade before. The Russian Fleet was far larger and better equipped than the Spanish Home Fleet was. They munity when the orders became known. Then the munity started to spread as reserve units who were underequipped and paid who had been called up for service joined in with the navy in the munity against Madrid.
Faced with a growing munity that would lead to the Spanish Civil War, Madrid decided to sue for peace. To their surprise the Japanese didn’t demand the whole the Philippines. The Japanese decided to leave the southern part of the archipelago under Spanish rule so it would be a place to force unruly Filipinos to go. The Japanese under the Treaty of Paris which was signed on February 14 1914 would gain ownership of Luzon, the Batanes and Babuyan Groups, Catanduanes, Marinduque, Masbate, Romblon, and Mindoro Islands. The Southern Philippines and the island of Palawan would stay under Spanish rule on paper. The ability to enforce that in 1914 through by the Spanish was questionable at best. Spain also agreed to pay the Japanese an indemnity of 500 million Francs as the Spanish peseta had just started a period of hyperinflation and was damn near worthless.
[1] OTL Emperor Taisho was born in 1879 OTL, yet that is 6 years after the POD. Because of the way I see things OTL Taisho either isn’t going to be born or is going to have a different name and host of differences.
[2] Kaohsiung
