DBWI American Phillipines

During the Spanish-American War, the forces were able to capture Cuba, Puerto Rico and Guam, but the invasion fleet sank in the Philippine Sea in an unexpected typhoon. The Philippines remained in Spanish hands until 1947 after WWII when they gained their independence.

What would have been the consequences if the Philippines had fallen into American hands?
I honestly cannot imagine the streets of Manila filled with people speaking English instead of Chabacano or Spanish.

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Well for one you clearly aren't going to have a "People's Republic of the Philippines" briefly after its independence since it would be under American influence instead of falling under Chinese influence after the communist took over said country.
 
Well for one you clearly aren't going to have a "People's Republic of the Philippines" briefly after its independence since it would be under American influence instead of falling under Chinese influence after the communist took over said country.

That’s true, well, that joke didn’t last too long. 20 years, still enough to provoke a severe economic damage but still.
 
That’s true, well, that joke didn’t last too long. 20 years, still enough to provoke a severe economic damage but still.
Yeah and we should consider it only lasting 20 years a good thing. Given the economic pressure compared to other communist states and the harsh conditions of the populace thanks to assistance from the Soviets and Chinese, it clearly would've been worse had it lasted longer.
 
IOTL, the Philippines declared independence in the middle of the Spanish Civil War soon after it became obvious to Governor-General Francisco Franco that the Falangist coup had failed. The General--soon to declare himself Generalissimo--managed to maintain independence due to the Anglo-French wariness of Soviet influence in Spain, but made the mistake of joining the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere in exchange for economic aid. However, by 1944, he was overthrown by the Guerrillas who had been fighting the Spanish since c. 1900, who had gradually drifted towards the Left over the past decades, though U.S. Marines intervened by the end of the year to stabilize the situation. After the war ended, the US quickly organized elections, which they tried to rig in favor of pro-Western candidates, but suffered the embarrassment of the Filipino League of Communists winning the clear majority in the election, by a large enough margin to amend the constitution into a one-party state. Of course, as we all know, the Filipinos spent a great deal of effort funding the Marxists in Indonesia, resulting in a long period of civil war and military dictatorship there, though by 1985 or so both countries had become liberal democracies and were both founding members of ASEAN.

However, the Filipino experience may have changed the Cold War greatly for the better, teaching the US lessons that enabled it to keep the moral high ground as the Soviets held on to power in the Warsaw Pact by any means necessary. Eisenhower crushed the dreams of the British to overthrow Mossadegh, fearing a repeat of the Filipino debacle, resulting in a flourishing Middle Eastern democracy. Who knows how much less stable the Middle East might have been had it not been for the "Alliance of the Periphery" formed between Israel, Iran, and Turkey, which successfully fostered the development of democracy in the region? Furthermore, there are rumors that the United Fruit Company attempted unsuccessfully to have the US launch a coup against Jacobo Arbenz, the great Guatemalan reformer. As it were, Eisenhower expressed support for Arbenz, leading the Cuban Revolutionaries to pledge their support to a democratic constitution and--under President Guevara--quickly renew the US-Cuban partnership. It seems, therefore, that the lessons of the Philipines were well learned, with the US avoiding excessive foreign meddling in electoral politics (well that and the fact that Italy, after all, despite a brief flirtation with Communist governance, never joined the Warsaw pact).

So, had the USA taken the Philippines, it is likely they would have re-annexed the territory and never learned those lessons. Any one of those coups could have had a disastrous butterfly effect, and whilst I find it unlikely that the Soviets would have survived much past their dissolution in 1985 had the coups took place, America's moral prestige and therefore soft power would have taken a major hit.
 
The Philippines would probably remain part of the USA, eventually becoming a state or several. I can see the Philippines becoming "the Hawaii of the East", with American military bases, a large population from other Asian countries (perhaps even larger than the Filipino population), a large white American population, a thriving tourist industry and high house prices.
 
The Americans might force the Tagalog republic(Luzon) and the Spanish Philippines to unite since the Spanish maintained their hold over Visayas and Mindanao and try to get the Mindanao's resources which revitalized the Spanish economy.

One thing that prevented the Americans taking control of the Philippines is the revolution rejecting Aguinaldo after he betrayed them in Biak na Bato Treaty.

It was not just the sinking of the ship that caused the Americans to get the Philippines, it is because the Americans failed to infiltrate the Tagalog republic.

The Tagalog Republic handed Manila to the Spanish and established Malolos as its capital after their peace treaty.

The Spanish were already defeated in Luzon so they fixed their problems in Visayas and Mindanao like the visayan and Mindanao republics and maintained their rule there and the Spanish used the Mindanao's resources in order to revive the economy.
 
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There's no way the US can maintain a colony on the other side of the Pacific at the turn of the Century, we're talking an instant rebellion that the US doesn't have the supply channels to put down. Though the Republic of Hawaii would probably let the US use their ports, but a large American military presence in the islands may worry the British about annexation and they could pressure the Americans into a quicker restoration of the monarchy than in our timeline.
 
There's no way the US can maintain a colony on the other side of the Pacific at the turn of the Century, we're talking an instant rebellion that the US doesn't have the supply channels to put down. Though the Republic of Hawaii would probably let the US use their ports, but a large American military presence in the islands may worry the British about annexation and they could pressure the Americans into a quicker restoration of the monarchy than in our timeline.
Plus the Americans uniting the Tagalog republic and the Philippines is unthinkable since the Tagalog republic pulled a Haiti killing the remaining spanish colonizers there.
 
Filipino population is too big and too exotic to become a state, however commonwealth status similar to Puerto Rico would work and there are butterflies starting with the place being an obvious barrier to Japenese expansion in the 1930s-40s. Also American Philippines can be used to project power into China and if this is done the consequences are obviously massive, though even with the Philippines the Americans might not bother or bungle it.
 
Filipino population is too big and too exotic to become a state, however commonwealth status similar to Puerto Rico would work and there are butterflies starting with the place being an obvious barrier to Japenese expansion in the 1930s-40s. Also American Philippines can be used to project power into China and if this is done the consequences are obviously massive, though even with the Philippines the Americans might not bother or bungle it.
Plus the Tagalog Republic would need to be fooled again by Aguinaldo who is exposed to be a traitor..due to his three times of treason..the first is the time he killed bonifacio, second when he sold the revolution to the Spanish and the third is his alliance with the Americans which was unacceptable and the reason for his fall which destroyed the American plans in the Philippines.

Plus it is impossible for the Tagalog republic to unite with the Philippines since it was tried during the WWII by the Japanese and it failed.

If Americans get both the territory of the Tagalog Republic and the Philippines as one country we get an Iraq like situation.
 
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