The role of geography in counterinsurgency warfare: The Philippine American War, 1899–1902

Using the Philippine–American War of 1899–1902, this article demonstrates how insurgency is a spatial process. The conflict broke out when the United States acquired the Philippines during the Spanish–American War and Filipino nationalists resisted American efforts to retain the Philippines. Consist...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:GeoJournal 2020-04, Vol.85 (2), p.423-437
Main Author: Holden, William N.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Conflict
Counterinsurgency
Environmental Management
Exploitation
Geography
Human Geography
Insurgency
Intelligence
Islands
Local conditions
Local knowledge
Military personnel
Mobility
Morphology
Nationalism
Philippino
Rebellions
Recruits
Rough terrain
Sanctuaries
Social Sciences
Soldiers
War
Warfare
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Summary:Using the Philippine–American War of 1899–1902, this article demonstrates how insurgency is a spatial process. The conflict broke out when the United States acquired the Philippines during the Spanish–American War and Filipino nationalists resisted American efforts to retain the Philippines. Consisting of forest covered islands, with rough terrain, the Philippines appeared to be an ideal location to wage an insurgency but the Americans, with their control of the sea, exploited the fragmented territorial morphology of the Philippines, denying the insurgents inter-island mobility, foreign assistance, and foreign sanctuaries. American forces exploited the fragmented human geography of the Philippines by using ethnic divisions in the Philippines against the insurgents. The Americans implemented a territorial occupation system where soldiers were kept in one area, thus providing them with knowledge of local conditions. American forces also separated the insurgents from the population by concentrating the population and denying the insurgents recruits, supplies, and intelligence. The costs of the conflict were, however, significant and, in the long-run, the conflict contributed to the entrenchment of the elite in Filipino society.
ISSN:0343-2521
1572-9893
DOI:10.1007/s10708-019-09971-7