THE AMERICAN GENOCIDE IN PHILIPINES THAT NOBODY TAKS ABOUT

 The very first overseas war that the USA fought was the American-Spanish wars, starting in the Spanish colony of Philippines

The term "Filipino Genocide" typically refers to the mass casualties, widespread atrocities, and extreme devastation inflicted upon the Filipino population by U.S. forces during the Philippine-American War (1899–1902) and its subsequent counterinsurgency campaigns.

While mainstream Western history long downplayed the conflict as a minor "insurrection," modern historians, post-colonial scholars, and Filipinos increasingly view the brutal pacification campaigns as meeting the criteria for war crimes, and in some arguments, systemic genocide.

The Americans first betrayed the Filipino guerilla which helped them against the Spanish. Under the 1898 Treaty of Paris, the United States purchased the Philippines from Spain for 20 million USD without consulting the Filipino people. President William McKinley instituted a policy of "Benevolent Assimilation," which masked a brutal military occupation. When it became clear that the U.S. had no intention of recognizing Philippine sovereignty, open warfare broke out in February 1899.

To isolate guerrilla fighters from their civilian support base, U.S. generals (such as J. Franklin Bell) ordered entire populations into designated zones (reconcentrados).

Driven from their homes, civilians saw their livestock slaughtered and their crops burned to prevent them from feeding the resistance. Entire villages were burned to the ground as part of collective punishment, and field reports frequently detailed the execution of prisoners of war.

Inside the camps, overcrowding, contaminated water, and a lack of sanitation led to catastrophic outbreaks of cholera, malaria, and beriberi, killing tens of thousands of civilians—mostly women, children, and the elderly.

Following the Balangiga ambush in September 1901, where Filipino fighters killed 48 U.S. soldiers, Brigadier General Jacob H. Smith ordered a brutal retaliatory strike on the island of Samar. Smith ordered that any male capable of bearing arms—specifically specifying anyone over the age of ten—be killed.

"I want no prisoners. I wish you to kill and burn, the more you kill and burn the better it will please me. The interior of Samar must be made a howling wilderness."

Historians estimate that between 200,000 and 1,000,000 Filipino civilians died as a direct or indirect result of the war. The overwhelming majority of these deaths were caused by famine and disease engineered by the U.S. military's scorched-earth and reconcentration policies. In addition, approximately 20,000 Filipino soldiers were killed in action.