Philippines

2 conflicts · 1899–2026

$74B

Total US Spending

2

Conflicts

4,246

US Deaths

Troops Stationed

250,500

Civilian Deaths

0

Authorized

2

Unauthorized

📖 History of US Involvement in Philippines

The Philippine-American War (1899-1913) was America's first colonial counterinsurgency — and a preview of every failed nation-building project from Vietnam to Afghanistan. American forces killed an estimated 200,000-1,000,000 Filipino civilians. The U.S. maintained colonial control until 1946 and military bases until 1991. Today, the U.S. is expanding its military presence in the Philippines as part of the pivot to Asia — returning to bases it left 30 years ago.

US Conflicts Involving This Country

🗣️ What They Said

We have pacified some thousands of the islanders and buried them; destroyed their fields; burned their villages, and turned their widows and orphans out-of-doors... And so, by these Providences of God...

Mark Twain, 'To the Person Sitting in Darkness' (1901) (Philippine War)

Let us not become the evil that we deplore.

Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA), the sole vote against the 2001 AUMF (September 14, 2001) (GWOT (Other))