The “Three Little Wars”

• The Spanish American War of 1898

• The Boer War of 1899-1902

• The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905

• Tsushima Straights• Counter Insurgency

Warfare

“The Splendid Little War”

• US fought to liberate those under Spanish yoke of tyranny

• A war fought to liberate not conquer

• All the advantages with the US– Navy

– Industry

– Geography

Impacts

• Spain ceded Puerto Rico, Cuba, Guam and the Philippines

• US now a world power and an imperialist whether we like it or not

• Platt Amendment (1901) gives US Gitmo and the right to intervene in Cuban affairs

Dealing With Insurgency

• Winning a war the easy part, fighting an insurgency a lot harder

• Guerrilla tactics, modern weapons

• Emilio Aguinaldo vs. the USA (1899-1903)– 5,000 US deaths– Maybe 600,000

Filipino deaths

Boer War, 1899-1902

• UK needed three years and 500,000 men to beat 50,000 Boers

• 30,000 British casualties

• Impact of new weapons

• Concentration Camp

• End of UK’s Splendid Isolation

South African Boers using German made guns

Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905

• Fleet Action at Tsushima

• Growth of Japanese Power

• Land phase

• Battle of Mukden

• “To cook rice for the infantry” – British observer Gen. Hamilton when asked about the role of cavalry in future wars

Impacts

• Growth of military power worldwide

• Role of Empires• Emergence of USA,

Japan as world powers• Industry and its power

in warfare• Russian Revolution

Big Picture Lessons

• Two Styles of War: Great Power War and Guerrilla War

• Changing World Powers

• American Responsibilities Worldwide

Causes of World War I:Alliance System

• Triple Entente:– Russia

– Britain

– France

• Triple Alliance– Germany

– Austria-Hungary

– Italy

Causes of World War I:Industrialization

• Machine Guns• Battleships• Railroads

Causes of World War I:Nationalism

• Why did the assassination of an obscure archduke in Sarajevo lead to a world war?

• What kind of war were the Europeans expecting to fight?

Gavrilo Princip