Editing Asymmetric warfare (section)

===Philippine–American War===
The [[Philippine–American War]] (1899–1902) was an armed conflict between the [[United States]] and [[Philippine Revolutionary Army|Filipino revolutionaries]]. Estimates of the Filipino forces vary between 100,000 and 1,000,000, with tens of thousands of [[auxiliaries]].<ref name="Deady2005p55">{{Harvnb|Deady|2005|p=55}}</ref> Lack of weapons and ammunition was a significant impediment to the Filipinos, so most of the forces were only armed with [[Bolo knife|bolo knives]], bows and arrows, spears and other primitive weapons that, in practice, proved vastly inferior to U.S. firepower.
[[File:Philippine Revolutionary Army Rifles.jpg|thumb|Remnants of rifles used by [[Philippine Revolutionary Army|Filipino soldiers]] during [[Philippine–American War|the War]] on display at Clark [[Museum]]]]

The goal, or end-state, sought by the [[First Philippine Republic]] was a sovereign, independent, socially stable Philippines led by the ''ilustrado'' (intellectual) [[oligarchy]].<ref name=Deady2005p57>{{Harvnb|Deady|2005|p=57}}</ref> Local chieftains, landowners, and businessmen were the ''[[principalía|principales]]'' who controlled local politics. The war was strongest when ''illustrados'', ''principales'', and peasants were unified in opposition to annexation.<ref name=Deady2005p57 /> The peasants, who provided the bulk of guerrilla forces, had interests different from their ''illustrado'' leaders and the ''principales'' of their villages.<ref name=Deady2005p57 /> Coupled with the ethnic and geographic fragmentation, unity was a daunting task. The challenge for [[Emilio Aguinaldo|Aguinaldo]] and his generals was to sustain unified Filipino public opposition; this was the revolutionaries' strategic [[Center of gravity (military)|centre of gravity]].<ref name=Deady2005p57/> The Filipino operational center of gravity was the ability to sustain its force of 100,000 irregulars in the field.<ref name=Deady2005p58>{{Harvnb|Deady|2005|p=58}}</ref> The Filipino General [[Francisco Macabulos]] described the Filipinos' war aim as "not to vanquish the U.S. Army but to inflict on them constant losses." They initially sought to use conventional tactics and an increasing toll of U.S. casualties to contribute to McKinley's defeat in the 1900 presidential election.<ref name=Deady2005p58 /> Their hope was that as president the avowedly [[Anti-imperialism|anti-imperialist]] future [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of state]] [[William Jennings Bryan]] would withdraw from the Philippines.<ref name=Deady2005p58/> They pursued this short-term goal with [[guerrilla warfare|guerrilla tactics]] better suited to a [[Protracted social conflict|protracted struggle]].<ref name=Deady2005p58/> While targeting [[William McKinley|McKinley]] motivated the revolutionaries in the short term, his victory demoralized them and convinced many undecided Filipinos that the United States would not depart precipitously.<ref name=Deady2005p58/> For most of 1899, the revolutionary leadership had viewed guerrilla warfare strategically only as a tactical option of final recourse, not as a means of operation which better suited their disadvantaged situation. On 13 November 1899, [[Emilio Aguinaldo]] decreed that guerrilla war would henceforth be the strategy. This made the American occupation of the Philippine archipelago more difficult over the next few years. In fact, during just the first four months of the guerrilla war, the Americans had nearly 500 casualties. The Philippine Revolutionary Army began staging bloody ambushes and raids, such as the guerrilla victories at [[Battle of Paye|Paye]], Catubig, [[Battle of Makahambus Hill|Makahambus]], [[Battle of Pulang Lupa|Pulang Lupa]], [[Battle of Balangiga|Balangiga]] and [[Battle of Mabitac|Mabitac]]. At first, it seemed like the Filipinos would fight the Americans to a stalemate and force them to withdraw. President McKinley even considered this at the beginning of the phase. The shift to guerrilla warfare drove the U.S. Army to adopt counterinsurgency tactics.