Editing History of Samoa (section)

===The First Samoan Civil War and the Samoan crisis===
[[File:Samoan Crisis wrecks 2.jpg|thumb|right|230px|Wrecked vessels at Apia (1889)]]
[[File:SMS Adler 1889 1.jpg|thumb|left|230px|SMS ''Adler'' wrecked at Apia (1889)]]
{{see also|Samoan Civil War|Samoan crisis}}
The First [[Samoan Civil War]] was fought roughly between 1886 and 1894, primarily between rival Samoan factions, although the rival powers intervened on several occasions with military forces. There followed an [[Samoan Civil War|eight-year civil war]], where each of the three powers supplied arms, training, and in some cases, combat troops to the warring Samoan parties.<ref>{{cite book|editor=Spencer Tucker|title=The Encyclopedia of the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars: A Political, Social, and Military History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8V3vZxOmHssC&pg=PA569|year=2009|publisher=ABC-CLIO|pages=569–70|isbn=9781851099511}}</ref> The [[Samoan crisis]] came to a critical juncture in March 1889 when all three Western contenders sent warships into [[Apia harbour]], and a larger-scale war seemed imminent, until a massive storm on 15 March 1889 damaged or destroyed the warships, ending the military conflict.<ref name=RLS>{{cite book|author=Stevenson, Robert Louis|title=A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa|publisher=BiblioBazaar|isbn=978-1-4264-0754-3|title-link=A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa|date=August 2008 }}</ref>

[[Robert Louis Stevenson]] arrived in Samoa in 1889 and built a house at [[Vailima, Samoa|Vailima]]. He quickly became passionately involved in the attendant political machinations. His influence spread to the Samoans, who consulted him for advice, and he soon became involved in local politics. These involved the three [[great power]]s battling for control of Samoa - America, Germany and Britain - and the indigenous factions which were all jockeying for complete political authority. He was convinced that the European officials appointed to rule the Samoans were incompetent, and after many futile attempts to resolve the matter, he published ''[[A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa|A Footnote to History]]''. The book covers the period from 1882 to 1892.<ref name=RLS/> This was such a stinging protest against existing conditions that it resulted in the recall of two officials, and Stevenson feared for a time it would result in his own deportation.<ref>Letter to Sidney Colvin, 17 April 1893, ''Vailima Letters'', [[S:Vailima Letters/Chapter XXVIII|Chapter XXVIII]]</ref>