Eyes on a Prize: Colonial Fantasies, the German Self and Newspaper Accounts of the 1896 Philippine Revolution

Abstract

Hundreds of German traders and residents were living in the Philippines when the 1896 Revolution against the Spanish broke out. Representing different religious, regional and economic backgrounds, they routinely met and mingled in such social organisations as reading clubs or, later, the Casino Union. Save for the Spanish, Germans formed the most numerous European community. As latecomers vis-àvis other Europeans, they painstakingly maintained working relations with the Spanish colonial administrators and local Filipino elites to bolster their businesses. The outbreak of the revolution, however, threatened the deepening economic inroads this community had striven so hard to make; and as the fighting grew they feared that their lives were also threatened. As a consequence, they turned to their government in Berlin for protection. A warship was duly deployed to the islands in case evacuation was deemed necessary. Significantly, this request provided the German navy a prime opportunity to assess developments in the Spanish colony, which, in turn, might facilitate direct state intervention in the rebellion.