French-Algerian and American-Philippine war

Comparison between French-Algerian and American-Philippine war

The Algerian war occurred in the years 1954 to 1962 and it was between France and the independence movements in Algeria. The main objective of this war was the quest to gain independence by Algeria from France, (Evans 2011). The Philippines- American war took place in the years 1899-1902. It was an armed conflict that involved the United States and Philippines revolutionary movements. The following paper aims at establishing how the two wars were managed, planned and organized in order to get the required results through comparing and contrasting the two wars.

Similarities

The French in Algeria war and the Americans in the Philippines were similar in some aspects. These similarities may be analyzed in terms of the underlying principles, Strategies used and doctrinal concepts. They include the following;

The Philippines-American war and the French in Algeria war occurred as a result of the struggle to acquire self-governance by the Philippines and Algerians respectively. Independence was of great essence to Philippines and Algeria as they were seeking to gain control and management over their resources and become sovereign states. This was the principle upon which these wars were based on. However, the Philippines and Algerian revolutionary forces lacked weapons and ammunition to counter the superior firepower of their colonizers; U.S. and France respectively. To counter this disadvantage, they strategically employed guerilla warfare, using primitive weapons like knives, spears, bows and arrows to fight against their colonizers, (Kimmel 2009) The U.S and French troops on their part were highly organized and used counter-insurgency tactics like torture and separation of the civilian population from the guerilla population, (Hillstrom2011). These tactics helped them become a hard target to hit by the revolutionary forces, manage losses from both sides and reduce the budget of the wars.

Military intelligence was extensively used by both the French and Americans in order to manage the respective wars. They developed doctrinal literature and tactics which enabled them to respond to attacks from the guerilla units faster. Galula(2006) asserts that these doctrines helped them in standardization of military operations in their quest to achieve their desired objectives of the wars. In both wars, the colonial governments sought to introduce their national languages in the colonized countries as the main language of government, business and education in Philippines. American and French troops were also highly organized and used their military technology and intelligence for counter-insurgency combat operations. These doctrines were meant to professionally train military officers.

Differences

The American-Philippines war and French in Algeria war also had some very striking differences. In this paper, these differences will be discussed in terms ofwho participated in the conflicts and the consequences of the respective wars.

In the American-Philippines wars, conflict started between Spain and America, where Americans were seeking to acquire Philippines from the Spaniards, and later fought with the Philippines revolutionary forces, (Golay, 2003). In sharp contrast, the French in Algeria war only involved the France military and Algerian revolutionary groups. These were the different underlying principles of the wars. This clearly brings out the challenges that were faced by the U.S and France in management of their colonies. The United States of America employed various strategies in the war in order to neutralize the revolutionary forces in Algeria. American commanders would liaise with some of their loyal Philippines in order to acquire military intelligence against the Spaniards and the revolutionary forces   Strategies were of great essence if they had to remain relevant in the war

The consequences of these two different wars were different in some aspects. According to Tyner (2005), the America-Philippines war led to the disestablishment of the Roman Catholic Church. In the France- Algeria war, it led to the division of the country and caused falling of five prime ministers since some citizens felt their leaders were puppets of France authorities. These were the different principles and consequences of the wars. The strategies applied by American in order to remain relevant in Philippines even after granting them independence included denying the citizens the right to vote for top government officials, (Arnold 2011). On the other hand, French troops applied the strategy of capturing and imprisoning of defiant and active leaders in Algeria.

Conclusion

In conclusion, in order to achieve a certain goal in management of an organization, war or any activity, it is important to come up with strategies that will help in the achievement of the set objectives. The end will always justify the means. Management is an important concept in every activity since it is involved in coordinating the efforts of different parties in order to achieve the intended results.