ABSTRACT
The chapter discusses that under the double spur of economic expansion and competitive imperialism Western domination became the prime mover of events in Asia. In the Philippines the situation remained practically unchanged until, after an abortive Filipino revolution in 1896, the United States found itself the successor of Spain as a result of the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898. The preponderant accent in the years of imperialism was on good government, on strict justice tempered with strict mercy, on economic efficiency, and on practical education. In Southeast Asia the days of leisurely development and incidental, unsystematic extension of territorial sway were definitely past. Steam, machinery, rifles, and organization gave it a giddying material advantage that seemed to make world domination its manifest destiny and nowhere did the prizes to be won look so alluring as in Southeast Asia.
