From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Second Samoan Civil War

1898–1899 war between the US, UK and Germany

Field	Value
conflict	Second Samoan Civil War
image	Second Samoan Civil War.gif
image_size	300px
caption	Map featuring the locations of battles in which British and U.S. forces fought.
date	1898–1899
place	Apia, Upolu, Samoa, Pacific Ocean
result	Compromise;
combatant1	Allies:
combatant2	Flag of Samoa (1879).svg Mataafans
Supported by:
German Empire
commander1
commander2	Flag of Samoa (1879).svg Mata'afa Iosefo
casualties1	24 killed or wounded
casualties2	127 killed or wounded
2 forts damaged

Tripartite Convention
Partitioning of the Samoan archipelago
United States acquires American Samoa
Germany acquires German Samoa
Britain withdraws claim in exchange for concessions in the Solomon Islands
Mata'afa Iosefo becomes paramount chief of Samoa Supported by: German Empire 2 forts damaged The Second Samoan Civil War was a conflict that reached a head in 1898 when Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States were locked in dispute over who should have control over the Samoan island chain, located in the South Pacific Ocean.

At the war's conclusion in 1899, the United States were granted the eastern section of the islands, the Germans were granted the western section of the islands, and the British were given the northern Solomon Islands of Choiseul, Isabel and the Shortland Islands that had formerly belonged to Germany. The German half was occupied and annexed by New Zealand in 1914 and is now an independent nation – Samoa. The U.S. half still remains under the control of the U.S. government as the territory of American Samoa.

Combatants

The allies were the Samoan followers of Malietoa Tanumafili I and supporting naval forces from the United States and the United Kingdom. These forces fought against the rebels of Mata'afa Iosefo, who were supported by Germany.

History

As result of Malietoa Laupepa's death, Mata'afa Iosefo returned from exile and was elected to power by a council of Samoan chiefs. In response, the British Royal Navy and the U.S. Navy landed forces at Apia in support of Laupepa's son Malietoa Tanumafili I against the German-backed Mataafa.

The first battle of the conflict involving the British and Americans was the Siege of Apia; when the naval forces landed they occupied much of the city, Mataafan forces attacked, so British and U.S. warships in Apia Harbour began bombarding enemy positions around the city. After the conflict, Mataafaite forces retreated to the stronghold of Vailele and thus began several U.S. and British expeditions into the dense jungle to find the chief's men.

At the end of March, a joint expedition of British, U.S., and Samoan forces marched along the coast from Apia towards Vailele. Skirmishes were fought and two villages destroyed as the Samoan rebels retreated. On April 1, the expedition of 26 marines, 88 sailors and 136 Samoans left the coast for an attack on the landward side of Vailele, leaving the protection of naval gunfire support. The cruisers , HMS Tauranga, and the corvette HMS Royalist landed the sailors and marines, Royalist was sent ahead of the expedition to bombard the two forts guarding Vailele plantation.

The Second Battle of Vailele on 1 April was a defeat for the expeditionary forces. They retreated back to Apia and reported their casualties to their commanders, who decided to plan for future operations in the area. On April 13, the British frontline was extended just south of Vailele, and that day the Matafaans attacked, but were repulsed. Another expedition later fought again within Vailele. The rebels won again when they withstood a British-led attack on the two forts. The engagements occurred near the battlefield where Samoan rebels had defeated German troops in 1888 during the first civil war on the island. A statue of Ensign John R. Monaghan was erected in Spokane, Washington to commemorate the young officer's bravery. A second battle in Apia took place on 25 April, when a small force of Samoans attacked a patrol of U.S. Marines, but were driven off without inflicting any casualties.

The war eventually resulted, via the Tripartite Convention of 1899, in the partition of the Samoan Islands into American Samoa and German Samoa.

Gallery

File:Tivoli Hotel, Apia 1896.jpg|Tivoli Hotel in 1896, used as the command post for American force during the battle at Apia. File:Marines naval gun samoa.jpg|United States Marines and a naval gun in Upolu, 1899. File:Samoa warriors.jpg|Samoan warriors and American servicemen during the Siege of Apia in March 1899. File:Raising the German flag at Mulinu'u, Samoa 1900 photo AJ Tattersall.jpg|German flag raising ceremony commemorating the creation of German Samoa in 1900. File:Scene.on.the.Mulinu’u.Peninsula,Upolu.Andrew.Thomas 1900.jpg|Samoans, Americans and Britons holding a ceremony while erecting a monument on Mulinuu Peninsula, 1902. File:Samoan Paramount chief Mataafa & group 1902.jpg|Mata'afa Iosefo and followers, 1902.

References

de:Konflikt um Samoa

References

(October 2014). "The Naturalist and his "Beautiful Islands": Charles Morris Woodford in the Western Pacific". ANU Press.
Ryden, George Herbert. ''The Foreign Policy of the United States in Relation to Samoa''. New York: Octagon Books, 1975. (Reprint by special arrangement with Yale University Press. Originally published at New Haven: Yale University Press, 1928), p. 574; the Tripartite Convention (United States, Germany, Great Britain) was signed at Washington on 2 December 1899 with ratifications exchanged on 16 February 1900
Mains, P. John; McCarty, Louis Philippe (1906). The Statistician and Economist: Volume 23. pg. 249
Mains, pg. 24
Mains, pg. 24
Mains, pg. 24

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

second-samoan-civil-war history-of-the-samoan-islands wars-involving-samoa civil-wars-involving-the-states-and-peoples-of-oceania civil-wars-of-the-19th-century coup-based-civil-wars german-samoa 1890s-in-samoa 1890s-in-the-german-colonial-empire wars-involving-the-german-empire proxy-wars wars-involving-germany wars-involving-the-united-kingdom wars-involving-the-united-states 1898-in-samoa 1899-in-samoa 1898-in-american-samoa 1899-in-american-samoa 1898-in-the-german-colonial-empire 1899-in-the-german-colonial-empire 19th-century-military-alliances german-colonisation-in-oceania germany–samoa-relations germany–united-states-relations germany–united-kingdom-relations

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Second Samoan Civil War — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report