Is He Philippines' LAST HOPE Against America?

they killed the only General they ever

had these were the words spoken by

General Hughes during the Philippine

American war a dark chapter in the

American occupation of the Philippines

on June 5 1899 this man General Antonio

Luna was assassinated In caban Tua today

General Antonio Luna is remembered a

hero but why was he seen as such a

threat to the Americans who exactly was

he and why was he assassinated by the

very people that he fought for I'm Jonas

and let's talk about General anonio Luna

one of the greatest generals the

Philippines ever had Antonio Luna was

born on October 29 1866 in Bondo Manila

his father huim Luna worked as a

government tobacco salesman Luna showed

early academic promise exceling in

various subjects and memorizing the

doctrina Christiana one of the first

books produced in the Philippines at a

young age he later earned a Bachelor of

Arts degree from the ATO Municipal de

Manila and studied literature and

chemistry at the University of Santa

Tomas Luna later went to Europe to study

Pharmacy in Barcelona and earned a

doctorate in Pharmacy in 1890 his

research on malaria was impressive it

distinguished between the different

types of the parasite and suggested new

treatments so Luna has a lot of

achievements and scientific

accomplishments why is he now remembered

more as a general in August 1896 during

the Philippine Revolution Antonio Luna

and his brother the famous painter one

Luna we'll talk about that in another

video were arrested by the Spaniards

even though they didn't actually join

the

Luna was doubtful about the revolution

believing that it needed proper

preparation he preferred reforms over

Rebellion similar to hos Rizal and other

educated Filipino reformists he was then

exiled to Spain in 1897 imprison in

Madrid's carcel Modelo his brother Juan

being a well-respected painter just got

pardoned by the Spanish queen regent

Maria Christina of Austria and used his

influence to secure Antonio's release so

we can imagine that while the revolution

raged in the Philippines Antonio Luna

wasn't actually there upon his release

Luna stayed in Hong Kong where he

received a letter of recommendation to

Emilio aginaldo who was already the

katuna leader at that time finally he

returned to the Philippines in July 1898

a month after the country declared

independence from Spain on June 12th

1898 aginaldo then quickly appointed him

chief of War operations however when

Luna returned the Americans were already

on Philippine soil Admiral George dwey

had already defeated the Spanish Fleet

in the of Manila Bay in May 1 1898 and

on December 10 1898 Spain then sold the

Philippines to the Americans now the

Philippines is essentially handed over

from one Global superpower to another

Luna already a high ranking general was

deeply involved and saw the tensions

rise between the Filipinos and Americans

and on February 4 1899 a group of

American soldiers fired their first shot

against Filipino soldiers and that

essentially triggering the start of the

Philippine ameran War the Filipinos

already tired and weary from fighting a

literally centuries old Empire now had

to defend themselves from another just

months after with not much time to

prepare and reorganize the Filipinos had

to fight once again now Luna was a

strict leader with no tolerance for

incompetence he was known for being

hot-headed and having a very bad temper

which often made him the target of

gossip and earned him enemies within

aguinaldo's government Luna's strong

personality and refusal to compromise

made people either love him or hate him

despite these internal conflicts he

worked tirelessly to make the Filipino

military more professional his efforts

however faced resistance and hostility

from politicians other generals or even

some soldiers but during the Philippine

American War General Luna participated

in many major battles including the

first and the biggest battle of Manila

the two battles of kokan and the Battle

of Santo Tomas which was unfortunately

Luna's last battle however despite

Luna's military efforts and

significantly causing delays and dealing

significant damage to the American

forces you see he didn't actually win

any battles as theodoro agilio a leading

Filipino historian said Luna was a great

General who didn't win any battles the

reason why Antonio Luna did not win any

battles may be related to his famous

strategy that he proposed called the

three tier strategy also called the Luna

defense line which aimed to slow down

and weaken the American forces while

they built fortresses up in the

mountains Luna envisioned using the

rugged terrain in The High Ground is a

military Advantage the first tier

consists of trenches and fortifications

on the front line if the first line was

destroyed the soldiers would then

Retreat and regroup to the second line

of the fences now the first and second

tier are only meant to delay the

Americans while they built the third

tier which are a series of Mega

fortresses once the second line fell

they would then Retreat to the

fortresses already built high up in the

mountains the ultimate defensive barrier

where they would also switch to Guerilla

Warfare the idea was not to actually win

battles but rather delay the Americans

while they built a strong massive

Fortress in the third tier where the

soldiers would be more prepared and at a

natural terrain advantage or High Ground

just imagine being an American Soldier

trying to hike a mountain while someone

at the top can easily shoot you down

unfortunately Luna's three- tier defense

was not fully implemented because the

government did not fully support his

plans even other generals did not agree

with his plans and refused to cooperate

by not sending reinforcements the speed

of the American Military also outpaced

the ability of the Filipinos to

construct the necessary defenses and

train themselves and the mega Fortress

in the mountain Province was never fully

carried out now the turning point of

Luna's career came when he was invited

to a council of War by Emilio aginaldo

essentially a very important meeting on

June 5 1899 he was excited to receive an

invitation from Emilio aginaldo to meet

him in cabanatuan personally because he

saw it as an opportunity to discuss and

clarify military matters and strategies

directly with the president Luna however

unaware of the Betrayal that awaited him

arrived in cabanatuan with two AIDS the

camp Colonel Francisco Roman and Captain

Ardo rusa in the mounted escort however

he dismissed his escort and proceeded to

go alone to the rectory where aginaldo

had his headquarters this was a very bad

idea as Luna entered the rectory he was

informed by an officer that aginaldo had

already left with his command feeling

insulted and obviously disappointed Luna

prepared to leave however he was

suddenly attacked from behind by Captain

Pedro hanino who inflicted a severe

wound with a bolo despite his injuries

Luna fought back drawing his revolver to

defend himself but still Luna managed to

force his sway through his as salant

however upon reaching the plaza he was

then confronted by multiple soldiers who

then started attacking him with their

heavy bolos Luna was being hacked alive

but they feared that Luna would only

cause more trouble if he's captured

alive but unbelievably refused to die he

kept fighting back wounding several of

his attackers with his revolver despite

being caught by surprise fighting

multiple armed men injuring numerous

hacks from the heavy bolos and suffering

multiple shots from a rifle at close

range Luna fought until his body

eventually had no strength left his body