A Study on the Leadership of the Philippine Revolution (August 1896 -April 1898)

One of the main causes leading to the failure of the Philippine Revolution is often attributed to be the oppotunism of its leadership.However, full-scale research has not yet been undertaken.The historical period focused upon in my study is limited to the period from the outbreak of the Revolution to the American intervention (August 1896 to April, 1898).During this time the two leading poweres were the Supreme Council of the Katipunan under the presidency of Andres Bonifacio and the Caviteño principalía group headed by Emilio Aguinaldo.The present paper tries to analyze these two leading powers, their class characters, ideology, supporters, institutionalization of mass control and the extent of this control.I also provide some new interpretations of the reasons why the leadership of the Revolution was transferred from Bonifacio to Aguinaldo and why Aguinaldo gave up the Revolution to conclude peace with Spain