The Samoan Crisis of 1889 

Samoans are great ruggers, Brother. Right up there with Tongans, Fijians and Maori. The Polynesian influence makes it a fascinating sport. Happy St Pat's to you.

All great stories involve pirates. All awesome stories involve rugby.

@David Single Yeah and I reckon Sydney Australia would be a close second. There seem to be more Samoans in New Zealand and Australia than there are in Samoa.

@@bushranger51 have you been to California? Compton, Watts, Long beach.. shit load of them

@@lesblase3667 Have you been to Sydney, Melbourne?....Alot are there, also I'm a Samoan in Sydney💪

Would you happen to remember the name of that book? I'm sure he wrote more than one. Former Marine here.

@@johnjyoungjr7400 Reminiscences of a Marine

@@jamessmithson99 thank you.

@@jamessmithson99 Excellent, thank you! I am going to get me a copy of this right now as it sounds like a fantastic read.

@@exidy-yt The other historic autobiography I enjoyed was 41 Years in India, by Sleigh Lord Roberts

Nice green bow tie for St.Patrick's day.

I fully concur with your thoughts. Humans of all races have been mistreating and enslaving one another for millennia. One cannot attribute all of the injustices to just one race. All one needs to do is to study ancient history. The History Guy is one of the best presenters of historical events; matter of fact and completely unbiased. Cheers! It is St. Patrick's Day. 👍🏻😎🇺🇸

@@windborne8795 We can blame certain Nations for their continued aggression & inhumanity, as their actions continue to prove ill will...

True but we all should be able to learn from our mistakes and work to become a better more humane people.

Yes! And we have. Just look at the USA. Until all of this race BS was drummed up again, we were fine as a whole. As Morgan Freeman once said, "stop talking about it". There isn't any systemic racism. Racism will always exist but, only with the ignorant few. There is only one race; the human race...God bless us all.

Me too. Loved Samoa,Tonga and lots of other places I got to visit in Uncle Sammie's Canoe Club, 1982-2004

@@DaveDaDeerslayer Pleasant times I'd say!

@@MsMesem It ain't no pleasure cruise. You earn every liberty port you get.

@@DaveDaDeerslayer 82 to 2004 were comparitively very peaceful times on the planet

@@MsMesem Where did you serve? Ever been in a combat zone?

You are very welcome.

Yup the USA, despite what they say about the past exploits of the UK, are just as colonialist as any other nation with European origins, they just arrived late to the party.

And most don't realize that Samoans are not full US citizens, rather are US nationals. A national is protected by a country and has most rights but not the right to vote. This fact is often attributed to racism but when American Samoa was territorialized the elders of the Samoan tribes did not desire for Samoans to become citizens as they wanted to preserve tribal culture and government. A case went to SCOTUS a few years ago insisting that Samoans should be considered citizens pursuant to the 14th Amendment but the court declined to overrule the appeals court decision that American Samoa is not an "incorporated" territory of the US and Congress has never passed a statute making persons born there citizens at birth as they are in Puerto Rico.

That wild storm came upon them for a purpose and reason.

It's sad that he tells the tales of the coward empires, the real history is being hidden..

What do you expect from a bunch of heathens and gentiles that were keen on subjugating Oceanic islanders?

You should. Great place to retire or live.

If you enjoy homesteading or suburban/ rural living and some close communal connections then by all means go ahead. It is a very peaceful country with low crime rates but remember that any sort of technological, economical or entertainment advancements are incredibly sluggish. You will find yourself bored here if you enjoy cinemas, arcades, high quality diverse cuisine outside Local, Chinese, and West American foods. Internet prices are terrible and there is a severe lack of high quality local meats or diverse produce and if there is imported diverse produce it is incredibly expensive. It's also incredibly religious in it's christian beliefs so do not be suprised if you feel estranged on the lazy sundays and some aspects of zealous behaviour. It is a christians paradise but if you're looking for a peaceful yet somewhat advanced country with some comforts of the western world I would look into instead Hawai'i and the transition would also be less jarring. Samoa has a long way to go in terms of advancements and it'll be a while until the educational boom of the younger generations will come into effect and improve the country but give it another 10-20 years and it'll be steering toward a nicely developing country. It's still a developing nation and you should keep that in mind when considering what comforts, social benefits, community and affordability you are giving up when moving from a developed nation like Canada to one that has several child vendors on the streets, a zealous religious community that often affects socio-economic problems, slow technological innovation and one with a high material cost for importing any goods from international markets because of the distance from it and other countries so I'd suggest buying any materials for your house in Canada and shipping it over in Samoa to keep costs low, there are no manufacturing plants here for anything outside agricultural and beverage based industries. I wish you the best on your journey but I thought you should know these things. This is coming from someone studying economics who's lived in Samoa for 20+ years

@@BenDover-tk3jj Wow, thank you for such a well thought out and detailed post! My entertainment needs are pretty modest, and can be met with the computer and gaming hardware I already possess and I don't need a high speed internet connection, just a continuous power supply and even if the local grid has problems I am sure the climate will be very suitable for solar backup or possibly even full off-grid solar power for me. I am also a fairly quiet guy with not too many social ties now that my kids are grown and while I am not a Christian I have no problem with those who are, as long as they aren't actively preaching at me. Appreciate the advice about shipping supplies for homebuilding if I am not able to find a suitable place to buy already built, I will definately keep it in mind. Again thank you for such well thought out advice.

The history guy Is showing his true colours , a boomer US imperialist .

@@mathewkelly9968 no he is being straight about the history.

@@mathewkelly9968 boomers are the generation that started an anti-war movement. Where do you get your 'imperialist' claptrap?

@@mathewkelly9968 snowflake. Lol

Reading comments between you two. Makes me wish at times the American revolution had failed and we were still under English rule

Not sure I approve of Civil War enthusiasts :-o !

I know, sorry if at.all being a history buff offense anyone....(not yelling at you)...but seriously the way things are taught today, our kids will not learn from every ones mistakes, and could repeat those mistakes....you can't hide man's atrocities....the nazis, and the axes countries...or our past....I can see mabey moving them, but it's history, and.sometimes little reminders help....may I say my opa was a.nazi....my mom escaped to America, became a citizen and integrated...my family has been victims of hate crimes...ignorance can be faulted if not taught....so yes, I oppose censorship as to the truth

@@juliandoncaster6128 I suppose no one should major in history with concentration of the civil war era. Wouldn't wanna learn history and the present for that matter is full of terrible people and acts but not for the progression of humanity

Wow...thank you for sharing!

The German desire for an empire when other nations had already established theirs was one of the things in the background that pushed us towards the First World War.

@@AnimeOtaku2 Very true, the genisis of the war goes back a long way.It was just that in 1914 , for a really bizzare set of reasons, the cards all fell over. Be intresting to see the THG's take on why it happned. One of the best explinations I've ever seen , is rather oddly, the start of the Film Oh What A Lovley War. I'd recommend it.

Of course american and british sources always tell the pure truth.A good idea is,to get your information from different sources. The civil war,the annexation of Hawaii,the Spanish/American War,Panama,the United Fruit Company war, those wars show a dramatic pattern.

@@michaelpielorz9283 There are plenty of scources, including the World Famous' Everyone Knows'. Reffered to in Britain as The Man in the Pub. The fun of histiory, and current affairs, sorting out the greys from the posted Black & White.

@@AnimeOtaku2 Robert K Massie 's "Dreadnought" is a good read about the events which lead to the First world War. Very complicated set of circumstances.

i like to mention it when Americans kick off about the British empire XD

Kinda like when a Congresswoman thinks Guam is a foreign country.

@@sandybarnes887 Don't worry , we have them in England as well.

@@sandybarnes887 Or kinda like when a Congressman from another party was afraid the Guam could "tip over" if we had too many Marines there.

@@sarjim4381 Yeah, they were both members of the “Anti History/Anti Science” Party...

LOL. He's the History Guy, not the Math Guy.

25 years... 1889-1914

@@larson0014 The United States declared war in April 1917. On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson went before a joint session of Congress to request a declaration of war against Germany. On April 4, 1917, the U.S. Senate voted in support of the measure to declare war on Germany. The House concurred two days later.

Hi there! I'm thinking about writing a paper about the disaster at Samoan( as an extension of my interest in American imperialism at the time). I would greatly appreciate it, thank you!

Good quote !

Go go Godzilla!

Nature has a lot on its plate to worry much about humans.Otherwise,it wouldn’t have killed 147 men. 🌏

Oh no! There goes Tokyo!

Godzilla Zilla zillia Zillia zillia

American Samoa yields the highest rate of military enlistment of any U.S. state or territory.

@@TheHistoryGuyChannel Also highest rate of NFL American football players.

@@sparky6086 Troy Polamalu, humble guy and incredible career

Not much opportunity on the islands so military service is a way out .I know I served with many in the navy and a lot relocate to Hawaii

I went to basic training for the Army in '84 with two Samoans. One was of Japanese descent, the other had long ancestry there. They despised each other.

First we were young and stupid , now we become old and foolish. I'm just wondering what happned to me in the middle :-)

I visited there in 1987. I stayed at the NOAA station for a week. If you went there I don't think you misspent your youth. !:- )

@@51WCDodge Fair to Midland and being caught in the Mosh! Dang I brought up 2 era's in Time in one comment ! Cool name!

@@a787fxr I still remember it as clear as a bell! Fondly might I add!

@@constipatedinsincity4424 Thanks I have a Dodge WC51 and Dodge WC54 in my care , ready for next generation :-)

Do you mean Samoa or American Samoa? You're not missing much in American Samoa, at least around Pago Pago. Either end of Tutuila, west or east, is much better. Samoa though is very nice. Apia is a beautiful little village with a good number of shops and native restaurants but not too busy or touristy.

@@John-tx1wk Talofa Lava - I lived in Tafuna when I worked in the ETV system from 1967 t0 1968. Yes its American Samoa, and was Western Samoa up until they changed that a few years ago back to "SAMOA" as it originally all was.

It’s a beautiful place. Was there at the end of 2019 before the whole pandemic. If you do, visit Lalomanu Beach, The Piula cave pools and the To Sua trench on Upolu. Plenty of other small places to visit including Savai’i and the people are very friendly. In fact, my RU-vid picture is actually of my favourite McDonald’s meal I had in Samoa lol.

No matter how great we get to thinking of ourselves, old Mother Nature can still put us back in our places. Just this past weekend, all air traffic funneling through Denver shutdown. And all interstates in that area also at a standstill. Mother Nature still rules, we have just learned to adapt and recover better.

I still start any journey with an adage whacked into me as a kid on the Island Of Jersey . We'll go sailing 'God and Weather Permitting'

Or maybe one on the Notre dame fighting Irish battle against the KKK

Troy Polamalu and Junior Seau are prime examples.

Their rugby team is very good as well.

@@amadeusamwater Marcus Mariota and Tua Tagovailoa are current examples (though as yet undistinguished, compared to their college days).

Though he never made into the NFL I believe Dwayne Johnson could be considered a big, tough athletic fellow. His mother is from Samoa. Having visited Apia I can tell you the locals are very proud of him.

The women too !

This history is not entirely true. Of course this is the one they teach but much is left out.

Vailima*

The idea of the US being anti-imperialist is and always has been hypocritical. That said, the people of American Samoa have the same rights as other Americans (except direct representation in government) so its unlikely they would choose to not be part of the U.S.

@@scottabc72 My personal view is that Guam, American Samoa and Puerto Rico should all be given the vote in Congress. As should Washington DC, a territory of 750,000 people inside the continental US who have theoretical representation but no actual voting rights in Congress. Give them all statehood, or an honest chance to vote for or against it.

@@goodun2974 Agreed, both PR and DC have more people than Wyoming and N Dakota for example but no direct representation in government.

Quite a tale!

Sorry. One of the hats tipped too.

@@TheHistoryGuyChannel love your studio.

The ships allied with a Samoans chief bombed the villages from offshore and the chiefs and their warriors would go inland to force soilders to come ashore where they ambushed them and killed 30 or so soldiers. These chiefs were against the new religion and any foreigners, they wanted to keep Samoa tradition for Samoans and protect against any foreign influence, of course this was a threat to the other chief and European empires who allied with them, as they wished to make progressive changes in Samoa. So they were labelled as revels however the truth could be said they were defending their way of life and beliefs from foreigners who didn't have anything of value to offer accept Christianity which turned out to be of great value and we are grateful for this gift to be returned to us. It was a Malietoa King who accepted Christianity in the 1830's, he had just won a war and burnt all of his rivals in a huge pit, all women, children and elderly were not spared as it was a habit before Christianity came to Samoa for Samoans to take revenge, so long as there was survivors to take vengeance for their loss, so Malietoa killed them in order to subdue his enemies and accept Christianity. The war began because the people of A'ana district killed the king of Samoa Malietoa Faiga who lived on Manono island. The smoke ascending from the pit into the sky was seen by the missionary who out at sea and making his way to Samoa, he recorded that he could smell the smell of burning flesh. The Malie Toa title in English means "beautiful warrior" or "wonderful warrior", it is a title taken from the speech given by the Tongan King who was defeated along side his warriors and driven into he sea by Tuna, Fata and their Samoan war party. The King gave the speech Malie Toa! Malie Tau! (Beautiful warrior! Beautiful war!) He then made a covenant to never war against Samoa and if he does come back he will come as a guest. To confirm his covenant was accepted and they were not harbouring any ill intentions and planning to sail to Tonga to continue their slaughter of Tongans, the Tongan king made one of his concubines stay a night on the shore, if they accepted his covenant, she would return unharmed however if they killed her, he knew they haboured bad intentions. His covenant would save his throne back in Tonga, if they were defeated in Samoa and driven into the sea by the Samoans warriors, his first thought would of been to secure his country by making a covenant of peace with Samoa warriors. All wars end with Victor having the choice to proceed or make peace, the brothers however made peace with the Tongan king as they're all family anyway, every other Tongan king was loved and honoured by Samoans as they were family, however this particular Tongan king hated Samoans and favoured his Fijian side and it was his Fijian supporters/family and Samoan family/supporters in Samoa that were protecting him. The Tongan king supporters in Samoa all were punished and they were commanded to give a family member each on the Malietoa chiefs day, where they would be killed and thrown into the umu (Samoan oven) and become Malietoa king meal. This continued down the line of Malietoa king's (or better known as Canibal king's) until one of the sons of the king had compassion upon the soon to be sacrfices of his father & told them to not worry, he told them to serve himself to his own father, when his father open the bread fruit leaves and saw his son, he was moved with compassion and banned canabilism in Samoa from them on, of course canabilism still existed in Samoa, many chiefs still practices it but the ones who were caught disobeying Malietoa, the king would send warriors to kill them. One in particular was a half fijian and half Samoan who held the Tui Samoa title and was given the village of Aua, this chief used to stack the heads of his rivals and made a small wall with the skulls in front of his house. Samoans were head hunters back then, and would take their rivals head and take it to their Chief or leader, this would grant them both respect, reputation and honour. Christianity brought back the humanity side and light of Christ in our hearts, as anciently our ancestors were Christian however we fell out of the faith and sort or accepted other gods and were corrupted, falling into darkness & we became an idolistrous, lazy, loathsome people, filled with all manner of abominations and wickedness. The savagery and pure violence back then brought about the destruction of so many of our brothers and sisters lives.

Most Samoans who knows this part of their history are well aware that cyclone was a divine intervention. The three superpower of the time we’re ready to go to war for control of the whole Samoan islands without the natives having a say on its own internal affairs.

Next visit go to the village of vailele. That’s where the second civil war happened. Much alofas

Far too well. I spent three years crossing the Pacific in my 34 foot sailboat, before GPS.

@ Now that is actually pretty cool. I bet you could really feel the words in this bit of history. Did you ever see that kind of storm?

I'm Samoan from Samoa (formerly known as Western Samoa) and yup we learn that in school. Those 3 ships were fighting for power over my small country. Thanks to the Europeans and their introduction of Christian beliefs my ancestors at the time learned prayer and as a last line of defense for our people we put our faith in God to help us. The day we had that prayer as a country without these invaders knowledge a massive powerful storm came and most of them died. I think only one warship survived but barely. After that NZ won over 🇼🇸 from Germany & AS Chiefs decided to abandon us and signed a treaty with the 🇺🇸. So yeah that's a lil summary of how we Samoans 🇼🇸 see this. That is our version of this tragic piece of our history. It wasn't a crisis for us but a blessing. It may have lead to more years of hardship under NZ, but at least not one Samoan was killed as these 3 powerful countries prepared to fight over this ONE SMALL harmless NATION. We may be small but we have the heart & faith to get rid of our enemies☺✌💖. Now our greatest threat comes from China I hope they don't colonised us if HRPP can't pay back their loans. We the people ain't paying that. Unless you are a supporter of the party lol. Me oh hell no😜😂😂.

Did you account for the replies as well?

@@richardjohnson8197 Nope, just the comments.

Not a 100% sure on this but I think in youtube's comment count replies are factored in. Maybe this accounts for the discrepancy.

Talofa Lava

Yep, that's the real history they are hiding. In fact King Kalakaua sent a training ship Kaimiloa into Apia harbour with the diplomatic mission to form a Polyneasian confederacy with Samoa and Tonga, our king agreed but ended up being exiled. Shortly after the 3 empires hold a meeting and conspire to annex Samoa, this the Berlin treaty, however they needed to disarm Samoans and here we have the betrayal of the Germans. In the meeting the main priority the great Chief Mata'afa Iosefo, the one who defeated all them when they joined forces. They came up with a plan to kill him and they all agreed that under no circumstances was he allowed to become King, in other words these empires were meddling in a sovereign country's affairs. Mata'afa was supported by majority of Samoa and Malietoa was supported by the minority of Samoa. The threat of Mata'afa was greatly dreaded by the 3 empires, one American calling him the Samoan Washington of DC, as his words held weight and all majority of Samoa listened to him even when they were there, they couldn't allow the candidate they chose to be defeated. They then conspired to kill Mata'afa and his supporters which was majority of Samoa, warships began bombing & shooting over a thousand shells into many villages, using machine guns to spray villages killing many innocent women and children, the mangled bodies of children trying to crawl to safety did very little for the devilish hearts of the empires. In retaliation, Mata'afa burnt German plantations and wiped out 60 German soldiers, lured the people bombing from their warships in land and ambushed them with his warriors. Bad in those days Samoans were still well accustomed with our head hunting forefathers and were still transitioning over to Christianity, the practices of head hunting was to cut off the heads of the enemy and bring the head and body back as trophy and showcase the warriors prowess. These soldiers suffered this fate, many having their heads cut off and bodies taken to the villages where they were dragged around the village, speared through, spat on, stoned, stabbed and mutilated in any other way to add more insult. This was retribution for their murderous deeds. The missionaries were asked by the 3 coward empires to retrieve the heads and bodies of the slain soldiers. From this even the fallen soldiers were hailed for their bravery however no Samoan is remembered for defending our country and sovereignty from 3 coward Empires trying to turn us into loyal subordinate colonies. My people need to know the truth and need to rise up so this never happens again. They annexed Hawaii not long after annexing Samoa, this should show their true agenda, which was to make a powerful navy force in the pacific loyal to them. How many Samoans serve in the military? Over 20,000 Samoans have served overseas in the middle east, the Tongans also ally of America and Britian serve their wars in the middles east, guess what Hawaii also enlist soldiers as well, Guam and all the other colonies that are key controlling the ocean highway.

@@alamai7799 that's what my aunty taught me too. King Kalakaua's ship had two cannons, one of em was on the island of aunu'u.

At the Coaltown Museum near Westport, NZ there is a claim that the Buller coal made the difference.

One example; easily overlooked: This storm prompted a major overhaul of the way ships for the US were built. This could be a singular event that wound up winning WW1 for the US. That's why stories like this are so fascinating. The devil is in the details. Great video!

You are completely correct. I apologize for the error.