The Philippine fight for independence was a war of an independent nation against a conquering foreign power. Americans came to the Philippines to subdue the natives who already have declared their independent. The Philippine-American war was a fight of early Republican Filipinos against a superior conqueror which was a struggle to retain the nation's independence and the struggle for survival of the Filipinos. The casualty of this war resulted in the death of over 4,200 Americans and over 20,000 Filipino combatants.