Page 285 - Conflitti Militari e Popolazioni Civili - Tomo II

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ment was so strong that military government correspondence afterward became riddled with
details of increasing resistance and the question of how to deal it. this speech and its
41
condescending rhetoric about the Dominican population’s inability to self-govern combined
with continuously inflammatory Marine portrayals of the occupation as violent resistance
increased. 42
Some difficulties with the policy of more Dominican-friendly intervention existed and
created friction even during the early years of Knapp’s administration, however. The four
governmental departments over which the general military governor had jurisdiction were
those which Dominican lawmakers expected to control with the initial proclamation. One
fourth of those departments, however, consisted of the Department of War and Marine and
the Department of Interior and Police, which had technical jurisdiction over the provincial
and municipal governments as well as the GND. For this reason, General Order XXXXXX
on XXXX 1917 excluded Dominicans from any posts in this department; yet the issue was
incredibly complicated by attempts to both appease Dominicans by leaving as much admin-
istration as possible in Dominican hands, and to use Dominican manpower when the U.S.
Navy and Marines did not have enough personnel in the country. The resulting confusion can
be readily imagined; as the Marine account of the history of the occupation explains, “For
some purposes, the personnel of the GND (PND) acted under the orders of the Dominican
courts, which were supervised by the Department of Justice and Public Instruction.” as
43
those purposes changed over time according to different situations, Dominicans in many
areas protested the loss of control over certain areas of administration.
With the official military entry of the United States into World War One in April of 1917,
soon after the occupation began, many Navy and Marine personnel were removed from the
Dominican Republic; some were replaced by new recruits with less training, and many were
not replaced at all. The overall Marine strength that had come to number well over 2,000
personnel at the time of Knapp’s proclamation dropped to 1,683 within a month of the dec-
laration of war with Germany. In an attempt to mediate public opinion in a country that
44
was in many cases pro-German before the occupation, Governor Knapp in October of 1918
issued an official declaration stating that while U.S. occupation troops were not neutral in
World War One, the military government was. This attempt too, however, caused further
45
confusion over who should be taking orders from whom. It also did not fool pro-German or
neutral Dominicans, who lamented that “La Republica Dominicana ha entrado sin querer en
la Primera Guerra Mundial.”
46
In many areas throughout the country, civilian resistance increased exponentially during

41 Legajo 59, “Gobierno Militar, Oficina Gobierno Militar, Correspondencia Varios,” AGN.
42 In fact, resistance and a breakdown in Marine-Dominican relations so broke down after this speech that to
lead to such unified resistance that the occupation became increasingly untenable, and an early plan to begin
withdrawal in 1930 was revised so that withdrawal began in 1922.
43 Fuller, 53.
44 See Fuller, 89.
45 Dominican Republic, Military Government, “Memorandum for Admiral Knapp” from Rufus Lane, October
1, 1918, Legajo 59, “Gobierno Militar,” “Oficina Gobierno Militar Correspondencia Varios, Años 1917-
1918,” AGN.
46 “The Dominican Republic has unwillingly entered World War One.” See Cien Años, 41-42.