The True and Largely Unknown Story of the Illegal Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom
The story begins with Kamehameha the Great — the warrior king who unified the Hawaiian islands and built a sovereign nation recognized by the world. His kingdom stood for nearly a century.
On January 17, 1893, American sugar businessmen — backed by US Marines who landed illegally on Hawaiian soil — surrounded Iolani Palace and demanded the queen surrender her throne.
Queen Liliuokalani had 496 soldiers ready to fight. She ordered every one of them to stand down. She would not let her people die for her crown. She yielded her kingdom under protest — to the United States of America, not to the traitors who demanded it.
The story ends at the annexation ceremony, where members of the Royal Hawaiian Band — rather than play Hawaii's national anthem at the moment their nation ceased to exist — simply walked away in tears.
