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South American Wars of Independence
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The Latin American Wars of Independence were the various revolutions that took place during the late 18th and early 19th centuries that resulted in the creation of a number of independent countries in the Latin American region. These revolutions followed the American and French Revolutions, which had profound effects on the Spanish, Portuguese and French colonies in the Americas. Haiti, a French slave colony, was the first to follow the United States to independence after a war that lasted from 1791 to 1804.
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Encyclopedia
The Latin American Wars of Independence were the various revolutions that took place during the late 18th and early 19th centuries that resulted in the creation of a number of independent countries in the Latin American region. These revolutions followed the American and French Revolutions, which had profound effects on the Spanish, Portuguese and French colonies in the Americas. Haiti, a French slave colony, was the first to follow the United States to independence after a war that lasted from 1791 to 1804. Thwarted in his attempt to rebuild a French North American empire, Napoleon Bonaparte turned his armies to Europe, invading and occupying many countries including Spain and Portugal in 1808. The occupation of Spain caused Spanish creoles to question their allegiance to the metropole, stoking independence movements that culminated in bloody wars of independence after Spain's liberation: Hispanic American wars of independence. The Portuguese monarchy relocated to Brazil while Portugal was under French occupation. After the royal court returned to Lisbon, the Prince Regent, Pedro, remained in Brazil and in 1822 declared himself emperor of a newly independent Brazil.
Conditions prior to revolution
American Revolution
The rebellion by the British colonies in North America from Great Britain was spurred by a number of taxes and Acts that the colonists had no say over. This infuriated colonists, and started the American Revolution. Colonists in North America were able to start a government of their own because of Enlightenment thinking, and because they were governing themselves on the state level for many years before the rebellion.
French Revolution
The French Revolution (1789–1799) was a period of political and social upheaval in the political history of France and Europe as a whole, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based on Enlightenment principles of democracy, citizenship, and inalienable rights. These changes were accompanied by violent turmoil, including executions and repression during the Reign of Terror, and warfare involving every other major European power.
Napoleonic Wars
This was a series of wars fought between France (led by Napoleon Bonaparte) and alliances involving Britain, Prussia, Spain, Russia and Austria at different times, from 1799 to 1815.
Spanish presence in its colonies
The Royalists (in Spanish: Realistas) were the American and European supporters of King Ferdinand. Hispanic Americans and Spaniards formed the Royalist Army, with Hispanic Americans composing 90% in all fronts. There were two types of units: the Expeditionary, units created in Spain; and the Militias, created in the Americas. They could be veteran units(Disciplined Militia). Only 11% were white people (Creole).
After Rafael del Riego's revolution, in 1820, no more Spanish soldiers were sent to the war in the Americas. In 1820 there were only 9,954 Spanish soldiers in the Americas, and Spaniards formed only 10% of the whole Royalist Army, and only half of the soldiers of the expeditionary units were European. At the Battle of Ayacucho in 1824, less than 1% of the soldiers were European.
Other factors
Other factors included European Enlightenment thinking. The Enlightenment spurred the desire for social and economic reform to spread throughout Latin America. Ideas about free trade and physiocrat doctrine were raised by the Enlightenment.
Leaders of the Latin American revolutions
- José de San Martín (Argentina, Chile, Peru)
- Miguel de Hidalgo (Mexico)
- Francisco de Paula Santander (Colombia)
- José Miguel Carrera (Chile, Argentina)
- Simón Bolívar (Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and Bolivia)
- Francisco de Miranda (Venezuela)
- Ramon Castilla (Peru)
- Toussaint L'Ouverture (Haiti)
- Jean-Jacques Dessalines (Haiti)
- Vicente Guerrero (Mexico)
- José María Morelos (Mexico)
- Bernardo O'Higgins (Chile)
- Antonio José de Sucre (Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia)
North America
Antilles
Central America
South America
Independence movements in the northern regions of Spanish South America had an inauspicious beginning in 1806. The small group of foreign volunteers that the Venezuelan revolutionary Francisco de Miranda brought to his homeland failed to incite the populace to rise against Spanish rule. Creoles in the region wanted an expansion of the free trade that was benefiting their plantation economy. At the same time, however, they feared that the removal of Spanish control might bring about a revolution that would destroy their own power.
Creole elites in Venezuela had good reason to fear such a possibility, for one such revolution had recently exploded in the French Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue. Beginning in 1791, a massive slave revolt sparked a general insurrection against the plantation system and French colonial power. By the first years of the 19th century, the rebels had shattered what had been a model colony and forged the independent nation of Haiti. Partly inspired by those Caribbean events, slaves in Venezuela carried out their own uprisings in the 1790s. Just as it served as a beacon of hope for the enslaved, Haiti was a warning of everything that might go wrong for elites in the cacao-growing areas of Venezuela and throughout slave societies in the Americas.
Creole anxieties also contributed to the persistence of a strong loyalist faction in the Viceroyalty of New Granada, but they did not prevent the rise of an independence struggle there. Creoles organized revolutionary governments that proclaimed social and economic reforms in 1810 and openly declared a break with Spain the following year.
Northern South America
Venezuela
Venezuela declared its independence from Spain on July 5, 1811, beginning its wars against that country. In 1812 Spanish forces led by General Juan Domingo Monteverde defeated the Venezuelan revolutionary army, led by Francisco de Miranda, which surrendered at La Victoria in July 12, 1812, effectively ending the first phase of the revolutionary war.
After his defeat in 1812, Simón Bolívar fled to New Granada. He later returned with a new army, while the war had entered a tremendously violent phase. After much of the local aristocracy had abandoned the cause of independence, blacks and mulattoes carried on the struggle. Elites reacted with open distrust and opposition to the efforts of these common people. Bolívar's forces invaded Venezuela from New Granada in 1813, waging a campaign with a ferocity captured perfectly by their motto, "guerra a muerte" ("war to the death"). Bolívar's forces defeated Juan Monteverde's Spanish army in a series of battles, taking Caracas on August 6, 1813 and besieging Monteverde at Puerto Cabello in September 1813.
With loyalists displaying the same passion and violence, the rebels achieved only short-lived victories. In 1814, heavily reinforced Spanish forces in Venezuela lost a series of battles to Bolívar's forces but then decisively defeated Bolivar at La Puerta on June 15, took Caracas on July 16, and again defeated his army at Aragua on August 18, at a cost of 2,000 Spanish casualties out of 10,000 soldiers as well as most of the 3,000 in the rebel army. Bolívar and other leaders then returned to New Granada.
The army led by the loyalist José Tomás Boves demonstrated the key military role that the llaneros came to play in the region's struggle. Turning the tide against independence, these highly mobile, ferocious fighters made up a formidable military force that pushed Bolívar out of his home country once more.
Bolívar returned to Venezuela in December 1816, again leading a largely unsuccessful insurrection against Spain from 1816 to 1818.
Bolívar again returned to Venezuela in April 1821, leading an army of 7,000 from New Granada. At Carabobo on June 24, his forces decisively defeated Spanish and colonial forces, winning Venezuelan independence, although hostilities continued.
Colombia
By 1815, the independence movements in Venezuela and almost all across Spanish South America seemed moribund. A large military expedition sent by Ferdinand VII in that year reconquered Venezuela and most of New Granada. Yet another invasion led by Bolívar in 1816 failed miserably.
Then in June and July 1819 Bolívar's forces crossed the Andes into New Granada. At the Battle of Boyacá on August 7, his army of 3,000 defeated a Spanish and colonial force of 2,500. In the spring of 1820, Bolívar's republican forces took Bogotá; he then became the first president of the Gran Colombia.
Ecuador
The first uprising against Spanish rule took place in 1809, but only in 1822 did Ecuador fully gain independence and became part of the Federation of Gran Colombia, from which it withdrew in 1830. Luz de America was the nickname given to Ecuador's capital Quito which saw the first revolt against Spanish occupation. The nickname served the urge for the call of independence that was heard around the continent, and inspired the eventual domino collapse of the crown throughout Latin America. At the Battle of Pichincha, near present-day Quito, Ecuador on May 24, 1822, General Antonio José de Sucre's forces defeated a Spanish force defending Quito. The Spanish defeat guaranteed the liberation of Ecuador.
Southern South America
Most of the southern South American colonies of Spain, including Argentina, Chile, and Perú, fought their wars of independence under José de San Martín (also known as "the Liberator (el libertador)", especially in Argentina), another influential military leader and politician. San Martín also served as "Protector" of Perú until its parliament was assembled. He met with Bolívar at Guayaquil, and on July 26, 1822, they had confidential talks to plan the future of Latin America.
Argentina
The Argentine War of Independence was fought from 1810 to 1818 by Argentine forces under Manuel Belgrano and José de San Martín against royalist forces loyal to the Spanish crown. On July 9, 1816, an assembly met in San Miguel de Tucumán, declared full independence with provisions for a national constitution.
Chile
Chilean War of Independence, was an armed conflict between the people of Chile and Spanish colonial authorities, which started on September 10, 1810 and extended until 1821 (Spanish expelled from mainland Chile) or 1826 (last Spanish troops surrendered and Chiloé incorporated to the Chilean republic), depending on what terms one uses to define the end, and was part of the South American Wars of Independence. A declaration of independence was officially issued by Chile on February 12, 1818 and formally recognized by Spain in 1840, when full diplomatic relations were established.
The Chilean Independence movement was led by Chilean-born criollos, who sought political and economic independence from Spain. The movement for independence was far from gaining unanimous support among Chileans, who became divided between independentists and royalists. What started as an elitist political movement against their colonial master, finally ended as a full-fledged civil war. Traditionally, the process is divided into three stages: Patria Vieja, Reconquista, and Patria Nueva.
Paraguay
Paraguay gained its independence on May 15, 1811, after a plan devised by various pro-independence nationalists including Fulgencio Yegros and José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia.
Uruguay
In 1811, José Gervasio Artigas, who became Uruguay's national hero, launched a successful revolt against Spain. In 1821, the Provincia Oriental del Río de la Plata, present-day Uruguay, was annexed by Brazil under the name of Província Cisplatina before declaring independence on August 25, 1825 (after numerous prior revolts) and joining a regional federation with the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, present-day Argentina.
The United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, including Provincia Oriental, fought Brazil during a 500-day war. Neither side gained the upper hand, and in 1828 the Treaty of Montevideo, fostered by the United Kingdom, gave birth to Uruguay as an independent state.
Central South America
Perú
At the time of the Napoleonic invasion of the Iberian Peninsula and the degradation of the Royal power took place, and under the attack of Buenos Aires armies in Upper Peru, the oligarch Peruvians support the Royalist army. The Creole rebellion of Huánuco arose in 1812 and the rebellion of Cuzco between 1814 and 1816 was suppressed. These rebellions were supported by the armies of Buenos Aires.
Years after the fear of indigenous rebellion from 1780 to 1781 that was headed by Tupac Amaru II, and under commercial and nationalist reasons, the Viceroys gain the support of the Lima oligarch in opposite to Buenos Aires or Chilean commercial interest. The Viceroyalty of Peru became the last redoubt of the Spanish Monarchy in South America. This Viceroyalty succumbed after the decisive continental campaigns of José de San Martín (1820-1823) and Simón Bolívar (1824). While San Martin was in charge of the military land campaign the newly built Chilean Navy led by Lord Thomas Cochrane transported the fighting troops and launched a sea campaign to fight the Spanish fleet in the Pacific.[1] San Martín, who had displaced the royalists of Chile after the battle of Maipu, and who had disembarked in Paracas in 1820, proclaimed the independence of Peru in Lima on July 28, 1821. Four years later, the Spanish Monarchy was defeated definitively after the battle of Ayacucho.
After the war of independence the conflict of interests that faced different sectors of the Creole society and the particular ambitions of the caudillos, made the organization of the country excessively difficult. Only three civilians: Manuel Pardo, Nicolás de Piérola and Francisco García Calderón could accede to the presidency in the first seventy-five years of independent life. After the splitting of the Alto Peru in 1815, the Republic of Bolivia was created. In 1837, the Peru-Bolivian Confederation was also created but, it was dissolved two years later due to the Chilean military intervention.
Bolivia
Bolivia proclaimed independence from Spain in 1809, but 16 years of struggle followed before the establishment of the republic.
The fight for independence culminated in the Battle of Ayacucho, on December 9, 1824, as part of Bolívar's War, when de Sucre's republican army of 7,000 defeated José de La Serna's Spanish army of 10,000. The republicans suffered more than 1,000 casualties, compared to more than 2,000 Spanish casualties and more than 2,000 captured, among them La Serna. The Spanish surrender came the next day.
Brazil
World Reaction
Europe
During the 1800s, Latin American countries were faced by many challenges in developing their economy. Though they were politically independent from countries such as Spain and Portugal, many countries remained economically dependent on Europe. Latin American countries exported sugar, beef, copper and coffee to Europe in exchange for manufactured goods.
United States and Great Britain
As a result of these successful revolts, United States President James Monroe asked Secretary of State John Quincy Adams to draft the Monroe Doctrine" It stated that the United States would not tolerate any European interference in the Western Hemisphere. This measure was taken in order to safeguard the newfound liberties revolutionaries such as Bolivar and Hidalgo fought for. Also, it was taken as a precautionary measure against the vast naval might of the United States' European contemporaries.
Great Britain's trade with Latin America had greatly expanded by this time so they supported the revolutionaries against the Spanish, who had in the past always attempted to obstruct British trade. British diplomatic pressure was sufficient to prevent Spain from attempting to seriously reassert its control over their lost colonies during the early 1820s.
Within Latin America
Simón Bolívar attempted to create a Pan-American government in Gran Colombia. Geographical barriers made this impossible. Internal divisions resulted in wars, and the fragile South American coalition collapsed. Because every ruler who came to power was from the military, Caudillos, there were countless revolutions, which never allowed Latin America to become united. Added that Latin America is a land of various and very diverse cultures that do not identify many similiarties or have a sense of unity with one another.
The Spanish Empire in America was reduced to 3 Caribbean islands: Cuba and Puerto Rico, with Santo Domingo going back to the Spanish Empire for some years before definitive independence.
After several independence wars in Cuba, the Spanish-American War finally took away the islands from Spain.
Organization of American States
The notion of closer hemispheric union in the American continent was first put forward by the Liberator Simón Bolívar who, at the 1826 Congress of Panama, proposed creating a league of American republics, with a common military, a mutual defense pact, and a supranational parliamentary assembly. This meeting was attended by representatives of Gran Colombia (comprising the modern-day nations of Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela the Commercial Bureau of the American Republics (renamed the "International Commercial Bureau" at the Second International Conference in 1901–02). These two bodies, in existence as of 14 April 1890, represent the point of inception to which today's OAS and its General Secretariat trace their origins.
See also
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