The
Thousand Days War (1899-1902) (Spanish:
Guerra de los Mil Días), was a civil armed conflict in the newly created Republic of
ColombiaColombia , officially the Republic of Colombia , is a constitutional republic in northwestern South America. Colombia is bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the northwest by Panama; and to the west by the Pacific Ocean...
, (including its then province of
PanamaPanama, officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of both Central America and, in turn, North America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the...
) between the
Conservative PartyThe Colombian Conservative Party , is a conservative political party in Colombia. The party was unofficially founded by a group of Revolutionary Commoners during the Revolutionary War for Independence from the Spanish Monarchy and later formally established during the Greater Colombia...
, the
Liberal PartyThe Colombian Liberal Party is a center-left party in Colombia. The ideology of this party is the social democracy and social liberalism....
and its radical factions. In 1899 the ruling conservatives were accused of maintaining power through fraudulent elections. The situation was worsened by an economic crisis caused by falling coffee prices in the international market, which mainly affected the opposition
Liberal PartyThe Colombian Liberal Party is a center-left party in Colombia. The ideology of this party is the social democracy and social liberalism....
, which had lost power.
The
Thousand Days War (1899-1902) (Spanish:
Guerra de los Mil Días), was a civil armed conflict in the newly created Republic of
ColombiaColombia , officially the Republic of Colombia , is a constitutional republic in northwestern South America. Colombia is bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the northwest by Panama; and to the west by the Pacific Ocean...
, (including its then province of
PanamaPanama, officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of both Central America and, in turn, North America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the...
) between the
Conservative PartyThe Colombian Conservative Party , is a conservative political party in Colombia. The party was unofficially founded by a group of Revolutionary Commoners during the Revolutionary War for Independence from the Spanish Monarchy and later formally established during the Greater Colombia...
, the
Liberal PartyThe Colombian Liberal Party is a center-left party in Colombia. The ideology of this party is the social democracy and social liberalism....
and its radical factions. In 1899 the ruling conservatives were accused of maintaining power through fraudulent elections. The situation was worsened by an economic crisis caused by falling coffee prices in the international market, which mainly affected the opposition
Liberal PartyThe Colombian Liberal Party is a center-left party in Colombia. The ideology of this party is the social democracy and social liberalism....
, which had lost power.
Prelude
Throughout the 19th century, Colombia was a country filled with political instability, which was the factor that evolved into the main cause of the war in 1886. This was the year in which the 1863 constitution was suppressed and replaced by a more centralist and conservative document. The 1863 constitution had been criticized as a result of federalist excesses during the period in which the Liberal radicals were in power.
With
Regeneración (Regeneration) period and the creation of the 1886 constitution, the centralist regime only managed to aggravate the political problems, which some
departmentsColombia is an unitary republic conformed by thirty-two departments and a Capital District . Each department has a Governor and a Department Assembly , elected by popular vote for a four-year period. The governor cannot be re-elected consecutively...
soon began to complain about to the central government. In the economic field, poor political decisions also led to economic problems.
The detonating factor of the war was simply the confrontation between the Liberals and Conservatives, as much among them as within their respective parties. The Conservatives had used fraudulent elections to remain in power, and this led to much anger amongst the opposition. On top of increasingly hostile political environment, President Manuel Antonio Sanclemente was too ill to rule the country, leading to a power-vacuum in the country. The political environment and the increasingly dire economic situation created a powder-keg that required only the smallest light to set it off.
Liberal Revolt
The intended date for the beginning of the civil war was October 20th, 1899. However, due to the imprudence of some of the Liberal generals who wished to begin the war on October 17th, it was moved forward. The reaction of many Liberals was hesitant, since they believed that they did not have sufficient numbers or organization. Despite this, the rebellion began in the municipality of Socorro, Santander, and the rebels awaited military reinforcements from Venezuela.
The Conservative government, however, did not simply stand idle while all of this was occurring. They prepared a military force to be sent to
BucaramangaBucaramanga is a municipality and the capital city of the department of Santander, Colombia. Bucaramanga has the sixth largest city economy and population in Colombia, with 1,212,657 people in its metropolitan area. Bucaramanga has made good progress in all areas...
, the capital of Santander. The force never arrived, however, because the troops refused to accept payment in "tickets", which the government had to use due to the dire economic situation. No one expected, or was prepared for, a war that would last three years and would bring disastrous ruin to the country. With time, the war spread to every corner of Colombia.
The first Liberal defeats came early in the war, with the Conservative victory at the battle of
Magdalena RiverThe Magdalena River , also called Yuma River is the principal river of Colombia, flowing northward about 1,540 kilometres through the western half of the country. It takes its name from the biblical figure, Mary Magdalene...
on October 24th. However, the Conservatives were in a delicate situation as well. The Conservative side had split into two factions, the
Historical and
National, in a frenetic attempt to bring order to the country. First, they removed president Sanclemente and replaced him with Jose Manuel Marroquin. In response, the Liberals nominated Gabriel Vargas Santos for the presidency.
With the advance of the war, it became more repressive and cruel. The population was even driven to take part in each side in more fanatical ways, in spite of the efforts of each party to gain victories (which soon were revealed to be illusionary).
Without a doubt, the battles of Peralonso and
PalonegroThe Battle of Palonegro started on May 26, 1900, in the early days of the Thousand Days War, the commanding general of the Liberal armies, Gabriel Vargas Santos, ordered his troops to retire to Palonegro. Few could have imagined the effect it would have on Colombian history...
(in Santander) showed the country the magnitude of the damages that the war was causing. At Peralonso, the Liberals achieved victory under the leadership of Rafael Uribe Uribe. At Palonegro (May 26th, 1900) the Conservatives halted the enemy in what was an extraordinarily bloody encounter.
Beginning of the End
After Palonegro, the war became devoid of sense and of meaning for the parties. With their defeat, the Liberals as well were split into two different factions, this time
pacifists and the
warmongers. The
Nationals of the Conservative side believed it was time to end the war, which by this time was focused in the province of
PanamaPanama, officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of both Central America and, in turn, North America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the...
and on the coast of the
Caribbean SeaThe Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean situated in the tropics of the Western hemisphere, bounded to the south and west by the American landmass, with the North Atlantic Ocean proper to the northeast and the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest...
.
With that decision, internationalization of the war was avoided, which Venezuela wished to do through its president Cipriano Castro (who held to Uribe Uribe as President of Colombia). Conservative troops under the command of Marroquín managed to cut Venezuelan aid to the Liberals (July 29th), who at this time were suffering defeats at the hands of the Conservative General Juan B. Tovar. General Uribe saw that the Liberals would not be able to defeat the Conservatives, and therefore was inclined to surrender, albeit with certain conditions.
Treaties
The
peace treaty was signed on the
Neerlandia plantation on October 24th, 1902, although the fighting lasted until November of that year in Panama. From late 1901, fighting between the ships
Admiral Padilla (Liberal) and the
Lautaro (of
Chilean property-History:The origin of the Chilean Navy dates back to 1817. A year before, following the Battle of Chacabuco, General Bernardo O'Higgins prophetically declared "this victory and another hundred shall be of no significance if we do not gain control of the sea"....
, lent to the conservatives), the latter of which was defeated in front of City of Panama on January 20, 1902.
Later the threat came from the American navy, sent by the government of
Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States. He is well remembered for his energetic persona, his range of interests and achievements, his model of masculinity, and his "cowboy" image. He was a leader of the Republican Party and founder of the short-lived Bull Moose Party...
to protect the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
future interests in the construction of the Panama Canal. The Liberals under the command of general Benjamin Herrera were then forced to lay down their arms.
The
definitive peace treaty was signed on the American battleship
WisconsinUSS Wisconsin , an Illinois-class battleship, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the 30th state.The keel of Battleship No. 9 was laid down on 9 February 1897 at San Francisco, California, by the Union Iron Works...
on November 21, 1902. The Liberals were represented by general Lucas Caballero Barrera, who was in charge of the united army of Cauca and Panama, and Colonel Eusebio A. Morales, who was representing general Benjamin Herrera. The Conservatives were represented by general Víctor M. Salazar, governor of the department of Panama, and general Alfredo Vázquez Cobo, chief of staff of the Conservative army on the Atlantic Coast, the Pacific, and Panama. Together, representing the entire government, they signed the end of the war.
Fiction
- One Hundred Years of Solitude
One Hundred Years of Solitude is a novel by Nobel Prize-winning Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez. It was first published in Spanish in 1967. The book was an instant success worldwide and was translated into over 27 languages. Lauded critically, the book contributed to the Latin American...
by Gabriel García MárquezGabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist. García Márquez, affectionately known as "Gabo" throughout Latin America, is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. In 1982, he was awarded the Nobel...
, published in 1967, chronicles 100 years in MacondoMacondo is a fictional town described in Gabriel García Márquez's novel One Hundred Years of Solitude. It is the home town of the Buendía family.-Aracataca:...
, a fictional Colombian village. The novel describes the involvement of one of the village's residents, Colonel Aureliano Buendia, in the conflict between Colombia's Liberal and Conservative parties.
- Memories of My Melancholy Whores
Memories of My Melancholy Whores is a novella by Gabriel García Márquez....
, Gabriel García MárquezGabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist. García Márquez, affectionately known as "Gabo" throughout Latin America, is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. In 1982, he was awarded the Nobel...
's latest novel, identifies the death date of the main character's father with the following lines: " [he] died in his widower's bed on the day the Treaty of Neerlandia was signed, putting an end to the War of the Thousand Days".
External links