South American wars of independence

 

Because Spain was virtually cut off from its colonies during the Peninsular War of 1808–1814, Latin America was, in these years, ruled by independent juntas. These provisional governments claimed allegiance to the Bourbon king in exile, Ferdinand VII, but in practice operated independently.

Northern South America

Origin of the Wars

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. The rebellion developed into both a civil war, pitting blacks and mulattos against whites, and an international conflict, as England and Spain supported the white plantation owners and rebels, respectively. 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.

Independence movement in New Granada

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.

Campaigns

Venezuela

Main article: Venezuelan War of Independence

Venezuela declared its independence from Spain 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; Simón Bolívar and other revolutionary leaders fled abroad.

After HUrerei has started his defeat in 1812, 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 mulattos 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 in 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 in June 15, 1814, took Caracas in July 16, 1814, and again defeated his army at Aragua in August 18, 1814, at a cost of 2,000 Spanish casualties of 10,000 engaged and 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 here 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 in 1816-18.

Bolívar again returned to Venezuela in April 1821, leading an army of 7,000 from New Granada. At Carabobo, June 24, his forces decisively defeated Spanish and colonial forces, winning Venezuelan independence, although hostilities continued.

Colombia

For details, see Spanish Invasion of New Granada

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.

In 1819, Bolívar's forces crossed the Andes into New Granada in June-July 1819. At the Battle of Boyacá August 7, his army of 3,000 defeated a Spanish and colonial force of 2,500. In spring 1820^{[when? — see talk page]}, Bolívar's republican forces took Bogotá; he then became the first president of the Gran Colombia.

Ecuador

For details, see Republican Campaign in Ecuador

At Pinchincha, Ecuador in May 24, 1822, General Antonio José de Sucre's forces defeated Spanish and colonial forces defending Quito, conquering the city.

Bolivia

For details, see Bolivian Independence War

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 in the Republican Campaign when Antonio José 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 to more than 2,000 Spanish casualties and more than 2,000 captured, among them La Serna. The Spanish surrender came the next day.

Important Leaders

Francisco de Miranda

Main article: Francisco de Miranda

The Venezuelan revolutionary Francisco de Miranda (1750-1816), regarded as a forerunner of Simón Bolívar, conceived a visionary plan for the liberation and unification of all of Spanish America. After leading troops in both the American and French Revolutions, he launched the South American wars of independence with an unsuccessful attempted invasion of Venezuela in 1806. Following this initial failure, he left Venezuela, returning in 1810 at the behest of Bolívar, after a coup had removed the Spanish governor from power. Miranda assumed command of the independence movement, which formally declared Venezuela's independence from Spain on July 5, 1811. The Venezuelan War of Independence ensued, but by 1812 royalist forces had gained the upper hand. Miranda negotiated an armistice, but was then handed over to the Spanish army by his fellow revolutionaries, who believed he had betrayed them. Miranda was imprisoned by the Spanish, and died in a dungeon in Cadiz, Spain, in 1816.

Simón Bolívar

Main article: Simón Bolívar

One of the most influential leaders in the Wars of Independence was Simón Bolívar, known as "El Libertador" (the Liberator). Born in Caracas, Venezuela in 1783, Bolívar was able to promote his personal vision of South America powerfully enough to gather and direct the efforts of several of the colonies after their initial revolt. One of Bolívar's first notable victories occurred in 1817 at Angostura in eastern Venezuela. In 1819, he led his army over the Andes and attacked the Spanish by surprise, thereby taking control of Bogotá. He occupied Quito and Caracas soon thereafter, at which point Bolívar controlled all of northern South America. The former colonies Venezuela, New Granada (modern-day Colombia) and Quito (modern-day Ecuador) formed the Republic of Gran Colombia, but after Bolívar's death in 1830 they separated, as the immediate need for unity had disappeared with independence and internal conflicts began to appear. In the absence of a unifying cause, the remaining political and economical ties between the countries were weak and dissent spread among the different territories.

Antonio José de Sucre

Main article: Antonio José de Sucre

Southern South America

Origin of the Wars

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", especially in Argentina), another influential military leader and politician. He served as "Protector" of Perú until its parliament was assembled. San Martín met with Bolívar at Guayaquil, and on July 26 1822 they had confidential talks to plan the future of Latin America. Some have speculated that during this meeting Bolívar would have refused to share command of the combined forces, and this may have contributed to San Martín's withdrawal from Perú and subsequent settlement as a farmer in Mendoza, Argentina. Another Spanish colony that gained its independence was Paraguay, who gained it on May 15 1811 after a plan made by patriots like Fulgencio Yegros and José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia.

Important Leaders

José de San Martín

Main article: José de San Martín

Born on February 25, 1778 in Yapeyú, he left his mother country at an early age and studied in Madrid, Spain where he met and befriended Chilean Bernardo O'Higgins. In 1789, after joining the Spanish forces to fight against the French.

In 1812, he set sail for Buenos Aires from England, and offered his services to the United Provinces of the South (roughly present Argentina). After the Battle of San Lorenzo in 1813, and some time in command of the Army of the North during 1814, he started his plan to attack Lima. This involved first creating an army in Cuyo, liberating Chile, and then attacking Lima by sea.

In 1817, he crossed the Andes from Mendoza to Chile, and prevailed over the Spanish forces after the Battle of Chacabuco and Battle of Maipú (1818), liberating Chile together with Bernardo O'Higgins. San Martín seized partial control of the viceroyalty's capital (Lima) in July 12, 1821 and was appointed Protector of Perú. After a closed-door meeting with fellow libertador Simón Bolívar at Guayaquil, Ecuador on 26 July 1822, Bolívar took over the task of fully liberating Peru and declared its independence. San Martín unexpectedly left Perú and resigned the command of his army, excluding himself from politics and the military, and moving to France in 1824. The details of the 26 July meeting would be a subject of debate by later historians.

Together with Simón Bolívar in the north, San Martín is regarded as one of the Liberators of Spanish South America.

Bernardo O'Higgins

Main article: Bernardo O'Higgins

José Miguel Carrera

Main article: José Miguel Carrera

José Gervasio Artigas

Main article: José Gervasio Artigas

Portuguese colony: Brazil

Main article: Brazilian Declaration of Independence

The independence of Brazil, at that time a Portuguese colony, was an exception. In 1807, the Portuguese royal family fled to Brazil during the French invasion of Portugal. In 1815, John VI of Portugal declared Brazil a kingdom of its own, with himself as its king. He returned to Portugal in 1822, after which his son Pedro declared himself Emperor of Brazil in 1822. His father and the Portuguese parliament did not recognize this declaration, and there was isolated armed resistance by loyalist Portuguese troops stationed in Brazil. Officially, there was no war between Portugal and Brazil, and diplomatic efforts granted the acceptance of Brazil's independence in 1825. Therefore, Brazil was the only Latin American country whose independence was acquired without war.

After the wars

At the end of the Wars of Independence, virtually all of mainland South America was free from European control. The exceptions were the three Guianas, two of them would become independent only in the second half of 20th century: British Guiana as Co-operative Republic of Guyana and Dutch Guiana as Republic of Suriname. French Guiana remains a French overseas department to this date.

Simón Bolívar had a dream of uniting all South American, Central American and Caribbean countries and turning them into a single, economically independent country. However, internal divisions had resulted in wars, and the fragile South American coalition collapsed.

The Spanish empire in America was reduced to 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 (1898) finally took away the islands from Spain.

See also

• Libertadores
• Wars of national liberation
• History of South America
• Mexican War of Independence

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