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129-674: In the Napoleonic era , junta ( Spanish pronunciation: [ˈxunta] ) was the name chosen by several local administrations formed in Spain during the Peninsular War as a patriotic alternative to the official administration toppled by the French invaders. The juntas were usually formed by adding prominent members of society, such as prelates , to the already-existing ayuntamientos (municipal councils). The juntas of

258-536: A coup d'état , following the defeat of Napoleon and the Treaty of Valençay . He was able to defeat and repress the peninsular liberals, and abolished the liberal Constitution of Cadiz , although he could not defeat the revolutionaries in Spanish America, who resisted and formed their own national congresses. The Spanish navy had collapsed in the war against Napoleon, so therefore, in practice, it did not support

387-493: A banner to organize the aggrieved, and the political causes could be discarded just as quickly as they were picked up. The Venezuelan Llaneros switched to the patriot banner once the elites and the urban centers became securely royalist after 1815, and it was the royal army in Mexico that ultimately brought about that nation's independence. Philosophers Works At the first years of war, during Spanish constitutional period,

516-412: A battered remnant of 30,000 soldiers managed to limp back to French territory. The allies then continued a united effort against Napoleon until they had seized Paris forcing his abdication in 1814. His return to power the next year was resisted by all the allies and his army was defeated by a Prussian and Anglo-Allied force at Waterloo. The Napoleonic era is a period in the history of France and Europe. It

645-553: A coalition of conservative and liberal royalist leaders who led the establishment of new states. The Spanish Constitution of 1812 attempted to return to the policies that the Spanish government had implemented under Habsburg rule. These policies gave recognized Spanish colonial territory as fellow kingdoms with equal standing to Spain. The policies under the Habsburgs, moreover, allowed for constant revisionism, through corruption and

774-409: A financial crisis of 1804, the crown attempted to call in debts owed the church, mainly in the form of mortgages for haciendas owned by the elites. The Act of Consolidation simultaneously threatened the wealth of the church, whose capital was mainly lent for mortgages, as well as threatening the financial well-being of elites, who depended on mortgages for acquiring and keeping their estates. Shortening

903-637: A general stalemate set in the war. In areas where royalists controlled the main population centers, most of the fighting by those seeking independence was done by isolated guerrilla bands . In New Spain, the two main guerrilla groups were led by Guadalupe Victoria in Puebla and Vicente Guerrero in Oaxaca. In northern South America, New Granadan and Venezuelan patriots, under leaders such as Simón Bolívar , Francisco de Paula Santander , Santiago Mariño , Manuel Piar and José Antonio Páez , carried out campaigns in

1032-411: A generalized Peruvian revolt, chose to avoid direct military confrontation. San Martín hoped that his presence would initiate an authentic Peruvian revolt against Spanish rule, believing that otherwise any liberation would be ephemeral. In the meantime, San Martín engaged in diplomacy with Viceroy Joaquín de la Pezuela , who was under orders from the constitutional government to negotiate on the basis of

1161-708: A junta in New Spain was also stopped. The escape to Cádiz and the dissolution of the Supreme Central Junta on 29 January 1810, because of the reverses suffered after the Battle of Ocaña by the Spanish forces paid with Spanish American money, set off another wave of juntas being established in the Americas. French forces had taken over southern Spain and forced the Supreme Junta to seek refuge in

1290-588: A new Army of the Three Guarantees . The representative of the new Spanish government, Superior Political Chief Juan O'Donojú , who replaced the previous viceroys, arrived in Veracruz on 1 July 1821, but he found that royalists held the entire country except for Veracruz, Mexico City and Acapulco . Since at the time that O'Donojú had left Spain, the Cortes was considering greatly expanding the autonomy of

1419-444: A new Cortes under its traditional form (with separate chambers for the clergy and the nobility), a promise never fulfilled. News of the events arrived through Spanish America during the next three weeks to nine months, depending on time it took goods and people to travel from Spain. Ferdinand's actions constituted a definitive de facto break both with the autonomous governments, which had not yet declared formal independence, and with

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1548-580: A number of factors that have been identified to have provoked the independent movements. First, increasing control by the Crown of its overseas empire via the Bourbon Reforms of the mid-eighteenth century introduced changes to the relationship of Spanish Americans to the Crown. The language used to describe the overseas empire shifted from "kingdoms" with independent standing with the crown to "colonies" subordinate to Spain. In an effort to better control

1677-567: A royalist army under La Serna's command in the Battle of Ayacucho on 9 December 1824. La Serna's army was numerically superior but consisted of mostly new recruits. The only significant royalist area remaining on the continent was the highland country of Upper Peru . Following the Battle of Ayacucho, the royalist troops of Upper Peru under the command of Olañeta surrendered after he died in Tumusla on 2 April 1825. Bolívar tended to favor maintaining

1806-470: A second, large, expeditionary force in 1819. This force, however, never left Spain. Instead, it became the means by which liberals were finally able to reinstate a constitutional regime. On 1 January 1820, Rafael Riego , commander of the Asturias Battalion, headed a rebellion among the troops, demanding the return of the 1812 Constitution. His troops marched through the cities of Andalusia with

1935-512: A tenth of the royalist armies in Spanish America, and only about half of the expeditionary units, once they were deployed in the Americas. Since each European soldier casualty was replaced by a Spanish American soldier, over time, there were more and more Spanish American soldiers in the expeditionary units. For example, Pablo Morillo , commander in chief of the expeditionary force sent to South America, reported that he had only 2,000 European soldiers under his command in 1820; in other words, only half

2064-476: A term which eventually was generally applied to them. The idea that independence was not the initial concern is evidenced by the fact that few areas declared independence in the years after 1810. The congresses of Venezuela and New Granada did so in 1811 and also Paraguay in same year (14 and 15 May 1811). Some historians explain the reluctance to declare independence as a "mask of Ferdinand VII": that is, that patriot leaders felt that they needed to claim loyalty to

2193-547: A virtual prisoner, agreed to restore the Constitution. Riego's Revolt had two significant effects on the war in the Americas. Militarily, the large numbers of reinforcements, which were especially needed to retake New Granada and defend the Viceroyalty of Peru, would never arrive. Furthermore, as the royalists' situation became more desperate in region after region, the army experienced wholesale defections of units to

2322-474: Is all too easy to equate the forces of discontent or even the forces of change with the forces of revolution." Since "by definition, there was no history of independence until it happened," when Spanish American independence did occur, explanations for why it came about have been sought. The Latin American Wars of Independence were essentially led by European diaspora against European empires. There are

2451-726: Is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly, the second being the Legislative Assembly, and the third being the Directory. The Napoleonic era, from 1799 to 1815, was marked by Napoleon Bonaparte's rise to power in France. He became Emperor in 1804 and sought to expand French influence across Europe. Major events include

2580-536: The Junta Suprema de Caracas on 19 April 1810, set the stage for the fighting that would afflict the region for the next decade and a half. Political fault lines appeared, and were often the causes of military conflict. On the one hand the juntas challenged the authority of all royal officials, whether they recognized the Regency or not. On the other hand, royal officials and Spanish Americans who desired to keep

2709-568: The Llaneros , mixed-race slave and plains people, by attacking the white landowning class. Boves and his followers often disregarded the command of Spanish officials and were not concerned with actually re-establishing the toppled royal government, choosing instead to keep real power among themselves. Finally, in the back country of Upper Peru , the republiquetas kept the idea of independence alive by allying with disenfranchised members of rural society and native groups, but were never able to take

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2838-509: The 1812 Constitution and to maintain the unity of the Spanish monarchy . However, these efforts proved fruitless, since independence and unity of the monarchy could not be reconciled, so the army sailed in late October to a better strategic position in Huacho , in northern Peru. During the next few months, successful land and naval campaigns against the royalists secured the new foothold, and it

2967-546: The Alhóndiga de Granaditas in Guanajuato. In Venezuela during his Admirable Campaign , Simón Bolívar instituted a policy of a war to the death , in which royalist Spanish Americans would be purposely spared but even neutral Peninsulares would be killed, to drive a wedge between the two groups. This policy laid the ground for the violent royalist reaction under Boves. Often though, royalism or patriotism simply provided

3096-911: The British Empire , forced the Spanish royal family to abdicate the throne, imposed the Bayonne Statute , and installed his brother, Joseph Bonaparte , as King of Spain. In the 18th century , the Habsburg dynasty was replaced by the Bourbons , and the Spanish Empire declined in Europe to a second-rate power following the War of the Spanish Succession , but continued to be an important global power due to its possessions in

3225-575: The Council of Castile , which led to the creation of a main government: the " Supreme Central and Governmental Junta of Spain and the Indies " on 25 September 1808. It was agreed that the kingdoms of the peninsula would send two representatives to this Supreme Central Junta, and that the overseas kingdoms would send one representative each. These kingdoms were defined as "the viceroyalties of New Spain (Mexico), Peru , New Granada , and Buenos Aires , and

3354-580: The Spanish Empire in the early 19th century. The struggles in both hemispheres began shortly after the outbreak of the Peninsular War , forming part of the broader context of the Napoleonic Wars . The conflict unfolded between the royalists, who were defeated and favored a unitary monarchy, and the patriots, who won and promoted either plural monarchies or republics, separated from Spain and from each other. These struggles ultimately led to

3483-521: The "war to the death" and carried out the execution of thirty-eight royalist officers who had surrendered. With the resources of New Granada, Bolívar became the undisputed leader of the patriots in Venezuela and orchestrated the union of the two regions in a new state called Colombia (Gran Colombia) . To counter the advances the pro-independence forces had made in South America, Spain prepared

3612-455: The 1820s. In Mexico, where the junta movement had been stopped in its early stages by a coalition of peninsular merchants and government officials, efforts to establish a government independent of the Regency or the French took the form of rebellion, under the leadership of Miguel Hidalgo . Hidalgo was captured and executed in 1811, but a resistance movement continued, which declared independence from Spain in 1813 . The Gutiérrez–Magee Expedition

3741-711: The 1850s in most of the Latin American republics. A caste system , influenced by the scientific racism of the European Enlightenment , was maintained until the 20th century. The Criollos of European descent born in the New World, and mestizos , of mixed Indigenous and European heritage, replaced Spanish-born appointees in most political offices. Criollos remained at the top of a social structure that retained some of its traditional features culturally, if not legally. Slavery finally ended in all of

3870-519: The 1898 Spanish–American War . The conflict resulted in the dissolution of the Spanish monarchy and the creation of new states. The independence of Spanish America did not constitute an anticolonial movement. The new republics immediately abandoned the formal system of the Inquisition and noble titles. In most of these new countries, slavery was not abolished, and racial classification and hierarchy were imposed. Total abolition did not come until

3999-473: The 18th century evidenced the empire's difficulties in reinforcing its colonial possessions and provide them with economic aid. This led to an increased local participation in the financing of the defense and an increased participation in the militias by the Chilean-born. Such development was at odds with the ideals of the centralized absolute monarchy . The Spanish did also formal concessions to strengthen

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4128-549: The Americas. Similarly, the replacement of the Bourbons with the Bonaparte dynasty aimed to preserve the empire's integrity. However, Napoleonic Spain (1808-1813) was ultimately defeated in the Peninsular War . The rejection of this new dynasty created a power vacuum and led to the emergence of liberalism and a desire for liberties throughout the Spanish Empire . At first, some major cities or capitals formed local Juntas on

4257-513: The Army over the Andes in a move that turned the tables on the royalists. By 10 February, San Martín had control of northern and central Chile, and a year later, after a war with no quarter , the south. With the aid of a fleet under the command of former British naval officer Thomas Cochrane , Chile was secured from royalist control and independence was declared that year. San Martín and his allies spent

4386-748: The Bourbon monarchy were aimed at decreasing the power of the Roman Catholic Church. The crown had already expelled the Jesuits in 1767, which saw many creole members of the Society of Jesus go into permanent exile. By limiting the power of the Church, the crown attempted to centralize itself within the institutions of colonial Latin America. Because of the physical and ideological proximity that

4515-527: The British Legion perished, as well as many of his Llanero soldiers, who were not prepared for the nearly 4,000-meter altitudes—but the gamble paid off. By August Bolívar was in control of Bogotá and its treasury, and gained the support of many in New Granada, which still resented the harsh reconquest carried out under Morillo. Nevertheless, Santander found it necessary to continue the policy of

4644-602: The Caribbean and the Philippine Islands remained under control of royalists for the next decade and participated in the Cortes of Cádiz efforts to establish a liberal government for the Spanish monarchy. The recruitment of soldiers seemed to end up a common pool employed by opposing sides as cannon fodder. Socially, both apparently opposing positions, loyalist and pro-independence, had an uncertain significance for

4773-486: The Cortes of Cádiz was located in Spain, political and economic power and decisions were localized in Spain, effectively giving them control over all of colonial Latin America. These tensions further frustrated many Spanish-Americans because of their inability to control the politics that directly affected their economic and sociopolitical wellbeing, further leading them towards independence. This climate of instability created

4902-465: The Cortes, based on provinces, and not kingdoms, was more equitable and provided more time to determine what would be considered an overseas province. The Cortes of Cádiz was the first national assembly to claim sovereignty in Spain. It represented the abolition of the old kingdoms. The opening session was held on 24 September 1810, in the building now known as the Real Teatro de las Cortes under

5031-494: The Creole potentates of European origin could give their support to the royalist or pro-independence cause, in relation to the commercial interests of each region. The Church was also divided, and except for the lower clergy, involved as combatants of insurgency, their position was in accordance with the political power. Winning Spanish American independence also involved civil war. The creation of juntas in Spanish America, such as

5160-544: The French not only inflicted large losses on the Spanish, but also took control of southern Spain and forced the government to retreat to Cádiz , the last redoubt available to it on Spanish soil (see the Siege of Cádiz ). In light of this, the Central Junta dissolved itself on 29 January 1810 and set up a five-person Regency Council of Spain and the Indies, charged with convening a parliamentary Cortes. The system of juntas

5289-494: The Iberian and Italian peninsulas, occupied lands, and he forced Austria, Prussia, and Russia to ally with him and respect French hegemony in Europe. The United Kingdom refused to recognize French hegemony and continued the war throughout. The First French Empire began to unravel in 1812, when he decided to invade Russia . Napoleon underestimated the difficulties his army would have to face whilst occupying Russia. Convinced that

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5418-578: The Napoleonic Wars, the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, and Napoleon's exile to Elba and later to Saint Helena. His legacy shaped European politics and military. Heads and leaders of states affected by Napoleon's regime and the Napoleonic wars: Spanish American wars of independence Disintegration of Spanish America The Spanish American wars of independence ( Spanish : Guerras de independencia hispanoamericanas ) took place across

5547-470: The Pacific to counter Spanish control of those waters and reach the royalist stronghold of Lima . By mid-1820 San Martín had assembled a fleet of eight warships and sixteen transport ships under the command of Admiral Cochrane . The fleet set sail from Valparaíso to Paracas in southern Peru . On 7 September, the army landed at Paracas and successfully took Pisco . After this, San Martín, waiting for

5676-786: The Portuguese royal family to flee to Brazil in 1807. The process of Latin American independence took place in the general political and intellectual climate of popular sovereignty that emerged from the Age of Enlightenment that influenced all of the Atlantic Revolutions , including the earlier revolutions in the United States and France . A more direct cause of the Spanish American wars of independence were

5805-779: The Spanish Cortes and Ferdinand VII rejected the Treaty of Córdoba, and the final break with the mother country came on 19 May 1822, when the Mexican Congress conferred the throne on Iturbide. Spain recognized Mexico's independence in 1836. Central America gained its independence along with New Spain. On 15 September 1821, an Act of Independence was signed in Guatemala City which declared Central America (Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica) independent from Spain. The regional elites supported

5934-505: The Spanish proposal that the patriots rejoin Spain under the Spanish Constitution, the two sides established a six-month truce and the regularization of the rules of engagement under the law of nations on 25 and 26 November. The truce did not last six months. It was apparent to all that the royalist cause had been greatly weakened by the lack of reinforcements. Royalist soldiers and whole units began to desert or defect to

6063-425: The Spanish world almost uniformly rejected Napoleon's plan to place his brother, Joseph , on the throne, there was no clear solution to the lack of a king. Following traditional Spanish political theories on the contractual nature of the monarchy (see Philosophy of Law of Francisco Suárez ), the peninsular provinces responded to the crisis by establishing juntas . The move, however, led to more confusion, since there

6192-438: The Spanish world during the wars of independence were influenced by these factors. The Peninsular War was the trigger for conflicts in Spanish America in the absence of a legitimate monarch. The Peninsular War began an extended period of instability in the worldwide Spanish monarchy that lasted until 1823. Napoleon forced the Bourbon monarchs to abdicate, which precipitated a political crisis in Spain and Spanish America. Although

6321-450: The Supreme Junta. In particular Quito and Chuquisaca , which saw themselves as the capitals of kingdoms, resented being subsumed in the larger Viceroyalty of Peru and Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata respectively. This unrest led to the establishment of juntas in these cities in 1809, which were eventually quashed by the authorities within the year. An unsuccessful attempt at establishing

6450-512: The Tsar was conspiring with his British enemies, Napoleon led an army of 600,000 soldiers to Moscow. He defeated the Russian army at Borodino before capturing Moscow, but the Tsar withdrew and Moscow was set ablaze, leaving Napoleon's vast army without adequate shelter or supplies. Napoleon ordered a retreat, but the bitter Russian winter and repeated Russian attacks whittled down his army, and only

6579-413: The administration and economy of the overseas possessions the Crown reintroduced the practice of appointing outsiders, almost all peninsulars , to the royal offices throughout the empire. This meant that Spanish American elites were thwarted in their expectations and ambitions by the crown's upending of long-standing practices of creole access to office holding. The regalist and secularizing policies of

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6708-489: The approval of the Venezuelan congress . Unlike San Martín, however, Bolívar did not have a professionally trained army, but rather a quickly assembled mix of Llanero guerrillas, New Granadan exiles led by Santander and British recruits . From June to July 1819, using the rainy season as cover, Bolívar led his army across the flooded plains and over the cold, forbidding passes of the Andes, with heavy losses—a quarter of

6837-401: The authorities early enough to stop them before they gained widespread support. Major cities and regional rivalry played an important role in the wars. The disappearance of a central, imperial authority—and in some cases of even a local, viceregal authority (as in the cases of New Granada and Río de la Plata)—initiated a prolonged period of balkanization in many regions of Spanish America. It

6966-526: The authority of either the supreme central one or the regency. Therefore, they did not send representatives to Cádiz, but rather the juntas continued to govern on their own or called for congresses to set up permanent governments. This development resulted in the Spanish American wars of independence . Napoleonic era Whilst working to stabilise France, Napoleon also sought to extend his authority throughout Europe. Napoleon's armies conquered

7095-568: The authority of the Council of Regency that was established with the dissolution of the Supreme and Central Governmental Junta of Spain and the Indies. In agreement on this, a military conflict arose between Royalists and Patriots over the unity or independence of the empire. These juntas gained their own levels of independence and autonomy from Spain through declarations in 1808-1812. However, Ferdinand VII reimposed absolute monarchy in 1814 with

7224-424: The basis of laws from the Hispanic tradition. The armed conflicts started in 1809, with short-lived juntas established to govern in Chuquisaca , La Paz and Quito opposing the government of the Supreme Central Junta of Seville . At the beginning of 1810, new juntas appeared across Spanish America when the Central Junta fell to the French invasion. Although various regions objected to many crown policies, "there

7353-403: The capitals of the traditional peninsular kingdoms of Spain styled themselves "Supreme Juntas", to differentiate themselves from, and claim authority over, provincial juntas. Juntas were also formed in Spanish America during this period in reaction to the developments in Spain. The juntas were not necessarily revolutionary, least of all anti-monarchy or democratically elected. By way of example,

7482-457: The clergy had, they could directly influence and dictate the interactions between populations of colonial Latin America, either as legal counsel or an advisor; a directness which the crown would need to attempt to create the centralized, colonial state which it wanted to implement. Later in the eighteenth century the crown sought to decrease the privileges ( fueros ) of the clergy, restricting clerical authority to spiritual matters and undermining

7611-419: The conditions for the two sides to forge an alliance. This alliance coalesced towards the end of 1820 behind Agustín de Iturbide , a colonel in the royal army, who at the time was assigned to destroy the guerrilla forces led by Vicente Guerrero . In January 1821, in expectation of the abolition in Spain of the Constitution of 1812, Iturbide was chosen and was sent by the officials of New Spain with Guerrero,

7740-403: The creation of a wealthy Creole class and further adapting those institutions to meet demands, rather than propose a radical shift in the complete make-up of socioeconomic life and traditions. However, institutional change did not come as anticipated and further spurred on the radicalization of Spanish-American social classes towards independence. Spain's international wars in the second half of

7869-414: The defense: In Chiloé Archipelago Spanish authorities promised freedom from the encomienda those indigenous locals who settled near the new stronghold of Ancud (founded in 1768) and contributed to its defense. The increased local organization of the defenses would ultimately undermine metropolitan authority and bolster the independence movement. Other factors may include Enlightenment thinking and

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7998-504: The deposed monarch to prepare the masses for the radical change that full independence eventually would entail. Nevertheless, even areas such as Río de la Plata and Chile, which more or less maintained de facto independence from the peninsular authorities, did not declare independence until quite a few years later, in 1816 and 1818, respectively. Overall, despite achieving formal or de facto independence, many regions of Spanish America were marked by nearly continuous wars, which lasted well into

8127-421: The different social strata of the monarchy. In Europe, the Spaniards made a forced recruitment for the expeditionary forces, leading to constant rebellions. Independent states relied on privateers, mercenaries, volunteers, adventurers or filibusters, reliable fighters when pay or booty was at a glance. For the mobilization of the population in the Americas, the vast majority or almost all of the troops of both sides,

8256-495: The direct causes of the wars of independence, which took place decades later, but they have been considered important elements of the political background in which the wars took place. Many Creoles, particularly the wealthy Creoles, were negatively impacted by the Bourbon Reforms. This resulted in their taking action by using their wealth and positions within society, often as leaders within their communities, to spur resistance to convey their displeasure with Spanish reforms because of

8385-418: The duration of the wars. Underlying social and racial tensions also had a great impact on the nature of the fighting. Rural areas were pitted against urban centers, as grievances against the authorities found an outlet in the political conflict. This was the case with Hidalgo's peasant revolt, which was fueled as much by discontent over several years of bad harvests as with events in the Peninsular War. Hidalgo

8514-404: The effort of Spanish liberals to create a representative government that would fully include the overseas possessions. Such a government was seen as an alternative to independence by many in New Spain, Central America, the Caribbean, Quito, Peru, Upper Peru and Chile. Yet the news of the restoration of the " Ancien Régime " did not initiate a new wave of juntas, as had happened in 1809 and 1810, with

8643-518: The empire together were split between liberals, who supported the efforts of the Cortes, and conservatives (often called " absolutists " in the historiography), who did not want to see any innovations in government. Finally, although the juntas claimed to carry out their actions in the name of the deposed king, Ferdinand VII , their creation provided an opportunity for people who favored outright independence to promote their agenda publicly and safely. The proponents of independence called themselves patriots,

8772-491: The end of this period the pro-independence forces made two important advances. In the Southern Cone , a veteran of the Spanish army with experience in the Peninsular War, José de San Martín , became the governor of the Province of Cuyo . He used this position to begin organizing an army as early as 1814 in preparation for an invasion of Chile. This was an important change in strategy after three United Provinces campaigns had been defeated in Upper Peru . San Martín's army became

8901-451: The examples of the Atlantic Revolutions. The Enlightenment spurred the desire for social and economic reform to spread throughout Spanish America and the Iberian Peninsula. Ideas about free trade and physiocratic economics were raised by the Enlightenment in Spain and spread to the overseas empire and a homegrown Spanish American Enlightenment . The political reforms implemented and the many constitutions written both in Spain and throughout

9030-440: The expeditionary forces who arrived in small groups. In 1820 the Spanish army, led by Rafael Riego , revolted against absolutism, restored the so-called Trienio Liberal , and ended the threat of invasion against the Río de la Plata , resulting in royalist collapse in the Americas. Over the course of the next decade, the Patriots' armies won major victories and obtained independence in their respective countries. Spain did not change

9159-422: The form of supplies and an army under Antonio José de Sucre to Guayaquil in February 1821. For a year Sucre was unable to take Quito, and by November both sides, exhausted, signed a ninety-day armistice. The following year, at the Battle of Pichincha on 24 May 1822, Sucre's Venezuelan forces finally conquered Quito; Gran Colombia's hold on the territory was secure. The following year, after a Peruvian patriot army

9288-566: The formation of a central one. After a series of negotiations between the juntas and the discredited Council of Castile , which initially had supported Joseph I , a " Supreme Central and Governmental Junta of Spain and the Indies " met in Aranjuez on 25 September 1808, with the Conde de Floridablanca as its president. Serving as a surrogate for the absent king and royal government, it succeeded in calling for representatives from local provinces and

9417-492: The general population and the hierarchy of the Spanish Catholic Church ; so, on 4 May, he repudiated the Constitution and ordered the arrest of liberal leaders on 10 May. Ferdinand justified his actions by stating that the Constitution and other changes had been made by a Cortes assembled in his absence and without his consent. He restored the former legal codes and political institutions and promised to convene

9546-588: The guerrilla movements. However, Ferdinand's actions did set areas outside of the control of the crown on the path to full independence. The governments of these regions, which had their origins in the juntas of 1810, and even moderates there, who had entertained a reconciliation with the crown, now saw the need to separate from Spain if they were to protect the reforms they had enacted. During this period, royalist forces made advances into New Granada, which they controlled from 1815 to 1819, and into Chile, which they controlled from 1814 to 1817. Except for royalist areas in

9675-513: The hope of extending the uprising to the civilian population, but locals were mostly indifferent. An uprising, however, did occur in Galicia in northern Spain, and from there it quickly spread throughout the country. On 7 March, the royal palace in Madrid was surrounded by soldiers under the command of General Francisco Ballesteros , and three days later, on 10 March, the besieged Ferdinand VII, now

9804-495: The idea of a separate Spanish American ("creole") identity separate from that of Iberia , political independence was not initially the aim of most Spanish Americans, nor was it necessarily inevitable. At the end of 1810, Ferdinand VII of Spain , captive, was recognized by the Cortes of Cádiz and by the governing juntas in the Americas as a king subordinate to popular sovereignty . The governing juntas across America wanted to reinstate Ferdinand VII as king and refused to accept

9933-548: The independence and secession of continental Spanish America from metropolitan rule, which, beyond this conflict, resulted in a process of Balkanization in Latin America . Thus, the strict period of military campaigns ranges from the Battle of Chacaltaya (1809) in present-day Bolivia , to the Battle of Tampico (1829) in Mexico . In 1808, Napoleon Bonaparte , as part of his Continental Blockade strategy against

10062-555: The independent captaincies general of the island of Cuba , Puerto Rico , Guatemala , Chile , Province of Venezuela , and the Philippines ." This plan was criticized for providing unequal representation to Spanish America; nevertheless, throughout the end of 1808 and early 1809, the regional capitals elected candidates, whose names were forwarded to the capitals of the viceroyalties or captaincies general. Several important and large cities were left without direct representation in

10191-517: The indiscriminate recruitment of native American communities was used, in general in traditional confronted regions; social improvements were promised, by both sides, to the indigenous and the different mestizo colonial castes, such as mulattoes ("pardos"), cholos, etc., and even African slaves were recruited by both sides. All those recruited in the Americas, and also the Spaniards, joined the enemy armies as combatants when they were captured. Likewise,

10320-466: The island-city of Cádiz . The Supreme Junta replaced itself with a smaller, five-man council, called the Regency, or the Council of Regency of Spain and the Indies . Next, to establish a more legitimate government system, the Regency called for the convening of an "extraordinary and general Cortes of the Spanish Nation": which was convened as the Cortes of Cádiz . The plan for the election of

10449-483: The junta in Murcia comprised the bishop, an archdeacon, two priors, seven members of the old city council, two magistrates, five prominent local aristocrats, including the Conde de Floridablanca ( Charles III 's prime minister) and five high-ranking officers (either retired or still serving). Likewise, the junta of Ciudad Rodrigo , a strategic town near the border with Portugal, comprised "nine serving officers, including

10578-442: The largest economic institutions within colonial Latin America. It owned and retained jurisdiction over large amounts of land, which the crown wanted for itself because of the economic value which could be derived from the land. Moreover, by taking that land for itself, the Crown had the opportunity to cut down the physical presence of the Church to further weaken its ideological and social role within local colonial communities. In

10707-519: The leader of the rebellions. He began so-called "peace" negotiations, suggesting the parties unite to establish an independent New Spain. Later, Iturbide was dethroned and quietly captured to be executed. The simple terms that Iturbide proposed became the basis of the Plan of Iguala : the independence of New Spain (now to be called the Mexican Empire) with Ferdinand VII or another Bourbon as emperor;

10836-773: The local economy and the efficiency of the government. In other areas, the changes in the crown's economic and administrative policies led to tensions with locals, which at times erupted into open revolts, such as the Revolt of the Comuneros in New Granada and the Rebellion of Túpac Amaru II in Peru . The loss of high offices to peninsulars and the eighteenth-century revolts in Spanish South America were some of

10965-468: The local society. Liberals on both sides of the Atlantic, nevertheless, continued to conspire to bring back a constitutional monarchy, ultimately succeeding in 1820. The most dramatic example of transatlantic collaboration is perhaps Francisco Javier Mina 's expedition to Texas and northern Mexico in 1816 and 1817. Spanish Americans in royalist areas who were committed to independence had already joined

11094-481: The main military effort of Spain was aimed at preserving the island of Cuba and the viceroyalty of Mexico in North America. But in 1814, with the restoration of Ferdinand VII, the strategic line of the war changed drastically, directing the major Spanish military effort towards South America. By 1815 the general outlines of which areas were controlled by royalists and pro-independence forces were established and

11223-480: The major cities or local province, the patria in Spanish. More often than not, juntas sought to maintain a province's independence from the capital of the former viceroyalty or captaincy general as much as from the Peninsula itself. Armed conflicts broke out between the provinces over the question of whether some cities or provinces were to be subordinate to others as they had been under the crown. This phenomenon

11352-446: The major population centers. Increasingly violent confrontations developed between Spaniards and Spanish Americans, but this tension was often related to class issues or fomented by patriot leaders to create a new sense of nationalism. After being incited to rid the country of the gachupines (a disparaging term for Peninsulares ), Hidalgo's forces indiscriminately massacred hundreds of Criollos and Peninsulares who had taken refuge at

11481-455: The negative economic impact which they had. However, because of how quickly their revolts would further radicalize the lower classes, the Creoles quickly stopped supporting general violent insurrection because they benefitted from social change that occurred through the systems of the Spanish crown. Institutional change ensured stability by supporting the political institutions that allowed for

11610-408: The new nations. For almost a century thereafter, conservatives and liberals fought to reverse or to deepen the social and political changes unleashed by those rebellions. The Spanish American independences had as a direct consequence the forced displacement of the royalist Spanish population that suffered a forced emigration during the war and later, due to the laws of Expulsion of the Spaniards from

11739-536: The new states in the Americas with the purpose of consolidating their independence. Events in Spanish America transpired in the wake of the successful Haitian Revolution and transition to independence in Brazil . Brazil's independence in particular shared a common starting point with that of Spanish America, since both conflicts were triggered by Napoleon's invasion of the Iberian Peninsula, which forced

11868-475: The next two years planning an invasion of Peru, which began in 1820. In northern South America, after several failed campaigns to take Caracas and other urban centers of Venezuela, Simón Bolívar devised a similar plan in 1819 to cross the Andes and liberate New Granada from the royalists. Like San Martín, Bolívar personally undertook the efforts to create an army to invade a neighboring country, collaborated with pro-independence exiles from that region, and lacked

11997-429: The northeast and south, the provinces of New Granada had maintained independence from Spain since 1810, unlike neighboring Venezuela, where royalists and pro-independence forces had exchanged control of the region several times. To pacify Venezuela and to retake New Granada, Spain organized in 1815 the largest armed force it ever sent to the New World, consisting of 10,500 troops and nearly sixty ships. Although this force

12126-493: The notable exception of the establishment of a junta in Cuzco demanding the implementation of the Spanish Constitution. Instead most Spanish Americans were moderates who decided to wait and see what would come out of the restoration of normalcy. In fact, in areas of New Spain, Central America and Quito, governors found it expedient to leave the elected constitutional ayuntamientos in place for several years to prevent conflict with

12255-636: The nucleus of the Army of the Andes , which received crucial political and material support in 1816 when Juan Martín de Pueyrredón became Supreme Director of the United Provinces . In January 1817, San Martín was finally ready to advance against the royalists in Chile. Ignoring an injunction from the congress of the Río de la Plata not to move against Chile, San Martín together with General Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme , later Supreme Director of Chile, led

12384-451: The overseas Spanish possessions, O'Donojú proposed to negotiate a treaty with Iturbide on the terms of the Plan of Iguala. The resulting Treaty of Córdoba , which was signed on 24 August, kept all existing laws, including the 1812 Constitution, in force until a new constitution for Mexico could be written. O'Donojú became part of the provisional governing junta until his death on 8 October. Both

12513-417: The overseas possessions to meet in an " Extraordinary and General Cortes of the Spanish Nation ", so called because it would be both the single legislative body for the whole empire and the body which would write a constitution for it. By the beginning of 1810, the forces under the Supreme Central Junta's command had suffered serious military reverses—the Battle of Ocaña , the Battle of Alba de Tormes —in which

12642-470: The overseas provinces, just as in Spain. It also ordered military commanders to begin armistice negotiations with the insurgents with the promise that they could participate in the restored representative government. In effect, the Spanish Constitution of 1812 adopted by the Cortes of Cádiz served as the basis for independence in New Spain and Central America, since in both regions it was

12771-493: The patriot forces in the country. An internecine conflict between La Serna and General Pedro Antonio Olañeta, which was an extension of the Liberal Triennium , proved to be the royalists' undoing. La Serna lost control of half of his best army by the beginning of 1824, giving the patriots an opportunity. Under the command of Bolívar and Sucre, the experienced veterans of the combined army, mainly Colombians, destroyed

12900-412: The patriot side. Politically, the reinstitution of a liberal regime changed the terms under which the Spanish government sought to engage the insurgents. The new government naively assumed that the insurgents were fighting for Spanish liberalism and that the Spanish Constitution could still be the basis of reconciliation between the two sides. The government implemented the Constitution and held elections in

13029-462: The patriots in large numbers. On 28 January 1821, the ayuntamiento of Maracaibo declared the province an independent republic that chose to join the new nation-state of Gran Colombia . Miguel de la Torre , who had replaced Morillo as head of the army, took this to be a violation of the truce, and although the republicans argued that Maracaibo had switched sides of its own volition, both sides began to prepare for renewed war. The fate of Venezuela

13158-499: The political and legal changes made on both sides of the Atlantic—the myriad of juntas, the Cortes in Spain and several of the congresses in the Americas, and many of the constitutions and new legal codes—had been made in his name. Before entering Spanish territory, Ferdinand made loose promises to the Cortes that he would uphold the Spanish Constitution. But once in Spain he realized that he had significant support from conservatives in

13287-526: The position against separatism, but the political instability in Spain, without a navy, army or treasury, convinced many Spanish Americans of the need to formally establish independence from the metropole . In Spain, a French army of the Holy Alliance invaded and supported the absolutists, restored Ferdinand VII, and occupied Spain until 1828. These conflicts were fought both as irregular warfare and conventional warfare . Some historians claim that

13416-439: The power of parish priests, who often acted as agents of the crown in rural parishes. By desacralizing power and frontal attacks on the clergy, the crown, according to William B. Taylor , undermined its own legitimacy, since parish priests had been traditionally the "natural local representatives of their Catholic king." In the economic sphere, the crown sought to gain control over church revenues. The Church functioned as one of

13545-401: The pre-war governor and the commanders of all the units that had made up the garrison; five retired officers, of whom two were brigadiers" and, among others, the bishop, and seventeen members of the clergy. Realizing that unity was needed to coordinate efforts against the French and to deal with British aid, several supreme juntas— Murcia , Valencia , Seville and Castile and León —called for

13674-582: The repayment period meant many elites were faced with bankruptcy. The crown also sought to gain access to benefices elite families set aside to support a priest, often their own family members, by eliminating these endowed funds ( capellanías ) that the lower clergy depended on disproportionately. Prominently in Mexico, lower clergy participated in the insurgency for independence with priests Miguel Hidalgo and José María Morelos . The reforms had mixed results. In some areas—such as Cuba , Río de la Plata and New Spain —the reforms had positive effects, improving

13803-479: The retention of the Catholic Church as the official state religion and the protection of its existing privileges ; and the equality of all New Spaniards, whether immigrants or native-born. Many of that laws was abolished decades later or are in present-day Mexico. The following month the other important guerrilla leader, Guadalupe Victoria , joined the alliance, and on 1 March Iturbide was proclaimed head of

13932-563: The royal army abandoned the coastal city to reinforce positions in the highlands, with Cuzco as new capital of the viceroyalty. On the 12th San Martín entered Lima, where he was declared "Protector of the Country" on 28 July, an office which allowed him to rule the newly independent state. To ensure that the Presidency of Quito became a part of Gran Colombia and did not remain a collection of small, divided republics, Bolívar sent aid in

14061-460: The sale of office, that provided the opportunity to grant more rights and change policy to respond to the demands of the populations. The restoration of the Spanish Constitution and representative government was enthusiastically welcomed in New Spain and Central America. Elections were held, local governments formed and deputies sent to the Cortes. The Spanish Constitution of 1812 could have been an opportunity to enact social change slowly and without

14190-715: The siege of French army. It met as one body and its members represented the entire Spanish empire. Most Spanish Americans saw no reason to recognize a rump government that was under the threat of being captured by the French at any moment, and began to work for the creation of local juntas to preserve the region's independence from the French. Junta movements were successful in New Granada (Colombia), Venezuela , Chile and Río de la Plata (Argentina). Less successful, though serious movements, also occurred in Central America . Ultimately, Central America, along with most of New Spain, Quito (Ecuador), Peru, Upper Peru (Bolivia),

14319-477: The soldiers of his expeditionary force were European. It is estimated that in the Battle of Maipú only a quarter of the royalist forces were European soldiers, in the Battle of Carabobo about a fifth, and in the Battle of Ayacucho less than 1% was European. The American militias reflected the racial make-up of the local population. For example, in 1820 the royalist army in Venezuela had 843 white ( español ), 5,378 Casta , and 980 Indigenous soldiers. Towards

14448-683: The terms of the Plan of Iguala and orchestrated the union of Central America with the Mexican Empire in January 1822. One years later, following Iturbide's downfall, the region, with the exception of Chiapas, peacefully seceded from Mexico on 1 July 1823, establishing the Federal Republic of Central America. The new state existed for seventeen years, centrifugal forces pulling the individual provinces apart by 1840. Unlike in New Spain and Central America, in South America independence

14577-411: The threat of a radicalized uprising from the lower social classes by offering an opportunity to enact change that those in power would believe would best benefit their respective territories. Among liberals, however, there was fear that the new regime would not last; and conservatives and the Church worried that the new liberal government would expand its reforms and anti-clerical legislation. Yet, because

14706-477: The unique developments occurring within the Kingdom of Spain triggered by the Cortes of Cadiz , concluding with the emergence of the new Spanish American republics in the post-Napoleonic world. Political independence was not necessarily the foreordained outcome of the political turmoil in Spanish America. "There was little interest in outright independence." As historians R.A. Humphreys and John Lynch note, "it

14835-530: The vast Orinoco River basin and along the Caribbean coast, often with material aid coming from Curaçao and Haiti . Also, as mentioned above, in Upper Peru, guerrilla bands controlled the isolated, rural parts of the country. In March 1814, following the collapse of the First French Empire , Ferdinand VII was restored to the Spanish throne. This signified an important change, since most of

14964-436: The wars began as localized civil wars, that later spread and expanded as secessionist wars to promote general independence from Spanish rule. This independence led to the development of new national boundaries based on the colonial provinces , which would form the future independent countries that constituted contemporary Latin America during the early 19th century. Cuba and Puerto Rico remained under Spanish rule until

15093-515: Was a joint Tejanos-US volunteers expedition formed in Louisiana for Texas independence but was defeated in the Battle of Medina . In Central America, attempts at establishing juntas were also put down, but resulted in significantly less violence. The Caribbean islands, like the Philippines on the other side of the world, were relatively peaceful. Any plots to set up juntas were denounced to

15222-602: Was at Huacho that San Martín learned that Guayaquil (in Ecuador ) had declared independence on 9 October. Bolívar, learning about the collapse of the Cádiz expedition , spent the year 1820 preparing a liberating campaign in Venezuela . Bolívar was aided by Spain's new policy of seeking engagement with the insurgents, which Morillo implemented, renouncing to the command in chief, and returning to Spain. Although Bolívar rejected

15351-454: Was crucial in retaking a solidly pro-independence region like New Granada (see Spanish reconquest of New Granada ), its soldiers were eventually spread out throughout Venezuela, New Granada, Quito, and Peru and were lost to tropical diseases, diluting their impact on the war. More importantly, the majority of the royalist forces were composed, not of soldiers sent from the peninsula, but of Spanish Americans. Overall, Europeans formed only about

15480-442: Was deposed in a coup d'état by José de la Serna , but it would be two months before San Martín moved his army closer to Lima by sailing it to Ancón . During the next few months San Martín once again engaged in negotiations, offering the creation of an independent monarchy; but La Serna insisted on the unity of the Spanish monarchy, so the negotiations came to nothing. By July La Serna judged his hold on Lima to be weak, and on 8 July

15609-549: Was destroyed in the Battle of Ica , San Martín met with Simón Bolívar in Guayaquil on 26 and 27 July. Thereafter San Martín decided to retire from the scene. For the next two years, two armies of Rioplatense (Argentinian), Chilean, Colombian and Peruvian patriots were destroyed trying to penetrate the royalist bastion in the Andean regions of Peru and Upper Peru . A year later a Peruvian congress resolved to make Bolívar head of

15738-479: Was little interest in outright independence; indeed there was widespread support for the Spanish Central Junta formed to lead the resistance against the French". While some Spanish Americans believed that independence was necessary, most who initially supported the creation of the new governments saw them as a means to preserve the region's autonomy from the French. Although there had been research on

15867-405: Was no central authority and most juntas did not recognize the claim of some juntas to represent the monarchy as a whole. The Junta of Seville, in particular, claimed authority over the overseas empire, because of the province's historic role as the exclusive entrepôt of the empire. This impasse was resolved through negotiations between the several juntas in Spain counted with the participation of

15996-412: Was not clear which political units should replace the empire, and there were no new national identities to replace the traditional sense of being Spaniards. The original juntas of 1810 appealed first to a sense of being Spanish, which was counterposed to the French threat; second, to a general American identity, which was counterposed to the Peninsula lost to the French; and third, to a sense of belonging to

16125-552: Was originally part of a circle of liberal urbanites in Querétaro , who sought to establish a junta. After this conspiracy was discovered, Hidalgo turned to the rural people of the Mexican Bajío to build his army, and their interests soon overshadowed those of the urban intellectuals. A similar tension existed in Venezuela, where the Spanish immigrant José Tomás Boves formed a powerful, though irregular, royalist army out of

16254-448: Was particularly evident in South America. This rivalry also led some regions to adopt the opposite political cause to that chosen by their rivals. Peru seems to have remained strongly royalist in large part because of its rivalry with Río de la Plata, to which it had lost control of Upper Peru when the latter was elevated to a viceroyalty in 1776. The creation of juntas in Río de la Plata allowed Peru to regain formal control of Upper Peru for

16383-581: Was replaced by a regency and the Cortes of Cádiz , which established a permanent government under the Constitution of 1812 . The term was also used in Spanish America to describe the first autonomist governments established in 1809, 1810, and 1811 in reaction to the developments in Spain. By the time the delegates were to be chosen for the Cádiz Cortes, some of the American provinces had successfully established their juntas, which did not recognize

16512-550: Was sealed when Bolívar returned there in April leading an army of 7,000 from New Granada. At the Battle of Carabobo on 24 June, the Gran Colombian forces decisively defeated the royalist forces, assuring control of Venezuela save for Puerto Cabello and guaranteeing Venezuelan independence. Bolívar could now concentrate on Gran Colombia's claims to southern New Granada and Quito. In Peru, on 29 January 1821, Viceroy Pezuela

16641-400: Was spurred by the pro-independence fighters who had held out for the past half-decade. José de San Martín and Simón Bolívar inadvertently led a continent-wide pincer movement from southern and northern South America that liberated most of the Spanish American nations on that continent. After securing the independence of Chile in 1818, San Martín concentrated on building a naval fleet in

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