Latin American Revolutions (book)

Process

  1. 1808, Napoleon puts his brother on Spanish throne

    1. Spanish king abdicated forcefully

    2. Spanish Americas: loyalty to king meant opposition to French regime in Madrid

    3. Juntas: ruling groups formed by local elites asserted local rule.

    4. Split opinion on these juntas

  2. Peninsulares (direct reps of royal authority in Spanish America) dominated affairs of church and state

    1. Criollos believe this system was a hindrance to their rightful place as leading members of their communities.

  3. Bolivar seeks cooperation of llaneros (Spanish-Amerindian frontier cowboys)

    1. Bolivar’s armies enter Peru’s royalty

  4. A junta takes power in a city called Caracas after Napoleon removes Spanish king

    1. They send Bolivar on diplomatic missions to London and Washington in 1810

    2. Bolivar betrays them by lobbying British support for his independence plan

    3. Returning, Bolivar attends the first congress of Venezuela on July 3rd, 1811

Post

  1. Cultural divisions prevent strong sense of Venezuelan identity in the new nation

    1. Restricted voting right only to a small group of mainly white property owners

    2. Did not abolish slavery

    3. Llaneros feel threatened by provisions that extended private property ownership to previously uncharted plains

    4. Large earthquake in 1812 added to instability

      1. Loyal Spanish forces take offensive

      2. Republic collapses

      3. Bolivar sets on military path for the next 12 years

      4. Spaniards killed; loyalists given opportunity to change

  2. Bolivar’s army enters Caracas in 1813

    1. Bolivar forms alliances with groups previously excluded from the first congress and constitution (slaves and llaneros)

    2. Criollos still suspicious

    3. Setback in 1815 after Napoleon’s Waterloo lost and Spanish monarchy is restored.

    4. Madrid sends over 10,000 soldiers to restore authority

    5. Bolivar retreats to Jamaica and seeks help from Britain and Haiti.

    6. Recruited battle-hardened British mercenaries

  3. Bolivar returns to Venzuela 1817

    1. Establishes himself in interior and recognized as the commander of various patriotic forces

    2. Offered freedom to slaves and rekindled llaneros alliances

    3. Bolivar 1819, argues for strong central government

    4. He goes west and south to confront imperial Spanish forces in Bogota stronghold.

    5. His troops suffer in the cold Andes but morale stays high

      1. Spanish forces demoralized

    6. Spanish could not handle Bolivar’s army and quickly fell in Bogota and Ecuador.

    7. Bolivar’s troops engage the Spanish in the Andes 1824 Battle of Ayacucho

    8. Winning this battle, South America is free from Spanish control

Mexico and Brazil (1810-1831)

  1. Deposition of Spanish king lead to uprising of Mestizos and Indians.

    1. Priest Miguel Hidalgo Costilla rallied the poor in the name of justice for the oppressed.

    2. Called for the creation of a Mexican nation

    3. Scares Spanish officials and criollos

    4. His forces scatter and he is excommunicated, captured, and executed

  2. Independence comes in 1821

    1. Result of conservative backlash against changes coming from Madrid.

    2. Elite conservatives supported Mexican military officers who turned on their former Spanish allies.

    3. Neither social nor economic reform

Brazil

  1. 1808, Portuguese royal family fled from Napoleon’s invasion to Brazil

  2. 1821, king returns to Portugal, leaves his son Pedro as representative.

  3. Pedro is sympathetic to cause of independence

  4. 1824, Pedro becomes constitutional monarch of independent Brazil

  5. Lasted until 1889