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[Search ] [About ] [Help] [Dictionary] The Spread of Revolution to Latin America, 1790 - 1911 By the middle of the eighteenth century, most of Latin American had been conquered and settled by Europeans. The native peoples of Latin America lived for nearly three hundred years under the repressive control of their conquerors and by the end of the eighteenth century were longing for freedom and independence. Many factors combined to cause the Latin American Wars of Independence: the powerful examples of the North American (1776) and French (1789) revolutions, the influence of the European Enlightenment, the unhappiness of the Spanish creoles (American-born people of European descent) with restrictions on their activities, and the influence of European wars. Once the long struggle for independence had been won for the people of Latin America, many of these newly formed countries replaced their European monarchs with homegrown dictators that were equally corrupt and oppressive. In some cases, it would take over a century for these dictatorships to give way to stable, democratic governments. Revolutions for Independence Saint-Domingue The spirit of the revolutionary movement in Latin America was sparked by one of the earliest revolts, which occurred in the French Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue. The Revolution in France had left some uncertainty about the leadership of the colony, which occupied the western side of the island of Hispaniola. Saint-Domingue was France's most important possession in terms of revenue, but its class structure was miserably proportioned: at the top were a few thousand whitesFrench planters and officials and at the bottom were 500,000 wretched, exploited black slaves. It did not take long for these slaves to revolt; in 1791 Toussaint L'Ouverture, a slave and the grandson of an African king, led them in a prolonged struggle against their masters, eventually issuing a constitution and assuming the role of dictator of the colony. The struggle in post-revolutionary France was eventually resolved when Napoleon Bonaparte declared himself emperor. Napoleon resolved to put an end to the reign of L'Ouverture, and sent his brother-in-law to overthrow Saint-Domingue's revolutionary government. L'Ouverture was eventually captured, fitted with chains, and shipped to France, where he died in prison. This angered L'Ouverture's followers so greatly that they rose up violently, with new and equally capable leaders, finally forcing the French to abandon Saint-Domingue for good in 1803. The leaders of the new kingdom named it Haiti, the native term for the island. Spanish America The revolutions of Spanish America had much in common with the North American Revolution, but there is a primary difference. Unlike the American Revolution, the Spanish American struggle for independence did not have a unified direction or strategy; in fact, infighting between classes of colonists often slowed or endangered the process of liberation from Spanish rule. For example, the creole aristocrats were anxious to rebel against a class structure that gave privilege only to European-born Spaniards, but these same creoles were unwilling to free their own black and native slaves in the name of independence. Such stubborn and short-sighted squabbles among the colonists help explain why they had to struggle for so long against a Spain that had weakened considerably under the inept rule of Charles IV. The Liberation of Spanish South America Simón Bolívar is the symbol and hero of the struggle for the liberation of northern South America. He was born in Caracas, Venezuela, into an aristocratic creole family who owned much land, many slaves, and mines. Before the revolution he traveled extensively in Europe and was exposed to the concepts of free trade and independence from royal dictators. When he returned to Caracas Bolívar became involved in a conspiracy to overthrow the Spanish regime. This overthrow had several false starts, which began in 1808, the year Napoleon seized the Spanish throne from Ferdinand VII and named his own brother, Joseph, King of Spain. Bolívar and the other conspirators saw their chance to free themselves from any kind of royal control; they proclaimed themselves loyal to "the beloved Ferdinand VII," and forced the removal of allegedly unreliable royal officials in the colonies. Officials all over South America were replaced by juntas, or local governing committees, who really had no loyalty to Ferdinand at all, but used his capture as an excuse to overthrow their existing local leaders. The revolutionary Francisco de Miranda led the first armed movement to dislodge the Spanish forces from northern South America, but after winning some small victories he was captured and imprisoned, after which Bolívar took command of the colonial troops. He captured his hometown of Caracas briefly from the Spaniards before being thrown out by a mass of Venezuelan llaneros (cowboys) who did not like the new government any better than the old one. Soon Spain had regained control of Caracas. Bolívar retired to the British island of Jamaica for a while, gathering his strength for another revolt, and making deals with any ally who might help his cause. In 1816 Bolívar left for the Orinoco River valley with the support of several factions, including English troops who had become bored after defeating Napoleon in Europe, English merchants who provided loans in exchange for the promise of trade with the independent colonies, and even the bargained support of José Antonio Páez, chieftain of the llaneros. The troops commanded by Bolívar and Páez marched into Bogotá, capital of New Granada, and surprised the Spanish forces, who were easily defeated. Bolívar's troops rolled over all Spanish opposition, until the last important royal force in the northern continent was crushed at the Venezuelan city of Carabobo, in 1821. The provinces composing the former viceroyalty of New Granada--the future republics of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Panama were now free from Spanish control, and were temporarily united into a large state called Gran Colombia. The time had come for Bolívar's liberation movement to join with that flowing northward from Argentina. The liberation of the southern continent, the La Plata viceroyalty, was even messier than Bolívar's campaign. British invaders had briefly taken control of Buenos Aires in 1806-1807. Since then, the city had been ruled by creole party members who, like their northern counterparts, were actually a junta professing false loyalty to the Spanish crown. This junta was trying to put together a declaration of independence for the provinces of La Plata, but there was much internal arguing going on the creoles of other provinces, such as Uruguay and Paraguay, did not trust the Buenos Aires junta and the inland gauchos, or cowboys, did not trust the porteńos, citizens of the coastal cities. In 1816 José de San Martín, an Argentine-born colonel in the Spanish army, decided to aid the cause of revolution and break the long-standing stalemate in La Plata. He sailed for La Plata, offered his sword to the patriot junta, and soon helped unite the squabbling La Plata factions into a region with one single purpose to rid the continent of Spanish soldiers in the remaining western provinces of Chile and Peru. San Martín spent two years recruiting, training, and equipping his army. Like Bolívar, he promised freedom in order to gain black and mulatto slave volunteers he later claimed that they were his best soldiersand was also aided by Chilean refugees fleeing the Spanish. San Martín knew that a frontal attack on the Spanish soldiers would surely be defeated, so he and his army marched from the east, high over the Andes mountains, surprising the troops and eventually conquering the capital city of Santiago. From there San Martín turned his attention to Lima, Peru's capital, but soon discovered he didn't even need to attack. The Lima aristocracy was afraid of an armed struggle that might cause a native and slave revolt, and when city officials heard of San Martín's campaign they abandoned Lima, retreating to the Andes. Here, in Lima, San Martín's troops met with the army of Bolívar, and the two met to discuss the future government of the independent Spanish colonies. But their struggle, it was later to be made clear, was far from over. The Liberation of Mexico Unlike the revolts in Spanish South America, the revolution in Mexico was begun by a man who wanted equality for all of Mexico's citizens; slaves, natives, merchants, and officials alike. This man, Miguel Hidalgo, was a creole priest, the son of a poor farmer. His rebellion began not with the creole class of aristocrats, against the Spanish crown, but with the natives he had served in the Mexican missions, against the ruling class of creole officials. Hidalgo and his followers, about eighty thousand men, captured the cities of Guanajuato and Guadalajara. From these cities he issued decrees abolishing slavery and native tribute, and gave ownership of the communal native lands back to their rightful owners. From there Father Hidalgo advanced toward Mexico City, an ambitious goal that was not to be realized; he was captured, condemned by the Inquisition, and shot. One of his followers, José Morelos, continued the revolution for four more years, and attempted to set up an independent government, but like Hidalgo, he was eventually captured by forces loyal to the Spanish crown and executed. The royalist soldier who captured and killed Morelos, Agustín de Iturbide, was a shrewd opportunist. He could see that Mexican independence was inevitable, and devised a plan to secure power for himself by joining with the patriots who were now without a leader. He claimed he was no longer a servant of the Spanish crown, but a champion of independence and racial equality. He attracted the support of the masses who had been devoted to Hidalgo and Morelos, and entered Mexico City in 1821, the same year that Bolívar won victory at Carabobo. The Spanish forces were quickly defeated, and Iturbide proclaimed himself emperor of a Mexican empire. Mexico was now an independent state, but since Iturbide (now emperor Agustín I) had no intention of solving the economic and social problems that had caused the movement for revolution, his empire was doomed to failure. Brazil Portugal's South American colony achieved its independence in a way that was, compared to the Spanish American revolutions, relatively nonviolent. Though Brazil did not proclaim its independence until 1822, the movement began around the year 1789. The Marquis de Pombal, Portugal's powerful secretary of state for foreign affairs, had succeeded in forming a trade empire based in Lisbon, the Portuguese capital, and allowed Brazilians to trade only with Portugal. But this royal monopoly on trade had also created a powerful class of planters and merchants in many parts of Brazil many of whom wanted to be free of Portugal's trade restrictions. As in the Spanish colonies, Napoleon Bonaparte was quite helpful to the Brazilian cause of independence: the French emperor invaded Lisbon in 1807, from where King Joăo and the royal family fled to Brazil, where they set up court in Rio de Janeiro. Now that Rio, not Lisbon, was the seat of the empire, Brazil's ports were opened to all international commerce. The Brazilian royal court was short-lived. Napoleon's reach soon exceeded his grasp, and Portugal regained its independence in 1820. King Joăo returned to rule the Portuguese empire from Lisbon, leaving behind his son, Pedro, to rule the colony. But Brazil had tasted a few years of independence and free trade, and the colony didn't want to return to the old ways. Pedro, influenced by members of the mercantile class, saw that independence was inevitable, and King Joăo, learning of the colonists' increasing authority over his son, ordered Pedro to come home and "complete his political education." But the Brazilians begged him to stay on as their leader, and in 1822 Pedro declared the colony an independent state. With overwhelming support from the Brazilians, all Portuguese forces were driven out within the year. Pedro, now emperor Pedro I of Brazil, would later have his own problems running the new country, but for now the Brazilians happily accepted him as their leader The Nineteenth Century: Dictators and Revolutions Another important difference between the Latin American revolutions and the North American Revolution was the type of governments that were established after liberation. In no Latin American state was the royal dictatorship replaced by a stable, working democracy. In fact, the Latin revolutions did little for the colonists but establish their countries as independent states. At the top of each former colony's government, a new dictator was installed who may or may not have proven to be any better than the regencies appointed by a European king and most of these dictators were hardly interested in solving the overwhelming problems that had caused the colonists to revolt in the first place. Often these rulers, many of whom were military generals who found civilian life boring, spent their first months in office trying to conquer other newly independent states. Nineteenth-century Latin America was plagued by seemingly countless wars. Within its separate countries, the struggle for political stability usually took the form of one dictator overthrowing another in order to impose his own will upon the people. The nineteenth century saw a long succession of these kinds of revoltsand to this day several Latin American countries still suffer from unstable government. South America Gran Colombia Bolívar's new republic proved difficult to hold together. The country eventually defaulted on the loans granted by England before and after the revolution, and the dissolution of the former viceroyalty into the countries of Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela became final with Bolívar's death in 1830. Political power in each of these nations changed hands constantly over the next century. Peru and Bolivia Under Spanish control Peru and Bolivia had existed as Upper and Lower Peru, and for a while it was unclear whether they would exist as separate countries or be combined into a single state. Peru, conscious of its once-glorious imperial standing, tried to extend its influence into both Ecuador and Bolivia. It became involved in a war with Chile over the desert lands of southern Peru and Bolivia lands rich in guano (bat droppings) that could be traded as fertilizer. As a result of this war Peru and Bolivia became separate states, but Bolivia lost its coastline to Chile. Chile The geography of Chile (a long, compact country), along with its population of countryside farmers and ranchers who had little interest in politics, made its government more stable than some Latin American nations. In its first years, Chile was ruled by Bernardo O'Higgins, who had helped San Martín in his revolutionary campaign. A brief civil war, followed by border disputes with Argentina and Bolivia, eventually ended in an extended period in which Chile was ruled by a democratic parliament, the country's first, however brief, flirtation with democratic government. Argentina In 1816 the leaders of the United Provinces of La Plata wanted to include Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay in its new nation. This was not to be. The history of nineteenth-century Argentina was to become a series of revolts, civil wars, and border disputes, and by the time the twentieth century had arrived, the region was no more stable than at its declaration of independence. The primary political conflict in early Argentina was that the country's economics were based on the pastoral culture of ranchers and gauchos, but was ruled politically by caudillos (military leaders). Paraguay This small province threw out its Spanish governor in 1811 and struggled for many years with Brazil for its sovereignty. In 1862 president Francisco Solano López, determined to make his country a major economic power in the region, launched an attack on Brazil. The result was the ruin of his country ninety percent of Paraguay's male population, including López, was killed in the war and the country was occupied by foreigners until 1876, when it began a long, slow period of recovery. Uruguay After the United Provinces of La Plata were rid of Spanish officials, Brazil and Argentina fought over control of Uruguay. A peace was eventually brokered by English diplomats, and Uruguay's status as an independent nation became final in 1828. For about three years the major political parties in Uruguay the Colorados and the Blancosstruggled for political control of the country. The Colorados eventually won out, and controlled Uruguay into the twentieth century. Brazil Brazil's post-independence got off to a rocky start, but became remarkably stable compared to the rest of South America. Pedro I, who had been persuaded by the Brazilians to become their ruler, was unpopular from the outset. He proved to be as unskilled a politician as his father, King Joăo, had feared; in 1824 he adopted a constitution for the country without consulting the powerful members of the merchant class who had supported him. He assumed all of Portugal's colonial debts, and invited an influential English presence into his court, which angered Brazilians. In 1831 the Brazilian army forced Pedro to step down and abdicate power to his six-year-old son, also named Pedro. A regency of Brazilian military officials and politicians ruled until Pedro II assumed leadership in 1840, at the age of fifteen. Pedro II was a sensitive, capable leader and his reign lasted until 1889, when he enacted a measure that freed all Brazilian slaves. The merchant class, dependent on slavery, overthrew Pedro II, and a provisional republican government, begun by the general that had seized power, lasted until 1937. Mexico Mexico's struggle for independence wavered between democracy and dictatorship for much of the nineteenth century, and was one of the few Latin American movements in which mestizos (people of mixed white and native blood) and natives played an active role. Agustín I, Mexico's first ruler, was a mestizo. His motives for power were suspect, however, and he was forced out in little more than a year. In 1824 a republic was established, with a constitution that was similar to that of the United States. The most notorious president to serve under this constitution was Antonio López de Santa Anna, who held the title of president for more than twenty years, but ruled as a vicious dictator. He was cruel, treacherous, and greedy for power, and eventually his downfall was achieved by a coalition of radicals led by two full-blooded natives, Juan Álvarez and Benito Juárez, and a creole, Ignacio Comonfort. The coalition, fiercely democratic, immediately reduced the power that the church and military had held under Santa Anna, but they overtook a country that had been run into the ground by mounting foreign debt. The sale of church lands to private owners, enacted by the new coalition, was not enough to cure the poverty of the Mexican government. It was during 1862 that emperor Napoleon III of France (Bonaparte's nephew), viewing Mexico's economic weakness as an opportunity for domination, sent an army to land at Vera Cruz. These French troops fought their way to Mexico City, seized control of the government, and installed Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, as a puppet ruler. Maximilian was a miserably inept leader who drew hatred from all quarters of Mexico, and when Napoleon III withdrew French troops from Mexico to help him fight the Austro-Prussian war in Europe, Juárez and his followers stormed the capital. Maximilian was quickly captured and shot. Juárez was made president of Mexico, and immediately began a series of reforms: the size of the army was decreased, the waste and extravagance of government bureaucracy was reduced, and a wide extension of public education was created. Tragically, Juárez died within a year of his becoming president; his reforms had hardly begun. Not long after Juárez's death, a new dictator, Porfirio Díaz, emerged in Mexico City and overthrew the democratic successor. Díaz, the son of a creole father and a native mother, would rule Mexico for more than thirty years. He was, for the most part, not a violent ruler, but his concern was primarily directed toward ways to extend or maintain his own power. He brought relief from economic hardship to Mexico, but his remedies were appalling to many Mexican citizens he invited foreign investors to take control of much of Mexico's land, and sold these lands, including all of the mineral rights, to these investors for ridiculously low prices. Prosperity at this price was not what Mexicans wanted. Díaz was also an underhanded politician who rigged elections through blackmail, bribery, and outright threats. For these and many other reasons he was finally forced from power in 1911. The aged dictator sailed for France, leaving behind a troubled country that was, after more than thirty years of abuse, once again ripe for revolution. Further Reading Burns, Edward McNall, World Civilizations, New York, Norton, 1982. Collier, Simon, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Latin America and the Caribbean, New York, Cambridge University Press, 1985. An Encyclopedia of World History, edited by Wiliam L. Langer, Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1968. Latin Civilization: History and Society, 1492 to Present, edited by Benjamin Keen, Boulder, Colo., Westview Press, 1986. Keen, Benjamin, and Wasserman, Mark, A Short History of Latin America, 2nd ed., Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1984. © 1999 - The Gale Group. All rights reserved. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition, (c) 1994. Merriam-Webster Incorporated. Published under license with Merriam-Webster.
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