Chapter 19: Chapter 19: Colombo-Peruvian War.
The Colombo-Peruvian War.
"Gloria eterna a la Gran Colombia,
nuestra amada y poderosa nacion,
la que levanta el templo sagrado
de la paz, libertad y union".
-La Marcha Libertadora, Anthem of Colombia.
The Colombo-Peruvian war is considered a pivotal moment in the history of not only the two nations involved, but also of Latin America and perhaps the world. Entire books and essays have been written in the consequences the dissolution of Colombia would have had. Some historians think that without Colombia, Latin America would have descended into a series of weak third world nations filled with crime and guerillas, yet other historians think the entire region would have been much better. There seems to be no middle point. In Latin America, talking about the war is sure to exalt and provoke the utmost nationalist feelings in the Colombians, and hate and bitterness in the Peruvians. One can know if a person is pro-Colombia or anti-Colombia from only asking them for their opinions of the war.
Upon the declaration of war, Santander faced an important dilemma. He, as a Federalist, had supported a small army who couldn't meddle too much in the Colombian politics, while also trying to increase the power of the Navy. The Problem was that most of the Colombian Navy was in the Caribbean, prepared to defend Hispaniola and the northern coast. The Navy division in Guayaquil was much, much weaker, and the only way of transferring ships from the Caribbean to the Pacific would be to travel around the Strait of Magallanes, something simply unfeasible. The Peruvian Navy, on the other hand, while not really that powerful, was easily able to defeat the few Colombian vessels there, with the exception of the Second Flotilla of the South, which escaped to Panama. Then, they started to blockade Guayaquil, the biggest and most important Pacific port of Colombia.
In land, the Peruvian cavalry advanced into the State of Azuay. The Commander, Jose Albarracin, had fought in the Independence Wars in the Royalist Side, and returned to command troops thanks to La Mar. He knew that the Andes were the perfect defensive terrene, so he wanted to advance to the gates of Quito at least before the Colombians were able to put an effective resistance in place. He defeated the unorganized Colombian forces in the Battle of Loja, and continued his advance towards Cuenca.
In the coast, the Peruvian armies were marching with the objective of taking and occupying Guayaquil. La Mar planned to use a strategy similar to the one the Colombians used during the Revolution: He planned to encircle and then besiege Quito. Both La Mar and Santander knew that if Quito fell, Venezuela would secede and Colombia would collapse.
Santander sent his troops with the mission of protecting Cuenca and Guayaquil, and halt the Peruvian forces until a contra-attack could be made. Sucre decided to go back to the field of battle, commanding the Second Quitean Army, with Nariño following him in command of the Garrison of Hispaniola, now transformed into the First Santo Domingo Infantry Regiment. Bolivar was the only liberator Santander refused to give any command over any army, fearing what he could do if he had troops under him once again with Miranda too elderly to stop him this time. Bolivar would stay in Venezuela, but he sent a secret letter to Santander, stating that should Santander fail to protect Ecuador, Bolivar would take command of the armies of Venezuela and secede.
The first major battle of the war happened just in the gates of Cuenca, where Colombia was defeated by the advancing Peruvian Armies, which retreated up to the province of Cañar. The Peruvian army had divided itself into two main armies, the Ejercito Costeño which advanced to Guayaquil and the Ejercito Serrano attacking Cuenca. While this meant that their numbers were actually lower than those of the Armies in Ecuador, those armies were also divided and transporting one from the Sierra to the Costa would need several weeks and be a logistical nightmare. Bringing troops from as far as Venezuela was also a difficult endeavor, with the Colombian mobilization proving to be very slow and inefficient.
In the political stage, La Plata and Mexico decided to offer help to Peru while Chile, Charkas and Paraguay offered it to Colombia. Brazil and the United States preferred to remain neutral, while Haiti and the USCA sent several "volunteer" brigades. Most of the different brigades labeled to be Venezuelan, like the Segundo Cuerpo de Caballeria de Caracas, were actually from those nations, because Santander was afraid any attempt at conscription would increment the secessionist wishes of Venezuela. This had adverse consequences in that people from Cundinamarca and Santo Domingo also refused to be drafted. Santander managed to bolster the Colombian numbers by again promising liberty to any slave who would fight under the Tricolor. Many slave owners, faced with the decision of contributing immense amounts of money, send their sons to the front or liberating their slaves and receiving compensation by the Fund, chose the latter. The decision still caused severe backslash, though.
However, it was in Europe were most discussions and controversies took place. France's Prime Minister, Lafayette, met with his British counterpart, Charles Grey, to decide what to do with the "Colombian Question". Colombia was widely considered to be in the British sphere of influence, to the point that several nations called them the "Perritos Ingleses". Peru was, at the same time, in the Colombian sphere, and thus was by proxy in the British sphere too. France had great interest in Latin America, having already established dominance in La Plata and Mexico, and they obviously wanted to expand that influence. A general collapse of Colombia could easily lead to that. The British, meanwhile, naturally wanted to prevent such an event. Since the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1814, Britain had adopted a politic of Balance towards the world, and Latin America was not the exception. From the British point of view, they should hold as much influence as the French, if not more; also, Colombia and Mexico should both be equals to the United States, so that the UK would be able to play every nation against each other easily. Ideally, Colombia would be equal in economy and navy to the US, but both together should be inferior to the Royal Navy and the British Empire. No nation, except the United Kingdom, should be able to have all the influence and power.
Lafayette threatened Grey, that if Britain was to offer help to Colombia, France would also offer massive help to Peru. Grey accepted, but then the Perfidious side of Albion shone again in a situation that, for once, benefited other nation. Claiming that neither Ireland nor Canada were parts of England, he arranged for the formation of the "Canadian Militias", mostly made out of volunteers that wanted to repay Colombia for their help during the war of 1814. The Irish Brigades were also formed, again, by volunteers. Colombia offered Colombian citizenship to every man and his family who would serve under the tricolor, thus many Irish, liking the idea of living in a Catholic country where they would be seen as elites thanks to being white, joined the ranks. One of the men that went to Colombia was Daniel O'Leary, who would later make a name for himself.
France protested the British decision, but Britain replied that, technically, they weren't sending any English people, only Irish and Canadian. They also reminded France that they controlled the seas, thus France would have problems reaching the new world while Britain could do easily. Realizing his situation, Lafayette resigned himself to not help Peru in any way after all, though he did call for French-Canadians to enlist in Peru, but almost nobody did.
The Colombian Campaign, named the Great Campaign in a throwback to the Campaigns during the Latin American revolutions, started with the Battle of Cuenca, where the Colombian army successfully halted the Peruvian advance, but at great cost. The Colombian commander, Basantes, proved himself inept by failing to use the Andes to defend. However, his actions bought enough time to the Colombians for Nariño to arrive and take command of the armies of la sierra.
In the coast, the Peruvians were dangerously close to Guayaquil. The Peruvians had just overrun Tumbes and El Oro, and were very close to the great river Guayas. Thanks to Peruvian dominance at sea, Sucre was forced to go through land. While the Colombian pacific coast was mainly plains through which a horse could easily gallopade, Sucre had to stop in Quito in order to arrange the logistics for his Army and possible contingency plans in case the Peruvians reached the city. He them had to go through the mighty Andes. Almost devoid of infrastructure and with good, functional logistics being almost an impossibility, Sucre opted to backtrack to Pasto and then follow the route of Esmeraldas.
The Peruvians then decided to attack Guayaquil directly, landing in the heavily fortified city. The Colombian defenses thought an amphibious assault of the city was an idiocy, and thus were not prepared to counter-attack effectively. The attack, along with taking Guayaquil without a siege, had the objective of trapping the Colombian army south of the Guayas between the landed forces and the Peruvian army. The plan was successful, and the Colombian Coastal Army was forced to surrender.
The whole coastal campaign had been a disaster for Colombia. A whole army was lost, several commanders, veterans of the Independence Wars, were captured and Guayaquil had fallen to Peru. Santander's only consolation was that almost no Venezuelan soldiers were lost, so the threat of Venezuela seceding was low for the time being, but moral was touching the ground. La Mar hoped that was enough to make Colombia surrender and obtain all the territories he demanded, perhaps even obtaining the important port of Guayaquil, nut it was not. He had underestimated the will of the Colombian people.
Santander had a plan ready, but in order to implement it he needed at least one great decisive victory over his enemies. That victory came in the form of the Battle of Tarqui[1], some kilometers south of Cuenca.
The Colombian forces, outnumbered and undersupplied, were pitied against the Peruvian Forces, reinforced by several units of the Peruvian coastal army. Sucre, who had changed his destiny after hearing about the Fall of Guayaquil, was leading the Colombian Army together with Nariño. Though having two of the Great Libertadores leading them was admittedly a moral boast, the Colombians were still pessimistic about the whole campaign.
During the first day of fight, the Peruvians suffered heavy casualties thanks to the brilliant defense established by the Colombians. The turning point of the Battle was, however, the death of Abdon Calderon, the kid soldier[2]. A young soldier from Cuenca, who enlisted in the Army even though he was underage just out of patriotic fervor and to defend his family and loved ones, he fought valiantly against the Peruvian, carrying the Colombian tricolor with him at every moment. He lost an arm, a leg, had several bayonet and bullet wounds, but he continued to carry the tricolor, even between his teeth, no matter what. He only died after a canyon finally impacted his head and even then his final words were heard over the sound of the artillery: Eternal Glory to our Great Colombia! (¡Gloria eterna a nuestra Gran Colombia!)[3]
Modern historians agree that surviving all those wounds would have been impossible, and in fact it was proven in 1993 that he actually died quickly after only one canyon impacted his chest, but the myth quickly spread through the Colombian lines, which returned to fight with newfound courage. With the motto "Gloria Eterna a la Gran Colombia" sounding in the air, the Colombian counter-attack started, while the cavalry, led by O'Leary, pierced through enemy lines.
The Peruvian soldiers were disorganized after O'Leary's successful attack, and the situation only took a turn for the worse after the Peruvian commander was killed. The Cavalry then proceded to lure Peru into attacking Colombia's strong, defensive postions with open infantry attacks. Disorganized and in chaos, the Peruvians threw themselves into the meatgrinder, until they became weak enough that a Colombian counter-attack was enough to finally destroy the Peruvian Army.
The news of the Great Victory, which was around four thousand soldiers against eight thousand, but was exaggerated to one thousand versus ten thousand, spread around Colombia. Santander used this to build the Colombian identity, convincing everyone that the very future of Colombia was at stake, that if Peru wasn't defeated at once all of Colombia would fall into an era of despair even worse than the Independence Wars. He, in his Patriotic Call, encouraged all Colombians to fight for the future of Colombia, because though there were Quitean, Cundinamarcans, Venezuelans, Dominguenses, Panameños and more, they were above everything, Colombian, and what united them was not where they were born, what ethnicity they were, what language they spoke; but the shared love they had for the land they called home.
Colombia entered in a new Nationalist frenzy, with thousands of young men enlisting in the army, thousands of poems and songs (the National Anthem, La Marcha Libertadora included) composed and legends about heroism created. Another great victory scored in the Pacific against the seemingly superior Peruvian Navy only helped to increase the feeling. This victory was achieved using a small, very fast ship, that placed itself under the Peruvian Man of War, such that its canyons couldn't aim low enough to reach the Colombian vessel, but the canyons of it could.[4]
The Nationalistic craze, similar to the one that surged through Latin America during the Independence War, created common ground for everybody once again. Knowing that failure could very well mean total collapse, Santander started a second campaign, the Patriotic Campaign, and enacted the War to Death decree once more. The Colombian Army, now high in morale and with is numbers almost tripled, then moved to the offensive.
The first great victory took place in Guayaquil, where the Irish Cavalry, led by Daniel O'Leary, defeated the Peruvian garrison and entered the city. However, that was just a distraction. The real trust was through the Andes, something so ridiculous, idiotic and unexpected that the Peruvians weren't ready to defend. The Peruvian coastal Army was encircled and destroyed, and Guayaquil liberated, in what is called the Second Independence.
La Mar was furious, blaming his incompetent generals for the disastrous failures, and decided to assume control himself. Fighting between the Peruvian leadership was common, and the elites entered in conflict with the military, with both factions wanting very different things. For one, the army expected to continue the fight, while the elites wanted to pull out and sign a favorable peace. However, Santander was having nothing short of total and complete victory.
The campaign continued, with the Colombians finally retaking Tumbes. The war then moved to Peruvian soil, with Colombia once again inflicting a great defeat in the Peruvian Army, whose backbone had already been destroyed.
The recent successes finally triggered what is known in Peru as the Guerra Repetida (Repetition War), as Peru descended into chaos after a sector of the military pulled out a military coup, starting a disastrous civil war that divided the Peruvian Army. Since that was practically what happened to almost every patriot front during the Revolutions, the irony of the former loyalist country falling to it wasn't lost to Colombia. Large sectors of Peru army deserted, some to just return home, some to rise in revolution (primarily natives), and some to join some side of the Civil War. Colombia was able to advance almost unopposed, due to all the generals picking a side, and their troops either following them or deserting; thus, the Peruvian resistance was almost nonexistent.
As Peru collapsed once more, in a success that many Peruvians lament because it was easily avoidable had the Peruvian command being not so inept, Colombia continued advancing almost unopposed. Colombia, in order to make everything easier for herself, entered an alliance ("La Alianza Maldita") with General Andres de Santa Cruz, a Charkean that managed to take control of several armies in the southern frontiers, rendering them unable to stop the Colombian armies.
Colombia would continue towards Lima, hoping to occupy the city once more, action considered to have been unnecessary and only for revenge. Almost one year and half after the start of the war, Colombia defeated the defenses of the city of the Kings, and just to rub salt in the wound, celebrated Dia de la Libertad with a triumphal march in the center of the city. Thanks to this, Colombia put Santa Cruz as the new dictator of Peru, in an attempt to establish other Dictadura Benevolente. The attempt would fail, but Santa Cruz fulfilled his part of the treaty nonetheless and made peace with Colombia. Santander, though, decided to only annex a little more of land in the coast, while actually giving more Amazonian land to Peru, all in spite of the total victory he achieved. Still, he had to make it seem like Colombia had punished Peru for its actions, so he also took the Chincha Islands, very rich in guano, and imposed war reparations and limited the Peruvian Navy, even taking several ships and adding them to the Colombian Pacific Fleet. Also, Colombia secured complete influence in Peru. This would later have consequences during the Pacific War.
In Santafe, Caracas and Quito, the celebrations were as great, if not greater, than those after the Independence. Santander's popularity was higher than ever (even winning yet a third presidential period, being the only Colombian to do so until the Great War), while the Patriotic Craze continued. Though the creation of a true national identity would take several years more, for the moment, the union of Colombia was safe.
In Peru, the people were scared and disappointed. The former loyal colony saw its world turned around, and the Republican Age of Congress Latin America and the war had just been disasters. Lured by the sweet, but poisonous voice of La Mar, the Peruvian state laid in ruins once again, now in hands of another dictator, Santa Cruz. The Colombian troops had stabilized the state, and La Dictadura Benevolente was ready to operate. Under Santa Cruz, La Era Colombiana, considered to last until the Semi-Centennial Revolutions, started. Marked by relative stability, great Colombian control and a military-industrial complex that greatly hurt Peru, this era would leave a lasting mark in Peru. Many still lament the successes of the war, and it's agreed it is the direct cause of the Peruvian pessimistic mentality, but also of their love for the science and arts, that has made them the Historical and Social Center of Learning of the World.
In September 6, 1832, the last Colombian troops left Peru, and the sun left the sky, in a twilight that seemed to be a goodbye to Congress Latin America. A new era started for Latin America, an era of industrialization, peril and uncertainly, marked by the race of five countries for the control of the American Continent. Though the sun still rose the following day, no light lit in Latin America, rather, its darkest age started.
Note
[1]There was an historical Battle of Tarqui, during OTL's Gran-Colombo Peruvian War. It marked the end of the war as the Colombian armies defeated Peru.
[2]There was an historical Abdon Calderon, and he died serving in Bolivar's army in Quito at the tender age of 18... in 1820. So, the OTL Calderon would be 28 by 1830. Not really a kid anymore. This one is another, the only reason he has the same name is for simbolism. Also, that myth about not dying and keeping the flag between his teeth has been taught in Ecuador for several decades. He actually died of disentery. Still, he forms a great part of our national identity and pride. Another interesting fact is that our army has a batallion that has no captain, and when asked why they musy answer "Our captain is Abdon Calderon, who died gloriously in Pichincha (Tarqui here) but lives on in our hearths".
[3]This motto and the anthem at the beggining are both from a Patriotic song from the OTL Independence Wars. It was, originally, Gloria Eterna a la Nueva Granada, but since ITTL it is composed several years after when the name Colombia is well known, I changed it. By the way, the "Gran" doesn't refer to Gran Colombia like we do, the name is just Colombia ITTL. The "Gran" was added so that it will be sung more easily, and is in the sense that "our nation is the best" (kind like how the Soviet Union's anthem refered to it as "the Great Soviet Union")
[4]I consider this to be a myth inside the timeline. There's an story about an Ecuadorian vessel which managed to destroy a Peruvian ship using this method in OTL. I thought it would be nice to add something similar in here.
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