Capítulo 3: Chapter 3 War of Independence of La Plata
Airs of Independence in the American Continent.- The struggle of La Plata.
"A suffered defeat means more than a casual victory."
-José de San Matin, dictator of La Plata from 1814 to 1820.
The Viceroy of La Plata was created in 1776 with the territories of current La Plata, Paraguay, Chile and Charkas. Its capital was the city of Buenos Aires, an important port on the Atlantic, necessary for the long voyages that the Spanish had to make from Lima or Guayaquil, but the Spanish administration was ineffective at best and absolutely incompetent at worst. so the city became a place for pirates and other low lives.
The Viceroy had already been attacked by the Portuguese in the Conquest of the Eastern Missions, to which Spain only had a limited and insufficient response. Then came the British invasions. Great Britain was at war with the Spanish crown, Napoleon's ally at the time, so they organized an invasion with the aim of annexing the Viceroy. Spain's response was, again, ineffective, and the English managed to occupy Buenos Aires. The people of the area had to be the ones to defend the homeland, with little or no help from Spain. The Platinean Militias arose here, and were agreed to be the base of the Platinean Liberation Army.
These incidents, along with the United States Declaration of Independence and the French Revolution, created great political and social activity in the colony. The lack of help and support from the Motherland, and the victory of the Platinian Militias alone, made the people of the Viceroy, especially Buenos Aires and Montevideo, become very aware, so they began to demand political autonomy. When Spain did not allow this, bourgeois merchants and other high-society Creoles began to form new societies that sought a change in the way Spain governed its colonies.
In this political and social context, the French invasion of Spain began, and the overthrow of King Ferdinand VII aggravated the situation even further. However, once the Supreme Central Junta against Napoleon was established in Spain, the viceroy swore loyalty to it and to the alienated monarch.
Some very short-lived attempts at self-government were made, similar to those that had taken place in Quito and especially in Caracas, but they failed. There was even a rebellion on January 1, 1809, but it was defeated by loyal troops and the new viceroy, Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros, began a reorganization of the forces in Buenos Aires. However, societies seeking independence still existed and planned to start a rebellion against the Viceroy. This rebellion, the May Revolution, began after the Central Junta fell to Napoleon's armies.
The Revolution was a success and on May 25, 1810 the Government Junta was established. Like the Junta of Caracas, it sought to govern in the name of Fernando VII, but this, known as "Fernando's mask", is accepted as only a pretext to hide the independence wishes of the Junta.
The first action the Board took was to demand loyalty and a representative from all the Viceroy's provinces. Even after the Regency Council was established in Spain, Buenos Aires still did not recognize its authority, as it was elected without any votes from the colonies. The beginning of the Colombian Revolution also motivated the Junta, which saw the Junta Supremana Colombia as a possible ally for its demands for greater representation and autonomy for the colonies.
Once the Junta Grande was formed with the arrival of the representatives of the colonies, it began to govern the territory of La Plata, and its first military action was against Upper Peru, but it finally failed since the reinforcements from Lima managed to counterattack and take the control of the region. Meanwhile, the Junta also tried to incorporate and "restore order" in Paraguay, which remained under royalist control, but the Platinian Army was defeated. However, a revolution also began there, on May 14, 1811 in Asunción, liberating the land, but the established Board decided that Paraguay would remain independent and isolationist. The situation around the Eastern Provinces was not better, since even when a victorious insurrection took place with the support of the Platinian troops,
This was the situation when Colombia declared independence on May 24, 1811. As a result of the military success, an extremist faction of the Junta, Los Morenistas, gained even greater prominence, as it advocated taking more severe measures to combat the royalists. . troops. In response, the Patriotic Society was created, formed with more measured members who advocated federalism and democracy, citing Miranda's Colombia as a successful example of this. A Civil War between the two parties began when the Morenista Control Board purged several members of the Patriotic Society, recognized because they wore a white and light blue ribbon on their arm. In response, the remaining members of the Society rebelled, the April Revolution, which ended when the Cabildo, a colonial institution turned representative of the people,
A reorganization of the army was to be carried out and the troops of the Eastern Provinces participating in the Siege of Montevideo were summoned. The people of Montevideo decided not to recognize the government of the new Triumvirate and continued with the blockade of Buenos Aires, starting an offensive after the withdrawal of the troops.
The situation in Peru was not better, since even when Lima had to send troops against Miranda, Viceroy José Fernando de Abascal y Sousa was still able to occupy Upper Peru and took control of Córdoba, in the "Counterrevolution", which neither even several new revolts were able to defeat. A national army, the Army of the Andes, was created to reclaim all lands under Platinean control. They had extraordinary success, with a great victory at Suipacha (which sparked a rebellion in Potosí), and by mid-1813 all of Upper Peru had fallen under Patriotic Control, but the fight against Lima continued.
The next military action was the March to Paraguay, a Platinian attempt to annex the province, which had not recognized the authority of either the first Junta or the Triumvirate. At first it was a success, but the assigned commander Belgrano lost to the royalist Velasco, who managed to lead a counterattack after Belgrano's army was dissolved, due to disorganization and accidental friendly fire.
Belgrade was recalled to the capital to be punished for his failure, while his troops were transferred to the Army of the Andes, so that they could support the offensive against Peru. Unfortunately, Portugal decided to take the risk and take for itself the Eastern Provinces, a territory disputed with Spain for several years before. Using his supposed authority from the royal family, who had moved to Rio de Janeiro, an invasion force headed to Montevideo and defeated the patriots. The triumvirate, desperate because it had no means to deal with Portugal and Peru at the same time, advanced by ceding several provinces.
As a direct consequence, the Eastern Revolution began, giving rise to the feeling of "orientality", of differentiating oneself from the rest of the Viceroy. Its main leader was Artigas, who from that moment organized the territories under his control as the Federal League, which said that either the Eastern Provinces were part of a federal and democratic La Plata or it was independent, a new notion around the territory. . It is agreed that it influenced the birth of independence ideas in the territories annexed by Portugal, which would be a direct cause of the independence of Rio Grande do Sul. This, together with the failures in the Paraguay and Oriental Campaigns, caused great discontent until that a young colonel, José de San Martín, carried out a coup d'état and took power, declaring himself dictator until the war ended. Under the leadership of San Matin great advances were made against the royalists, with the formation of the Second Platinian Army and the taking of Montevideo. The first naval victory was also achieved, thanks to Guillermo Brown, and a privateering campaign also began. As a result, the entire remnant of the Eastern Provinces fell under Patriotic Control.
But things began to fall apart when Artigas declared that the Eastern Provinces were independent of the centralist and dictatorial government of San Martín in Buenos Aires, and several provinces joined his cause. A civil war began between the League and San Martín, whose faction was called "Centralista". Unable to defend itself from any foreign aggression, Peru was able to begin to occupy the north of La Plata but it was not possible to advance further thanks to the efforts of the Gauchos, informal militias and guerrillas who managed to stop the Peruvian offensives, while Paraguay continued its campaign for its own freedom. Had it not been for the start of the Brazilian Independence Revolts in northern Brazil, his agreement Portugal would have broken the armistice and attacked the Eastern Provinces.
The Civil War would continue until 1816, when San Martín emerged victorious, but was forced to recognize the autonomy of the Eastern Provinces within the State and greatly weaken the central government. The Army of the Andes was not able to recover until much later, and by then news of the Colombian Offensive towards Lima was known. San Martín would travel to Guayaquil to meet Miranda, in their famous Guayaquil Meeting.
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