1750-1914: An Age of Revolutions

Latin American

Independence Movements

Background• Indigenous peoples and civilizations

– Maya, Aztec, Inca

• European Colonization, 1500s– Spain, Portugal, France

• American Revolution, 1776

• French Revolution and Enlightenment, 1789

• Napoleon’s conquests within Europe, 1800s

Latin American Independence Movements, 18th & 19th C.

French colonies: Revolution in Haiti

• Saint Domingue, now known as Haiti

• Western third of island of Hispanola in Caribbean Sea.

• Plantation slavery, sugar

Toussaint L’Ouverture• (too-SAN loo-vair-TOOR)

• Former slave, self-educated.• Untrained in military and political

matters, but became a skilled general and diplomat.

• Allegedly got name (“opening” in French) from being able to find openings in enemy lines.

• Took leadership of a slave revolt that broke out in 1791.

• 100,000 slaves in revolt.

• By 1801, L’Ouverture moved into Spanish Santo Domingo (the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispanola), took control of territory and freed slaves.

• In January 1802, French troops landed.

• Toussaint agreed to an end of fighting if the French would end slavery

• French accused him of planning another uprising.

• Sent him to a prison in the French Alps.

• He died 10 months later, April 1803.

Jean-Jacques Dessalines• Toussaint’s general.

• Took up the fight.

• Jan 1, 1804 - declared an independent country.

• First black colony to free itself from European control.

• He called it Haiti, “mountainous land,” in the language of the native Arawak inhabitants.

• Became first emperor of Haiti; later assassinated in a revolt.

• 1820: Haiti became an independent republic

Spanish Colonies

Revolutions against Spanish Rule

Latin American social classes• Peninsulares - men born in Spain

– held highest offices

• Creoles - Spaniards born in Latin America– officers in army, but not in government– often resented power of the peninsulares

• Mestizos - mixed European and Indian• Mulattos - mixed European and African• Indians

European Background: Napoleon

• Napoleon invaded Spain in 1808.

• Removed Spain’s King Ferdinand VII and made Joseph (Nap’s brother) king of Spain.

• Creoles used it as a reason for revolution.

• 1810 rebellion across Latin America.

• 1814, Napoleon defeated and Ferdinand returned to power, but creoles cont’d their movement.

Francisco Goya, Executions of May 3, 1808

Simon Bolivar

• Wealthy Venezuelan creole.

• “The Liberator”

Venezuelan Independence,

1821• Venezuela declared independence,

1811.• Bolivar’s armies unsuccessful at first.• 1819: Bolivar marched armies over

Andes into today’s Colombia, defeated Spanish army.

• 1821: Venezuelan independence.• Marched north to Ecuador to meet Jose

de San Martin.

• Simple, modest man.

• Born in Argentina, spent time in Spain as military officer.

Jose de San Jose de San MartinMartin

Lima, Peru

• Argentina declared independence in 1816.

• San Martin led army across Andes to Chile, joined by Bernardo O’Higgins, and freed Chile.

• Ecuador, 1822: San Martin met with Bolivar to decide how to remove remaining Spanish forces in Lima, Peru.

Argentinean Independence

• San Martin sailed for Europe and died on French soil in 1850.

• Dec 9, 1824, Bolivar defeated Spanish at Battle of Ayacucho.

BolivarSan Martin

• Bolivar’s vision of a united South America.Bolivar’s vision of a united South America.

• Present-day Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela Present-day Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Panama.and Panama.

• Short-lived due to dissension amongst various Short-lived due to dissension amongst various factions.factions.

• Bolivar resigned in 1828.Bolivar resigned in 1828.

• In 1830, Bolivar’s Gran Colombia divided into Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela.

• Panama later split from Colombia with US assistance, 1903.

Gran Colombia, 1820-1830

Mexico

• Indians and mestizos, not creoles, played the key role in independence movements.

• Creoles sided with Spain to avoid violence of lower-class rebellions (until 1820).

Miguel Hidalgo

• A village priest, believed

in Enlightenment ideals.

• 1810, called for revolution.– Grito de Dolores (call for revolution)

• Hidalgo’s Indian and mestizo followers marched to Mexico City.

• Spanish army and creoles acted against Hidalgo and defeated him in 1811.

Jose Maria Morelos

• Took leadership after Hidalgo’s defeat.

• Defeated by creoles.

Mexican Independence, 1821

• 1820 revolution in Spain put a liberal government in power.

• Mexican creoles feared loss of influence, so they united against Spain.

• Agustin Iturbide declared himself emperor, but was overthrown.

• 1824: Establishment of the Mexican Republic.

Results of Latin American Independence Movements

• Political/Social:– Continued battles between liberals, conservatives

and the military over how to best rule.– Tensions between articulate political forces and the

separate masses.

• Economic:– Unable to free itself from dependence on Western-

controlled economic patterns.

• Cultural/intelligent:– Distinct cultural entity

• combination of Western styles and values plus its racial diversity, colonial past, and social structure of a semi-colonial economy.

Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna

• A caudillo, strong arm ruler.• Fought for independence from Spain in 1821 and

again in 1829 when Spain tried to reconquer Mexico.

• Between 1833 and 1855, president four times– switched sides to keep himself in power

• Santa Anna was Emperor of the largest empire in world history, stretching from southern Mexico through Texas, all of what is now the US southwest, California and some of Oregon, a rather large parcel of territory.

• Was Emperor for a short time – until Texas defeated Mexico in its War of Independence, but never really had control of his empire

Texas Revolt• 1820s, Mexico invited English-speaking settlers

(Anglos) to settle Mexican territory of Texas.• Cheap land if they supported the Mexican govt.• Texans soon wanted self-govt, Mexico refused.• 1835, Stephen Austin encouraged revolt.• Santa Anna led Mexican troops; defeated, 1836.• 1845, US annexed Texas; invaded Mexico.• 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo gave US land.

Benito Juarez• Poor, orphaned Zapotec Indian;

law degree and local governor.• La Reforma: reform movement• redistribution of land, separation

of church and state, education• Santa Anna sent him into exile.• Set up a liberal government, but

plagued by conservative rebels.

French Rule• Conservative rebels plotted with France to

reconquer Mexico.• Napoleon III sent armies to Mexico.• Cinco de Mayo, 1862:

– Zaragoza won the Battle of Puebla against the French, but the French won the war.

• Napoleon III appointed a relative, Austrian archduke Maximilian, as emperor of Mexico.

• Juarez resisted, US sent troops to Mexico - French gave up in 1867.

• Juarez continued reforms.

Porfirio Diaz, 1870s-1911

• Mid-1870s, new caudillo.

• Indian who rose up through the ranks.

• Supported by Indians, small landowners and military.

• “Order and progress,” but no liberty.

Mexican Revolution (against Diaz)

• Francisco “Pancho” Villa - Robin-Hood policy

• Emiliano Zapata - “Tierra y libertad”

• Francisco Madero - appointed President, but resigned and was murdered.

• General Victoriano Huerta took presidency.

• Villa and Zapata supported Venustiano Carranza, overthrew Huerta.

• Carranza murdered Zapata.

• 1917, new constitution (in use today).

• Carranza otherthrown by Alvaro Obregon.

Portuguese Rule• Treaty of Tordesillas

of 1494 divided the Atlantic between Spain and Portugal.

• Portugal was mostly focused on routes to Asia in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Brazilian Independence

• In 1807, Napoleon marched In 1807, Napoleon marched on Iberian peninsula, forcing on Iberian peninsula, forcing Portuguese royal family of Portuguese royal family of King John VI to escape to King John VI to escape to Brazil, Portugal’s largest Brazil, Portugal’s largest colony.colony.

• From 1807 to 1815, Brazil was From 1807 to 1815, Brazil was center of Portuguese empire.center of Portuguese empire.

• With defeat of Napoleon in 1815, Portugal wanted Brazil to become a colony again.

• By 1822, creoles demanding independence signed a petition asking Portugal’s prince, Dom Pedro, to rule Brazil.

• On Sept 7, 1822, Dom Pedro agreed, and declared Brazil’s independence

• Emperor Pedro I, to emulate Napoleon and to unify various elements of Brazil.

• Pedro’s political and personal problems led to a decline in his popularity.

• 1889, Brazilians overthrew Pedro’s successor and declared their country a republic.

United Provinces of Central America

• Several other Central American states declared their independence from both Spain and Mexico to create the United Provinces of Central America.

• By 1841, United Provinces of Central America had split into republics of El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Honduras.

• Conservative clergy and wealthy landowners resisted liberal, democratic reforms.

• Inability to agree to terms of a canal cost it much-needed revenue.

Period of Consolidation, 1825-1850• Breakdown of original nations and groups:

– Gran Colombia– an original union between Bolivia and Peru– United Provinces of Central America

• Instability of internal politics– Bolivia experienced 60 revolts and coups.– Venezuela experienced 52 revolts and coups

• Liberals - free trade, representative govt, federal government system

• Conservatives - protect church and upper classes– controlled most regimes between 1830 and 1870.

• Independence movements and new governments run by Creoles

• Spanish administrators had excluded Creoles from political leadership, so few leaders could actually run a government.

Growing significant role of the military

• Stepped in to fill admin positions where inexperienced Creoles failed.

• Often drawn from independence armies.

• Possessed organization skills

• Gained support of Creole landowners and church officials eager to suppress peasant unrest.

• Often faced revolts and coups, too.

• Military hierarchy helped compensate for weakly developed civil administrations.

Achievements

• Expansion of education system, open new lands to settlement, abolish slavery.

• Stability in foreign affairs - map fixed after 1850– In 1820, Britain established Uruguay as a buffer

between Argentina and Brazil– US provoked the only major changes

• Mexican-American War, Cuba, Panama

Late 19th century Trends: Strongman Rule, Liberalism, commercial development

• Dictators in Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia– Caudillo = strongman leader– Relied on force– outlawed opposition, regulated schools and

newspapers– used jails, police and firing squads– often corrupt– sometimes supported liberal policies

• Liberal governments return to power– Even strongmen often supported “liberal” policies

• regular elections, but with restricted voting rights (oligarchic democracies)

Trend towards Commercial Development

• Mining

• Estate agriculture (Shift from plantation)

• Extension of road and rail networks.

• Foreign investment.

• Immigration.– End of slavery in 1880s – Leads to new demand for labor– Argentina’s policies encouraging immigration led

to 3/4 of the pop foreign-born.

Latin American Independence Movements, 18th & 19th C.