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.
 Results
• Caudillos
– Strong military leaders emerge
– Dictatorship and totalitarian systems emerge
• Dependency theory challenges “Moderninity” theory
– Western European markets determine the product
– South America dependent upon others buying their one
crop
• Banana Republics
– United Fruit Company controlled Central America in late
19th and early 20th century
– Phrase coined to designate politically unstable, dependent
on limited agriculture, and ruled by a small, wealthy and
corrupt clique put in power by the United States
government in conjunction with the CIA and the US
business lobby
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.
Jose de San
Martin
• Simple,
modest man.
• Born in
Argentina,
spent time in
Spain as
military
officer.
Lima, Peru
Argentinean Independence
• 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.
• San Martin sailed for Europe and
died on French soil in 1850.
• Dec 9, 1824, Bolivar defeated
Spanish at Battle of Ayacucho.
 Bolivar
San
Martin
 Gran Colombia, 1820-1830
• Bolivar’s vision of a united South America.
• Present-day Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela
and Panama.
• Short-lived due to dissension amongst
various factions.
• 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.
 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.
• Mexico's Congress then followed the wishes of the liberals
and began to write a constitution for a federal republic. But
the criollos still disagreed on how the constitution should be
written. Conservatives wanted a strong central government
and wanted Roman Catholicism to be the national religion,
as it had been under Spanish rule. Liberals wanted the
central government to have less power and the states
more, and they called for freedom of religion.
The groups finally reached a compromise, though many
conservative criollos did not support it. In 1824, Mexico
became a republic with a president and a two-house
Congress heading the national government, and governors
and legislatures heading the states. Guadalupe Victoria, a
follower of Hidalgo and Morelos, became the first
president.
• http://www.vivasancarlos.com/call_ind.html
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
on Iberian peninsula, forcing
Portuguese royal family of
King John VI to escape to
Brazil, Portugal’s largest
colony.
• From 1807 to 1815, Brazil was
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.
 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.
Latin American Independence
Movements, 18th & 19th C.