Category: History
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The British West Indies and Canada
The British West Indies and Canada provide us with two more counterpoints to the successful wars of revolution. The 13 colonies were unusual in their revolt against British colonial rule. Canada and the British possessions in the West Indies did not seek independence. Both regions would experience a gradual transition to independence. They present fascinating…
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Failed Movements in the Caribbean
We have now seen about a dozen cases of successful wars for independence from Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal. Some of the American colonies, however, did not achieve independence in the age of revolution. Some chose not to rebel, or the uprisings were weak and relatively easily crushed. In this outline, we will look at…
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Brazil: A Royal Revolution?
The path to independence in Brazil was similar to that of Spanish America but with important differences. Rather than fall under the control of Napoleon, the Braganza royal family fled Portugal in late 1807 and took up residence in Rio de Janeiro. For 13 years, the monarchy ruled its vast empire from Brazil. King João…
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Mexico – Empire and Chaos
In the aftermath of the specter of social revolution and racial war raised by the Hidalgo and Morelos revolts, Spaniards and Creoles closed ranks in Mexico to preserve peace. As they had in 1810, events in Europe sparked the second war for independence. When the supporters of a liberal constitution triumphed in Spain in 1820,…
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Mexico – Race and Class Warfare
The war for Mexican independence took place in two stages. This outline looks at the first stage, a race and class war that began in 1810. One of the two core regions of the Spanish American Empire, Mexico was rich in silver and Indian labor. A small elite of Spaniards (Creoles and Peninsulars) ruled over…
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Liberating Peru
The first war for independence in Spanish America barely touched Peru. As in Mexico, the Creole elites in Peru feared the specter of Indian uprisings and were reluctant to challenge Spanish authority. The liberation of Peru, the great Spanish stronghold in South America, would come from two directions: led by Simón Bolívar from the north…
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Bernardo O’Higgins and Chile
The great military hero of Chilean independence is Bernardo O’Higgins (1778–1842), the illegitimate son of the Irish-born former viceroy of Peru. The first part of this outline looks at O’Higgins and his emergence as a leader in Chile after 1810. The middle section looks at the virtual civil war in Chile as Creoles vied for…
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San Martín and Argentine Independence
José de San Martín is the counterpart of Simón Bolívar in southern South America. Like northern South America, the region around the La Plata was on the periphery of the Spanish Empire. Along with Venezuela, Buenos Aires was one of the early leaders in the break from Spanish rule. San Martín emerged as the great…
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Liberating Northern South America
After his disastrous early failure, Bolívar succeeded in seizing power in Caracas, only to lose it again. After exile in the Caribbean, Bolívar turned his attention to Colombia and the war for independence there. Before liberating Venezuela, his troops crossed the towering Andes and drove the Spanish from Colombia in 1821. He eventually succeeded in…
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Simón Bolívar – The Liberator
Simón Bolívar is the most famous of all the Latin American revolutionary figures, the George Washington of a half dozen South American nations. This outline looks closely at the life of Bolívar, from his birth in Venezuela in 1783 to his first forays into politics and war in 1810. The classic example of the Creole…