Between 1776 and 1825, wars for independence erupted all across the Americas, from Boston to Buenos Aires. Within two generations, the vast European colonial empires in the Americas collapsed and 19 new independent nations emerged. These outlines look at these American revolutions, beginning with the outbreak of war in British North America in 1776 and ending with the final defeat of the Spanish in South America in 1825.

By: Marshall C. Eakin, Ph.D.
Professor of History and Department Chair, Vanderbilt University (2004)

• Origins of Revolution in the Atlantic World
• Colonial Empires on the Eve of Revolution
• The “North” American Revolution Emerges
• From Lexington and Concord to Yorktown
• The Radicalism of the American Revolution
• Slave Rebellion in St. Domingue
• The Haitian Revolution
• Seeds of Rebellion in Spanish America
• Napoleon Invades Spain and Portugal
• Francisco de Miranda – The Precursor
• Simón Bolívar – The Liberator
• Liberating Northern South America
• San Martín and Argentine Independence
• Bernardo O’Higgins and Chile
• Liberating Peru
• Mexico – Race and Class Warfare
• Mexico – Empire and Chaos
• Brazil: A Royal Revolution?
• Failed Movements in the Caribbean
• The British West Indies and Canada
• The Strange Case of Paraguay
• Revolutions Made and Unmade
• The Aftermath of Independence
• Age of Revolution – Timeline
• Age of Revolution – Glossary