Timeline of the Spanish American wars of independence

This is a timeline of events related to the Spanish American wars of independence. Numerous wars against Spanish rule in Spanish America took place during the early 19th century, from 1808 until 1829, directly related to the Napoleonic French invasion of Spain. The conflict started with short-lived governing juntas established in Chuquisaca and Quito opposing the composition of the Supreme Central Junta of Seville. When the Central Junta fell to the French, numerous new Juntas appeared all across the Americas, eventually resulting in a chain of newly independent countries stretching from Argentina and Chile in the south, to Mexico in the north. After the death of the king Ferdinand VII, in 1833, only Cuba and Puerto Rico remained under Spanish rule, until the Spanish–American War in 1898.

These conflicts can be characterized both as civil wars and wars of national liberation, since the majority of the combatants were Spanish Americans on both sides, and the goal of the conflict for one side was the independence of the Spanish colonies in the Americas. In addition, the wars were related to the more general Latin American wars of independence, which include the conflicts in Haiti and Brazil (Brazil's independence shared a common starting point with Spanish America's, since both were triggered by Napoleon's invasion of the Iberian Peninsula, when the Portuguese royal family resettled in Brazil).

The war in Europe, and the resulting absolutist restoration ultimately convinced the Spanish Americans of the need to establish independence from the mother country, so various revolutions broke out in Spanish America. Moreover, the process of Latin American independence took place in the general political and intellectual climate that emerged from the Age of Enlightenment and that influenced all of the so-called Atlantic Revolutions, including the earlier revolutions in the United States and France. Nevertheless, the wars in, and the independence of, Spanish America were the result of unique developments within the Spanish Monarchy.

1806

• The first British invasion of the Río de la Plata is defeated.
• Miranda's attempt to invade Venezuela in 1806 is defeated.

1807

• The second British invasion of the Río de la Plata is defeated.
• Napoleon Bonaparte invades Portugal across Spanish territory. The governing dynasty, the Braganza, flees to colonial Brazil under British protection.
• Rafael de Sobremonte, viceroy of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, is deposed and replaced by Santiago de Liniers.

1808

• Napoleon orders the French army to occupy Spain in February.
  • A local uprising in March, Mutiny of Aranjuez, forces King Charles IV to abdicate in favor of his son, Ferdinand VII.
  • Napoleon forces the Abdications of Bayonne on May 5 and places his brother Joseph Bonaparte on the Spanish throne a month later. Popular uprising against the French and the abdications starts the Peninsular War.
• Resistance coalesces around juntas, emergency ad-hoc governments. A Supreme Central and Governing Junta of the Kingdom, ruling in the name of Ferdinand VII, is created on September 25 to coordinate efforts among the various juntas.
  • Attempts at creating juntas in Venezuela and Mexico are defeated by royalist reaction.
  • Disputes in the Río de la Plata between Viceroy Liniers and Governor of the Banda Oriental, Francisco Javier de Elío. Elío creates a junta in Montevideo on September 22, which functions until June 30, 1809.

1809

• British forces led by Sir Arthur Wellesley join the Peninsular War, supporting the Spanish resistance.
• Junta established in Quito on August 10. It functioned until September 24.
• Government juntas are created at Chuquisaca and La Paz, and defeated shortly afterwards.
• Mutiny of Álzaga, defeated by local militias.
• Liniers is replaced by Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros, viceroy designated by the Junta of Seville.
• Mariano Moreno writes The Representation of the Hacendados.
• Cisneros briefly opens the Port of Buenos Aires to foreign trade.

1810

• Spain is dominated by French forces and the Supreme Central and Governing Junta is defeated
• The Cádiz Cortes convenes in Spain
• Popular and indigenous rebellion in Mexico.
• Venezuela and New Granada create new government juntas.
• An open cabildo creates a government junta in Santiago, Chile.
• An open cabildo in Buenos Aires deposes the viceroy and creates a government junta.
• Córdoba rejects the Junta of Buenos Aires. Liniers leads a counter-revolution, which is defeated. Liniers is executed as result.
• Buenos Aires organizes military campaigns against Paraguay and the Upper Peru

1811

• Hidalgo is defeated in Mexico
• A Congress in Caracas declares the independence of Venezuela and enacts a Constitution
• Revolutionaries in New Granada divide themselves in centralists and federalists.
• The Junta of Chile makes liberal reforms
• Francisco Javier de Elío is designated viceroy by the Juntas of Cádiz, and Montevideo the capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. Elío declares war against the Junta of Buenos Aires, but gets sieged by the surrounding cities.
• Mariano Moreno resigns from the Primera Junta, and dies at sea while traveling to Europe. Nevertheless, disputes between Saavedrist and Morenist groups in Buenos Aires continue.
• Paraguay becomes independent
• The Army of the North is defeated in Huaqui. The revolutionaries lost the Upper Peru and their mines.
• The Junta Grande of Buenos Aires is replaced by the First Triumvirate

1812

• Spain enacts a Constitution. First Spanish expeditionaries arrive to Americas on January to support the Royalists.
• The First Republic is created in Venezuela
• Francisco de Miranda resigns and is captured
• Simón Bolívar writes the Cartagena Manifesto
• Civil war in New Granada between federalists and centralists
• Manuel Belgrano creates the Flag of Argentina
• José de San Martín and Carlos María de Alvear arrive in Buenos Aires from Europe
• Martín de Álzaga is executed after a failed mutiny against the First Triumvirate
• Belgrano defeats the royalists at the Battle of Tucumán
• The First Triumvirate is deposed by San Martín and Alvear, and replaced by the Second Triumvirate
• José Gervasio Artigas, José Rondeau and Soler defeat Gaspar de Vigodet
• A counter-coup in Valdivia put the city back under Spanish control

1813

• Joseph Bonaparte flees from Spain and Ferdinand VII recovers the Spanish crown
• Simón Bolívar gathers an army to free Venezuela. He signs the Decree of War to the Death and triumphantly enters Caracas
• Royalists take advantage of the Civil War of New Granada to dominate Santa Marta and isolate Cartagena
• Chile is invaded by royalist forces from Peru
• Mexico abolishes slavery privileges and indigenous tribute, and later declares independence
• The XIII Year Assembly starts in Buenos Aires. It approves the Canción patriótica by Vicente López y Planes as the Argentine National Anthem
• José de San Martín defeats a royalist raid during the Battle of San Lorenzo
• Patriots are defeated at the Battle of Vilcapugio and the Battle of Ayohuma

1814

• Ferdinand VII returns to Spain. Absolutism is restored; the 1812 Constitution is repealed and the Cortes dissolved.
• Venezuela creates the short-lived Second Republic; Bolívar is defeated and moves to New Granada
• Bolívar conquers Bogotá
• Mexico enacts a Constitution
• Patriots in Chile are defeated at the Battle of Rancagua
• José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia is proclaimed Supreme Director of Paraguay
• José Gervasio Artigas gives up the siege on Montevideo
• The Second Triumvirate is replaced by the Supreme Director, the first one being Gervasio Antonio de Posadas
• San Martín takes command of the Army of the North
• Posadas makes Artigas an outlaw because of the creation of the Liga Federal.
• Martín Miguel de Güemes starts the "Guerra Gaucha"
• Montevideo is defeated
• Artigas recovers his titles and the Banda Oriental becomes autonomous
• San Martin is designated governor of the Cuyo Province
• Posadas resigns

1815

• A Spanish Army of overseas sails from Cadiz led by Pablo Morillo, in order to retake the former colonies in South America.
• Simón Bolívar moves to Jamaica
• José María Morelos is jailed in Mexico, accused of heresy and betrayal, and executed
• Royalists develops a repressive regime (Terror) in Chile and New Grenada.
• Carlos María de Alvear is designated Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata. He is removed shortly after, and replaced by José Rondeau.
• The Assembly of Year XIII ends its work.
• Artigas creates the Liga de los Pueblos Libres

1816

• Only the region of the Río de la Plata remains under patriotic control.
• The prince Juan raises Brazil to a kingdom and keeps the expansionist policy towards the Rio de la Plata. Their forces invade the Banda Oriental, and Artigas organizes the resistance
• In Paraguay, José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia is designated "Perpetual Director"
• The Congress of Tucumán starts working
  • It declares the independence of the United Provinces
  • It designates Juan Martín de Pueyrredón as Supreme Director
  • The flag created by Manuel Belgrano is chosen to be the Flag of Argentina
  • San Martín is designated head of the Army of the Andes, and Belgrano head of the Army of the North

1817

• José de San Martín leads the Crossing of the Andes, defeats the Chilean royalists at the Battle of Chacabuco, and triumphantly enters Santiago, Chile
• Brazil completes the invasion of the Banda Oriental
• Bolívar takes the revolution to the Orinoco and is joined by José Antonio Páez
• The Congress of Tucumán moves to Buenos Aires
• Royalists leave Salta and Jujuy, under the pressure of Martín Miguel de Güemes
• Juan Martín de Pueyrredón sends armies to defeat Artigas in the Litoral, but gets defeated by Francisco Ramírez

1818

• Simón Bolívar organizes a third Venezuelan republic in Angostura and calls for a congress. Bolivar's campaign to take Caracas is defeated, and he returns to the line of Orinoco river.
• The patriotic triumph at the Battle of Maipú guarantees the independence of Chile

1819

• Bolívar defeats the royalists at the Battle of Boyacá. New Granada is liberated
• The Congress of Angostura creates Gran Colombia; Bolívar is elected its president.

1820

• Sublevation of 20.000 expeditionaries of the Great Army of overseas in the port of Cádiz (Spain) leads by Rafael Riego. The Spanish Constitution of 1812 and Liberal government was restored during Trienio Liberal.
• Lord Cochrane, in charge of the Chilean Navy, captures the stronghold of Valdivia
• William Miller and Cochrane leds a failed Chilean attempt to expel the Spanish from Chiloé Archipelago
• José de San Martin leaves Chile with the navy, aiming to defeat the royalists at Peru

1821

• The triumph of Bolívar at Carabobo guarantees the independence of Venezuela
• The Congress of Cúcuta creates a centralist and conservative Constitution for Gran Colombia
• Panama declares independence and joins Colombia
• Peru declares independence, and San Martin is proclaimed protector of it
• Mexico declares independence and forms a constitutional monarchy.
• Brazil annexes the Banda Oriental to their territories

1822

• The United States recognizes the independence of the former Spanish colonies
• Bolívar and San Martin meet at Guayaquil
• San Martin resigns from power in Peru and leaves Lima
• Antonio José de Sucre defeats the royalists at the Battle of Pichincha
• Ecuador joins Gran Colombia
• Agustín de Iturbide is proclaimed Emperor of Mexico, under the name Agustín I

1823

• The Congress of Verona supports the absolutist restoration in Spain and sends 100.000 French troops to aid Ferdinand VII, but in October Polignac Memorandum (between United Kingdom and France) not supports the Spanish military effort in Americas. On December United States declares the Monroe Doctrine.
• End of siege of Puerto Cabello Fostress (Venezuela)
• A liberal riot in Mexico forces Iturbide to abdicate
• The Federal Republic of Central America is created

1824

• Mexico is declared a federal republic and enacts a Constitution
• The Battle of Ayacucho ends the Spanish presence in Peru
• The government of Ramón Freire in Chile, led by Jorge Beauchef, fails to capture Chiloé Archipelago from the Spanish

1825

• End of siege of San Juan de Ulúa Fostress (Mexico)
• Pedro Antonio Olañeta dies in the Battle of Tumusla (Bolivia).

1826

• End of siege of Real Felipe Fortress (Perú)
• Capitulation of Spanish Chiloé Province

1827

• Jose Arizabalo, with support of Captaincy General of Puerto Rico, starts the last royalist guerrilla in Venezuela, defeated in 1829.

1828

• Mexican Navy under the command of David Porter is defeated in the Caribbean.

1829

• The last attempt of Ferdinand VII of Spain to reconquer Spanish America. Isidro Barradas was defeated in the battle of Tampico (Mexico).

1830

• On May, Venezuela and then Ecuador separate themselves from the Gran Colombia, causing its final breaking the next year.
• July Revolution returns the liberalism to France. Ferdinand VII lost the French military support to maintain the absolutism in Spain.
• Marshal Antonio José de Sucre is assassinated and liberator Simón Bolívar dies from disease at the end of the year.

1833

• King Ferdinand VII dies.

1836

• Spain renounces its domains in continental Americas and authorizes the government to conclude treaties with all the states of Spanish America.

See also

• Spanish colonization of the Americas
• Spanish American wars of independence

Bibliography

• Higgins, James (2014). The Emancipation of Peru: British Eyewitness Accounts. Online at https://sites.google.com/site/jhemanperu
• Luna, Félix (2003). La independencia argentina y americana (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Planeta. ISBN 950-49-1110-2.