AP World History: Latin American Revolutions

Period 5: 1750 – 1900 CE

I Simon BolivarA) Simón Bolívar was born in 1783, in Caracas, Venezuela, then part of Spain’s colonial empire. His parents belonged to the aristocratic upper class, the Creoles. He was educated in Spain. He was greatly impressed by Napoleon.

B) In 1808 Napoleon occupied the Iberian Peninsula, deposed the Bourbon dynasty, and appointed his brother Joseph king of Spain. All the colonies refused to recognize Napoleon but were divided about the policy they should pursue. Some continued to adhere to the Spanish royal family, but others were bent upon independence and self-government. The struggle was waged from Mexico to Cape Horn, but two provinces took the lead…

Simon Bolivar Continued……Argentina [then called the Viceroyalty of La Plata], and Venezuela. On April 19, 1810, the Spanish general in Caracas was overthrown. Bolívar's participation in these events remains a matter of controversy. Three months later he was sent to London to obtain England's assistance, but his mission was a failure. He returned to Venezuela, and was followed by Francisco de Miranda, a leader in the conflict with Spain.

C) In July 1811 Venezuela cut its ties with Spain and proclaimed its independence, but this "First Republic" was a flimsy structure and soon came under counter revolutionary attack. Bolívar had joined the army and had taken part in the ensuing struggle, but he had fallen out with Miranda, who had been appointed dictator and commander in chief. Bolívar had lost an important harbor fortress to the enemy, and Miranda used the defeat to end the war and conclude an armistice with the Spaniards. His action enraged Bolívar, who determined to continue the fight.

Simon Bolivar Continued…D) Fleeing to the neighboring province of New Granada [now Colombia], Bolívar organized a new army, routed the Spanish, and liberated Venezuela in August 1813. He was appointed dictator but was soon faced with internal dissensions which led to civil war. Again forced to flee, he took refuge in Jamaica and again tried to engage British support for his cause.

E) Obtaining assistance from the small republic of Haiti, Bolívar once more set forth for Venezuela, and a year later, in 1817, he achieved victory on the plains of the Orinoco valley. Two more years of inconclusive fighting followed before Bolívar made a sudden decision to attack the Spaniards from the rear, that is, from New Granada. In one of the most audacious operations of military history, he crossed the Andes and defeated the royalist forces at Boyacá on Aug. 7, 1819.

Simon Bolivar Continued…F) Bolívar's plans for the liberated colonies included the establishment of a republic in the Andes, to be called Colombia. It was to be composed of Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador and to be governed by a president appointed for life and by an aristocracy made up of the patriots who had fought for their freedom. The Colombian Republic was proclaimed in December 1819. In June 1821 he liberated Venezuela at the battle of Carabobo, and his officer Antonio José de Sucre, freed Ecuador in the battle of Pichincha in May 1822.

G) When Bolívar entered the capital city of Quito in June 1822, he might have considered his ambition fulfilled, but his imperial dreams had grown. The next month he conferred with the Argentinian general José de San Martin at Guayaquil. San Martin renounced his position as Protector of Peru, leaving the field to Bolívar. He entered Peru in 1823 and was victorious over the royal army in August 1824. Sucre, whom he left to terminate the campaign, inflicted a crushing defeat on the Spanish at Ayacucho in December 1824, and gained independence.

Simon Bolivar Continued…H) Bolívar was now president of Colombia, dictator of Peru, and president of the newly created Bolivia. His purpose was now the creation of an Andean empire, stretching from one end of South America to the other, and he pursued this aim along several paths. Bolívar called for a confederation of the Hispanic American countries, and in 1826 he assembled a congress in Panama, but the league he had envisaged never materialized.

I) In 1826 civil war erupted in Colombia, forcing Bolivar to return. He gained a temporary reconciliation and assumed the dictatorship once more. This was just the beginning of political dissent against dictator Bolivar. A new congress elected in 1830 accepted the secession of Venezuela and, soon thereafter, of Ecuador. In April 1830, Bolívar agreed to leave his country. Possibly his death was hastened by the failure of his political plans, but more likely he died of tuberculosis, on Dec. 17, 1830, near the city of Santa Marta, Colombia.

Simon Bolivar: Letter from Jamaica“Kingston, Jamaica, September 6, 1815 My dear Sir: With what a feeling of gratitude I read that passage in your letter in which you say to me: "I hope that the success which then followed Spanish arms may now turn in favor of their adversaries, the badly oppressed people of South America." I take this hope as a prediction, if it is justice that determines man's contests. Success will crown our efforts, because the destiny of America has been irrevocably decided; the tie that bound her to Spain has been severed. Only a concept maintained that tie and kept the parts of that immense monarchy together. That which formerly bound them now divides them. The hatred that the [Iberian] Peninsula has inspired in us is greater than the ocean between us. It would be easier to have the two continents [Europe and South America] meet than to reconcile the spirits of the two countries…”

II Jose De San MartinA) José de San Martín was born to Spanish parents in 1778 in Argentina, where his father was governor. The family returned to Spain and he was educated in Madrid and made his career in the Spanish army, rising to be a lieutenant-colonel of cavalry. In 1811 with Spain under Joseph Bonaparte, he resigned his commission and went to Buenos Aires to fight for independence. He reorganized the army and in 1817 lead a force of 5,000 men through the towering Andes peaks to invade Chile. After securing Chilean independence, with a navy fleet, he invaded Peru and declared independence in Lima in 1821, with himself as dictator.

Jose De San Martin Continued…

“May slavery be banished forever together with the distinction between castes, all remaining equal, so Americans may only be distinguished by vice or virtue... In the new laws, may torture not be allowed.”

Jose De San Martin Continued…B) Bolivar and San Martin met in Ecuador in 1822. They conferred in secret, but it is thought that San Martín offered to serve under Bolivar. The offer was refused and San Martín, unwilling to endanger the cause, resigned, so as to leave Bolivar in unchallenged command. The following year he went into exile in Europe, where he would spend almost the last thirty years of his life.

San Martin’s Masoleum, Buenos Aries Cathedral

III Mexico vs. FranceA) In 1861, Benito Juarez became president of Mexico which was in financial ruin, and he was forced to default on his debts to European governments. In response, France, Britain, and Spain sent naval forces to Veracruz to demand reimbursement. Britain and Spain negotiated with Mexico and withdrew, but France, ruled by Napoleon III, decided to use the opportunity to carve a dependent empire out of Mexican territory.

Benito Juarez

Napoleon III

Mexico vs. France Continued…B) Later in 1861, a French fleet stormed Veracruz, landing a large French force and driving President Juarez and his government into retreat. Certain that French victory would come swiftly in Mexico, 6,000 French troops set out to attack Puebla de Los Angeles. From his new headquarters in the north, Juarez rounded up a rag-tag force of loyal men and sent them to Puebla. Led by Texas-born General Zaragoza, the 2,000 Mexicans fortified the town and prepared for the French assault. On the fifth of May, 1862, the battle lasted from daybreak to early evening, and when the French finally retreated they had lost nearly 500 soldiers to the fewer than 100 Mexicans killed. Although not a major strategic victory in the overall war against the French, Zaragoza’s victory at Puebla tightened Mexican resistance, and six years later France withdrew. The same year, Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, who had been installed as emperor of Mexico by Napoleon in 1864, was captured and executed by Juarez’ forces. Today, Mexicans celebrate the anniversary of the Battle of Puebla as Cinco de Mayo, a national holiday in Mexico.

Mexico vs. France Continued…

General ZaragozaAustrian Archduke Ferdinand

Maximilian

Cinqo de Mayo

IV The Mexican RevolutionA) The Mexican Revolution began with a call to arms on November 20, 1910 to overthrow the dictator Porfirio Díaz Mori. Díaz wanted to develop Mexico into an industrialized and modernized country. While he built factories, dams, and roads the rural workers and peasants suffered greatly. The greatest injustice came in the form of new land laws.

B) In an attempt to strengthen ties with the United States, Díaz allocated land, once belonging to the people of Mexico, to wealthy non-nationals. In addition to this, no Mexican was able to own land unless they had a formal legal title. Small farmers were rendered utterly helpless.

Porfirio Díaz Mori

The Mexican Revolution Continued…C) Francisco Madero, who was responsible for removing Díaz from power, was a weak leader and failed to implement the land reforms he had promised.

D) He was quickly replaced by General Victoriano Huerta who had him executed within a week of coming to power. Huerta himself was a dictator and was overthrown by Venustianio Carranza in 1914. He formed the Constitutional Army and a new constitution into which he accepted many of the rebel demands.

E) The official end of the Mexican Revolution is often taken to be the creation of the Constitution of Mexico in 1917, however the fighting continued long into the following decade.

Francisco Madero

Victoriano Huerta

Venustianio Carranza

V THE MONROE DOCTRINE

“The American continents…are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers.” - James Monroe, 1823

The Monroe Doctrine Continued…“President James Monroe’s 1823 annual message to Congress contained the Monroe Doctrine, which warned European powers not to interfere in the affairs of the Western Hemisphere. The Monroe Doctrine is the best known U.S. policy toward the Western Hemisphere. Buried in a routine annual message delivered to Congress by President James Monroe in December 1823, the doctrine warns European nations that the United States would not tolerate further colonization or puppet monarchs. The doctrine was conceived to meet major concerns of the moment, but it soon became a watchword of U.S. policy in the Western Hemisphere. The Monroe Doctrine was invoked in 1865 when the U.S. government exerted diplomatic and military pressure in support of the Mexican President Benito Juárez. This support enabled Juárez to lead a successful revolt against the Emperor Maximilian, who had been placed on the throne by the French government. Almost 40 years later, in 1904, European creditors of a number of Latin American countries threatened armed intervention to collect debts. President Theodore Roosevelt promptly proclaimed the right of the United States to exercise an “international police power” to curb such “chronic wrongdoing.” As a result, U. S. Marines were sent into Santo Domingo in 1904, Nicaragua in 1911, and Haiti in 1915, ostensibly to keep the Europeans out. Other Latin American nations viewed these interventions with misgiving, and relations between the “great Colossus of the North” and its southern neighbors remained strained for many years. In 1962, the Monroe Doctrine was invoked symbolically when the Soviet Union began to build missile-launching sites in Cuba. With the support of the Organization of American States, President John F. Kennedy threw a naval and air quarantine around the island. After several tense days, the Soviet Union agreed to withdraw the missiles and dismantle the sites. Subsequently, the United States dismantled several of its obsolete air and missile bases in Turkey.” –ourdocuments.gov

HW Questions1. Fill in Latin Revolutions on your Period 5 chart. *Include Bolivar, San

Martin, and Mexico.

2. How should Bolivar be remembered? *Use some evidence from the Jamaica Letter.

3. How should San Martin be remembered?

4. What were the causes and consequences of France’s involvement in Mexico?

5. What is the purpose of the Monroe Doctrine? What is your opinion of it?

Key VocabularyBenito Juarez

Bernardo O'Higgins

Caracas, Venezuela

Ferdinand Maximilian

Francisco de Miranda

General Manuel Belgrano

General Zaragoza

Jose De San Martin

Jose Miguel Carrera

Napoleon III

New Granada

Simon Bolivar

Simon Bolivar’s Letter from Jamaica