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Chapter 4: The (almost) death of Spanish South America
Spain managed, in a mix of pure luck and pluck, to control almost all of America in a single go from the beginning of the 16th century until the early 19th century, with only letting go off Brazil due to it being a part of the Kingdom of Portugal at the end of the Iberian Union (which is another can of worms), but still managing to keep a very tenuous control of the whole of it, with the Incas rebelling every two generations.
This changed, coincidentally, everywhere in 1810, when the Independence Wars started in Mexico, La Plata and Colombia [2]. And while a few of the rebellions ended almost without any bloodshed, as in Paraguay (due to how far it was from any centre of power), and the short-lived Republic of Central America (which joined the Empire of Mexico right off the bat and any attempt to secede done in the 1820’s ended in BAD END for anyone foolish enough to try), the rest of the continent kept on fighting Spanish incursions in what could be considered a whack-a-mole of rebellions. Soon, a Republic was formed with the Viceroyalty of New Granada and the northern part of Spanish South America and the Isthmus, and the southern part of Spanish South America formed a confederation of multiple provinces led by the wealthiest of them all (Buenos Aires).
Most of these countries actually managed to secure their independence, except for Perú, in which the Royalists, due to several factors that I will enumerate below, were able to defeat the Libertadores, securing Perú as a part of the Spanish Empire for good.
The reason for the defeat of the Libertadores in Perú was:
· In the north, a lieutenant (of indigenous extraction) called Agustín Agualongo caused the Colombians to divert a lot of resources onto defeating him in the Pasto province, delaying any offensive actions into the Peruvian highlands. With standard-issue balls of steel and hot blood, he was able to make a heap of casualties big enough that not even Antonio Nariño, nor the expeditionary force sent by Mexico, commanded by Vicente Guerrero, managed to dislodge him from the area.
· In the south, Chileans and Platineans had to face a lot of routing issues: Either they had to traverse by sea and into Callao and take out one of Spain’s main ports in the Peruvian Pacific coast, or go through the highlands of Alto Perú and take the silver-producing regions. Both plans were logistical nightmares, with the latter causing many dead due to attrittion.
· Within Peru, the people who desired independence also fought amongst themselves, with some wanting Full Independence, and others preferring to be under the nominal authority of the King of Spain but with more control over its own affairs (instead of having a colonial viceroy appointed from Spain). But in either case, there were the well-known Republiquetas, which while they had effective control of the countryside of the Alto Peru and were recognised by the Platineans, they often ended up fighting amongst themselves.
· The elites and a good chunk of the population were still loyal to the King of Spain, compared to the rest of the other Colonials, and were unsupportive of the independence, fearing the loss of their commercial and social privileges.
And it all came down to the end of the year 1823, where the armies of the Libertadores went forward onto jumpstarting the Peruvian Independence War (Though, it is called “Andean War” in Peru, Spain and Mexico, and in Colombia, Chile and Brazil it is called “The Peruvian Expedition” nowadays).
This was to be a two-pronged assault to be done in January of 1824. The objective was to finish off all the remaining Spanish resistance in Peru and create a friendly government. The Spaniards were hiding in the mountains, and this all seemed like a matter of just waltzing into the Peruvian coastline. Truth is... it was doomed to fail. The bulk of the Colombian army got bogged down in Quito and Pasto due to the military operations of Agustín Agualongo, a Royalist commander of indigenous extraction (worth mentioning twice, with the "Americans should be Loyal to America" rhetoric that abounded amongst these Colonial rebels), who proceeded to inflict severe casualties on them, while only armed with his musket, patriotic fervour, willingness to put rebels to death, and . He was never defeated by Nariño, nor by Guerrero, nor by anyone sent to fight him, as the two mentioned be. The rest of the army kept on fighting, eventually managing to get to the outskirts of Lima, but fate had to throw them another wrench.
When they arrived to Pativilca, in January 1, 1824, Bolívar suddenly fell ill [2] while staying in this town, and was unable to conduct further operations into the Peruvian coast. He ended up dying due to this mysterious illness in February 1, 1824, severely demoralizing the expeditionary forces. His last words were “Win this war!”, which was given as an order to one of his lieutenants.
Alas... he ded.
With his death, Antonio José de Sucre decided to continue on with the war. And while he was competent enough to achieve victories by himself during his time in the Colombian Independence War, went onto fighting the Spaniards in the ill-fated Battle of Lima, where his army was, alongside the Peruvian rebels, crushed by the army lead by Viceroy José de la Serna, along with last hour reinforcements from Pedro Antonio Olañeta. [3]
From that point on, even if Sucre did manage to win a few skirmishes against the Spanish armies, their tenuous supply situation forced them to take a harsh, but necessary decision: Get out of Peru, or die trying. And while Sucre’s decision to end the campaign was a political suicide in post-war Gran Colombia, he always defended the fact that his men were tired, a lack of ammo and supplies were also to blame, and that most of his soldiers wanted to go home already.
Then, the Liberation Army coming from the south revolted, by arresting their own officers who were loyal to the Libertadores and defected to the Spaniards. And with the complete breakdown of their armies, the southern forces of the Liberation Army chose to sue for peace.
Viceroy De la Serna chose to sign an unsanctioned armistice (that is, it was not authorised by the king of Spain) with the with the remaining leadership of the liberation armies. In this treaty, all parts agreed to not wage war with each other for three years, or until a more suitable (and this time, official) peace treaty recognising the independence of these other countries would be made. In exchange, any kept territories will be recognised as gains for each of the other countries, thus ceding the territories of Pasto and Quito to Gran Colombia, what corresponds to the whole of the Atacama Desert to Chile, and the eastern half of the Alto Peru [6] to the Platinean Confederation. He eventually sent a letter notifying about the territorial changes to the King, justifying his decision to let them go and to stop the war, as there was no point already in trying to keep on fighting the rebel territories, and that it will be better to keep whatever remains of the Empire.
De La Serna and the remaining Libertadores signing the truce of Juliaca.
This truce would be ratified later by their respective governments, and became the basis for the recognition of the independence of these other nations.
Needless to say, events that transpired also in Spain were also to blame for the new King of Spain to refuse to engage the rebel nations and just let them go already. [8]
It was a victory by the skin of their teeth for the Spaniards, who managed to keep their own hold onto Peru (though, administering this place would become a nightmare), and a humiliating victory to the Libertadores, since they would be reminded of their failure every time they looked at a map of South America and there would be a huge tract of land that was still a part of Spain.
Well, Bolivar is looking at the nation he created from Heaven.
At least he can be proud it is still an unified nation.
With it, the dream of a permanent union of all of the Spanish speaking nations of South America (as envisioned by Simón Bolívar) also died, as Colombia sealed its southern borders and tried to establish itself as a democracy (even though those rogues that are the Bolivarists often opposed this, as when his namesake said, Latin America was not fit for democracy, as it was "under the triple yoke of ignorance, tyranny and vice"), and the Platinean Confederation descended back into its own internal wars between their constituent states against the primacy of the State of Buenos Aires, while Paraguay and the Empire of Brazil reaped the benefits with the ensuing chaos, the first by taking the province of Misiones from the Confederation, and Brazil consolidated its control over Uruguay… or at least for the time being. Also, San Martín, right off from his retirement from France and back onto La Plata, returned to try to force a monarchy, which only exacerbated the civil disorder in the former Spanish colony. But that, along with many other adventures he had, are a story for another time.
To note also: Agustín Jerónimo, Heir-Apparent of the Empire, was amongst the cadre of Mexican volunteer corps that went to Colombia in 1823. His first taste of international diplomacy (and his long career as a diplomat) was to sign a “Pact of Eternal Friendship” between the Republic of Gran Colombia and the Empire of Mexico. By order of the Emperor, another one who went there was Vicente Guerrero, who fought against the forces of Agustín Agualongo, but was unable to apprehend him, and died of dysentery in Bucaramanga, on his way back to Mexico in 1826. [5] We will talk later of Francisco de Paula Santander and of the other leaders of Gran Colombia on a later chapter. Likewise, we’ll have also a chapter on the rivalry between the Empire of Brazil and the Platinean Confederation.
As for Agustín Agualongo, he fought on, until he was told by a Colombian messenger that the war had ended in 1828 he continued to serve the Spanish Empire with distinction, becoming a high ranking General, eventually becoming the first President of the Royal Government of Peru in the middle part of the 19th century. [7]
[2] “La Plata” is the short name for the Confederación Platense (Platinean Confederation), which will be TTL’s Argentina, and Colombia is going to be the short-term for Gran Colombia.
[3] Simón Bolívar had an early death this time around. OTL, he recovered from that fever, which almost killed him, but left him weakened for the rest of the campaign.
[4] OTL, Olañeta mutinied, and Viceroy de la Serna had to dispatch an army against him, which contributed to the defeat of the Spaniards. In this timeline, he did not rebel against the Viceroy.
[5] OTL Vicente Guerrero lasted a bit longer, and never went to South America. This token force of soldiers was more or less an exercise on getting rid of him by HIH Agustín I in this timeline, which by all accounts, was a success.
[6] Western half of Paraguay, and what would be most of the OTL Bolivian state of Santa Cruz.
[7] Yes, ladies, hold your undergarments down. One order of “Hispanophone Canada” (and a blatant act of fanservice) coming right at you.
[8] Foreshadowing to the next episode.
Next episode:
Troubles in Spain!
Hello again, ladies and gentlemen. Hereby, I bring you another chapter. This one was a pain to write, as I ended up writing and rewriting it multiple times, and I still didn't felt satisfied with the result. So, in order to keep up with a tight schedule that was invariably broken, here's the chapter 4 as is.
Chapter 4: The (almost) death of Spanish South America
Everybody blames each other when we ask who was the first one who failed when mentioning the South American Liberation Wars or who were the first to liberate themselves from the Spanish authorities. Without any warning, this is prone to cause fistfights even amongst the best of friends, and all sorts of diplomatic spats in South America, so, if you are not an user of the beautiful Language of the Ñ (and even if you are one), you are better off not even bringing this subject to any of your South American friends. Or your South American mother-in-law if you want to avoid diarrhoea.
[…]
They blame the Spaniards and everyone else, but not themselves. And as always, a good Latinoamericano never blames himself for his own shortcomings.
"How to Latinoamérica" Miguel Arriaga López (1960 - ), Chilean comedian and author. [1]
[…]
They blame the Spaniards and everyone else, but not themselves. And as always, a good Latinoamericano never blames himself for his own shortcomings.
"How to Latinoamérica" Miguel Arriaga López (1960 - ), Chilean comedian and author. [1]
Spain managed, in a mix of pure luck and pluck, to control almost all of America in a single go from the beginning of the 16th century until the early 19th century, with only letting go off Brazil due to it being a part of the Kingdom of Portugal at the end of the Iberian Union (which is another can of worms), but still managing to keep a very tenuous control of the whole of it, with the Incas rebelling every two generations.
This changed, coincidentally, everywhere in 1810, when the Independence Wars started in Mexico, La Plata and Colombia [2]. And while a few of the rebellions ended almost without any bloodshed, as in Paraguay (due to how far it was from any centre of power), and the short-lived Republic of Central America (which joined the Empire of Mexico right off the bat and any attempt to secede done in the 1820’s ended in BAD END for anyone foolish enough to try), the rest of the continent kept on fighting Spanish incursions in what could be considered a whack-a-mole of rebellions. Soon, a Republic was formed with the Viceroyalty of New Granada and the northern part of Spanish South America and the Isthmus, and the southern part of Spanish South America formed a confederation of multiple provinces led by the wealthiest of them all (Buenos Aires).
Most of these countries actually managed to secure their independence, except for Perú, in which the Royalists, due to several factors that I will enumerate below, were able to defeat the Libertadores, securing Perú as a part of the Spanish Empire for good.
The reason for the defeat of the Libertadores in Perú was:
· In the north, a lieutenant (of indigenous extraction) called Agustín Agualongo caused the Colombians to divert a lot of resources onto defeating him in the Pasto province, delaying any offensive actions into the Peruvian highlands. With standard-issue balls of steel and hot blood, he was able to make a heap of casualties big enough that not even Antonio Nariño, nor the expeditionary force sent by Mexico, commanded by Vicente Guerrero, managed to dislodge him from the area.
· In the south, Chileans and Platineans had to face a lot of routing issues: Either they had to traverse by sea and into Callao and take out one of Spain’s main ports in the Peruvian Pacific coast, or go through the highlands of Alto Perú and take the silver-producing regions. Both plans were logistical nightmares, with the latter causing many dead due to attrittion.
· Within Peru, the people who desired independence also fought amongst themselves, with some wanting Full Independence, and others preferring to be under the nominal authority of the King of Spain but with more control over its own affairs (instead of having a colonial viceroy appointed from Spain). But in either case, there were the well-known Republiquetas, which while they had effective control of the countryside of the Alto Peru and were recognised by the Platineans, they often ended up fighting amongst themselves.
· The elites and a good chunk of the population were still loyal to the King of Spain, compared to the rest of the other Colonials, and were unsupportive of the independence, fearing the loss of their commercial and social privileges.
And it all came down to the end of the year 1823, where the armies of the Libertadores went forward onto jumpstarting the Peruvian Independence War (Though, it is called “Andean War” in Peru, Spain and Mexico, and in Colombia, Chile and Brazil it is called “The Peruvian Expedition” nowadays).
This was to be a two-pronged assault to be done in January of 1824. The objective was to finish off all the remaining Spanish resistance in Peru and create a friendly government. The Spaniards were hiding in the mountains, and this all seemed like a matter of just waltzing into the Peruvian coastline. Truth is... it was doomed to fail. The bulk of the Colombian army got bogged down in Quito and Pasto due to the military operations of Agustín Agualongo, a Royalist commander of indigenous extraction (worth mentioning twice, with the "Americans should be Loyal to America" rhetoric that abounded amongst these Colonial rebels), who proceeded to inflict severe casualties on them, while only armed with his musket, patriotic fervour, willingness to put rebels to death, and . He was never defeated by Nariño, nor by Guerrero, nor by anyone sent to fight him, as the two mentioned be. The rest of the army kept on fighting, eventually managing to get to the outskirts of Lima, but fate had to throw them another wrench.
When they arrived to Pativilca, in January 1, 1824, Bolívar suddenly fell ill [2] while staying in this town, and was unable to conduct further operations into the Peruvian coast. He ended up dying due to this mysterious illness in February 1, 1824, severely demoralizing the expeditionary forces. His last words were “Win this war!”, which was given as an order to one of his lieutenants.
Alas... he ded.
With his death, Antonio José de Sucre decided to continue on with the war. And while he was competent enough to achieve victories by himself during his time in the Colombian Independence War, went onto fighting the Spaniards in the ill-fated Battle of Lima, where his army was, alongside the Peruvian rebels, crushed by the army lead by Viceroy José de la Serna, along with last hour reinforcements from Pedro Antonio Olañeta. [3]
From that point on, even if Sucre did manage to win a few skirmishes against the Spanish armies, their tenuous supply situation forced them to take a harsh, but necessary decision: Get out of Peru, or die trying. And while Sucre’s decision to end the campaign was a political suicide in post-war Gran Colombia, he always defended the fact that his men were tired, a lack of ammo and supplies were also to blame, and that most of his soldiers wanted to go home already.
Then, the Liberation Army coming from the south revolted, by arresting their own officers who were loyal to the Libertadores and defected to the Spaniards. And with the complete breakdown of their armies, the southern forces of the Liberation Army chose to sue for peace.
Viceroy De la Serna chose to sign an unsanctioned armistice (that is, it was not authorised by the king of Spain) with the with the remaining leadership of the liberation armies. In this treaty, all parts agreed to not wage war with each other for three years, or until a more suitable (and this time, official) peace treaty recognising the independence of these other countries would be made. In exchange, any kept territories will be recognised as gains for each of the other countries, thus ceding the territories of Pasto and Quito to Gran Colombia, what corresponds to the whole of the Atacama Desert to Chile, and the eastern half of the Alto Peru [6] to the Platinean Confederation. He eventually sent a letter notifying about the territorial changes to the King, justifying his decision to let them go and to stop the war, as there was no point already in trying to keep on fighting the rebel territories, and that it will be better to keep whatever remains of the Empire.
De La Serna and the remaining Libertadores signing the truce of Juliaca.
This truce would be ratified later by their respective governments, and became the basis for the recognition of the independence of these other nations.
Needless to say, events that transpired also in Spain were also to blame for the new King of Spain to refuse to engage the rebel nations and just let them go already. [8]
It was a victory by the skin of their teeth for the Spaniards, who managed to keep their own hold onto Peru (though, administering this place would become a nightmare), and a humiliating victory to the Libertadores, since they would be reminded of their failure every time they looked at a map of South America and there would be a huge tract of land that was still a part of Spain.
Well, Bolivar is looking at the nation he created from Heaven.
At least he can be proud it is still an unified nation.
With it, the dream of a permanent union of all of the Spanish speaking nations of South America (as envisioned by Simón Bolívar) also died, as Colombia sealed its southern borders and tried to establish itself as a democracy (even though those rogues that are the Bolivarists often opposed this, as when his namesake said, Latin America was not fit for democracy, as it was "under the triple yoke of ignorance, tyranny and vice"), and the Platinean Confederation descended back into its own internal wars between their constituent states against the primacy of the State of Buenos Aires, while Paraguay and the Empire of Brazil reaped the benefits with the ensuing chaos, the first by taking the province of Misiones from the Confederation, and Brazil consolidated its control over Uruguay… or at least for the time being. Also, San Martín, right off from his retirement from France and back onto La Plata, returned to try to force a monarchy, which only exacerbated the civil disorder in the former Spanish colony. But that, along with many other adventures he had, are a story for another time.
To note also: Agustín Jerónimo, Heir-Apparent of the Empire, was amongst the cadre of Mexican volunteer corps that went to Colombia in 1823. His first taste of international diplomacy (and his long career as a diplomat) was to sign a “Pact of Eternal Friendship” between the Republic of Gran Colombia and the Empire of Mexico. By order of the Emperor, another one who went there was Vicente Guerrero, who fought against the forces of Agustín Agualongo, but was unable to apprehend him, and died of dysentery in Bucaramanga, on his way back to Mexico in 1826. [5] We will talk later of Francisco de Paula Santander and of the other leaders of Gran Colombia on a later chapter. Likewise, we’ll have also a chapter on the rivalry between the Empire of Brazil and the Platinean Confederation.
As for Agustín Agualongo, he fought on, until he was told by a Colombian messenger that the war had ended in 1828 he continued to serve the Spanish Empire with distinction, becoming a high ranking General, eventually becoming the first President of the Royal Government of Peru in the middle part of the 19th century. [7]
===================================================================
[1] A comedian (and original character) of this TL.[2] “La Plata” is the short name for the Confederación Platense (Platinean Confederation), which will be TTL’s Argentina, and Colombia is going to be the short-term for Gran Colombia.
[3] Simón Bolívar had an early death this time around. OTL, he recovered from that fever, which almost killed him, but left him weakened for the rest of the campaign.
[4] OTL, Olañeta mutinied, and Viceroy de la Serna had to dispatch an army against him, which contributed to the defeat of the Spaniards. In this timeline, he did not rebel against the Viceroy.
[5] OTL Vicente Guerrero lasted a bit longer, and never went to South America. This token force of soldiers was more or less an exercise on getting rid of him by HIH Agustín I in this timeline, which by all accounts, was a success.
[6] Western half of Paraguay, and what would be most of the OTL Bolivian state of Santa Cruz.
[7] Yes, ladies, hold your undergarments down. One order of “Hispanophone Canada” (and a blatant act of fanservice) coming right at you.
[8] Foreshadowing to the next episode.
===================================================================
Next episode:
Troubles in Spain!
- Vault boy
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