I wonder if Brazil will become more involved with Europe so it can getit's revenge.
And about Paraguay, will they unite with Uruguay to be one country?
And about Paraguay, will they unite with Uruguay to be one country?
Miranda's Dream. ¡Por una Latino América fuerte!.- A Gran Colombia TL
- Thread starter Red_Galiray
- Start date
- Status
Unrelated to Guayception.
The Caracas Earthquake that so harmed the early OTL revolutionaries was averted here, but the tectonic plates are still pushing. Caracas could be leveled at any moment ITTL.
The Caracas Earthquake that so harmed the early OTL revolutionaries was averted here, but the tectonic plates are still pushing. Caracas could be leveled at any moment ITTL.
Thanks man. I'm glad you liked them.
As for the MegaGuay... Well, it's a possibility.
I already have something planned with regards to the earthquake.
This TL is low-key a Paraguay wank. 
Would it be interesting if she become the Switzerland of South America?
Would it be interesting if she become the Switzerland of South America?
Impossible.This TL is low-key a Paraguay wank.
Would it be interesting if she become the Switzerland of South America?
This TL is low-key a Paraguay wank.
Would it be interesting if she become the Switzerland of South America?
All countries are wanked, some are just more wanked that others.
It'd be interesting, but as King of the Uzbeks' attachment shows, best Guay is too... Paraguay to do something like that. How do you like the timeline thus far though?
Let aside the obvious and foreseeable ('guay' stuff) chain jokes/ending words' games some posts up...
About this TL 'future', at least in 'La Plata' region I think that would be the union and integration from all former Virreinato territories (include Paraguay); with/thanks to the Bolivar's influence and to oppose the will of the deceased paraguayan tyrant and likely to the isolating, continuism faction.
This future 'Platense' state,probably will had the goal of recover all their historical/colonial limits and will be self organized in a some kind of, strong, confederation how a previous step to a full federation, but with their capital city out of Bs.As. but near or on of the river Uruguay and near of the estuary of the 'Río de la Plata'. But while the former it's feasible I don't think that all the Alto Perú/Charcas will be probably to integrate/continued part of the future federation, at least to short/middle term aside that they are more nearly (culturally/politically) to the Perú.
About the first updates two things/observations :
While I guess that you had would use it as a 'narrative resource'( to describe the image of the situation of both belligerents and that of the Platenses, in specific)... I don't want to break the '4th wall' ..
But how you had asked for more comment/critics...
First not seems logic that the supply for the 'Plata' must be received through those place that it's the most far (geographical and nulle roads infrastructure) because, by the way, the throughput logistical would be unbelievable hardest and aside of course from would be a logistical nightmare that hasn't had really sense nor be practical.
for those things that must be sent and received from .almost the farthest point south to which you can go and then make the same road over land to came it where the supplies for the war effort are necessary.
The naval combat zone with the virtual stalemate (at least how were described) and in consecuence it possible extrapolate that the naval blockade/interdiction zone that its being afected its ' only' the River of the Plata's mouth and the Atlantic ocean at long of the Oriental and south- Brazilians coasts.
Because the opposite would have given to either of them,a clear strategic advantage.
Therefore the neutral shipping through the middle / east Atlantic must be safe; I think that until their arrival at their destination ports just like for Brazil the 'Salvador' (of Bahía) port or if so required by the narrative, I will suggest Belém or Recife ports.
For the 'Platenses' the natural choice must been the fort/port, of the then, litle town: Carmen de Patagones (937 km southwest from Bs. As.).
Second:
Although it is 'ok', your short definition/examples, for narrative purposes and it's more a nuances thing... but I think that could be important give/share a more deeper info. about on the definition of "Gaucho"...
But, in my opinion for to understand best the history of the Region, it is necessary to know that the similarity of gauchos with the cowboys beyond that superficial owes to their type and their way of life that were dependent from 'wild' or unmarked cattle.
They were not part of the colonial / national formal societies of the Region, because of their ethnic and social origin, they were socially outcast and politically, unruly border mens.
Being a gaucho was a way of life... similar to the Indian lifestyle but characterized for being rugged individualists and fiercely independent skilled riders.
The main difference with the Llaneros was that because they were from a tropical plain and must be skilled swimmer and boatmen also pedestrians.
While they usually applied their skill in temporary/seasonal works for the landowners in a time where the lands, field enclosure was something (the fact and the idea) belonging to the future there wasn't contradiction to them to take at work here or beyond and go out and come back freely, but their respect were only for those within them and/or landowner that share their way of life and of course get (or that was admired) their bravery and skills in superlative grade.
Also, they were part of a 'horse culture' similar to those in the old world, but with the difference that their way of life was a life choice for freedom from the social rules or laws and of course generally great numbers were outlaws (or forced to become in) that lived and liked to live on horseback in the wilderness.,
The above factors/qualities make them excellent pathfinders and also that were used how shock troops (Gaucho cavalry), that was feared for their combat skills.
But with the passage of the time and with a more strong State and the social evolution with the economical changes only each time less groups of gauchos scattered were able to continue in their traditional lifestyle.
About this TL 'future', at least in 'La Plata' region I think that would be the union and integration from all former Virreinato territories (include Paraguay); with/thanks to the Bolivar's influence and to oppose the will of the deceased paraguayan tyrant and likely to the isolating, continuism faction.
This future 'Platense' state,probably will had the goal of recover all their historical/colonial limits and will be self organized in a some kind of, strong, confederation how a previous step to a full federation, but with their capital city out of Bs.As. but near or on of the river Uruguay and near of the estuary of the 'Río de la Plata'. But while the former it's feasible I don't think that all the Alto Perú/Charcas will be probably to integrate/continued part of the future federation, at least to short/middle term aside that they are more nearly (culturally/politically) to the Perú.
About the first updates two things/observations :
While I guess that you had would use it as a 'narrative resource'( to describe the image of the situation of both belligerents and that of the Platenses, in specific)... I don't want to break the '4th wall' ..
But how you had asked for more comment/critics...
First not seems logic that the supply for the 'Plata' must be received through those place that it's the most far (geographical and nulle roads infrastructure) because, by the way, the throughput logistical would be unbelievable hardest and aside of course from would be a logistical nightmare that hasn't had really sense nor be practical.
for those things that must be sent and received from .almost the farthest point south to which you can go and then make the same road over land to came it where the supplies for the war effort are necessary.
The naval combat zone with the virtual stalemate (at least how were described) and in consecuence it possible extrapolate that the naval blockade/interdiction zone that its being afected its ' only' the River of the Plata's mouth and the Atlantic ocean at long of the Oriental and south- Brazilians coasts.
Because the opposite would have given to either of them,a clear strategic advantage.
Therefore the neutral shipping through the middle / east Atlantic must be safe; I think that until their arrival at their destination ports just like for Brazil the 'Salvador' (of Bahía) port or if so required by the narrative, I will suggest Belém or Recife ports.
For the 'Platenses' the natural choice must been the fort/port, of the then, litle town: Carmen de Patagones (937 km southwest from Bs. As.).
Second:
Although it is 'ok', your short definition/examples, for narrative purposes and it's more a nuances thing... but I think that could be important give/share a more deeper info. about on the definition of "Gaucho"...
But, in my opinion for to understand best the history of the Region, it is necessary to know that the similarity of gauchos with the cowboys beyond that superficial owes to their type and their way of life that were dependent from 'wild' or unmarked cattle.
They were not part of the colonial / national formal societies of the Region, because of their ethnic and social origin, they were socially outcast and politically, unruly border mens.
Being a gaucho was a way of life... similar to the Indian lifestyle but characterized for being rugged individualists and fiercely independent skilled riders.
The main difference with the Llaneros was that because they were from a tropical plain and must be skilled swimmer and boatmen also pedestrians.
While they usually applied their skill in temporary/seasonal works for the landowners in a time where the lands, field enclosure was something (the fact and the idea) belonging to the future there wasn't contradiction to them to take at work here or beyond and go out and come back freely, but their respect were only for those within them and/or landowner that share their way of life and of course get (or that was admired) their bravery and skills in superlative grade.
Also, they were part of a 'horse culture' similar to those in the old world, but with the difference that their way of life was a life choice for freedom from the social rules or laws and of course generally great numbers were outlaws (or forced to become in) that lived and liked to live on horseback in the wilderness.,
The above factors/qualities make them excellent pathfinders and also that were used how shock troops (Gaucho cavalry), that was feared for their combat skills.
But with the passage of the time and with a more strong State and the social evolution with the economical changes only each time less groups of gauchos scattered were able to continue in their traditional lifestyle.
Paraguay is The Little Engine That Couldn't.Impossible.
Chapter 26: The Triple War, Final Part.
CONTINENTAL DRAMA.- FINAL PART.
"The Triple War was nothing but a political and military mess that only managed to destroy the First Brazilian Empire and the liberty of La Plata, creating reactionary dictadorships that harmed a lot of people. It's only good consequence was the consolidation of Paraguay and the independence of Rio Grande do Sul, but overrall the war was still just a disaster."
-Antonio Vidal, Riograndese historian.
One important thing to understand in order to comprehend the war is the Gauchos and their involvement, and most importantly, their reason to fight.
The Gauchos were “wild” men, generally political and social outcasts who didn’t really form part of either the colonial or post-independence society. They were unruly people who lived from cattle, especially wild and unmarked ones. They were quite similar to the Native Americans in that regard, only that the Platinean and Brazilian governments were even less able to control them.
Usually only employed by short periods of time and only loyal to other Gauchos, the Gauchos mainly decided to align themselves with the United Provinces during the Independence War in the hopes of gaining more liberties for them. Their contribution was invaluable, as their skills and knowledge of the terrain made them great shock troops that were able to hold the line against the Peruvian loyalist troops with relative ease.
The Gauchos, with help of a Riograndese official, charge into battle.
After the Independence Wars, the Platinean government led by the Orientals decided to let them mostly alone, though it still tried to control them to some degree. They ran into more problems in the Empire of Brazil, where the Imperial authorities, who unlike the Platineans didn’t own the Gauchos anything and were actually against them due to their role in Artigas’ Oriental Revolution, tried to put them down, persecuting many of them as criminals. To be fair, a good number of them were actual criminals, but thinking that them all were put the Gauchos against the Imperial Government. One of the measures the Empire took against them was lowering tariffs for cattle trading with Oriental Provinces, in an attempt to starve them by reducing Rio Grande’s own cattle trade. This ended up becoming one of the principal reasons of the Farrapos Revolution.
The Gauchos decided to align themselves with Silva under the understanding that he would then allow them to do as they please in rural Rio Grande, and that he would supply them with food and horses. This prevented Rio Grande from having its own state-sanctioned cavalry, but Silva realized that he needed the support of the Gauchos to win the war. The Gauchos thus became the main cavalry units during the revolution, even though they weren’t really part of the military command nor followed orders. Their only unified action was holding the line, generally when Riograndese troops were forced to retreat. They also raided Brazilian supply lines, worsening the already nightmarish logistics situation.
The next big development of the war didn’t take place in Paraguay or Brazil, but rather in the United Provinces of Rio de la Plata, commonly known as simply La Plata. Nominally a Federation similar to the United States, La Plata was even more of a loose confederation which only stuck together due to the Brazilian menace. The main conflict within the federation was between the Liberal Orientals, who had control over the state of Oriental Provinces and the Conservative Porteños, who had control over Buenos Aires. This was a conflict of interests and power that could be traced back to long before the Independence Wars, but only became a great issue during them, even leading to a civil war between the two.
The First Civil War.
The Civil War didn’t achieve anything except for weakening La Plata, destroying any chance of an offensive through the Andes and creating an unstable truce between the two states, with the underlined understanding that while both Buenos Aires and Oriental Provinces were equal, Buenos Aires was more equal.
This changed when San Martin exiled himself to Europe, which meant that the Oriental Leader, Artigas, was the most senior, experienced and influential Army Commander in the entire country. This allowed the Orientals to take the lead, lead that had been progressively eroding ever since Artigas had stepped down from power and then died.
La Plata thus was more divided than ever when the Triple War started. The division, lack of a proper Federal War Command (the Defense Ministry didn’t even exist due to every state having its own Army) and bad logistics (certain states outright refused to share their supplies) ended up in disaster, with Oriental Provinces overrun and huge losses. These losses were fewer than Brazil’s, but the Empire had several times the Platinean population. The major problem was now that Buenos Aires was finally reaching its breaking point in regard to the Platinean leadership. After all, Buenos Aires had been untouched by the war while Oriental Provinces had had its army destroyed and its lands occupied.
Buenos Aires was still the most populous and important city of the United Provinces.
With Paraguay out of the war, Brazil now had more troops to send to the front. La Plata had pushed them back to the border, meaning that the non-Riograndese troops there were trapped between the rebellious new republic and the Platinean Armies. This rendered them vulnerable to encirclement and destruction, as the Duke of Caxias soon realized. His only hope was getting troops there quickly enough, forcing the Riograndenses to retreat. Even then those armies would still be trapped.
Joaquín Suárez, an Oriental politician who had participated in Artigas’ Oriental Revolution, was named the new leader of the United Provinces by the Junta of Oligarchs and High ranking military-men who had been leading it until then. He was aware that encircling and destroying the trapped Brazilian forces was his chance of winning the war, so he quickly started communications with the Riograndese leadership. He was also outraged about Paraguay pulling out of the war, but decided to do nothing about it.
The Suarez offensive thus started. Silva had firmly told Suarez that he didn’t want Rio Grande to be a Platinean puppet once a peace treaty was made and thus Suarez had only one chance. Suarez, though bitter, accepted on the condition that Silva used his better troops in order to guarantee success. While this took place, Suarez also tried to convince the other states to partake in the offensive, but baring a few divisions his efforts were fruitless. He was actually almost desperate, since money was running so tight even the cheap Colombian knock-offs (and the slightly better Fusil de Infanteria modelo 1, Clase Miranda) would be too expensive for his country.
Joaquin Suarez.
The first few weeks of the offensive were smashing successes, with the Brazilians being forced to converge right in the middle of the Oriental Band, while fully knowing they were falling into a trap. Most conscripts were no match for the experienced Platineans and Riograndenses, but they also had their own experienced troops that delayed the offensive. In a cruel twist of irony, this possibly saved the offensive because had Suarez had his way, he would have probably outrun his supply lines.
The Duke’s Armies managed to get to the frontier of the rebel held territory, but Silva was prepared. At the end, Silva’s armies were forced to retreat with the Brazilians reestablishing control over Santa Caterina. This, however, allowed Silva to occupy better positions and repel the second attack. His attempt to rescue his troops foiled, the Duke was forced to wait until supply lines could be established in Santa Caterina, where Guerilla warfare had set. He also had to divert troops towards the north, when the rebellion there proved too much to handle for the inexperienced troops sent there. Like La Plata, the biggest challenge his government Junta faced was the economic crisis, though the slightly more stable Brazilian Empire would be able to continue importing Colombian arms for quite some more time.
Fusil de Infantería, clase Miranda.
The Suarez offensive continued until 1848, when the Brazilian army was finally encircled and surrendered. The Brazilian Empire’s professional army was mostly destroyed, though it was not a complete victory for the Riograndese-Platinean alliance, as La Plata’s supply lines finally collapsed and thus Silva was forced to retreat several kilometers, most of his republic now under Brazil again. Nonetheless, both nations were in the brink of socio-economical collapse, but La Plata commanded the upper hand in the negotiations. Then it all went to hell.
Juan Manuel de Rosas, governor of Buenos Aires, called for a National Convention (without representatives from Oriental Provinces) and declared the United Provinces defunct and created a new political entity in its place, The Argentine Confederation (Confederación Argentina). The rest of states were divided on which one to follow, The United Provinces or the Confederation.
The problems only increased when the Confederation claimed Paraguay as part of it. Paraguay, which had evolved by now into a Military Dictadorship under Bolivar, didn’t accept this and demanded the inmediate retreat of Confederation troops in territory he claimed as Paraguayan, such as Misiones and some territory of Corrientes, finally giving an ultimatum. The ultimatum was ignored and Confederation troops entered de facto Paraguayan territory. Paraguay, perhaps feeling confident after its victory against Brazil, declared war. The Confederation, without the approval of Oriental Provinces, made peace with Brazil and even created an alliance, with Brazil reentering the war against Paraguay, thinking that the Platineans would release the captive Brazilian Army and thus the Empire would be able to use them to crush the Farrapos Revolution. However, the government that held the troops captive was that of the United Provinces, which continued the war against Brazil.
Juan Manuel de Rosas.
The situation was thus as follows: The Confederation and the Empire were at war with Paraguay, which was allied with the United Provinces and Rio Grande do Sul. This was what put the “Triple” in Triple War, as this meant that every warring nation (Brazil, Paraguay and La Plata) had been allied or at war with each other at least once during the conflict.
The Empire didn’t conduct more than token offensives against the Paraguayans, their participation in the war against Paraguay only nominal. The Confederation, on the other hand, launched a full scale offensive, often named “Belgrado’s Second March” because just like the original one, it ended up in complete disaster, with Bolivar crushing them soundly. The Confederation Army might have looked good on paper, but it was inexperienced and had bad weapons and worse supply. There also weren’t offensives against Oriental Provinces except for a small one that was quickly crushed by the experienced Orientals. After only some months of battles, Rosas realized his mistake in invading Paraguay and arranged for a Status-Quo Ante Bellum peace. Brazil did the same.
In 1850, Brazil finally collapsed with a coup attempt taking place against the Duke of Caxias and the Emperor, who never wanted the post In the first place, abdicating and fleeing to Europe. The Junta quickly fell apart and a new military commander, Manuel Marques de Sousa took control of the country. With the army in open rebellion and more and more places standing up in revolution, he finally accepted the independence of Rio Grande do Sul. Sousa was from Rio Grande do Sul and obviously didn’t want to allow his province to secede, but he saw it as the only way of preventing the Empire from totally collapsing. He was also a monarchist, but his attempts to get Pedro II (who saw his forced abdication as liberation) back to Brazil failed.
Marques de Sousa would continue to campaign for the restablishement of the Empire, but with the Emperor unwilling and heirless, this proved to be a difficult task.
With Rio Grande free, Silva had no reason to continue his alliance with the United Provinces, which collapsed as well. Confederation troops quickly moved and took control of Oriental Provinces, Rosas becoming the absolutist dictator of the Confederation, starting a process to create the Argentina he wanted, called the National Reorganization Process (Proceso de Reorganización Nacional).
In Brazil, Sousa lost power to reactionary and conservative elements, which now created a new State (Estado Novo), The State of Brazil, which was a reactionary military dictatorship.
All the countries involved in the Triple War lost, becoming broken, reactionary dictatorship. Even today, the Triple War is remembered as perhaps the worst mistake in both Platinean and Brazilian histories. The only winners were Paraguay and Rio Grande do Sul, which also were dictatorships. Only dark times seemed to come over the South Cone.
"The Triple War was nothing but a political and military mess that only managed to destroy the First Brazilian Empire and the liberty of La Plata, creating reactionary dictadorships that harmed a lot of people. It's only good consequence was the consolidation of Paraguay and the independence of Rio Grande do Sul, but overrall the war was still just a disaster."
-Antonio Vidal, Riograndese historian.
One important thing to understand in order to comprehend the war is the Gauchos and their involvement, and most importantly, their reason to fight.
The Gauchos were “wild” men, generally political and social outcasts who didn’t really form part of either the colonial or post-independence society. They were unruly people who lived from cattle, especially wild and unmarked ones. They were quite similar to the Native Americans in that regard, only that the Platinean and Brazilian governments were even less able to control them.
Usually only employed by short periods of time and only loyal to other Gauchos, the Gauchos mainly decided to align themselves with the United Provinces during the Independence War in the hopes of gaining more liberties for them. Their contribution was invaluable, as their skills and knowledge of the terrain made them great shock troops that were able to hold the line against the Peruvian loyalist troops with relative ease.
The Gauchos, with help of a Riograndese official, charge into battle.
After the Independence Wars, the Platinean government led by the Orientals decided to let them mostly alone, though it still tried to control them to some degree. They ran into more problems in the Empire of Brazil, where the Imperial authorities, who unlike the Platineans didn’t own the Gauchos anything and were actually against them due to their role in Artigas’ Oriental Revolution, tried to put them down, persecuting many of them as criminals. To be fair, a good number of them were actual criminals, but thinking that them all were put the Gauchos against the Imperial Government. One of the measures the Empire took against them was lowering tariffs for cattle trading with Oriental Provinces, in an attempt to starve them by reducing Rio Grande’s own cattle trade. This ended up becoming one of the principal reasons of the Farrapos Revolution.
The Gauchos decided to align themselves with Silva under the understanding that he would then allow them to do as they please in rural Rio Grande, and that he would supply them with food and horses. This prevented Rio Grande from having its own state-sanctioned cavalry, but Silva realized that he needed the support of the Gauchos to win the war. The Gauchos thus became the main cavalry units during the revolution, even though they weren’t really part of the military command nor followed orders. Their only unified action was holding the line, generally when Riograndese troops were forced to retreat. They also raided Brazilian supply lines, worsening the already nightmarish logistics situation.
The next big development of the war didn’t take place in Paraguay or Brazil, but rather in the United Provinces of Rio de la Plata, commonly known as simply La Plata. Nominally a Federation similar to the United States, La Plata was even more of a loose confederation which only stuck together due to the Brazilian menace. The main conflict within the federation was between the Liberal Orientals, who had control over the state of Oriental Provinces and the Conservative Porteños, who had control over Buenos Aires. This was a conflict of interests and power that could be traced back to long before the Independence Wars, but only became a great issue during them, even leading to a civil war between the two.
The First Civil War.
The Civil War didn’t achieve anything except for weakening La Plata, destroying any chance of an offensive through the Andes and creating an unstable truce between the two states, with the underlined understanding that while both Buenos Aires and Oriental Provinces were equal, Buenos Aires was more equal.
This changed when San Martin exiled himself to Europe, which meant that the Oriental Leader, Artigas, was the most senior, experienced and influential Army Commander in the entire country. This allowed the Orientals to take the lead, lead that had been progressively eroding ever since Artigas had stepped down from power and then died.
La Plata thus was more divided than ever when the Triple War started. The division, lack of a proper Federal War Command (the Defense Ministry didn’t even exist due to every state having its own Army) and bad logistics (certain states outright refused to share their supplies) ended up in disaster, with Oriental Provinces overrun and huge losses. These losses were fewer than Brazil’s, but the Empire had several times the Platinean population. The major problem was now that Buenos Aires was finally reaching its breaking point in regard to the Platinean leadership. After all, Buenos Aires had been untouched by the war while Oriental Provinces had had its army destroyed and its lands occupied.
Buenos Aires was still the most populous and important city of the United Provinces.
With Paraguay out of the war, Brazil now had more troops to send to the front. La Plata had pushed them back to the border, meaning that the non-Riograndese troops there were trapped between the rebellious new republic and the Platinean Armies. This rendered them vulnerable to encirclement and destruction, as the Duke of Caxias soon realized. His only hope was getting troops there quickly enough, forcing the Riograndenses to retreat. Even then those armies would still be trapped.
Joaquín Suárez, an Oriental politician who had participated in Artigas’ Oriental Revolution, was named the new leader of the United Provinces by the Junta of Oligarchs and High ranking military-men who had been leading it until then. He was aware that encircling and destroying the trapped Brazilian forces was his chance of winning the war, so he quickly started communications with the Riograndese leadership. He was also outraged about Paraguay pulling out of the war, but decided to do nothing about it.
The Suarez offensive thus started. Silva had firmly told Suarez that he didn’t want Rio Grande to be a Platinean puppet once a peace treaty was made and thus Suarez had only one chance. Suarez, though bitter, accepted on the condition that Silva used his better troops in order to guarantee success. While this took place, Suarez also tried to convince the other states to partake in the offensive, but baring a few divisions his efforts were fruitless. He was actually almost desperate, since money was running so tight even the cheap Colombian knock-offs (and the slightly better Fusil de Infanteria modelo 1, Clase Miranda) would be too expensive for his country.
Joaquin Suarez.
The first few weeks of the offensive were smashing successes, with the Brazilians being forced to converge right in the middle of the Oriental Band, while fully knowing they were falling into a trap. Most conscripts were no match for the experienced Platineans and Riograndenses, but they also had their own experienced troops that delayed the offensive. In a cruel twist of irony, this possibly saved the offensive because had Suarez had his way, he would have probably outrun his supply lines.
The Duke’s Armies managed to get to the frontier of the rebel held territory, but Silva was prepared. At the end, Silva’s armies were forced to retreat with the Brazilians reestablishing control over Santa Caterina. This, however, allowed Silva to occupy better positions and repel the second attack. His attempt to rescue his troops foiled, the Duke was forced to wait until supply lines could be established in Santa Caterina, where Guerilla warfare had set. He also had to divert troops towards the north, when the rebellion there proved too much to handle for the inexperienced troops sent there. Like La Plata, the biggest challenge his government Junta faced was the economic crisis, though the slightly more stable Brazilian Empire would be able to continue importing Colombian arms for quite some more time.
Fusil de Infantería, clase Miranda.
Juan Manuel de Rosas, governor of Buenos Aires, called for a National Convention (without representatives from Oriental Provinces) and declared the United Provinces defunct and created a new political entity in its place, The Argentine Confederation (Confederación Argentina). The rest of states were divided on which one to follow, The United Provinces or the Confederation.
The problems only increased when the Confederation claimed Paraguay as part of it. Paraguay, which had evolved by now into a Military Dictadorship under Bolivar, didn’t accept this and demanded the inmediate retreat of Confederation troops in territory he claimed as Paraguayan, such as Misiones and some territory of Corrientes, finally giving an ultimatum. The ultimatum was ignored and Confederation troops entered de facto Paraguayan territory. Paraguay, perhaps feeling confident after its victory against Brazil, declared war. The Confederation, without the approval of Oriental Provinces, made peace with Brazil and even created an alliance, with Brazil reentering the war against Paraguay, thinking that the Platineans would release the captive Brazilian Army and thus the Empire would be able to use them to crush the Farrapos Revolution. However, the government that held the troops captive was that of the United Provinces, which continued the war against Brazil.
Juan Manuel de Rosas.
The situation was thus as follows: The Confederation and the Empire were at war with Paraguay, which was allied with the United Provinces and Rio Grande do Sul. This was what put the “Triple” in Triple War, as this meant that every warring nation (Brazil, Paraguay and La Plata) had been allied or at war with each other at least once during the conflict.
The Empire didn’t conduct more than token offensives against the Paraguayans, their participation in the war against Paraguay only nominal. The Confederation, on the other hand, launched a full scale offensive, often named “Belgrado’s Second March” because just like the original one, it ended up in complete disaster, with Bolivar crushing them soundly. The Confederation Army might have looked good on paper, but it was inexperienced and had bad weapons and worse supply. There also weren’t offensives against Oriental Provinces except for a small one that was quickly crushed by the experienced Orientals. After only some months of battles, Rosas realized his mistake in invading Paraguay and arranged for a Status-Quo Ante Bellum peace. Brazil did the same.
In 1850, Brazil finally collapsed with a coup attempt taking place against the Duke of Caxias and the Emperor, who never wanted the post In the first place, abdicating and fleeing to Europe. The Junta quickly fell apart and a new military commander, Manuel Marques de Sousa took control of the country. With the army in open rebellion and more and more places standing up in revolution, he finally accepted the independence of Rio Grande do Sul. Sousa was from Rio Grande do Sul and obviously didn’t want to allow his province to secede, but he saw it as the only way of preventing the Empire from totally collapsing. He was also a monarchist, but his attempts to get Pedro II (who saw his forced abdication as liberation) back to Brazil failed.
Marques de Sousa would continue to campaign for the restablishement of the Empire, but with the Emperor unwilling and heirless, this proved to be a difficult task.
With Rio Grande free, Silva had no reason to continue his alliance with the United Provinces, which collapsed as well. Confederation troops quickly moved and took control of Oriental Provinces, Rosas becoming the absolutist dictator of the Confederation, starting a process to create the Argentina he wanted, called the National Reorganization Process (Proceso de Reorganización Nacional).
In Brazil, Sousa lost power to reactionary and conservative elements, which now created a new State (Estado Novo), The State of Brazil, which was a reactionary military dictatorship.
All the countries involved in the Triple War lost, becoming broken, reactionary dictatorship. Even today, the Triple War is remembered as perhaps the worst mistake in both Platinean and Brazilian histories. The only winners were Paraguay and Rio Grande do Sul, which also were dictatorships. Only dark times seemed to come over the South Cone.
An Empire without the Emperor...what folly indeed...
Still, there are alternatives. Perhaps Isabel?
Still, there are alternatives. Perhaps Isabel?
The darkness...
The decades of darkness are upon us all... América is falling down the pit. Argentina broken, Brazil falling apart, Bolivia and Peru humilliated, and Chile and Colombia stumbling... And soon Mexico and the United States will come to blows...
I love it!
The decades of darkness are upon us all... América is falling down the pit. Argentina broken, Brazil falling apart, Bolivia and Peru humilliated, and Chile and Colombia stumbling... And soon Mexico and the United States will come to blows...
I love it!
Interesting update..seems that OTL or TTL the Río de la Plata's peoples fate it's unable to avoid the bloody factions wars... anyway some nuance...the Liberalism ticketed to the federalist faction lead or synonyms for the 'Orientales'...only must be means in the more broad sense because their ideology were rooted in the Artiguism* that can be characterized how political federalist but at self time them were social/economics reformers (or revolutionaries). The above more than the political one were theirs main difference and the answering of the ferocious fight and main source to the opposition to their existence and fears to their ideological 'libertarian/integrationist'** spread/'preach' within and through the colonial (and postcolonial) society racial and class barriers.
Therefore we must expect in the territories, that were ruled or under their military occupation under some time... more deepest social and economics changes than in the rest of the United Provinces ('Platenses')... and of course more loyalty to the 'federalist' would come from (mainly but not at all, remember Rosas and Urquiza) from the social groups that belonged to the social bases from the loosely stratified post colonial society and the probably repression against the enemy from both factions.
* Artigas has two main ideological influences: the works of American authors such as Thomas Paine and the French authors of the Enlightenment as Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Artigas read/posses books as "Common Sense" of T. Paine and "The social contract" of Rousseau.
Also Artigas written ideological documents are partially taken from the U.S. constitutional texts (and federalist apologias).
However many Ibero American independence leaders were more influenced by the French Revolution and the authors of France than the US. ones, Artigas had both ideological influence beside the political liberalism exerted a strong influence on Artigas' thoughts because his personal character and had lived in his formative years in the deep country within the natives and the 'criollos' that were the denomyn from those from hispanics ascendancy born in America or from mixed ascendancy (mostly:Natives/Indians assimilated from the reductions, Africans freed) and
of course Gauchos.
** Clarification : Given the fact that even today the federalism and unitarism and of course the Artigas leadership and ideology it very disputed and still 'today' causes divisions and political tensions not only in the 'Academy' but also among the different ideological currents that selves identify, appropriate, reinterpret or reject its legacy. With both ends to the creation of the black legend or the 'pink'(romantic, nationalist) one of their actions, achievements or ideology...
I must clarify that everything expressed before and above, although based on my studies and historical readings... It's only my personal / ideological interpretation of that formative period of the history of the Río de la Plata.
Therefore we must expect in the territories, that were ruled or under their military occupation under some time... more deepest social and economics changes than in the rest of the United Provinces ('Platenses')... and of course more loyalty to the 'federalist' would come from (mainly but not at all, remember Rosas and Urquiza) from the social groups that belonged to the social bases from the loosely stratified post colonial society and the probably repression against the enemy from both factions.
* Artigas has two main ideological influences: the works of American authors such as Thomas Paine and the French authors of the Enlightenment as Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Artigas read/posses books as "Common Sense" of T. Paine and "The social contract" of Rousseau.
Also Artigas written ideological documents are partially taken from the U.S. constitutional texts (and federalist apologias).
However many Ibero American independence leaders were more influenced by the French Revolution and the authors of France than the US. ones, Artigas had both ideological influence beside the political liberalism exerted a strong influence on Artigas' thoughts because his personal character and had lived in his formative years in the deep country within the natives and the 'criollos' that were the denomyn from those from hispanics ascendancy born in America or from mixed ascendancy (mostly:Natives/Indians assimilated from the reductions, Africans freed) and
of course Gauchos.
** Clarification : Given the fact that even today the federalism and unitarism and of course the Artigas leadership and ideology it very disputed and still 'today' causes divisions and political tensions not only in the 'Academy' but also among the different ideological currents that selves identify, appropriate, reinterpret or reject its legacy. With both ends to the creation of the black legend or the 'pink'(romantic, nationalist) one of their actions, achievements or ideology...
I must clarify that everything expressed before and above, although based on my studies and historical readings... It's only my personal / ideological interpretation of that formative period of the history of the Río de la Plata.
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What South American war wasn't a mess?
Right now Brazil is kinda like Franco's Spain. It'll probably have a similar end as well.
Next chapter we'll finally get an update on the Gringos and Mexico! Neither will be able to escape the darkness.
This is the kind of helpful criticism I'd like to see every update. Thank you very much. Could I perhaps consult you before writing the next update on La Plata?
Does anyone else have any comment?
Thanks you @Red_Galiray and indeed if you have some Río de la Plata Historical doubts (or for Historical interpretations about it)... only ask me, here or by PM.
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