Cuba Libre: The Revolution of 1895

compared to Cuba, Puerto Rico was a backwater.

The Spanish in 1815 passed a Royal decree in order to get PR. out of its stagnation.

Read this: http://www.enciclopediapr.org/ing/article.cfm?ref=06101102

The mid and late 19 century produced many illustrous people in PR.. The following are two of them:

Read this on Betances:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram%C3%B3n_Emeterio_Betances

Read this on Hostos who is reknowned in many Latin American nations:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenio_María_de_Hostos


This is on Cuba
1662 English fleet captained by Christopher Myngs captures Santiago de Cuba to open up trade with neighbouring Jamaica

1670 English retreat after Spain recognises England's ownership of Jamaica.

1762 July 30 British troops occupy Havana during Seven Years' War.

1763 British troops suffer atrocious losses to fever, and reach agreement with the Spanish to trade Cuba in return for Florida.
This on PR:
The main fortress in San Juan in PR. was once captured by the english under the Earl of Cumberland George Clifford. He had to leave after a few months due to tropical disease decimating his troops plus a hostile population.

Earl of Cumberland George Clifford
is famous for his short lived 1598 capture of Fort San Felipe del Morro, the citadel protecting San Juan, Puerto Rico. He arrived in Puerto Rico in June 15, 1598, but by November of that year, Clifford and his men had fled the island due to harsh civilian resistance.
So compared to the two islands the civilians of the so called backwater did a better job at protecting there Capital and island from foreign invasion then the civilians of Cuba.

And I am not including the great English invasion of PR. in 1797 which was really stopped by civilians and local militias since the Spaniards in PR. had sent most of there troops to the island of Hispaniola since they expected an invasion there.

Seems after the 1868 failed revolt the Spaniards stop relying on local islanders in PR. for military forces. Instead they relied on troops from Spain. Some people think that if the Spaniards had kept using more local islanders that the US invasion might not have been the easy walk in that it was since supposedly the Spaniards did not offer that much of a resistance.
 
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@Metro: Yes, I understand that - I've been doing research both for my mega-TL, part of which includes a POD in Puerto Rico, and for Kuando el Rey Nimrod, where I'm having it as the most pro-Spanish of the remaining Spanish territories in the Western Hemisphere.

The problem with the protection of San Juan Harbour was that the fortifications always kept falling apart, meaning that the Spanish always had to repair them in the middle of crises very hastily. Plus, the Real Cédula de Gracias was largely forced on the Spanish by American merchants who wanted to make a quick buck in the Caribbean (and which pretty much forced Cuba and Puerto Rico to over-rely on sugar for income). It didn't really change the status quo that much, to be honest.

Think about it: between the two, Havana was considered more of a prize than San Juan, partly because Puerto Rico's natural resources were exhausted very early on during Spanish colonization, and partly because crops like sugar and coffee thrived in the poor soil on Puerto Rico (but which essentially duplicated products already available in Cuba); hence why in Madrid, Cuba was more important than Puerto Rico and thus Puerto Rico was a backwater. It was really not until people like Luis Muñoz Rivera and Ramón Betances came along that the Spanish took notice of Puerto Rico and gave into Luis Muñoz Rivera's demands for an autonomous government within the Spanish Empire. Without people like them, the Spanish would probably be indifferent to Puerto Rico's situation.
 
Thanks, although, this isn't going to turn into a Debs/Socialists wank. :eek: I know...

EDIT: Nothing has even been written about Puerto Rico yet...Could you at least wait until I post something to criticize me?
 
Heh, well I think I hinted earlier to the fact that Martí is largely credited with developing the roots of the Latin American identity. With him living MUCH longer in this timeline and actually having a direct effect on government in Cuba, we will see Latin America becoming much more united in their perception of self and policy. We aren't going to see a wank per se, but they will definitely be a much more powerful group of nations than OTL.
 
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