Here's the last chapter for Part I
Expect a long hiatus for Part II.
Chapter 10
Consolidating a Revolution
May, 1807
Buenos Aires, Intendencia Libre del Buenos Aires, British South America
In order to have a successful revolution, say the experts, it is necessary to follow through several different phases. The old order is toppled from power and power is transferred to a new order that quickly consolidates its hold. The old order is then displaced and any pre-revolutionary points of access to power are blocked. The new order then institutionalizes its hold on power via new constitutions, laws, behaviour patterns, and political support groups, completed when a mechanism for regulating succession is in place. Finally, power tends to re-concentrate in the hands of the new order, who become the new elite in society. [1] In the Buenos Aires case, the first step had already been taken. The second and third steps were being done concurrently, what many here call “consolidating the Revolution”. The fourth step was to follow later, with the approval of everyone involved. As we have seen, the Revolution was far from bloodless, as many porteños would wish to claim. However, this consolidation process was going to get a big boost by the old order trying to use these pre-revolutionary access points of access to power - and being quashed in the process. Such was the case with the attempted Spanish “re-conquest” of Buenos Aires, whose attempts were quashed by a combination of British soldiers and determined porteños.
The person leading the effort to retake Buenos Aires was a man named Juan Martín de Pueyrredón. Having distinguishing himself already by leading the efforts to defend Córdoba and among the people who, behind the scenes, led the deposition of Manuel Belgrano, his appointment as viceroy (by Spain) helped to calm things down in the Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata. Eventually, he dominated politics in the interior for many years, and thus is an important figure in the region’s history. He is one of those people who defies easy categorization. However, it is during the “re-conquest” of Buenos Aires where he made his name - in a way that was not expected. Interestingly, he never actually went to lead the “reconquest” himself - he delegated that responsibility to a minor Spanish general.
This time, the situation was reversed. The Spanish troops were well manned and well equipped, and planned to strike Buenos Aires using the familiar route that linked Buenos Aires to the interior and the silver mines in far-away Potosí. [2] In this, they were also helped by their indigenous allies, who began attacking Buenos Aires for a few weeks. At the same time, the British had already begun preparing defences for Buenos Aires that actually anticipated such a land invasion and had already started arming the porteños by forming an irregular militia. That was in large part due to another person - Martín de Álzaga, the merchant who left Buenos Aires several months earlier because of the Cabildo’s adoption of free trade. He retained a large spy network, from which the Spanish accordingly made their plans to take back Buenos Aires. He also heavily backed any initiative to take back Buenos Aires, especially if it meant the retaining of the Spanish trade monopoly. Yet at least one of Álzaga’s spies was actually a double agent, working for the British and helped to warn both British soldier and porteño alike of what was to be expected from Córdoba. As such, they knew what was coming and were prepared to fight to keep their city out of Spanish hands – though raids on Buenos Aires several months prior by the gauchos and the indigenous people, though often not concurrently, kept everyone on edge.
The resulting series of battles that followed resulted in casualties on both sides, but with higher casualties on the Spanish side and some assistance of the British side from the porteños, who launched an all-out guerrilla war. Using the streets, alleyways, and even rooftops of Buenos Aires to their advantage, they harassed the Spanish troops as much as the British troops were fighting them - sometimes in creative ways. One woman who was going out to wash clothes in the Rio de la Plata, it is said, fought Spanish troops armed with only ordinary pots and pans whilst snipers on the roof of a nearby house hit Spanish soldiers with musket fire. Another person laid out a trip-wire, in anticipation of Spanish soldiers using that road, and mowed down Spanish troops one by one (who used the streets and alleyways of that district to his advantage). In the end, the Spanish were forced to withdraw from Buenos Aires and flee back to Córdoba, though not without a significant portion of the troops either dead, wounded, or taken prisoner. The Intendencia Libre del Buenos Aires would remain out of Spanish hands. Other attempts were made to re-take Buenos Aires throughout 1807, though each in turn were also unsuccessful.
To porteños, this seemed like a great victory, one that helped to accelerate the consolidation of the Revolution. To Córdoba-ites, that was something they would prefer to forget, and Pueyrredón was not amused. He had that general court-martialled and became suspicious of Álzaga’s motives. Sr. Álzaga staged a massive revolt at one point to ensure that the Spanish trade monopoly would be maintained when Pueyrredón was contemplating the idea of free trade. However, that would not be the last time that one would hear of both Pueyrredón and Álzaga. In the meantime, the Intendencia Libre del Buenos Aires had the challenge to try to convince the rest of the Intendancy to become part of it, along with the normal business of governing. At the same time, the British consolidated their presence in the Rio de la Plata estuary, which would become important as time went on. By this same time the following year, both the British and the porteños were secure in their positions.
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To this day, porteños consider all or most of these events of the Liberation of Buenos Aires and the accompanying Revolution to be important, not only as a source of national pride, but also as a national founding narrative that they believe characterizes that region’s difference from the rest of Latin America. As some experts have noted, one can tell a lot about a country by the monuments it chooses - and does not choose - to erect. [3] Nowhere is this more true than in Buenos Aires. There are many monuments dedicated to the Revolution, General William Carr Beresford, the British “liberators”, the Buenos Aires Cabildo, the first Cabildo Nacional, and the first Intendant and Deputy Intendant - Juan José Castelli and Francisco Cabello y Mesa. Virtually every city and town in the areas that comprised the Intendencia Libre del Buenos Aires and its successor states has a street or plaza with names like “Guillermo Beresford” (the Spanish version of General Beresford’s name), “XXVII de Junio” (the date of the British invasion of Buenos Aires), “la Revolución” (the Revolution), and the like. British flags are also found throughout Buenos Aires, particular on its eastern border along the Buenos Aires Marathon route, and in addition, Buenos Aires has an “Avenida Jorge III”. [4] Indeed, “Guillermo” has long been a popular boy’s name in the region because of the Liberation, and the porteña who fought Spanish troops with pots and pans is immortalized as a statue in front of her house (which is now a museum).
By contrast, there are no monuments to the Marquis de Sobremonte, Pueyrredón, Martín de Álzaga, the Córdoba Offensive, or Manuel Belgrano. [5] Santa Fe stands out as an exception, since they have both a monument in the centre of the city dedicated to the British troops who participated in the Córdoba Offensive (along with the accompanying museum) and at least two streets - one named after the Córdoba Offensive (the Calle de Córdoba) and another named after the hardships the British troops suffered during the Córdoba Offensive (the Calle de la Muerte, or “Street of Death”, which is partly along the Buenos Aires-Santa Fe highway). Córdoba’s monuments are solely dedicated to the Córdoba Offensive - with the exception of an “Avenida de Sobremonte” (named after the Marquis himself) and some monuments throughout the interior dedicated to Pueyrredón and (mainly in Córdoba) to Sr. Álzaga, there are virtually no monuments commemorating events and people from that period.
This part of the timeline has covered the major events of the Liberation of Buenos Aires and the subsequent Revolution. As we have seen, contrary to what many porteños believe, the Revolution was not entirely “a peaceful experiment” - there were some periods of violence. In addition, the British involvement was far greater than anyone expected. As we shall see in future instalments of this timeline, having the British in the area does not necessarily mean that things would be better, despite the utopia that has often been described by its supporters - indeed, there have been times where the British presence actually made things worse than in OTL. As such, over time, the British military presence and the amical protectorate itself eventually proved to be controversial. There were also some mistakes made on both sides - indeed, one wonders what would happen if some of those mistakes were not made.
So, was the Revolution successful? It may have been, and indeed the fact that the Nation has managed to retain a great deal from the Revolution, such as the retention of a parliamentary system (to name one example), is proof that that the Revolution has had a long-term impact on the region. At the time, however, the situation was viewed differently among people outside of the region and there were strong fears that the “experiment” would collapse. In Part II, we will examine the lifespan of the Intendencia Libre del Buenos Aires, including some of the policies of the First Cabildo Nacional, as well as general world reaction from that time. We will see some territorial dismemberment and the addition of new territories to the Intendencia Libre. We will also see how the main colonial powers - Spain and Portugal - almost survived this period of history. Finally, it is said that some aspects popularly associated with the Revolution were due to conflating some events that happened at different times. We will examine some of these aspects to see if that’s true or not.
***
I hope you have enjoyed this timeline so far. As you can tell, I will continue this timeline, though I will take a short break before writing again. If you have any comments or feedback pertaining to this timeline, please post them. Feedback is always appreciated by me.
Dan
OOC Notes:
[1] This paragraph is largely based on pages 169-174 of the article “Participation and Political Process: The Collapsible Pyramid” by Jan Knippers Black. In Knippers Black, Jan. Latin America: Its Problems and its Promise. Cambridge, MA: Westview Press, 2005, Fourth edition.
[2] In OTL, located in southern Bolivia.
[3] From Harris, Fred R., and Martin C. Needler. “Mexico: A Revolution Laid to Rest?” In Knippers Black, Jan. Latin America: Its Problems and its Promise. Cambridge, MA: Westview Press, 2005, Fourth edition, pg. 282.
[4] Named after the British King at the time of the Liberation, King George III.
[5] Belgrano, however, is remembered very well, in a positive light, in Paraguay. More on that later.