User:Jazminbriseno/Independence of Argentina

In the history of Argentina, the period between the May Revolution of 1810 and the Anarchy that dissolved all national authorities in 1820 is known as the Independence Period.

During this period, the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata - the initial name of the current Argentine Republic - began their existence as a sovereign country, successfully sustained it through a prolonged War of Independence and declared their independence. But also during this period they failed to give themselves a central government and a constitution that were accepted by all their provinces on a permanent basis.

It was also during this period that several territories that had been part of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata definitively separated from Argentina: Paraguay, for having sustained its own independence process; Upper Peru, for continuing under Spanish power, from which it would later become independent as the Republic of Bolivia; and the Eastern Band, for having fallen under the power of Portugal, which would inherit it to Brazil, from which it would become independent as the Eastern State of Uruguay. The legacy of the Argentinean war of independence is vast since it also inspired the independence of Chile and the Philippines.

The beginning of the period is established on May 25, 1810, date of the creation of the first government of the United Provinces, and the end on February 11, 1820, when the last Supreme Director, José Rondeau, resigned, was defeated in the battle of Cepeda and the National Congress was dissolved.

The Viceroyalty in Crisis
Main articles: Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata and English Invasions.

Throughout the 18th century, the political changes carried out by the House of Bourbon that replaced the House of Austria as of November 16, 1700 in the Spanish Empire transformed the American dependencies, until then relatively autonomous "kingdoms", into colonies entirely dependent on decisions taken in Spain for its benefit. Among these measures was the foundation of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1777, which reunited territories dependent until then on the Viceroyalty of Peru, and gave a singular importance to its capital, the city of Buenos Aires, which had been of little importance until then.

On June 25, 1806 the English invasions began, when a force of sixteen hundred British landed on the shores of Quilmes and two days later occupied Buenos Aires. The viceroy Rafael de Sobremonte withdrew to the interior of the country to organize troops for the reconquest, but in Buenos Aires the gesture was interpreted as a flight. When on August 12 a force composed of Creole militiamen and a regular army cornered and defeated the British, the viceroy was suspended from his military duties and prevented from returning to the capital.

Faced with the imminence of a new invasion, Colonel Santiago de Liniers -in charge of the army- organized and trained a large force of militias. On February 3 of the following year, the city of Montevideo was occupied by the English, increasing the discredit of Sobremonte: an open town council deposed him and replaced him with Liniers. It was the first time in Spanish colonial history that a viceroy -direct representative of the king of Spain- was deposed by the people.

On June 28, 9000 British with some 116 cannons landed near Buenos Aires. The Buenos Aires militias were unable to prevent their advance in the open field, but managed to destroy the invading army inside the city; the invaders capitulated on July 7, abandoning the Río de la Plata shortly thereafter.

The English invasions showed the success of the local population in the defense of their colonies, something in which the metropolis had failed. Viceroy Liniers was confirmed in office by the king, thus -in the eyes of the porteños- confirming his right to depose the authorities. During the following three years, both Liniers and his successor, Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros, would be forced to negotiate successively with the chiefs of the militias, with the merchants and with the town council of Buenos Aires the policies they applied. On the first day of 1809, the peninsular Spaniards wanted to impose a Government Junta that would put them back in the center of the social and political system, questioned since the English invasions; its failure confirmed the political preeminence of the American Spaniards.

In 1808, Napoleon Bonaparte's French army began its invasion of Spain, and King Ferdinand VII was arrested and replaced by Joseph Bonaparte. Despite the reaction of the Spanish people, who erected a Supreme Central Government Junta and for a year and a half managed to stop the advance of the invading army, at the beginning of 1810 most of the Peninsula had fallen into French hands.

A group of Creoles adhered to the pretensions of the Infanta Carlota Joaquina de Borbón -wife of the Prince Regent of Portugal and installed in Rio de Janeiro- who pretended to govern the Río de la Plata in the name of her brother Fernando. The Carlotista party did not have a sufficient extension to reach its objectives. In September 1808, a local government junta was created in Montevideo, which rejected Liniers' authority, but it was dissolved upon the arrival of Cisneros.

Great Britain went from enemy to main ally of the Spanish in the war against Napoleon. In order to preserve this alliance, Viceroy Cisneros -appointed by the Central Junta- yielded in 1809 to pressure from local merchants and decreed free trade, of which that country would be the main beneficiary.

In 1809 two revolutions took place in Upper Peru -nowadays Bolivia- dependent on the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata: on May 25 the Chuquisaca Revolution broke out and on July 16 another one in La Paz, forming two government boards. The first was dissolved without combat by an army sent from Buenos Aires, while the second was cruelly crushed by troops sent from Peru, who executed its leaders at the beginning of 1810.