Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
INDEPENDENCE
The early part of the 19th century was a time of revolution and independence in Bolivia.
Harvest failures and epidemics severely affected the Bolivian economy between 1803 and
1805, creating fertile ground for revolution. To top it off, with the French Revolution, Na-
poleon's wars in Europe and British support for Latin America's independence movements,
the colonists of the Americas were finally able to perceive what a world without royalty
would look like.
By May 1809, Latin America's first inde-
pendence movement had gained momentum and
was well underway in Chuquisaca (later re-
named Sucre), with other cities quick to follow
suit. This first revolutionary spark was quickly
put down. Ironically, while the first shouts of re-
volution came from Bolivia, it would be the last
country in South America to gain independence.
Here's how it played out. By the early 1820s General Simón Bolívar had succeeded in
liberating both Venezuela and Colombia from Spanish domination. In 1822 he dispatched
Mariscal (Field Marshall) Antonio José de Sucre to Ecuador to defeat the royalists at the
battle of Pichincha. In 1824, after years of guerrilla action against the Spanish and the vic-
tories of Bolívar and Sucre in the battles of Junín (August 6) and Ayacucho (December 9),
Peru won its independence. During this time, another independence leader coming from the
Río de la Plata, José de San Martín, was busy fighting battles in eastern Bolivia and liberat-
ing much of the southern corner of the continent.
With both Argentina and Peru eyeing the prize of the Potosí mines, Sucre incited a de-
claration of independence from Peru and, in 1825, the Republic of Bolivia was born.
Bolívar (yes, the country was named after him) and Sucre served as Bolivia's first and
second presidents but, after a brief attempt by the third president Andrés Santa Cruz to
form a confederation with Peru, things began to go awry. Chilean opposition eventually
broke up this potentially powerful alliance, and Bolivia was relegated to a more secondary
role in regional affairs with a period of caudillo rule dominating the national politics until
the 1880s. Thereafter Bolivia was ruled by a civilian oligarchy divided into liberal and con-
servative groups until the 1930s, when the traditional political system again fell apart, lead-
ing to constant military intervention until the 1952 Revolution.
In 1865 General Mariano Melgarejo drunkenly set
his army off on an overland march to aid France at
the outset of the Franco-Prussian War. A sudden
downpour sobered him up.
 
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