Imperial Wars 1815–1914 (eBook)

South American Wars 1815–30

■SANTA MARIA, 1815
General Simón Bolívar’s liberation of Venezuela received a check here, when a powerful Spanish force – sent out from Europe under Viceroy Pablo Morillo after Napoleon’s surrender – defeated the Venezuelans soundly, forcing Bolivar’s temporary exile to Jamaica.

■SIPE-SIPE, 28 NOVEMBER 1815
José Rondeau’s United Provinces Army of 3500 men was defeated at Sipe-Sipe (in modern Bolivia) by a 5100-strong royalist army under Joaquín de la Pezuela. The royalists inflicted 2000 casualties for the loss of 230 men.

■CROSSING THE ANDES, 19 JAN–13 FEB 1817
The rebel Army of the Andes, totalling 4000 Argentine and Chilean troops and 1200 auxiliaries under José de San Martín and Bernardo O’Higgins, made an epic 500km march across the Andes from Argentina to Chile.

■CHACABUCO, 12 FEBRUARY 1817
The Army of the Andes under José de San Martín and Bernardo O’Higgins defeated Rafael Maroto’s 1500 royalists at Chacabuco near Santiago. The rebels inflicted 1100 casualties for the loss of 100 men.

■PERNAMBUCAN REVOLT, 1817
The Portuguese province of Pernambuco in north-eastern Brazil had prospered during the War of 1812 between the United States and Britain, and opened markets for its cotton in Europe. However, as the Portuguese reestablished control after 1815, they once again began to impose restrictions on Brazilian commerce. Tensions grew between Brazilians and Portuguese in Pernambuco, gradually developing into a full-scale movement to establish an independent republic in the region. The rebels formed a provisional government, which sought arms and diplomatic support from Argentina, Britain and the United States. Failing to get international help, the rebels sought support from Bahia and Ceará, but the governors of these regions remained loyal to the Portuguese crown. The Pernambucan rebels abolished titles of nobility, class privileges and some taxes. Although insurgents from Paraíba and Alagoas joined those from Pernambuco, royalist forces quickly suppressed the rebellion.

■SECOND BATTLE OF CANCHA RAYADA, 16 MARCH 1818
Don Mariano Osorio’s 5000-strong royalist army decisively defeated the 7000 men of the rebel Army of the Andes under José de San Martín and Bernardo O’Higgins at Cancha Rayada near Talca in central Chile.

■LA PUERTA, 16 MARCH 1818
Simón Bolívar’s rebel army pursued the royalist forces of Pablo Morillo into Guarico and they met at El Semen, near La Puerta. Bolivar was routed in a bloody action with the loss of 1200 men.

■MAIPÚ, 5 APRIL 1818
The 5000-strong rebel Army of the Andes commanded by José de San Martín and Bernardo O’Higgins attacked Don Mariano Osorio’s royalist forces, also totalling roughly 5000 men, on the Maipú plains, near Santiago. The rebels won a decisive victory, inflicting 3000 casualties for the loss of 1000 men. The victory ended Spanish control of Chile and allowed Chilean and Argentine rebels to liberate much of Peru from Spanish rule.

■LAS QUESERAS DEL MEDIO, 2 APRIL 1819
The cavalry vanguard of Simón Bolívar’s rebel army comprising 153 men under José Antonio Páez, defeated the 1200 cavalry of Pablo Morillo’s royalist army. The rebels inflicted 400 casualties for the loss of eight men.

■BOYACÁ, 7 AUGUST 1819
Gen Simón Bolívar advanced with his rebel army of almost 3500 men on Bogotá, the capital of Gran Granada (modern Colombia). Anticipating this move, General José María Barreiro’s 3000-strong royalist force marched to intercept the rebel forces.

Bolívar caught Barreiro’s men as they were crossing the bridge at Boyacá (el Puente de Boyacá). Sending two-thirds of his men forward under Brigadiers Francisco de Paula Santander and José Antonio Anzoátegui, the Colombian, Venezuelan and British Legion troops successfully routed each half of Barreiro’s army in turn. The infantry attacks were supported by effective cavalry charges against the Spanish rearguard, which completed the royalists’ defeat.

Bolívar’s forces only suffered 66 casualties, while the royalists lost 250 dead and wounded, plus 1600 prisoners including Barreiro and his second-in-command, Francisco Jiménez. Barreiro and 38 other royalist officers were later executed.

■PÍLEO, 7 DECEMBER 1819
A foraging detachment of 50 Chilean cavalry under Capt Pedro Kurski was trapped and virtually wiped out by a 200-strong band of Vicente Benavides’ royalist guerillas at Píleo, on the south bank of the Biobío river.

■VALDIVIA, 3–4 FEBRUARY 1820
Lord Cochrane, a former British naval officer who had commanded the Chilean Navy since 1818, led a 350-strong landing party that surprised and captured the heavily defended royalist port of Valdivia in southern Chile.

■AGÜI, 18 FEBRUARY 1820
Lord Cochrane’s squadron landed a 60-strong detachment of Chilean marines under William Miller in an unsuccessful attempt to capture Fort Agüi on the Chiloé archipelago, which was held by a royalist garrison under Antonio de Quintanilla.

■EL TORO, 6 MARCH 1820
Jorge Beauchef, the Chilean governor of Valvidia, led a 140-strong detachment south against the remaining royalist forces. The Chileans defeated 300 royalists at the Hacienda El Toro, inflicting almost 150 casualties for the loss of 40 men.

■TARPELLANCA, 26 SEPTEMBER 1820
Acting on forged orders, Pedro Andrés del Alcázar’s 600-strong Chilean garrison of Los Angeles evacuated the town and was defeated by 2400 royalist guerillas under Vicente Benavides at the Tarpellanca ford on the Laja river.

■CARABOBO, 24 JUNE 1821
Gen Simón Bolívar’s 7500-strong rebel army (including roughly 1000 British Legion veterans of the Napoleonic Wars) attacked a royalist army of 5000 men under Miguel de la Torre that blocked the road to Puerto Cabello (in modern Venezuela). Bolívar attempted an outflanking manoeuvre across rough terrain that was initially beaten off. A further attack by the British Legion routed the royalist forces, inflicting 2900 casualties for the loss of 200 men.

■PICHINCHA, 24 MAY 1822
Antonio José de Sucre’s 3000-strong rebel army defeated 1900 royalists under Melchior Aymerich on the slopes of the Pichincha volcano, near Quito (in modern Ecuador). The rebels destroyed the royalist army for the loss of 340 men.

■ACTION OF 4 MAY 1823
Expatriate British admiral Thomas Cochrane’s services and long experience against Napoleon proved useful to more than one coastal South American country during the series of revolts that left Spain and Portugal at the end reft of their empires in the southern hemisphere. After service with Chile and Peru, Cochrane accepted an appointment as First Admiral of the Brazilian Navy in March 1823. Cochrane immediately experienced great difficulties with sub-standard ordnance and ammunition. A bigger obstacle was the insubordination of South American officers, who, during a revolt against Europe, became disgruntled with serving under a European and resentful of Cochrane’s sudden superior rank. Cochrane faced a powerful Portuguese squadron comprising ships mounting 75, 50 and 44 cannon, with five smaller frigates and six lesser vessels. This flotilla took possession of Bahia on the Brazilian coast as the restored Portuguese government sought to reassert its control in Brazil. Cochrane’s untried squadron of seven ships consisted of vessels mounting 74, 32 and fewer guns. Cochrane found his move to blockade Bahia countered by a sortie of the entire Portuguese squadron, which sailed forth to meet him in line. Nonetheless, in the largest vessel, the Pedro Primiero, Cochrane sailed Nelson-style through the approaching Portuguese, signalling to the rest of his squadron to support him in isolating and destroying the four vessels at the end of the enemy line. Instead, Cochrane found himself battling the entire enemy squadron when his subordinate commanders ignored his orders to engage. Defective munitions and unskilled gunners frustrated Cochrane’s attempt to damage the nearest Portuguese, while the Portuguese serving in the magazines denied powder to the guns. Cochrane withdrew and launched a reformation of the Brazilian Navy into a capable fighting force.

■LAKE MARACAIBO, 24 JULY 1823
Adm José Prudencio Padilla defeated a royalist squadron under Capt Ángel Laborde on this Venezuelan lake, the rebel forces and royalists exerting considerable effort in what proved to be the last battle of Venezuela’s liberation.

■JUNIN, 6 AUGUST 1824
Generals Simón Bolívar’s and José Canterac’s royalist cavalry employed lance and sabre in this battle in Argentina. Bolívar’s hussars saved the day as Canterac’s lancers drove the patriots back by attacking from the royalists’ rear.

■AYACUCHO, 9 DECEMBER 1824
In this, the final, decisive battle for Spain’s control over South America, Spain’s last viceroy, José de La Serna e Hinojosa, led Spain’s last effort to retain control of at least the southernmost portion of the New World in Peru. De La Serna and Antonio...