7 - War and Revolution in the Southern Cone, 1808–1824

Summary

The aim of this chapter is to study the main political-military events of the struggle for independence in the Southern Cone, specifically in current Buenos Aires, Santiago and Lima. These three cities experienced both a profound political revolution, and a bloody civil war in the period 1808-1824. The fact that this revolution was also a military conflict in which a significant number of South Americans participated on both sides of the battlefield suggests that independence was not a struggle for national liberation. A second hypothesis proposes that independences were consummated in the early 1820s once the three fledgling countries declared their sovereignty not only in relation to Spain, but also to their neighbors. Those who once fought together against the Madrid authorities gradually distanced themselves from each other, which is why the “Americanist” projects (both of José de San Martín and Simón Bolívar) lost legitimacy as time went by. Understanding the loss of that legitimacy is key when analyzing the origins of the South American national states. Indeed, thinking about Argentina, Chile and Peru requires not taking their existence for granted.