Argentine Civil Wars

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Not to be confused with Dirty War.
Argentine Civil Wars
Part of rise of the Argentine Republic

From top left: Battle of Arroyo Grande, execution of Manuel Dorrego, Battle of Pavón, death of Juan Lavalle, murder of Facundo Quiroga, Battle of Caseros, Battle of Famaillá, Battle of Vuelta de Obligado
Date1814–1880
Location
Argentina
Uruguay
Result Sanction of the Constitution in 1853
Federalization of Buenos Aires in 1880
Belligerents

Federales

Blancos

Supported by:
 Paraguay (1852–1870)

Supreme Directorship (1814–1820)
Unitarians

Colorados

Supported by:
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland British Empire
France
 Brazil
 Paraguay (1844–1852)
Commanders and leaders
Chacho Peñaloza † (1836–1863)
Ricardo López Jordán
(1870–1876)		 José Rondeau † (1814–1844)
Juan Lavalle † (1814–1841)
Bernardino Rivadavia (1821–1834)
José María Paz (POW) (1829–1854)
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (1831–1874)
Bartolomé Mitre (1839–1880)
Fructuoso Rivera
Venancio Flores

The Argentine Civil Wars were a series of

civil conflicts of varying intensity that took place through the territories of Argentina from 1814 to 1853. Beginning concurrently with the Argentine War of Independence (1810–1818), the conflict prevented the formation of a stable governing body until the signing of the Argentine Constitution of 1853, followed by low-frequency skirmishes that ended with the Federalization of Buenos Aires
in 1880.

The period saw heavy intervention from the

Brazilian Empire that fought against state and provinces in multiple wars. Breakaway nations, former territories of the viceroyalty, such as the Banda Oriental, Paraguay and the Upper Peru were involved to varying degrees. Foreign powers such as the British and French
empires put heavy pressure on the fledgling nations at times of international war.

Initially, conflict arose from tensions over the organization and powers of the

caudillos, leading to sporadic skirmishes until the reestablishment of relative peace after the war between the League of the Interior and the Federal Pact. However, conflicting interests did not permit the creation of a governing body until the pact's defeat during the Platine War
.

Later conflicts centered around commercial control of the riverways in the

Argentine Republic
.

Overview

The Federal League and the chaos of the 1820s

United Provinces of South America that had been created by the 1810 May Revolution
.

The Banda Oriental was invaded in June 1816 by the Portuguese Empire, a conflict that tied Artigas' army to the defense of the region. Nonetheless, he ordered an armed response against the directorship of the United Provinces' declaration of the centralising Argentine Constitution of 1819. The Federal League victory at the Battle of Cepeda (1820) effectively dissolved the government, leaving caudillos as the highest regional authorities for the remainder of the decade. The Treaty of Pilar between Buenos Aires, Sante Fe and Entre Ríos, and the subsequent refusal of fellow federal members to aid the occupied Banda Oriental marked the dissolution of the Federal League.

Armed conflict between Littoral governors escalated in the early 1820s, immediately after the collapse of the Federal League. Artigas rejected the Pilar Treaty and instead signed the Avalos Treaty with the governments of Corrientes and Misiones. In May 1820 he marched his army towards Concepción del Uruguay in Entre Ríos, but was ultimately defeated at Misiones by September, and exiled to Asunción. The governor of Entre Ríos, Francisco Ramírez, effectively occupied the provinces of Corrientes and Misiones. The signing of the Treaty of Benegas in November 1820 between Buenos Aires and Santa Fe led to the breakdown of relations between Ramírez and Santa Fe's governor, Estanislao López. By 1821 a war between the Buenos Aires-Santa Fe alliance and Corrientes ended in the death of Ramírez and the signing of the defensive Quadrilateral Treaty between Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos and Corrientes against the Brazilian-Portuguese.

Federal congress of the United Provinces

Fear of further Brazilian aggression led the provinces to agree for a federal congress in 1824. In a number of sessions, the congress drafted a "fundamental law" temporarily appointing the Governor of Buenos Aires Province as head of state until the formal establishment of such an office. Subsequent sessions saw reinvigorated support of the Banda Oriental's resistance against Brazil, culminating in the formal reintegration of the province after Uruguay's declaration of independence at the congress of Florida on 25 August 1825. In response, Brazil declared war on the United Provinces on 10 December 1825, prompting the enactment of the presidency and the election of Bernardino Rivadavia as its first president, in order to coordinate the new Argentine army, despite objections from the representatives of Buenos Aires, Entre Ríos and Santa Fe over port rights. Rivadavia and his followers heavily pushed for reforms intended to set up the basis of a federal-level government and successfully passed the Argentine Constitution of 1826, denounced by congress representatives as centralist in nature.

Although initially successful, the war stagnated, and poorly-led negotiations in 1827 discredited the central government. Facing opposition on all fronts, Rivadavia resigned and Vice-president Vicente López y Planes soon followed his example. Elections were held in Buenos Aires where the opposition leader, Manuel Dorrego, was elected Governor of Buenos Aires as the only candidate contesting. His peace negotiations with Brazil faced heavy pressure from the British Empire who saw continued war as a threat to its trade networks. Mediated through Britain, the August 1828 Preliminary Peace Convention affirmed the independence of the Banda Oriental, a result not expected by the local population. The ensuing outrage prompted returning officer Juan Lavalle to stage a coup on behalf of the Unitarians in December 1828, executing Dorrego and dissolving the second republic of the United Provinces. Federalist rancher Juan Manuel de Rosas rose in revolt and defeated the coup.

Liga del Interior and Pacto Federal

Buenos Aires Governor Juan Manuel de Rosas secured the Confederation under Federalist rule.
A Rosas-era banner calling for "death to the brutal Unitarians" typified the ongoing conflict.

Beginning from 1829, two cliques that came to be named by contemporaries as "

Juan Facundo Quiroga
, who he defeated in a series of skirmishes. Paz set his sights on removing caudillo influence from the cities, ordering a series of purges and expropriations of deposed governors such as the Quiroga family.

On July 5, 1830, the Unitarian

Federal Pact, in reference to Artigas' original proposal for a federal system to replace the viceroyalty system. Hostilities between the two alliances began in May that year, ending with the defeat of the Unitarian League at the Battle of La Ciudadela. Juan Lavalle
continued the conflict through a series of rebellions with different alliances against Rosas and the Federal Pact until Lavalle's defeat and assassination in 1841.

The Federal Pact made no attempt to create a centralized government. Provinces like Corrientes deemed the pact dissolved by 1834, as they had achieved their objectives. Representation in foreign affairs was taken on by the much larger Buenos Aires province, with provincial governors officially delegating authority to Rosas' government. In addition, Rosas was symbolically granted the "sum of public power", suspending the separation of powers. These powers also enabled Rosas to participate in the protracted Uruguayan Civil War in favor of Blancos leader Manuel Oribe, though unsuccessfully; Oribe, in turn, led numerous military campaigns on behalf of Rosas, and became an invaluable ally in the struggle against Lavalle and other Unitarians. Beginning with Rosas' 1835 governorship mandate, this arrangement began to be called the "Argentine Confederation", albeit amid ongoing conflicts, interventionism and rising local and international tensions. The Peru–Bolivian Confederation declared the War of the Confederation against Chile and Argentina. Justo José de Urquiza, governor of Entre Ríos, led the other provinces to demand the drafting of a constitution and sharing of customs authority and export income. The Platine War saw a Brazilian-led alliance of Colorado Uruguayan, dissident Federalist and Paraguayan elements defeating the Argentine-Uruguayan army in 1852 at the Battle of Caseros, when Rosas was deposed and exiled.

Secession of Buenos Aires

The central figure in the overthrow of Rosas, Entre Ríos Governor Justo José de Urquiza, failed to secure Buenos Aires' ratification of the 1852 San Nicolás Agreement for a new constitution. Following this, Buenos Aires Unitarians launched the Revolution of 11 September 1852, and the State of Buenos Aires was declared. The secessionist state rejected the 1853 Constitution of Argentina, and promulgated its own the following year. The most contentious issue remained the Buenos Aires Customs, which remained under the control of the city government and was the chief source of public revenue. Nations with which the Confederation maintained foreign relations, moreover, kept all embassies in Buenos Aires (rather than in the capital, Paraná).

Justo José de Urquiza's 1852 overthrow of Rosas fanned Buenos Aires secessionists.
Bartolomé Mitre wrested concessions toward Buenos Aires and became a staunch defender of national unity.

The State of Buenos Aires was also bolstered by its numerous alliances in the hinterland, including that of

Federalist governor, Nazario Benavídez, by Unitarians inflamed tensions between the Confederation and the State of Buenos Aires, as did a free trade agreement between the chief Confederate port (the Port of Rosario) and the Port of Montevideo, which undermined Buenos Aires trade. The election of the intransigent Valentín Alsina further exacerbated disputes, which culminated in the Battle of Cepeda (1859)
.

Buenos Aires forces, led by General Bartolomé Mitre, were defeated by those led by the President of Argentina, Justo José de Urquiza. Ordered to subjugate Buenos Aires separatists by force, Urquiza instead invited the defeated to a round of negotiations, and secured the Pact of San José de Flores, which provided for a number of constitutional amendments and led to other concessions, including an extension on the province's customs house concession and measures benefiting the Bank of the Province of Buenos Aires, whose currency was authorized for use as legal tender at the customs house (thereby controlling much of the nation's foreign trade).

Mitre ultimately abrogated the Pact of San José, leading to renewed civil war. These hostilities culminated in the 1861 Battle of Pavón, and to victory on the part of Mitre and Buenos Aires over Urquiza's national forces. President Santiago Derqui, who had been backed by Urquiza, resigned on 4 November 1861. Mitre's forces captured more than half of the interior provinces, and replaced their Federalist governments with Unitarians. Mitre, who despite victory reaffirmed his commitment to the 1860 constitutional amendments, was elected the republic's first president in 1862.

National unification

President Mitre instituted a

voto cantado ("intoned vote"), which depended on a pliant electoral college and would be conditioned to prevent the election of secessionists to high office through electoral fraud, if necessary. The 1874 election victory of the National Autonomist Party's Catamarca Province-born Nicolás Avellaneda, who had been endorsed by an erstwhile Buenos Aires separatist, Adolfo Alsina, led to renewed fighting when Mitre mutinied a gunboat
to prevent the inaugural. He was defeated, however, and only President Avellaneda's commutation spared his life.

Vestigial opposition to the new order continued from Federalists, notably

Julio Roca, led to a final armed insurrection by Buenos Aires Governor Carlos Tejedor, a die-hard opponent of the federalization of Buenos Aires and the resulting loss of privileges. Its quick defeat and a truce brokered by Mitre quieted the last source of open resistance to national unity (Buenos Aires Autonomists), and resulted in the Federalization of Buenos Aires, as well as the hegemony of Roca's PAN and pro-modernization Generation of '80 policy makers over national politics until 1916.[citation needed
]

Main conflicts

Main article: Timeline of the Argentine Civil Wars
Cavalry fight in the age of Rosas, c. 1840
Battle of Caseros, 1852

See also

  • Rise of the Republic of Argentina

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Argentine Civil War.
  • Levene, Ricardo. A History of Argentina. University of North Carolina Press, 1937.
  • Luna, Félix. Los caudillos. Buenos Aires: Editorial Peña Lillo, 1971.
  • Historical Dictionary of Argentina. London: Scarecrow Press, 1978.
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