| Great Latin American War | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Brazil
| Bolivarian League
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Pedro I of Brazil
|  José María Obando
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| Strength | |||||||||
| Brazil Total: 225,000 (used at war)
| Bolivarian League Total: 233,000 regulars and militians
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
Total Deaths: 83,000
Total Wounded: 24,000 | Total Deaths: 215,000
Total Wounded: 101,000 |
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The Great Latin American War was a military conflict between the newly independent and established Brazil and the Bolivarian League (an alliance between Peru, Gran Colombia, Bolivia, Chile and Mexico), which took place between 1829 and 1835 mainly in South America and Mexico.
The conflict was caused by the decline of the Overseas Trading Company (COU), Bolívar's ambitions of an unified Latin American nation, the imperialist desires of Brazil and the interests of some Latin American republics to use a powerful and demonized enemy (Brazil) to control the various divergent groups within their own countries.
The subsequent Peace of Guatemala solidified Brazil as the hegemonic power in the American continent at the time, awarding it many commercial, political, and territorial concessions from the losing side. The war and subsequent treaty caused great concern in European courts, and was used to emphasize the importance of European intervention in Latin America to defend against Brazilian encroachment. However, no intervention in response to the treaty ever materialized.
The conflict is considered one of the so-called Prestigious Wars, a series of military conflicts that cemented Brazil as a great power in the eyes of the world.
Background[]
During the first decades of the 19th century, the winds of revolution influenced sparked wars of independence all around Latin America. With the invasion of Spain by Napoleon and the deposition of its king in favor of Napoleon's brother, many colonial governments in Spanish America declared their loyalty to the deposed Bourbon king and fought the usurper ruling Spain. These conflicts would later evolve into all-out independence movements against Spain itself. In Brazil, however, the Napoleonic Wars had different results. The invasion of Portugal by Napoleon led its royal court to fleet to Brazil in 1808, settling in Rio de Janeiro and making it de facto capital of the Portuguese Empire for twelve years. The presence of the royal family in Brazil led to many reforms and further centralization of Brazilian power in Rio de Janeiro. As such, Brazil was a de facto independent kingdom from 1808 onwards. Though the invasion did strain Brazil's connections to the metropole just as it happened to the Spanish colonies, the monarchical sentiment remained strong. Brazil also acquired territories in the continent belonging to France and Spain as the Portuguese Empire was still at war with both. In 1821, Prince Regent Pedro of Braganza and Chancellor José Bonifácio declared independence from the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves.
In accordance with its Monroe Doctrine, the United States would be quick to recognize the newly independent states of the New World. In contrast, international recognition was not easy to gain from the nations of Europe. Most of the great powers of Europe, especially France, Russia, and Austria, were unwiling to recognize the independence of the new nations unless they followed the widespread European tradition for newly created nations of accepting a monarch from an established European dynasty.
This would be one of the issues that would strain Brazilian relations with its Hispanic neighbors. In contrast with the newly independent republics, Brazil became a monarchy with a king from an European dynasty, the Portuguese House of Braganza. Due to this, the great powers of Europe treated the independence of Brazil (which had not been officialy a colony but a fully fledged kindgom united to Portugal since 1815 and a de facto independent nation since 1808) as an internal, dynastic issue instead. As such, the European countries were less hostile to the new Brazilian kingdom and quicker to recognize Brazilian independence, with France, Austria, Prussia, and Russia all recognizing Brazilian independence between 1823 and 1825. The Spanish American republics, however, would remain unrecognized by the bulk of the European powers.
Given the humiliating defeat of Argentina (then the United Provinces of Rio de La Plata) in the Cisplatine War and the resulting Brazilian territorial acquisitions, the Latin American nations would see the young Brazilian empire as a possible threat and, one other side, the perfect instrument of terror to contain their own discontented masses.
Already at the time of independence, Brazil headquartered the COU's colonial empire and had already started its own industrial revolution. The unique Brazilian experience on independence, its military might, political stability and economic prosperity, as well as its monarchical government, were the opposite of the instability in which in the former Spanish colonies existed at the time.
In 1826, still during the Cisplatine War was certainly ending in victory for Brazil and it would have great implications for the balance of power in South America. This, as well as the still looming threat of recolonization by Spain, with many Spanish expeditions sent to Latin America, led Bolivar to take advantage of the situation to convene another conference for the American nations, the Congress of Panama.
The congress was attended by representatives of Gran Colombia (comprising the modern-day nations of Colombia, Panama, and Venezuela), Peru, the United Provinces of Central America (modern-day Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica), Chile, and Mexico. The United Provinces of Rio de la Plata (Argentina) declined to attend, out of mistrust for Bolívar's enormous influence and the fact that they were still at war against Brazil. Brazil and the isolationist Paraguay (which refused previous delegates from Bolívar) were not invited.
In the United States, President John Quincy Adams and Secretary of State Henry Clay wanted the U.S. to attend the Congress, only being invited due to pressure from Bolívar; but as Hispanic America had outlawed slavery, politicians from the Southern United States held up the mission by not approving funds or confirming the delegates. Despite their eventual departure, of the two U.S. delegates, one (Richard Clough Anderson, Jr.) died en route to Panama, and the other (John Sergeant) only arrived after the Congress had concluded its discussions, prevent any possible talks on the United States joining the subsequent alliance.
In the event, Bolivar decried the threat of Spanish incursions and Brazilian expansionism to the young Hispanic nations. Seeing Brazil as an aspiring European-ruled metropole that wanted to become a successor to Spain in the Americas, Bolivar cried for an end to hostilities between what he called "sister nations" in the name of a common goal. Protection against the immediate threat of Spain and, the possible threat of Brazil.
The grandly titled "Treaty of Union, League, and Perpetual Confederation" that emerged from the Congress and from Bolivar's speech was ultimately signed by Gran Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile. The treaty created a new military alliance de jure against Spanish and European aggression, de facto also intended as a deterrent to Brazilian expansion. The alliance would become known to historians as the Bolivarian League.
All those nations had their own interests signing the treaty. Gran Colombia was in a difficult situation, its internal disagreements threatened to divide the country up into three and several previous events have exposed the inevitability of the country's fragmentation. With a common enemy at their gates, Bolivar, official leader of the country, intended to inflame a nationalistic fervor on its population in time to strengthen its institutions and internal links.
Peru had similar intentions, but also the desire to take Colombian lands that correspond to the modern-day Brazilian provinces of Ecuador and Ucayali. In the case of a war against Brazil, Peru intended to negotiate a quick truce, buying time to strengthen itself and encourage Brazilians to attack Gran Colombia, assist them and, in turn, require the land they wanted. This strategy, however, would fail, dragging Peru into the war.
Bolivia was in the most vulnerable position. Neighboring closer to Brazil, in addition to having witnessed incidents with Brazilian ranchers encroaching on its eastern borders, Bolivia wanted nothing more than a strong base of supporters to demotivate any Brazilian aggression.
Chile wanted to expand to the lands that Brazil had claimed in Araucania, closing this hole in its borders, as their defense strategy was based almost entirely on the natural barriers such as the Andes.
Mexico was the nation more alien to the situation. Its distance from the political theater that was occurring in South America allowed the Mexicans to not fear Brazilian aggression. Mexico joining the alliance was intended to deter further Spanish aggression, as Spain had been trying to regain possession of its former colony. The first attempts occurred from 1821 to 1825 and involved the defense of Mexico's territorial waters, and the 1829 expedition of Spanish General Isidro Barradas, which landed on Mexican soil and happened during the Great Latin American War but before Brazil's first expeditions to Mexico. Additionally, the Mexican government planned to take the Spanish-held islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico between 1826 and 1828, expecting that, as a member of Bolívar's alliance, it would have their support in the "liberation" of the last Spanish colonies in the New World. Mexico's declaration of war against Brazil in 1829 was simply a diplomatic maneuver to keep their alliance with the South American republics alive against the still looming threat of Spanish reconquest, as Spain still did not recognize Mexico's independence. The Mexican government never expected the Brazilian military to reach its shores. The national treasury was empty by 1829 and future revenues were already liened and, with a full Spanish expecitio to its shores in 1829, Mexico was in no condition to fight.
Apart from all those particular goals, all nations of the League wanted to make Brazil a common enemy for their people and use it to keep their nations united, preventing them from disintegrating due to their internal conflicts. Internal and external rivalries would be put aside, at least for now. Gran Colombia, for example, would be able to avoid its fragmentation for at least the next five years.
The war's break out[]
Feeling his hold on its base of supporters in Gran Colombia start to diminish, Bolivar decided to implement his plans to strengthen the country's institutions and prevent its fragmentation, and the presence of COU in the Colombian economy was a bitterly established symbol foreign influence. After independence, foreign trade in the country was disrupted, leading the COU to fill the gap. By 1826, it had a de facto monopoly on Gran Colombia's foreign trade, controlling the entry of flour and meat from Argentina and textiles from Brazil. Bolivar wanted to take advantage of COU's decline and its problems in its eastern colonies to slowly and patiently undermine its power. Unfortunately for his plans, the Coup of 1827 would depose the liberador and accelerate the process. In 1829, the COU, in a dire financial situation at the time, would raise the price of flour and meat to raise profit. The order came directly from New Florence, aggravating an already existing famine in the country. In order to shift the blame from the government, the alcalde of Macaraibo would incite the the population to attack the COU cargo depôts on the port, as they were known to be keeping their imported flour and jerked beef there. The Loot of Macaraibo, as the incident became known, would be a great financial loss, with COU representative, Mariano Alves, demanding reparations from President Domingo Caycedo. However seeing this as an opportunity, Caycedo accuses the COU of firing on civilians and expels the COU representative, nationalizing the properties of the COU in the country.
Outraged, Alves contacted the Brazilian ambassador in the country. The military vulnerability through which the COU was passing forced it to seek help from the Brazilian government, which demanded Gran Colombia to pay reparation for all losses. Brazilian diplomats arrived in the country aboard the Brazilian frigates Cabo Frio and Héraclion, where they decided to talk to the Brazilian ambassador before starting negotiations. Revolts Macaraibo's streets did not stop, however. The arrival of the Brazilian would drive new protests. In what became known as the Revolt of the Fort, the protesters, now out of the government's control, would invade the fortresses in the city and bomb the Brazilian ships as they exited the port in route to Cartagena, destroying the Cabo Frio and killing the Brazilian delegation and any chance of peace.
Due to the destruction of the Cabo Frio and its delegation, Brazil declares war on Gran Colombia. Committed to their alliance, Mexico, Peru, Chile, and Bolivia declare war on Brazil.