Someday, I hope to host at least one battle from the Latin American War of Independence. What exactly would this be like? Well, it would be Napoleonic, with Napoleonic rules, with very modest sized forces. Most of the units would dress like the French and fight like the Spanish. The forces involved are the Latin American Republicans versus Spain and the Royalists or Loyalists. The war had its roots in the British seizure of Buenos Aires in 1806. The regular troops were not sufficient to defend the town but unit of militia and civilians were able to expel the British. Then, in 1808, when the Spanish monarchy was imprisoned, and the government and military were paralyzed by the French invasion, the Argentines took control of their capital. A similar attempt in Venezula failed. Forces from the Province of the River Platte (Argentina, Uraguay, and Paraguay) under General San Martin advanced inland to fight Royalist forces from Alto Peru (Bolivia). General Bolivar continued to fail in Venezula until the British decided that even though they were now allied to the Spanish, an independent South America would be more valuable to them economically. With British supplies and training and even a few volunteers, the rebels took Caracas and began to move west toward modern Colombia. (Back then Panama, Colombia, and Venezula were Grand Colombia.) However, with the French withdraw) from much of Spain in 1812, and the defeat of the French at Vittoria in 1813, the Spanish government (the Junta) was able to start shipping soldiers to South American and Mexico to suppress the rebellions. The climax came when San Martin moved south and crossed the Andes into Chile. After defeating the Royalists in two battles, he advanced into Peru, the most conservative and pro-Spanish of the Latin colonies. With Bolivar advancing south through Ecuador into Peru, the last Spanish forces surrendered and Latin American was liberated. The best source in English for information on this War is El Dorado, the Journal of the South and Central American Military History Society, available on MagWeb. http://www.magweb.com Osprey also has a good book out on the events and uniforms. And Richard Bergman has produced an inexpensive folio game of the battle of Maipo. Also, check: http://www.btinternet.com/-alan.catherine/wargames/liberat.htm This is a web site devoted to wargaming this war. It includes OBs, references, history, and even some uniform info. And: http://www.btinternet.com/-alan.catherine/wargames/eldorado.htm The rebellion in Mexico can be difficult to recreate, with large numbers of peasants without uniforms. But in South American, almost all battles were fought by organized and uniformed units. They had muskets and shakos. Hussars and lancers. Grenadiers and gauchos. Back to MWAN # 127 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2004 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com