For the Central American countries the years after independence from Spain and then Mexico were not the lazy peace filled years that many gamers imagine that they were. There were plenty of punitive expeditions launched by various countries and governments.

Some of these operations involved various rulers trying to expand their power and the land controlled by their country. Many involved civil wars and attempts to establish or enforce a union of countries. A few would even involve American Filibuster groups.

In 1823 most of the Central American Provinces joined in a Union in order to successfully break away from Mexican domination. The underlying motivation for most of the conflicts in Central America during the 1800s after independence involved factional fighting. The Liberals wanted to enforce the existence of a Union and the Conservative factions who tended to be more nationalistic (wanting independent countries) in their views. These factional Liberal versus Conservative conflicts would not only occur not only within a country but between countries as well.

Different terms have been used for the various factions but mainly it was an ultimate Conservative (Church, large land owner) versus Liberal (secular, reform) situation. The leaders with nationalist (individual country independence) motivations supported the Conservatives. Those leaders who favored a single ruling body for governing the collection of Central American provinces were called Federalist or Unionists and tended to support the Liberal factions.

Crisis in Central America 1800s

Introduction
Chronology of Conflicts
Significant Battles
Organization Notes and Uniforms
Central American Personalities