The Argentine Confederation (1831-1861) was a presidential dictatorship situated in present-day Argentina in South America, with its capital at Buenos Aires. Founded after the collapse of the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata, the confederation was no more stable, shaken by the Argentine Civil Wars between the Liberal rebels and Conservative government. In 1852 the government of Juan Manuel de Rosas was overthrown, ending dictatorial rule, but his successor Justo Jose de Urquiza could not lead a collapsing nation and it was succeeded by Argentina in 1861.
History[]
In 1831, after fifteen years of the Argentine Civil Wars between liberals and conservatives, Facundo Quiroga created a confederation of Argentine states without a de jure leader, although he was criticized by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento as a dictator. His rule was as plagued with civil war as the rule of the preceding United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata, and the result was civil war until the 1880s.
Four years after the creation of the confederation, Juan Manuel de Rosas, a bluff gaucho from Buenos Aires, seized control of Argentina and all opposition was crushed through the Mazorca, a network of spies and secret police. Rosas had a cult of personality: all men were obliged to wear red and his honor, and portraits of him were hung in every public place and churches. The absolute rule of Rosas was characterized by censory of the press and no reforms on any policy, with unlimited work days and no subsidies or health care.
Argentina's first war against a foreign country was carried out in 1840 when Argentina declared war on Bolivia in an alliance with Paraguay, setting out to take the Alto Paraguay region of southern Bolivia. Their army achieved surprise at Tarija in November 1841 when coming to the aid of Paraguayan forces and they defeated the Bolivian army, but in December suffered a setback when an invasion of Bolivia at Chuquisaca was bloodily repulsed. Yet in early 1842, as part of the peace treaty, Bolivia gave up Bolivian Jujuy and Alto Paraguay to Argentina.
Confident that the might of Argentina could extend to Uruguay, Rosas planned to make Uruguay a puppet state of Argentina. In later 1842 he launched an invasion of Uruguay, but had only one army, and he faced a war to the east with Uruguay and to the north with Bolivia again. At Cochinoca in November 1843 the Bolivian army defeated the Argentines, forcing Argentina to make peace in 1845. Argentina gave up several of its lands to Bolivia, making Bolivia the largest state in South America, as Argentina had to give up all provinces with cores to the Bolivian government. Argentina's folly was realized, and Rosas made it a priority to modernize Argentina's army.
In 1847, Argentina invaded the infant nation of Nicaragua, sending Admiral Esteban de Urquiza to land an army in Nicaragua to establish a puppet state. In the Battle of Leon on 17 April 1848 the Nicaraguan army was defeated by the Argentines, but on 5 May they failed to capture Managua and their army was destroyed. Two days later, Argentina made peace, failing in their attempt to conquer Nicaragua.
Faced with the threat of reactionary rebels, Argentina decided to introduce "only landed" voting, in which only capitalists and aristocrats could vote, as .36% of the population wanted the reform, and it could also attract immigrants. Argentina also went through many scientific reforms, beginning to research artillery development, and on 4 November 1848 they began explosives production.
On 7 November the Argentinian Reactionaries rose again in revolt. But two days later, the Argentine government discovered muzzle-loaded rifle armament, which increased supply consumption yet proved to be a more deadly weapon. Argentina quelled the rebellion once more, and put down the dissent. Argentina spent its time afterwards to build its relations with Chile and rebuild its army via researching new military doctrines.
In 1850, the Paraguayan Liberation of Alto Paraguay began, with Paraguay and Peru allying against Bolivia to liberate disputed territory. Argentina was ready to throw its forces into combat once more, and in 1851 they declared war on Bolivia to regain lands lost in their war with Uruguay. The Argentines were initially defeated, and in 1852 Rosas was overthrown in the Battle of Caseros. However, in 1853 the new Argentine leader Justo Jose de Urquiza took control of the army and Baltasar Meza's Argentine 1st Army crushed the only Bolivian field army in the Second Battle of Rivadavia on 20 October.
The aftermath of the war left Argentina in control of its original territories, with Bolivia losing most of its lands by the peace in 1856. But in the 1853-1856 phase of the war, in the absence of violence, Reactionaries and Patagonians rose up. The Patagonian uprising was dispersed in 1853 and in 1856, the Reactionaries were defeated at Buenos Aires and Azul.
As the Peruvian Liberation of Ecuadorian Pastaza drew Peru and Paraguay into war with Ecuador, Venezuela, and Brazil, Argentina industrialized and modernized to try and keep on par with the United States and other North American nations. But in 1861, after the Battle of Pavon, Bartolome Mitre took control of the government and founded the modern Argentina, having overthrown Urquiza in the absence of outside warfare to distract political violence.
People and Culture[]
The Argentine Confederation's population in 1836 was 237,440 people, with 77.8% of them being of Platinean descent (Spanish). 13.2% were Patagonian, 7.4% Guarani, and 1.6% Brazilian, with the former two being indigenous groups of the Pampas. 79.5% of the people who lived in the Argentine Confederation were Catholics, as the Spanish had made it a major point to convert the people of South America to Catholicism. Yet 20.5% of the people (the Patagonian and Guarani population) remained true to their Animist beliefs that had sprung up far before the Spanish conquest of Argentina from the local tribes. The people of Argentina were mainly Castilian Spaniards, who were white, as opposed to neighboring Bolivia and Paraguay, whose people were mainly mestizo (mixed race).
Argentina's work force consisted of 61.1% farmers, 15.7% artisans, 9.9% laborers, 9.7% soldiers, 1.8% clergy, and 1.6% aristocrats. Argentina's farmers were traditionally cattle men, who sold livestock on the market in exchange for money to buy food. The sub-Andean farming tradition played a major part of Chile and Argentina's agriculture and economy, as landowners became the main leaders of the country.
Politics[]
Flag of the Blancos
Argentina underwent many civil wars between the Federales and Blancos of the Conservative Party and the Unitarios and Colorados of the Liberal Party. The government that was founded in 1831 under Facundo Quiroga was conservative, and remained such until its downfall. The result of the conservative ruling of the country was an original lack of modernization, although in the 1840s it gradually became more liberal. In 1836, 70.1% of the people were Conservatives, 19.1% were Liberals, and 10.8% Reactionaries. In 1846 the Reactionaries joined the civil war with a revolt in three regions of northern Argentina, which was eventually crushed by the Argentine government.
Initially, Argentina sought to establish many allies in the neighboring regions. They made an alliance with the Paraguayan nation to the north and Peru to the northwest, securing two critical allies against likely foes such as Chile, Bolivia, Uruguay, and the Brazilian Empire. However, they abandoned and rejoined alliances at will as political situations changed. Argentina was unfriendly with the United States and most of the other American nations, as it was ruled by a fascist dictator.
Army[]
Argentine Confederate troops, wearing red in Rosas' honor.
All men were obliged to wear red in Rosas' honor, and so it became the uniform of the army of the Argentine Confederation. In 1836 Argentina began researching army professionalism, as their army was relatively new and lacking in modernization. They had local officers, local weaponry, and local training methods, so they had no gaining of influence from European warfare. Their forces performed poorly in the Argentine Liberation of Alto Paraguay in 1840-1842 and won their first and only victory at Tarija due to their achievement of surprise over Bolivia's army. Their ambitions to take Uruguay as a puppet in 1842 failed miserably at Cochinoca, where Bolivia invaded Argentina and defeated the force sent to fight them.
Argentina's navy was led by Esteban de Urquiza after it was founded in 1847 for the invasion of Nicaragua, but was not used afterwards and to save money its fleet was disbanded in 1853.
Gallery[]
