The Spanish Reconquest or Restoration (1814 - 1817)

(Reads: 1298, 26-Feb-2010)

Characteristics of the period: The second great moment of the emancipation process began in 1814 with the return of Fernando VII to the Spanish throne. It was this second historical moment which shaped the policy of restoration and pacification undertaken by the Spanish crown in America, which in Chile was prolonged until 1817. The dénouement would be the propagation of rebellion from the River Plate, the only region then in open revolt, and the spread of separatist sentiments among the people, which together would finally guarantee independence. Traditionally this period is known as the Spanish Reconquest. However this concept is erroneous and it is therefore preferable to call it the Restoration, due to the connection which existed between events in America and those in Europe, and above all because what occurred was a return to Spanish domination. In reality it was not a reconquest, a second conquest of a territory such as that which took place, as we know, in the sixteenth century, when the indigenous population was brought into subjection. With the freeing of Spain from the French army, and the return of Fernando VII as absolute monarch, the events which had occurred in America were addressed in the Spanish capital. They were interpreted as an appendix to the liberal movements in Europe, offspring of the French Revolution, and the indian subjects of the empire were thus held to be seditious and rebellious. In May 1814 a manifest was addressed to the American peoples, inviting them to abandon their rebellious stance and submit to the King. The aspiration was for a return to the political situation that had existed prior to 1810, ignoring all that had occurred during the monarch’s absence. In America this policy found support among the clergy, monopolist merchants and the bureaucracy of the vice-royalty, who supported loyalism and sustained the unity of the monarchy. Fernando's claims were soon supported by armed force. Military contingents were despatched; one, commanded by Pascual de Liñan, was sent to Mexico; another, under Pablo Morillo, to Venezuela. These troops joined forces with those of Abascal in Lima and Callejas in Mexico. While Morillo dominated Venezuela and New Granada, the popular movement was suffocated in New Spain. Thus the Restoration took on the character of Pacification, and gave rise to the Wars of Independence which became general throughout Spanish America. The consequence of these was the appearance of phenomena which would leave a strong imprint on subsequent history: militarism, "caudillismo" (the politics of the military strongman or "caudillo") and terrorism, in the face of which the largely apolitical masses would join the cause of independence; social resentment and the re-establishment of racial antagonism; the disappearance, in some regions, of strong sectors of social leadership; scorn for the monarchy as an institution, and its corollary, the unreflecting and uncritical acceptance of the republican system, which was accepted and proclaimed in the Congresses of Apatzingán (21st October 1814); Tucumán (9th August 1816) and Angostura (9th August 1819).

The Spanish Reconquest or Restoration in Chile: The battle of Rancagua (1814) enabled the royalist army to restore the authority of the Viceroy. Politically, the country returned to the situation existing prior to the establishment of the Government Junta of 1810. While those who were most committed to the movement emigrated to Mendoza, Mariano Osorio, the victor of Rancagua, reinstated the Royal Audience, closed the National Institute created by the Junta of 1813, and initiated a policy of concord and reconciliation. Before long however, at the behest of the Viceroy in Lima, he found himself obliged to act with greater rigour. He created the Courts of Vindication, before which the inhabitants had to appear to demonstrate their loyalty to the king. But the measure which provoked real alarm and cost him the confidence of the people was the imprisonment of various respected members of the Santiago community, some of whom were of advanced age, accused of having taken an active part in the events of the Patria Vieja. The transportation of these men to the island of Juan Fernández, at that time a feared place of imprisonment, caused a profound commotion in the population, who saw in this an act of cruel tyranny. The policy of repression was only accentuated by the arrival of a new governor. At the end of 1815 Osorio was replaced by Casimiro Marcó del Pont. On the advice of the Talaveras de la Reina battalion (under the command of Vicente San Bruno) and fearful of an invasion from Mendoza where the Army of the Andes was being formed and prepared, he created the Courts of Vigilance in order to receive denunciations of acts committed against the regime. As a result of these and other repressive measures, an atmosphere fear and hatred developed, based on informing and reprisals. Thanks to the stupidities and excesses committed on the authority of the Viceroy, the people, with the exception of those sectors which had been at the top of society during the Patria Vieja, was filled with separatist sentiment; this was just at the time when the notions of tyrannical government and the tyrant king were identified. Loyalty to authority in the person of the King, as it had existed during the Colonial period, was dead. At the same time the people looked for the arrival of General San Martín with his army, reports of which were carried by the guerrilla fighter Manuel Rodríguez, a restless and romantic young man who went boldly to and fro across the Andes acting as a link between the two sides and infuriating the royalist party with his exploits. And when O'Higgins and Carrera arrived in Mendoza with the rest of the army, they were joined by José de San Martín, then governor of the Province of Cuyo. He nursed the project of liberating South America. To do this he needed to attack the heart of the royalist forces, which was located in Peru. He formed the strategy of gathering an army, liberating Chile and carrying out a seaborne assault on Lima, the capital of the Viceroys. He started by organizing the Army of the Andes. San Martín and O'Higgins, and other distinguished officers, led the army across the Andes in January 1817, and on 12th February of that year they defeated the royalist army at the Battle of Chacabuco. The power of the Spanish monarchy in Chile was broken, ushering in the so-called Patria Nueva.

Bibliography "CHILE y AMERICA, ayer y hoy". Authors: LORENZO S., Santiago and ZAMORANO G., Manuel Ed. Sociedades Ediciones Pedagógicas Chilenas Ltda. Stgo. 1971

Share this Article

Rate this Article!

45.399% Liked this Article (489 votes)

Send to a Friend | See all articles | Back to History of Chile

Services

The Spanish Reconquest or Restoration (1814 - 1817)

More articles in History of Chile

Rate this Article!

Search this portal