British invasions on the Río de la Plata
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The British invasions of the Río de la Plata (Spanish: Invasiones Inglesas del Río de la Plata ) were unsuccessful incursions by the British army in 1806 and 1807, with the aim of conquering places on the banks of the Río de la Plata . At that time, its banks belonged to the viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata and thus to the Spanish colonial empire. Spain and France suffered a heavy defeat in the Battle of Trafalgar on October 21, 1805 . Spain was allied with the French Empire ; it was economically and militarily weakened.
The invasion took place in two phases: part of the British troops occupied Buenos Aires in 1806 for 46 days before they were defeated. The following year, a second British force captured Montevideo , where it stayed for the following months, while a third force attempted to retake Buenos Aires. In the days that followed, the British army was worn out in street fighting by the militia and the Spanish army to such an extent that half of the soldiers were injured. After this disaster, the British abandoned their plans in South America . The active intervention of the local population and the lack of support from the Spanish motherland were one of the decisive factors behind the May Revolution in 1810 .
background
Pedro de Mendoza founded the city of Ciudad de Nuestra Señora del Buen Ayre (in German: City of Our Lady of Good Air) on February 2, 1536 . After it was re-established in 1580 after previous abandonment, it advanced to become one of the largest settlements in South America. When Portugal also settled near the city in 1680, the Spaniards wanted to prevent an early attack by colonial power and therefore founded Montevideo in 1726 .
In 1776 the viceroyalty of Río de la Plata was founded, the predecessor state of modern Argentina. The Kingdom of Great Britain had long had ambitions in South America and decided that it would be best to incorporate the area around the Río de la Plata.
The Napoleonic Wars played a key role in sparking the British invasion. In 1795, the conflict between Spain and France was settled in the Peace of Basel , a year later Spain agreed to support France in the war against Great Britain and thus gave Great Britain the necessary reason to declare war. Great Britain decided to send an expedition to South America after the Battle of Trafalgar , in which the Franco-Spanish fleet was defeated and Spain's status as a sea power was damaged.
First invasion
After the Dutch colony at the Cape of Good Hope was conquered in 1806 by a British army under the command of David Baird and Sir Home Popham, an army of 1,500 men, led by William Carr Beresford , was sent across the southern Atlantic towards the Río de la Plata to make this colony subject to the British Crown.
The Spanish viceroy Rafael de Sobremonte then asked the Spanish motherland for support in the form of troops and weapons, but did not receive them. Although the proposal was made to raise a militia by arming the local population, Sobremonte was reluctant to arm the Creole population, whereupon the plan was abandoned.
On June 25, 1806, the British army captured the city of Quilmes . Two days later, Buenos Aires fell into the hands of the British. This prompted the viceroy to move his residence further inland, he fled to the province of Córdoba, which is now on Argentine soil, together with the city treasures, and had to leave them behind in the course of his escape from the British army. His not very aggressive actions against the enemy army raised his own population against him, which after the end of the invasion was able to prevent his reinstatement as viceroy.
The local population welcomed the arrival of the British armed forces, although some feared becoming dependent on the island monarchy, as independence from any crown was preferred at that time. One of Beresford's first steps was to allow trade to go ahead and to reduce taxes by decree. However, this displeased the wholesalers, who then joined the resistance.
The French officer Santiago de Liniers y Bremond , who was then in Spanish service, organized the reconquest of the city of Buenos Aires from Uruguay with the support of the local governor Ruiz Huidobro . Also worth mentioning is the participation of Juan Martín de Pueyrredón , who led the urban militia, which was made up of Creoles.
On August 4, 1806, Liniers reached Las Conchas , an area north of Buenos Aires, and marched south with his mixed army. After facing the British troops, they were forced to surrender after the fighting. Two days later, on August 14th, Liniers officially took control of the city of Buenos Aires. Fearing a second invasion by the British, Liniers raised a Creole army, which the Spanish elite feared that they wanted to break away from the Spanish crown by force of arms.
Second invasion
On February 3, 1807, an 8,000-strong force led by Sir Samuel Auchmuty and Sir Charles Stirling conquered Montevideo . On May 10th of the same year, John Whitelocke was sent to take over command. He arrived on June 27th.
On July 1st, under Linier's command, the Spanish army was overwhelmed, largely because of the numerical superiority of the British. Although Whitelocke had twice called for the city of Buenos Aires to surrender , he decided against taking the city. Meanwhile, the major in Buenos Aires, Martín de Álzaga , took care of the military expansion of the city, which among other things had the aim of digging trenches and erecting fences against the enemy army, which was widely accepted and widely supported by the local population has been. After a three-day battle with Linier's troops, Whitelocke decided to attack the city now. Confident in the numerical superiority of his army, he divided the troops into twelve columns and neglected the protection of his artillery . For two days, from July 4th to July 5th, street fighting broke out in Buenos Aires, led by militia on the Spanish side. During the fighting, Whitelocke underestimated the motivation of the militia, so that the British army was overwhelmed.
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At the end of the day, the Retiro district was still in the hands of the British, but the city center was under the control of the defenders. A counter-attack by the militia repulsed a large part of the now demoralized troops, including Robert Crauford and Dennis Pack having to give up their positions and withdraw. Whiteloke then proposed a one-day truce to the Spaniards , but Liniers rejected it because he wanted to attack the artillery. Having lost more than half of his troops, Whitelocke signed the armistice on July 12 and returned to Great Britain, where he was dishonorably discharged from the army, largely due to Montevideo's abandonment. Liniers later became the viceroy of Río de la Plata.
See also
Web links
- guardian.co.uk/commentisfree article ( Memento of July 16, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- History of Argentine Foreign Policy
- British Invasions
- Britain's 'forgotten' invasion of Argentina , BBC News , August 10, 2006
- Grenadier company, Tercio de Cantabros militias in Buenos Aires from 1807
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Trofeos de la Reconquista de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires en el Año 1806 . Litografía, Imprenta y Encuadernación de Guillermo Kraft, Buenos Aires 1882 ( online - official publication).
- ↑ Guillermo Palombo: Las Banderas Británicas tomadas en Buenos Aires el 5 de Julio de 1807 ( Spanish ) Retrieved June 22, 2014.