Federal War

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Battle of Maiquetía , 1859
Posters after the federalists' victory. In the middle: Juan Crisóstomo Falcón . Left: Antonio Guzmán Blanco . Right: Guillermo Tell Villegas . Back: Manuel Ezequiel Bruzual, Guillermo Iribarren.

The Federal War ( Guerra Federal , Five Years War or Long War ) (1859–1863) was the longest and most destructive civil war in Venezuela after the War of Independence. It was the bloody low point of the power struggle that shaped Venezuelan history in the 19th century between the two major factions within the country's leadership: the Conservatives and the Liberals.

During the war the liberals were mostly called federalists because they fought for the autonomy of the provinces.

The federal war did not affect the whole country. The fighting took place mainly in the Venezuelan Llanos and secondly in the current states of Lara, Falcón, Carabobo and some regions in the east. Zulia, Guiana and the Andean region were spared. This had a long-term effect: the unaffected parts of the country developed economically and culturally, the devastated areas remained behind.

prehistory

The war was triggered by the disintegration of the state order after the overthrow of President José Tadeo Monagas in March 1858, during which the cooperation of conservatives and liberals had only temporarily bridged their mutual aversion. A liberal conspiracy against the government uncovered in August 1858, sometimes referred to as Galipanada after the town of Galipán (north of Caracas) , was generally understood as an indication that rival caudillos had begun to forge coalitions for the anticipated military conflict.

Course of the war

1859

On February 20, 1859, Lieutenant Colonel Tirso Salaverría occupied the military base in Coro in one stroke , giving the signal for the federalists to revolt. The first major battle occurred on December 10, 1859 near Santa Inés (near Barinas ). The federalists won, led by General Ezequiel Zamora . Zamora was able to consolidate his control of the Llanos and prepare the advance of the Liberals north.

1860

Zamora's forces besieged the city of San Carlos for a week in January 1860 . Ezequiel Zamora fell on January 10, 1860. The federalists had to break off the siege.

After Zamora's death, his brother-in-law, General Juan Crisóstomo Falcón , took command of the insurgent troops. Since these were weakened after the unsuccessful attack on San Carlos, Falcón decided to avoid a battle and to wait for reinforcements by a contingent under General Juan Antonio Sotillo. The government troops under General Febres Cordero pursued Falcón. At Coplé, a cross between Calabozo , Camaguán and Guayabal , there was a battle on February 17, 1860, in which the government troops were victorious.

Nevertheless, the defeated federalists managed to withdraw in an orderly manner. Falcón changed his strategy: guerrilla warfare instead of open field battles. On trips to Colombia and the Caribbean, etc. a. to Haiti, he looked for and found help to keep the war going.

1861

Falcón returned to Venezuela in July 1861. The federalists consolidated their positions so that their units could venture more and more attacks against the government troops. The first peace negotiations were held in December 1861, but remained unsuccessful.

1862

During 1862, the federalists won several victories, namely at Pureche, El Corubo, Mapararí and Buchivacoa.

1863

The government troops were weakened by the long guerrilla war and the desertion of thousands of soldiers. When the federalists locked in Coro in April 1863, the conservatives were ready to negotiate. On May 22, 1863, President José Antonio Páez and General Falcón signed the Coche Peace Agreement (named after an estate not far from Caracas) on behalf of the federalists, which sealed the victory of the Liberals. On December 24, 1863, the parliament elected Falcón president.

consequences

Between 150,000 and 180,000 people died during the war - in fighting, from starvation or from diseases caused by the war. That was about a tenth of the population of Venezuela.

Almost nothing has changed for the peasants, who had provided the majority of the insurgent troops. Because after the death of Ezequiel Zamora, a coalition of landlords, urban bourgeoisie and caudillos had taken the rebellion in hand. Zamora wanted to abolish the death penalty and slavery and guarantee universal suffrage. Under Falcón, the Liberals sacrificed the ends the peasants had fought for to their own interests. José Loreto Arismendi once said that they fought for five years to replace thieves with thieves, tyrants with tyrants.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Micheal Tarver, Julia Frederick: The History of Venezuela. Palgrave MacMillan, New York 2006, ISBN 1-403-96260-X , p. 67.
  2. ↑ Malcolm Deas: Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador: the first half-century of independence . In: The Cambridge History of Latin America. Volume 3: From Independence to c. 1870 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1985, ISBN 0-521-23224-4 , pp. 525-526.
  3. ^ Frédérique Langue: Histoire du Venezuela. De la conquête à nos jours . Ed. L'Harmattan, Paris Langue, ISBN 2-7384-7432-2 , p. 397.
  4. ↑ Orlando Araujo: Venezuela. Violence as a prerequisite for freedom . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1971, p. 32.

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