History of Uruguay
The history of Uruguay begins with the colonization of the region from at least 9000 years. When Spanish sailors from 1516 landed on the coast, there lived the indigenous people of the Charrúa as seminomadisch living hunters, fishermen and gatherers . The first Spaniard to explore the estuary of the Río de la Plata was Juan Díaz de Solís . He met the bitter resistance of the Indians, who were initially able to prevent the Spaniards from settling. The area north of the Río de la Plata and east of the Uruguay River was then called Banda Oriental de Uruguay (east bank). In the absence of gold and silver, the area initially appeared unattractive.
From the beginning of the 17th century, the areas of today's Uruguay were settled, with the Spaniards spreading mainly in the south and the Portuguese in the north. Within a few decades the indigenous indigenous population was expelled or exterminated. In 1724 the Spaniards founded the city of Montevideo, today's capital of Uruguay, as a fortress.
Until the second half of the 18th century, the area between the two colonial powers Spain and Portugal remained heavily disputed due to its strategically important location.
From the beginning of the 17th century, Spanish and Portuguese settlers began to subjugate and colonize the area of what is now Uruguay , until Spain gained dominance over the Banda Oriental in 1777. In the early 19th century, the Spanish colonial rulers were eventually driven out after hard fighting. Uruguay's independence, however, was not recognized by its two major neighbors, the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (now Argentina ) and Brazil , and so they tried to annex Uruguay. England also tried to establish itself in the region. With the final independence in 1830 a period of civil war began between the political groupings of the Colorados and the Blancos . After the country had consolidated, it remained a stable democracy (except for the time of Gabriel Terra's presidency and the military dictatorship from June 1973 to February 1985).
Uruguay looks back on a history that is shaped by the different interests of the large landowners and the urban population, by the changing influence of the military, but also by democratic currents that have repeatedly prevailed.
Before the arrival of the Europeans
Scientists assume that the fertile areas of today's Uruguay have been around since around 7000 BC. Were settled by people who lived nomadically in small groups. However, the population was very thin due to climate change. These aborigines began around 2000 BC. With the production of simple stone tools. They built barrows that were 40 meters in diameter and two to seven meters high, and settled around these graves in groups of about 20 people.
As can be seen from archaeological evidence, the Charrúa people were an advanced civilization engaged in fishing, agriculture and ceramics. Since scripture was unknown to this people, almost nothing has come down to us. By genocide , introduced diseases and mixed marriages, the Charrúas were practically exterminated by 1850. One of the worst massacres of the indigenous population took place near the city of Salsipuedes on April 11, 1831 under the orders of President José Fructuoso Rivera . After the massacre, the few survivors dispersed and the Charrúas culture was practically wiped out. Four charrúas - the chief Vaimaca Pirú, the warrior Tacuabé, his wife Guyunusa and Senaqué - were brought to Paris in 1833 and exhibited there as circus attractions.
The Tupí-Guaraní were the second significant Indian people in what is now Uruguay. Like the Charrúas, they lived as hunters and gatherers and are now the only indigenous inhabitants of the country.
Other, smaller, now also extinct Indian groups in the area of today's Uruguay were the Guanaes , Yaros , Chanaes and Bohane .
Colonial times
Discovery and settlement
When the mouth of the Río de la Plata (German: Silver River) and thus the area of the later state of Uruguay was discovered by Europeans is controversial. According to the Spanish version of things, Juan Díaz de Solís was the first European to reach the mouth of the river in 1516. The Portuguese side, however, citing records from the Augsburg trading house Fugger , countered that two of their compatriots - Nuno Manoel and Cristóbal de Haro - had already succeeded in 1514.
At that time it was anything but an academic issue, as the motto was: "Whoever arrives first, owns the land". The Banda Oriental , as the area east of the Uruguay River , which later gave the country its name, was called at that time, due to its geographical location and natural borders, it belonged to the Spanish territory defined in the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494 - that in the Plata -Region, with Buenos Aires on the south bank of the Río de la Plata as the center, was bordered to the north by the river at that time - as part of the Portuguese dominion (today's Brazil, with the Rio de Janeiro founded in 1565 as the center)
In December 1520, the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan, who was in Spanish service, explored the Río de la Plata in search of a western passage to the Spice Islands in the "Southern Sea" (Pacific). Until Magellan's arrival, the cape of today's Punta del Este was believed to be the southern tip of the New World . In 1526, Sebastiano Caboto explored the course of the Río de la Plata and part of its 3300 km long tributary Río Paraná .
When the Europeans arrived, the Charrúas were a small people threatened by the Guaraní. In the 16th century there were several attempts to colonize the area, but they all failed due to the resistance of the Indians (for example, the discoverer Solís and part of his team were killed by the indigenous people). However, since there was neither silver nor gold deposits and the local population fiercely resisted the invaders, there were no more significant activities by Europeans until the 17th century.
In 1603 the Spaniards began to introduce livestock farming in Uruguay, thereby promoting the region's economic development. The first permanent settlement in what is now Uruguay was founded in 1624 by the Spanish in Soriano on the Río Negro . The first military fortress in Portugal in the Banda Oriental followed a little later: Fort Nova Colonia do Sacramento (built between 1669 and 1671; today Colonia del Sacramento ), which - in conjunction with other fortifications - was supposed to serve to counter the Portuguese territory to the south to secure the Spaniards. Colonia was directly opposite Buenos Aires , the political and military center of the "Great Province de las Indias", which comprised practically the entire Spanish area from the Amazon to Tierra del Fuego .
The second half of the 18th century was marked by fighting between the British, Portuguese, and Spanish who sought control of the zone between what is now Brazil and what is now Argentina .
In 1806 and 1807 the English tried twice to occupy Buenos Aires within a conflict with Spain. During this war, Montevideo was conquered by a 10,000-strong British army at the beginning of 1807 and held until the middle of the year. Then the army set out to conquer Buenos Aires, where it was defeated by the Spanish-Argentine troops.
In 1808 Spain was occupied as a result of the Napoleonic wars and King Ferdinand VII was deposed. The Cabildo of Montevideo formed an autonomous council that stood by the deposed Spanish king. Francisco Javier de Elío , the military commander of Montevideo, finally managed to convince the central junta, which had formed in Aranjuez , Spain, in September 1808 , to rule the city independently of Buenos Aires. When in May 1810 insurgents in Buenos Aires deposed the viceroy Baltasar de Cisneros , Montevideo became the center of the Spanish royalists under the new viceroy Elío.
Colonial administrative division
Administratively, today's Uruguay was initially part of the Viceroyalty of Peru , which included South America with the exception of the Portuguese sphere of influence.
In the course of the 18th century, Spanish South America was politically reorganized. After the viceroyalty of New Granada in northern South America had been separated from the viceroyalty of Peru in 1717 , the viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in southern South America was split off from it in 1776. In addition to Uruguay, it also included today's Argentina , Bolivia and Paraguay . With the Peace of Ildefonso in 1777, the Banda Oriental , which had been contested for five decades, was added. Buenos Aires became the capital of the new viceroyalty .
Foundation of Montevideos
Montevideo was the first Spanish bastion north of the Río de la Plata (as the Río Uruguay is called after its union - just above Colonia del Sacramento - with the Río Paraná coming from Brazil and Argentina). When the Portuguese began excavation work in 1723 to build a fortress in what is now the strategically important Bay of Montevideo, this project was ruined by a Spanish military expedition from Buenos Aires. In 1724 a Spanish fortress was built on the same site (a Franciscan mission had been here since 1624). Two years later, in 1726, the first governor of the settlement, Bruno Mauricio de Zabala , had families from Buenos Aires move to Montevideo in order to give the young city a boost. The new settlement with its natural harbor soon made Buenos Aires competition for the trade flows in the La Plata region.
Wars of Independence
With the Peace of Ildefonso , the armed conflicts over the Banda Oriental were only ended for a short time. With the collapse of the Spanish Empire and the beginning wars of independence, the area of today's Uruguay again became the subject of the dispute between Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, but this time they operated on their own.
At that time, around the turn of the century, Uruguay only had around 60,000 inhabitants, one fifth of whom lived in Montevideo. The rest were estancieros, gauchos wandering in the hinterland, and Charrúa indians who were completely exterminated in the course of the 19th century.
After the Spanish Vice-King Baltasar de Cisneros was expelled from Buenos Aires in May 1810 , Montevideo became the center of the Spanish royalists, who occupied the city in 1811 and moved from here under Francisco Javier de Elío , who was appointed Vice-King in 1811 try to restore the authority of the Spanish crown in the rebellious La Plata provinces.
Artigas and his "revolution of the poor"
In contrast, in February 1811, under the leadership of today's national hero of Uruguay, José Gervasio Artigas (1764–1850), a broad uprising movement in the interior organized by local landowners and - above all - by cattle herders, farm workers and also Indians.
The troops of Artigas achieved their first military success on May 18, 1811 in the battle of Las Piedras , just a few kilometers from Montevideo. The siege of Montevideo, which was subsequently undertaken together with the Argentine armed forces, had to be abandoned unsuccessfully due to the intervention of Portuguese-Brazilian troops.
Artigas evaded the north-west of the country before the Spanish-Portuguese superiority. The withdrawal of his rebel army, which called itself Los Tupamaros and consisted of around 16,000 people, was like an exodus of the entire Uruguayan rural population at the time: Artigas' followers fled across the Banda Oriental to Argentina on foot, on horses and in covered wagons . ( Exodo de los Orientales )
A good year later, in October 1812, Argentine troops again besieged Montevideo with the aim of reintegrating the Banda Oriental into the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata . Artigas joined this siege, but a congress organized by him in April 1813, in which representatives from all regions of the country took part, formulated his ideas of a confederation of La Plata provinces: absolute independence from Spain, republican government, separation of powers, guarantee civil liberties, respect for the autonomy of the individual provinces, abolition of all trade privileges for Buenos Aires.
The last two points were unacceptable to the Unitarians from Buenos Aires. Artigas and his supporters then withdrew from the siege of Montevideo, which ended in June 1814 with the capture of the city by the Argentine troops.
Now a new chapter in Uruguayan history began: the struggle of Uruguayan rebels not against a colonial, but against a local power. With success: just a few months later, in February 1815, the Argentine troops had to withdraw from Montevideo because they could not withstand the pressure of the artiguists.
Artigas now controlled the entire Banda Oriental and immediately began to redesign it according to his ideas: He united the Argentine provinces of Misiones , Corrientes , Entre Ríos , Santa Fé and Córdoba , which had traditionally suffered from the centralism of Buenos Aires, with the Banda Oriental to a "Federal League" (Liga Federal). To protect domestic production in the league, a customs ordinance was enacted in the same year that imposed high tariffs on the import of foreign goods that competed with national production.
Under the motto “The most unlucky ones should be the most favored”, an agrarian reform was carried out in this revolutionary year of 1815, in which the latifundia of the Spanish landowners were expropriated without compensation and divided among the poor rural population.
The Banda Oriental , which had previously always been more conservative than its surroundings, had become a revolutionary cell under Artigas that posed a threat to the region. In 1816, therefore, Brazilian-Portuguese troops marched into the Banda Oriental . Montevideo itself fell in January 1817 and the Banda Oriental was incorporated into Brazil as the province of Cisplatina. The struggles against the "revolution of the poor" under Artigas, however, dragged on for a few years, despite the support from Buenos Aires for the Brazilians / Portuguese, and could not be completely suppressed until 1820.
After his defeat, Artigas fled to Paraguay in 1820 , where he lived in complete seclusion until his death (thirty years later in Asunción ).
The "Liberator" Lavalleja and the "33 Orientals"
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After the Argentine occupation, Uruguay came under Brazilian rule. This stayed that way until the 33 Orientals came on the scene, that is, Juan Antonio Lavalleja and his colleagues, who went down in the annals as the “liberator” of Uruguay .
On April 19, 1825, this small group crossed the Río Uruguay and later united with the troops under the leadership of José Fructuoso Rivera , the later founder of the "Colorados". Florida , 100 km north of Montevideo, became the seat of a provisional government. Uruguay's independence was finally proclaimed on August 25, 1825 (after several revolts in 1821, 1823 and 1825). This day is now the national holiday of Uruguay.
Nevertheless, the fighting dragged on for years, until the Brazilians made the strategic mistake of imposing a sea blockade on the La Plata ports, which directly affected British trade interests in the region.
Since the sea battle at Trafalgar , in which the Spanish fleet was defeated by the British under the leadership of Admiral Nelson on October 21, 1805, Great Britain had been the strongest great power and as such defended its interests in the region. For example, on August 27, 1828, under British pressure, the Peace of Río de Janeiro was signed, a settlement of interests between Argentina and Brazil under the direction of London, in which the independence of Uruguay was recognized (de facto without Uruguayan participation), because this treaty saw the Establishing an independent and sovereign Uruguay before.
The real “liberators” of Uruguay did not come from Argentina via the Río Uruguay, but (from Great Britain) across the Atlantic. Britain wanted a buffer between Argentina and Brazil - and found it in Uruguay. Uruguay's first constitution was passed on July 18, 1830 (today a national holiday), but it was still a long way from a modern state constitution.
The coming decades were marked by armed conflicts with neighboring countries and civil wars between the Colorados and the Blancos .
Civil wars
Beginning of the civil wars
José Fructuoso Rivera
Manuel Oribe
The first two opponents were the first two presidents of the young state: José Fructuoso Rivera , who represented the trade circles concentrated in Montevideo, and his former comrade in the force of the 33 Orientals , Manuel Oribe , who spearheaded the interests of the agricultural sector.
The reason for the civil wars were conflicts of interest between the two main oligarchic currents, the commercial sector and the agricultural sector. Because of its business interests, the trade sector was more interested in open borders, while the agricultural sector tended to be more protective . As early as 1836, these contradictions led to a civil war between the Blancos under President Manuel Oribe and the Colorados under Oribe's predecessor Fructuoso Rivera. However, what sparked this conflict was Oribe's allegations that Rivera had embezzled money and committed other more serious offenses. Thereupon Rivera went to the field against Oribe.
Rivera initiated a revolutionary movement to overthrow the president, but Oribe, thanks to Argentine support, defeated the Colorados at the Battle of Carpintería on September 19, 1836. In June 1838, however, Rivera defeated Oribe's troops, who went into exile after the defeat.
On this occasion, the (quite official) party names of these two groups were born: In order to distinguish his troops from those of Rivera, Oribe equipped his men with white armbands (hence the name Blancos , the "whites"), which also bore the inscription " Defenders of the Law ”(" Defensores de las Leyes ") graced. For his part, Rivera initially provided his people with armbands held in a light blue (corresponding to the national color of Uruguay), which, however, faded in the sun and were hardly distinguishable from the white ones of his opponent. The unsuitable bandages were pragmatically exchanged for red ones - and the Colorados , the “ red ones ”, were born.
Great war
Oribe went into exile in Buenos Aires in 1838, where he was looking for allies for his struggle and also found in the dictator of Buenos Aires Juan Manuel de Rosas , who still wanted to incorporate Uruguay into the Argentine Federation . In 1843 Oribe returned with Argentine troops. It began the "Guerra Grande", the " Great War ", a nine-year siege of Montevideo (1843-1852), in which Brazil intervened (on the side of Rivera), which likes to take the latifundia of Oribe and his followers in the north of the country. The Argentine intervention sparked a Franco-British diplomatic mission as France and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland saw their own interests prejudiced. The French diplomat Baron Antoine-Louis Deffaudis (1786–1869) and the British ambassador to Buenos Aires, William Gore Ouseley (1797–1866), demanded in a demarche from Argentina the recognition of Uruguayan independence, the withdrawal of the Argentine troops and the repeal the siege of Montevideo.
In the end the siege had to be called off. The decisive factor for this was again the behavior of the great powers England and (in this case also) France , who with their warships, seconded by the Italian condottiere Giuseppe Garibaldi , kept the access to the port of Montevideo open (and thus the supply of the city and maintenance trade) while they imposed a naval blockade on Argentina. In 1851, de Rosas, coming under domestic political pressure, had to recall his troops from Montevideo. Oribe couldn't hold out long on his own and had to give up. At the end of the Guerra Grande , only 130,000 people were left in Uruguay.
The attempted invasion had been rejected, Rivera and with him Montevideo had been victorious, but the city had suffered considerably from the nine-year siege. This war had caused a sensation in Europe, with strong sympathy on the part of Montevideo and the Colorado . The press - in romantic transfiguration - coined the catchphrase of a "new Troy".
After the great war
Even after the Great War, the political situation in the young state remained unstable. In March 1852, the Blancos' candidate , Juan Francisco Giró , prevailed in the presidential election . However, this was overthrown in September 1853 and a triumvirate , formed from José Fructuoso Rivera, Juan Antonio Lavalleja and Venancio Flores , took power. When Lavalleja died on October 22, 1853, Venancio Flores was elected President on March 12 of the following year. Meanwhile the Colorados had split into two groups and Manuel Oribe reappeared on the scene. With the mediation of Great Britain, France and Spain an impending civil war could only be prevented by the fact that Flores resigned on September 9, 1855 and left the presidency to Manuel Bustamante . Even after this compromise, there were repeated clashes between the groups, which lasted with brief interruptions until after 1865 and culminated in the Triple Alliance War (Guerra de la Triple Alianza) . In the period between the Great War and the Triple Alliance War, it also played a role that it ran counter to the interests of the Brazilians that the Colorados had meanwhile expanded their power base too much. Therefore, they now supported the Blancos with 4,000 soldiers with the aim of overthrowing the government, which in turn called the Argentines on the scene. These now gave the Colorados support to prevent Brazil from accessing Uruguay.
Triple Alliance War
In 1863, Colorado General Venancio Flores armed against the now incumbent Blanco government. Flores won again Brazil and this time Argentina as allies who contributed troops and, above all, weapons, while the incumbent Paraguay government under President Francisco Solano López was able to win over to its side. After Brazil intervened with troops in favor of Flores against the government of the Partido Nacional under Atanasio Cruz Aguirre , Francisco Solano López took this as an opportunity to declare war on Brazil.
The result was the Triple Alliance War (Guerra de la Triple Alianza) , a five-year Uruguayan, Brazilian and Argentine campaign against Paraguay, which Flores finally won - mainly thanks to the Brazilian arms deliveries - but at a high price, because 95 % of his own troops were killed.
Flores could not look forward to his Pyrrhic victory for long. In 1868 he was murdered on the same day as his adversary Berro .
Both parties were exhausted by this eternal chaos. In 1870, these grueling party feuds were pacified for the first time. Blancos and Colorados made a pact in which their respective spheres of influence were defined: Montevideo and the coastal strip for the Colorados , the hinterland with its agricultural areas for the Blancos , including the police force over four departments . This division also corresponded to the real areas of influence. The Blancos has also made her renunciation of Montevideo easier by the addition of half a million dollars. In addition, in order to end the tension with the opposition party, the Partido Nacional was involved in the leadership of the country through a collegial system.
However, the caudillo mentality was too deeply anchored in the minds of many. The policy of balancing interests that governments sought between 1868 and 1875 was repeatedly torpedoed by the fact that various local leaders used their parties to wage their private feuds.
Development of society and the economy until 1880
After the Great War, the number of immigrants rose sharply, mainly from Italy and Spain . The share of immigrants in the Uruguayan population grew from 48% in 1860 to 68% in 1868. In the 1870s, another 100,000 Europeans immigrated to the country, making about 438,000 people in Uruguay in 1879. Montevideo , in which a quarter of the population lived at that time, grew and expanded its infrastructure. The first bank was opened in 1857, three years later a sewer system was opened, the first telegraph line was set up in 1866, and rail links were built into the city's hinterland. The Typographers Union was formed in 1870, the first of its kind in Uruguay, which was soon followed by other unions.
After the Great War, the country's economy experienced a boom, mainly due to cattle breeding and the export of live cattle. Between 1860 and 1868, the sheep population grew from 3 million to 17 million sheep, driven by demand from Europe. The main reason for this increase lies in the improved breeding methods introduced by immigrants from Europe.
Uruguay and especially Montevideo became an economic center of the region during this period. Thanks to its natural harbor, it became a hub for goods to and from Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. The cities of Paysandú and Salto , both located on the Río Uruguay, also contributed to this development. The Federación de los Trabajadores del Uruguay was founded in 1885.
Beginning of consolidation
Takeover of the military
In order to finally stop this party quarrel, which was draining the country's resources, a very productive dictatorship (1876-1890) of progress-oriented military was established for the country. Under the Colorado Colonel Lorenzo Latorre (1876-1880), the modernization of the rural production structure began, whereby agricultural exports could be increased significantly . With the help of European capital, the country's infrastructure was improved (railways, banks, insurance companies, etc.). In 1880, however, Latorre announced his resignation after declaring that the Uruguayans were ungovernable and went to Argentina.
In 1882 Colonel Máximo Santos was elected president. In 1886 Santos suppressed an opposition-led uprising against his government, but resigned after a failed assassination attempt on him in the same year and went to Europe.
During this phase of authoritarian-led governments, the country took steps towards a modern state system by supporting the economy, expanding infrastructure, reforming the education system and promoting secularization .
Internationally, the country was able to improve its relations with Great Britain , which resulted in British businessmen acquiring companies in Uruguay. So in 1876 they bought the national railway company and later dominated the construction of railroad tracks. They also acquired concessions on the country's gas (1872) and water supply (1879). When Uruguay then adopted the gold standard , it made trade between countries much easier.
Transition to modernity
After this consolidation, the civil element returned to politics in 1890 with President Julio Herrera y Obes of the Colorados . The President wanted to strengthen the position of the executive in relation to the legislature. This policy was opposed by part of the Colorado under the leadership of José Batlle y Ordóñez , the son of former President Lorenzo Batlle y Grau .
In 1897, dissatisfaction with the government led to armed coup attempts under the leadership of Aparicio Saravia , a Blanco -Caudillo, whose family originally came from Brazil. In the same year, President Juan Idiarte Borda was assassinated. His successor, Juan Lindolfo Cuestas , actually president of the Senate, served as provisional president until 1899, then as elected president until 1903. In order to end the unrest, he finally signed a peace treaty with the Blancos .
In 1904, however, there were renewed attempts at armed coups led by Saravia, which ended after nine months of brutal fighting in the Battle of Masoller and the death of Saravia with the Treaty of Aceguá and a victory for the Colorado .
Uruguay's entry into modernity
Coinciding with the turn of the century and flanked by an international economy that favored the country, Uruguay now entered a long-lasting era of democratization and prosperity, which is strongly linked to the name of one man: José Batlle y Ordóñez , founder of the so-called Batllismo, who too still dominating political currents in Uruguay today (and the rest of the great-uncle of Jorge Luis Batlle Ibáñez , who was elected president on November 28, 1999 ). After a brief interim presidency in 1899, he was President of Uruguay twice (1903–1907 and 1911–1915) and created the Uruguayan welfare state, especially during his second term in office.
The Batllismo reflected the fundamental demographic and socio-economic changes that Uruguay had undergone. Many new immigrants had come to the country from Europe, who had settled mainly in the cities (primarily Montevideo) and who were opposed to the traditional party feuds. (Uruguay had 1,042,688 inhabitants in 1908, 30% of them in Montevideo.)
Under Batlle's leadership, the continent's first social democracy emerged (earlier than in many European countries), embedded in an expanding economy. In addition to the banking sector, which is extremely important for Uruguay, it earned Uruguay the reputation of the “Switzerland of America” that still exists today. His policy was aimed at strengthening the agricultural sector, which with its exports represented the country's main source of income, as well as strengthening domestic demand (by increasing the purchasing power of broad sections of the population) and expanding domestic industrialization.
The introduction of the eight-hour day, a pension and unemployment insurance system, accident insurance, statutory regulation of women's work, minimum wages, paid vacation and the passing of laws to protect the family were part of what Batlle initiated and from his successors continued social reform work, which was also accompanied by political structural reforms (new constitution of 1919). For example, the traditional caudillo parties were transformed into modern popular parties and the system of government was reformed. The power of the president was restricted in favor of a say in parliament (collegial system).
Despite the political instability of the late 19th century, the number of immigrants remained high. The population of Uruguay doubled from just under 500,000 in 1880 to over 1 million in 1910, of which around 30% lived in Montevideo. The cityscape was further modernized during this time, so a telephone network was established in 1878 and public street lighting was introduced in 1886.
Uruguay in the 20th century
Uruguay at the beginning of the 20th century
When the first shipload of frozen beef left in a refrigerated ship for London in 1905, it marked the beginning of economic change in Uruguay. The ability to ship frozen meat diversified one of the main industries and opened up new markets for the country. Together with the opening of the modernized port of Montevideo, it was possible to further increase its importance as a regional trading center.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Uruguay was one of the most progressive nations in South America, where schooling , freedom of assembly and freedom of the press prevailed, and from 1916 church and state were separated. The successors of José Batlle y Ordóñez carried on many of the reforms in his spirit. In 1919, for example, social insurance was introduced for employees in the public sector (in 1928 the insurance was also extended to the private sector) and the following year the 6-day week. In 1923 a minimum wage for farm workers was introduced.
During the First World War , Uruguay broke its ties with Germany in 1917 and leased German ships to the United States in the port of Montevideo . In the same year a new constitution was adopted, dividing executive power between the president and a national governing body. In 1920 Uruguay joined the League of Nations .
At the local level, the first ever election by a woman in South America took place in Uruguay: the referendum in the city of Cerro Chato , 1927.
Football World Cup 1930
In 1930 the country was the first to host a soccer world championship . Thirteen national soccer teams met in Uruguay in July 1930 to play the World Cup in soccer for the first time. In the newly built Estadio Centenario stadium in Montevideo (construction costs: around 400,000 gold dollars ), which at the time had a seating capacity of 100,000 , the first soccer World Cup ended on July 30th with a 4-2 victory for Uruguay against Argentina. The host thus became the first football world champion in sports history. The victory over the neighbor in the final considerably strengthened the national self-confidence.
Terra era 1931 to 1938
After the death of Batlle and the economic crisis of 1929, which hit Uruguay particularly hard as an export-oriented country, Gabriel Terra became president and, after a successful coup, declared himself dictator on March 31, 1933. He dissolved the national governing body and the legislative forces that limited his power. After Terra became a dictator, former president Baltasar Brum Rodriguez committed suicide, and another leader of the battlists, Julio César Grauert , was murdered. The Terra regime arrested numerous opposition leaders and introduced press censorship. In 1934 the new constitution was plebiscite and, although re-election of the president was unconstitutional, Terra was elected for another term. The new constitution abolished the national board of directors and transferred its powers to the president. In addition, certain social rights have now been guaranteed by the constitution (e.g. the right to a home and the right to work).
In the course of the constitutional amendment of 1932, both chambers of parliament passed the active and passive right to vote for women with a two-thirds majority . The Chamber of Deputies debate in October 1932 became a kind of competition between political leaders who demonstrated to each other and the nation their longstanding belief in women's suffrage. The Senate accepted women's suffrage without debate. It was introduced on December 16, 1932. The 1934 constitution guarantees universal suffrage for all Uruguayans over the age of 18.
In the mid-1930s, the opposition tried unsuccessfully to organize itself in order to be able to withstand the regime despite persecution. Riots were suppressed, and in 1935 an attempt on Terra failed. General elections were held in 1938. In these elections, six years after receiving universal suffrage, women were allowed to vote for the first time. The winner was Terra's brother-in-law Alfredo Baldomir .
Baldomir and the end of the dictatorship
After his appointment as president and the suppression of a coup, Baldomir promised to change the constitution introduced in 1934 in decisive points. As he kept putting off this project, the opposition organized one of the most important demonstrations in Uruguay's history, demanding a new constitution and a return to democracy. Soon after, under pressure from organized labor and the Partido Nacional , Baldomir advocated free elections and freedom of the press, and advocated the introduction of a new constitution.
Although Baldomir declared Uruguay's neutrality in 1939, the Battle of the Río de la Plata took place in December of that year. During the Second World War , Uruguay sided with the Allies . Los Blancos heavily criticized the Colorado’s policy of working more closely with the US and called for Uruguay to remain neutral. In 1942, diplomatic relations with the Axis powers were broken off. In February of the same year Baldomir dissolved the General Council and replaced it with the Consejo de Estado .
National elections were held in November 1942. Although an electoral law had been passed in 1939 to avoid the formation of coalitions that could endanger the two-party system (Blancos and Colorados), the independent nationalists (a party that arose from a split in the Partido Nacional) were allowed to do so as new to run political party. The split of the Partido Nacional persisted until 1958. The labor movement was also divided into socialists and communists, a situation that lasted until 1971 (that year the Frente Amplio was founded). The winner of the election was the Colorado candidate , Juan José Amézaga (1943–1947).
Government of Juan José Amézaga
At the same time, a referendum held with the presidential election changed the constitution; thus democratic elements that had been abolished by the coup d'état of 1933 were reinstated. The Amézaga government (with Foreign Minister Rodríguez Larreta ) led Uruguay further towards democracy, which was also evident in the policy towards the world war powers. Uruguay declared its neutrality in 1939, but broke off relations with the Axis powers in 1942 and henceforth supported the Allies. On February 23, 1945, war was finally declared on the German Reich and Japan . As in the First World War , Uruguay did not send any soldiers. In the same year the country was a founding member of the United Nations .
The Amézaga government reformed the social legislation; In 1943 she introduced the “ Consejo de Salarios ”, a “wages council” for negotiating and setting wages, made up of representatives from the state, employers and employees, and introduced a program to promote families. At the same time, agricultural workers were integrated into the pension system.
In 1945 the Uruguayan parliament passed a law that guaranteed paid vacation days for all workers. In 1946 a law improved the situation of farm workers, the poorest section of the population in the country; moreover, women were given the same rights as men that year.
post war period
Only after the reform of the Civil Code in 1946 could women be elected to Congress.
In 1946, the Colorado candidate , Tomás Berreta , was elected president; he died just a few months after taking office. The reign of his successor Luis Batlle Berres (1947 to 1951) brought economic prosperity, which was supported primarily by Uruguayan exports during the Korean War (1950-1953). In the presidential and parliamentary elections of 1950, Andrés Martínez Trueba was again a member of the Colorados . In 1952, by means of a constitutional amendment confirmed by referendum, he abolished the presidency and transferred government power to a national council consisting of nine members, the Consejo Nacional de Gobierno . British companies such as the railroad were nationalized (effectively paying off World War II debt). Prosperity and an illiteracy rate of almost zero earned Uruguay the reputation of being one of the most progressive nations in South America.
On July 16, 1950, the Uruguayan national team won the final of the fourth soccer World Cup against the Brazilians playing in front of their home crowd in Rio de Janeiro with 2-1 (see also: Maracanaço ).
After Uruguay granted asylum to Argentine refugees, Argentine President Juan Perón imposed travel and trade restrictions in Uruguay. The Uruguayan government then broke off diplomatic relations with Argentina in January 1953.
Decline of democracy
In 1958, Los Blancos were elected with a large majority after 93 years in Colorado . The new government implemented economic reforms and subsequently faced severe labor unrest.
From 1959 the country faced major economic problems caused by the decline in the demand for agricultural products. This led to mass unemployment, inflation and a decline in the previous standard of living. Social unrest broke out and an urban guerrilla movement was founded in Montevideo. These guerrillas, called Tupamaros , first attacked banks and distributed the stolen money and food to the poor. They later kidnapped politicians and attacked security forces.
In 1966, Blancos and Colorados jointly supported an initiative to restore the presidential system, which the population approved in a referendum. The Colorados emerged victorious from the presidential elections with the former General Óscar Diego Gestido and replaced the Blancos in government responsibility. The constitution was amended in 1967 so that Los Blancos and Colorado governments took turns. After Gestido's death in 1967, Vice President Jorge Pacheco Areco took over the presidency. Pacheco's policy of restrictive measures to combat inflation sparked great unrest and the Tupamaros stepped up their terrorist acts against the government. In 1968 President Jorge Pacheco Areco declared a state of emergency and four years later his successor, Juan María Bordaberry , suspended civil rights. Bordaberry was elected President on November 28, 1971 in a highly controversial election. The newly formed Frente Amplio also ran for the first time at these elections . In April 1972, Congress declared a state of war and abolished the fundamental rights established by the constitution, around 35,000 police officers and soldiers searched the country for guerrilla hideouts, the state of war was lifted on July 11, and the constitution did not come into force again until 1973. In 1972, the Tupamaro leader Raúl Sendic was arrested.
Bordaberry was soon put under pressure by Los Blancos and by critics within their own ranks. All of 1972 was marked by workers' strikes against the government’s radical economic and social measures.
Takeover of the military
On June 27, 1973, in the midst of an economic crisis with high inflation, the military decided to launch a coup , closing Congress and taking power. The CNT ( Convención Nacional de Trabajadores : National Workers' Agreement ) countered with a nationwide strike that was violently crushed by the government on July 11th. On August 11th the unions lost their autonomy and the CNT was banned, as were the political parties. The leaders of the left-wing groups were persecuted and executed. But even the new government, made up of civilians and the military, did not succeed in improving the country's persistently poor economic situation. Almost 1.4 million Uruguayans left the country from 1973 to 1975 alone. In the years that followed, the military expanded its position of power to include most of the national institutions and established a military dictatorship. Bordaberry canceled the elections planned for 1976.
In the same year, Bordaberry was overthrown by the military. A new National Council with 25 civilians and 21 officers finally elected Aparicio Méndez as president. One of the first official acts of his government was the revocation of the civil rights of all persons who were involved in the political events between 1966 and 1973. The number of political prisoners in 1976 was around 6,000. The Ley 14.373 law also originated from that time , regulating the obligation of prisoners or their families to bear the costs for the stay in state prison.
A draft for a new constitution was rejected on November 30, 1980 by 57.2% of the electorate. In September 1981, General Gregorio Álvarez Armelino , who was considered to be moderate, took office. The parties re-approved by the military as part of the democratization process held internal party elections in 1982 in preparation for the parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for 1984. In 1984 the protest against the military government increased massively. After a 24-hour general strike, the military then prepared a program to return power to a civilian government.
Return to democracy
In February 1985 presidential elections took place, the election winner was Julio María Sanguinetti from the social-liberal Colorado Party (PC), one of the leading oppositionists against the military government. With him, a civilian followed as president after twelve years. Despite foreign debts amounting to more than five billion US dollars and inflation of more than 70%, Uruguay was able to provide an economic upswing within a very short time by concentrating on promoting foreign trade and implementing reforms internally to stabilize the economy. These included a reduction in the number of employees in the public sector, an increase in the mineral oil tax, the modernization of state-owned companies, a pension reform and others. These measures proved successful and stabilized the economy. To promote reconciliation between the former military rulers and the persecuted and to facilitate the return to democracy, Sanguinetti, with the approval of the majority of the population, issued a controversial general amnesty for the former military leaders and accelerated the release of the former guerrillas.
Between 1990 and 1995, Luis Alberto Lacalle of the National Party ( Partido Nacional ) was president. During his mandate, Uruguay was one of the founders of Mercosurs in 1991 . In addition, Uruguay carried out a currency reform (1 Uruguayan peso replaced 1000 Peso Nuevos, the currency that was valid until then). At the end of the 1980s, an amnesty law for torture of the military during the dictatorship ( Ley de Caducidad ) was passed . Despite the economic growth during Lacalle's reign, privatization efforts aroused political opposition, and some improvements were rejected in a referendum, for example the Uruguayan government's initiative to privatize the loss-making state-owned companies in the energy and transport sectors, as well as in the communications and insurance sectors. In 1995 the process begun in 1991 to create a "Common Market for the Southern Part of South America" (Mercosur) was declared partially completed. Nevertheless, Mercosur is still struggling to get duty-free in certain areas.
One issue that still concerns the public is the disappearance of people during the military dictatorship. On August 9, 2000, President Batlle set up a "Commission for Peace" under the leadership of Archbishop Nicolás Cotugno to investigate the fate of the disappearances, whose efforts are supported by the military themselves.
In 1995 a coalition between the Colorado Party and the Partido Nacional took over the leadership of the country and until 2000 Julio María Sanguinetti was again president. The Sanguinetti government continued Uruguay's economic improvements and integration in Mercosur. Other important improvements have been in the electoral system, social security, education and general security. The economy grew steadily until low raw material prices and economic difficulties led to a recession that continued until 2002. In general, this legislative period was characterized by internal political stability and economic and social reforms, including modernizing state-owned companies, increasing the mineral oil tax and implementing pension reforms.
Uruguay in the new millennium
In October 1999, an alliance of left groups, Encuentro Progresista (Frente Amplio), became the strongest party in the parliamentary elections, but their presidential candidate Tabaré Vázquez could not stand against the representative of the Colorado party, Jorge Luis, in the runoff elections for the office of head of state and government Batlle Ibáñez , who was sworn in in March 2000. His reign was marked by recession and uncertainty. First, the devaluation of the Brazilian real in 1999 and by the outbreak of foot and mouth disease , which hit one of the main industries of Uruguay sensitive and finally through the political and economic crash in Argentina in 2001. In 2002, it came in the wake of the Argentine crisis to a banking crisis in Uruguay, as a result of which several banks had to be restructured and some were also closed.
Effects of the Argentina crisis
On August 4, 2002, the United States granted Uruguay an instant loan of 1.5 billion US dollars, which was intended to stabilize the banking system until the IMF (International Monetary Fund) granted new loans . Uruguay, which for many years was known as the “Switzerland of Latin America”, had to struggle with major economic and financial problems at that time. The main culprit was the crisis spilling over Argentina , which had greatly exacerbated the four-year recession.
At the end of 2001, exports to Argentina, which is Uruguay's most important trading partner alongside Brazil, almost came to a complete standstill. In addition, many Argentines resorted to their bank balances in Uruguay after the Argentine government blocked their savings accounts in December. Around 1.5 billion US dollars flowed out of the Uruguayan banking system in January and February 2002.
At the beginning of June, head of state Jorge Luis Battle Ibáñez went through the nerves: In an interview with the North American news channel Bloomberg TV , when he believed the cameras had been switched off, he described the Argentines - all “from the first to the last” - as a “bunch Crook ”and did not skimp on bad words about his Argentine counterpart Eduardo Duhalde . On June 4th, Battle apologized personally to Duhalde and the Argentine people on a kind of Canossa walk to Buenos Aires .
On June 20, Uruguay was forced to relinquish the exchange rate of the peso against the US dollar in view of the two-thirds decline in national foreign exchange reserves in the previous months. When the currency reserves had sunk by more than half in July - now many insecure local bank customers had withdrawn their deposits in panic - the government finally ordered the closure of the facility on July 30, initially limited to one day, but then extended until August 2 Banks. This triggered massive protests and unrest among the population. On August 1, thousands responded to a call by the unions for a four-hour general strike that escalated into rioting and looting of shops in the slums of Montevideo. The government responded by sending thousands of security guards to calm the streets and shopping malls.
On April 16, around 100,000 people gathered in Montevideo to protest against the government's “neoliberal” policies, and on June 12, a 24-hour general strike paralyzed the whole of Uruguay. For the first time since 1984, when the then military government was on the brink of collapse, trade unions and employers pulled together, that is, they called for dirigistic measures to protect the social acquis, national industry and measures to stimulate the economy. They also resisted further tax increases.
2004 elections
In the elections on October 31, 2004, the previous opposition, the center-left alliance Encuentro Progresista - Frente Amplio (EP-FA) with its top candidate Tabaré Vázquez, as a heterogeneous association of social democrats, Christian democrats, socialists, communists and former Tupamaros, achieved 50.4% of votes. The Partido Nacional with the candidate Jorge Larrañaga were able to increase their share of the vote from previously 21.5% to 34.3%, while the Partido Colorado (since 2002 sole governing party) with its top candidate Guillermo Stirling only received 10.4% of the votes. The Partido Independiente with its candidate Pablo Mieres received 1.8% of the vote.
This resulted in the following distribution of seats in Parliament (99 seats) and in the Senate (31 seats):
- Frente Amplio 52 seats in Parliament, 17 seats in the Senate
- Partido Nacional 35 seats in Parliament, 11 seats in the Senate
- Partido Colorado 10 seats in Parliament, 3 seats in the Senate
- Partido Independiente 2 seats in Parliament, none in the Senate
Thus, for the first time in the history of the country, which has been ruled alternately by the Colorados and Blancos since independence in 1828, voters chose a left-wing candidate, the former Mayor of Montevideo, Tabaré Vázquez . On March 1, 2005, he replaced Batlle as president. With José Mujica , his successor in office from March 1, 2010 (a direct re-election of Vázquez was not allowed under the constitution) also came from the ranks of the Frente Amplio. Since March 1, 2015, Vázquez has been president again.
Diplomatic entanglements with Argentina
Néstor Kirchner speaks to demonstrators against the planned construction of the paper mills
Evangelina Carrozzo protests against the construction of the paper mills at the Vienna EULAC summit
The construction of two cellulose and paper mills on the banks of the Uruguay River led to violent demonstrations and diplomatic entanglements with Argentina. Residents and environmentalists in the villages on the Argentine side blocked two of the three international bridges that connect both banks. The roads are considered to be the most important arteries for international trade in the region.
The factories of the companies Ence (Spain) and Botnia (Finland), which should start production at Fray Bentos on the Uruguayan bank of the river at the end of 2007 , form the world's largest complex of this type. The planned production of 1.5 million tons of pulp is initially twice the amount in Argentina's ten obsolete factories combined. The investment of 1.8 billion US dollars is the largest in the history of Uruguay, the World Bank plans to contribute loans of 400 million dollars.
In 2006 Argentina brought an action against Uruguay at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, claiming that the construction project violated a bilateral agreement and other international law. Uruguay's President Tabaré Vázquez then threatened to withdraw from the Mercosur economic alliance. In April 2010 the International Court of Justice upheld the violation of procedural rules of the bilateral agreement. He rejected Argentina's urgent application for a construction freeze in 2006, as did Uruguay's urgent application to block the border bridges in 2007.
In 2010, the former General Miguel Dalmao and the former Colonel José Chialanza were the first members of the army to be arrested for their role during the military dictatorship.
See also
- List of Presidents of Uruguay
- List of viceroys of the Río de la Plata
- Argentine-Brazilian War
- History of south america
- Operation Condor
- Spanish colonies
literature
German speaking:
- Alain Labrousse: The Tupamaros. Urban guerrilla in Uruguay. Hanser-Verlag, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-446-11419-X .
- Mauricio Rosencof , Eleuterio Fernández Huidobro: Like ivy on the wall. Memories from the dungeons of the dictatorship . Verlag Association A, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-922611-14-1 .
- Christoph Wagner: Politics in Uruguay 1984–1990. Lit, Münster 1991, ISBN 3-89473-099-4 .
- Hans-Jürgen Puhle : Uruguay . In: Walther L. Bernecker u. a. (Ed.): Handbook of the history of Latin America , Vol. 3: Latin America in the 20th century . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-608-91497-8 , pp. 973-1015.
- Bernd Schröter: The emergence of a border region. Economy, society and politics in colonial Uruguay 1725–1811. Böhlau, Cologne et al. 1999, ISBN 3-412-07399-7 .
- Thomas Fischer: The Tupamaros in Uruguay. The model of the urban guerrilla. In: Wolfgang Kraushaar (ed.): The RAF and left-wing terrorism. Vol. II., Hamburger Edition, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 3-936096-65-1 , pp. 736-750.
- Veit Straßner: The open wounds of Latin America. Politics of the past in post-authoritarian Argentina, Uruguay and Chile . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 978-3-531-15599-9 .
English speaking:
- John Street: Artigas and the Emancipation of Uruguay. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1971, ISBN 0-521-06563-1 .
- Jean L. Willis: Historical Dictionary of Uruguay (Latin American Historical Dictionaries Series, No. 11). Scarecrow Press, Metuchen, NY 1974, ISBN 0-8108-0766-1 .
- Milton I. Vanger: The Model Country. José Batlle y Ordóñez of Uruguay, 1907-1915. University Press of New England, Hanover, NH 1980, ISBN 0-87451-184-4 .
- Elizabeth Hampsten: Uruguay Nunca Mas: Human Rights Violations, 1972-1985. Temple University Press, Philadelphia 1992, ISBN 0-87722-953-8 .
Spanish speaking:
- Pacheco Schurmann, Sanguinetti Coolighan: Historia del Uruguay desde la Época indígena hasta nuestros Días. Palacio del Libro, Montevideo 1957.
Web links
- Chronicle of Uruguay ( Memento of November 18, 2003 in the Internet Archive )
- Economic History of Uruguay from EH.NETs Encyclopedia (English)
- Detailed information about the history of the country (English)
- History of Uruguay on the homepage of the Universidad de la República (Spanish)
- History of the Consejo de Salarios ( Memento of March 31, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (Spanish)
Individual evidence
- ^ Mission de M. Ouseley et du baron Deffaudis à Rio de la Plata . Plon Frères, Paris 1846, pp. 18-19.
- ↑ Thomas Binder: South America. Volume 2: Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay. DuMont Verlag, Cologne 1978, ISBN 3-7701-1044-7 , p. 175.
- ↑ El voto femenino cumple ochenta años en Uruguay. In: lr21.com.uy. July 3, 2007, Retrieved August 26, 2018 (Spanish).
- ^ A b Dieter Nohlen: Uruguay. In: Dieter Nohlen (Ed.): Handbook of the election data of Latin America and the Caribbean (= political organization and representation in America. Volume 1). Leske + Budrich, Opladen 1993, ISBN 3-8100-1028-6 , pp. 731-777, p. 734.
- ↑ a b Jad Adams: Women and the Vote. A world history. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2014, ISBN 978-0-19-870684-7 , page 321.
- ^ Mart Martin: The Almanac of Women and Minorities in World Politics. Westview Press Boulder, Colorado, 2000, p. 411.
- ↑ June Hannam, Mitzi Auchterlonie, Katherine Holden: International Encyclopedia of Women's Suffrage. ABC-Clio, Santa Barbara, Denver, Oxford 2000, ISBN 1-57607-064-6 , p. 168.
- ↑ Claudia Häfner: Making home at La Plata: from the German Evangelical La Plata Synod ... p. 74.
- ↑ June Hannam, Mitzi Auchterlonie, Katherine Holden: International Encyclopedia of Women's Suffrage. ABC-Clio, Santa Barbara, Denver, Oxford 2000, ISBN 1-57607-064-6 , p. 306.
- ↑ Thomas Binder: South America. Volume 2: Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay. DuMont Verlag, Cologne 1978, ISBN 3-7701-1044-7 , p. 180.
- ↑ Law 14.373 in full ( Memento of March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (Spanish), accessed on February 16, 2012
- ↑ Uruguayan general in custody. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . November 9, 2010, accessed November 10, 2010 .
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