Battle of Chalchuapa

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1871 map of Central America showing its political divisions

The Battle of Chalchuapa took place on April 1 and 2, 1885 in the vicinity of Chalchuapa / El Salvador between units of the Guatemalan and Salvadoran armies . After the death of the Guatemalan President and Supreme Command General Justo Rufino Barrios , his troops withdrew to Guatemala. It was the last military attempt to rebuild the Central American Federation , which was dissolved in 1840 .

history

The campaign of 1885

In early 1885, the liberal Guatemalan Caudillo Barrios decided to re-establish the Central American Federation by military force. He pursued this since the beginning of his rule and had developed the Guatemalan army into the strongest and best equipped Central America, among other things through the establishment of the military academy Escuela Politécnica in 1873 and the purchase of the most modern weapons. Among these six "huge" were Krupp - guns , five of which in accordance with the Central American countries Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras , Nicaragua and Costa Rica and the sixth as "R. Barrios ”were named after himself.

On February 28, 1885, Barrios issued a decree in which he proclaimed the unification of all five Central American states into a republic and appointed himself Supreme Military Commander of Central America ("Supremo Jefe Militar de Centroamérica") until this goal was achieved . However, the declaration had in no way been coordinated with the presidents of the four other republics. His role models for the violent political unification of Central America were the Prussians Helmuth von Moltke and Otto von Bismarck and the Italians Camillo Cavour and Giuseppe Garibaldi .

Barrios undiplomatic actions led to the defection of his allied Liberal President of El Salvador, Rafael Zaldívar , who then sought diplomatic assistance from Mexico and the United States against Barrios. Honduras, still allied with Guatemala, mobilized its troops, as did Nicaragua and Costa Rica, whose governments rejected Barrio's plan. Although Mexico and the USA exerted diplomatic pressure on Barrios and Mexico even mobilized troops on the Guatemalan western border, Barrios decided to embark on a campaign that went down in Guatemalan military history as the "Campaña de 1885" .

The invasion of El Salvador, Battle of El Coco

Barrios mobilized a total of around 14,500 men for the campaign in the following structure:

  • General staff: a general, two colonels, three lieutenant colonels, a major, two attachés and Dr. Rafael Meza as secretary
  • 1 artillery brigade , consisting of 1 field battery with 7.5 cm Krupp guns, 1 field battery 6.0 cm Krupp mountain guns and 1 field battery Hotchkiss 3.7 cm revolver guns , commander Colonel Emilio Bruandet, captain of the French army .

An unspecified unit of exiled Nicaraguans embarked in San José de Guatemala on the steamer Saint John in order to unite with the allied troops there under General Luis Bográn in Honduras.

The Salvadoran Army was composed of:

  • A division, consisting of seven brigades, against the western border under General Adán Mora
  • Two brigades against the Honduran border under Generals Andrés Van-Severén and Jesús Parilla
  • A column in the east under Colonel Lisandro Letona.
Florencio Xatruch 2

600 Guatemalans in exile were also mobilized on the Salvadoran side. Nicaragua mobilized a contingent of 1,000 men under the command of General Florencio Xatruch , a veteran of the fighting against the filibuster William Walker in the 1850s. Costa Rica raised a contingent of 3,000 men, but due to the course of the battle, they were not used any more than the troops from Honduras and Nicaragua.

On March 30, 1885, immediately behind the Guatemalan-Salvadoran army at the Hacienda El Coco, the first battle between the two parties took place, in which the Salvadoran army of two to three thousand men was driven out in its trenches by the Guatemalan artillery and infantry attacks.

The battle

The first strategic goal of Barrios was the capture of Chalchuapa in order to cut off the connection to Santa Ana from there . On March 31, the main Guatemalan contingent advanced on the city. Barrios personally explored the area around the city from a hill to get an overview of the geographic situation.

On April 1st, the Guatemalan troops attacked the Salvadorans under General Mora, estimated at around 5000 men, in their positions. Once again, the Salvadorans were weakened by the strong Guatemalan artillery. The Salvadoran artillery, commanded by the French captain and Salvadoran colonel Alberto Toufflet, had little to compare with this; Obviously, Toufflet fell on that first day of slaughter.

On April 2, around 6:00 am, six Guatemalan columns attacked the city from the north and east. The 3rd column consisted of the 800-strong Jalapa battalion under the command of Colonel Antonio Girón. Their destination was the so-called White House (Casa Blanca), an older building that had previously housed a liquor factory and was now heavily fortified. A total of around 4,800 men were dispatched to the attack. Around 2,300 men served as reserves, including the honor guard.

MuerteBarrios1885
AdolfoVHall1885

Apparently around 8.00 a.m., Lieutenant Colonel Claudio Avila reported to Barrios. He relayed a message from Colonel Girón that the Jalapa battalion refused to fight any further. Barrios then rode to the battalion and, contrary to the advice of General Staff Colonel Andrés Tellez, personally took command. Tellez feared that taking command could affect the overall conduct of the battle. Apparently there was a shortage of officers in the battalion who were ready to lead the attack, in any case Barrios appointed the leader of the cadet company Adolfo Hall to be colonel to also lead the battalion Hall continued the attack of the battalion, but apparently fell shortly after being taken over by a cannonball.

According to official reports, Barrios, who rode a conspicuous white mare and was clearly visible, was hit in the heart by a Salvadoran rifle shot and died immediately. Although the officers present tried to keep the death of the Commander-in-Chief a secret from the troops, the news apparently quickly spread among all units, and although some generals were willing to continue the battle, it had to be broken off because the troops were morally depressed were.

The circumstances of Barrios' death were questioned by the historian Beltranea Sinibaldi, who, contrary to the official account, argued that Barrios was ambushed by members of the Jalapa Battalion.

Results

The withdrawal of the Guatemalan troops was not taken advantage of by the apparently badly damaged Salvadoran units, which remained in their positions. Confirmed loss figures on both sides are apparently not available.

Since Barrios was not only the military commander in chief, but also the political leader of the Central American unity movement, his political and military successors made no attempt to achieve a forced unification of the five republics again through a campaign.

Culture of remembrance

Monumento barrios

In Guatemala City, a monument by Barrios commemorates the battle, showing him on horseback.

Around 1980, the Guatemalan armed forces produced the period film La Batalla de Chalchuapa for television , in which cadets from the Escuela Politécnica starred.

literature

  • Pedro Zamora Castellanos: Vida militar de Centro America , Tomo II, 2nd edition Ciudad Guatemala (Editorial del Ejército) 1967.
  • Francis Polo Sifontes: Historia de Guatemala , Ciudad Guatemala (Everest Guatemala) n.d. ISBN 84-241-9922-7
  • Robert L. Scheina: Latin America's Wars . Vol. 1: The Age of the Caudillo, 1791-1899 , Washington, DC (Brassey's Inc.) 2003. ISBN 1-57488-449-2 . ISBN 1-57488-450-6
  • Robert H. Holden: Armies Without Nations. Public Violence and State Formation in Central America 1821-1960 , Oxford / New York (Oxford University Press) 2004. ISBN 978-0-19-516120-5
  • Luis Beltranena Sinibaldi: La Tragedia de Chalchuapa , in: Anales de la Sociedad de Geografía e Historia , Ciudad Guatemala 1979, pp. 21-43.
  • Rafael Meza: Centro América. Campana Nacional de 1885 , 2nd edition Ciudad Guatemala (Tipografía Nacional) 1935.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Polo Sifontes, p. 244
  2. ^ Zamora Castellano, p. 267
  3. ↑ Zamora Castellano, pp. 267-293
  4. ↑ Zamora Castellano, pp. 270f.
  5. ^ Zamora Castellano, p. 279
  6. ^ Zamora Castellano, p. 282
  7. ↑ Polo Sifontes, p. 246