Ten Years War
The Ten Years War ( Spanish Guerra de los Diez Años ), (1868–1878), also known as the Long War (Spanish Guerra Larga ), began on October 10, 1868 in Cuba , when the sugar producer Carlos Manuel de Céspedes and his supporters gained independence Cubas proclaimed by the Spanish colonial power . It was the first of a total of three wars of freedom that Cuba waged against the Spaniards. The other two were the Guerra Chiquita ( Little War ), 1879–1880, and the Cuban War of Independence , 1895–1898. The first Cuban War of Independence ended on February 10, 1878 with the signing of the Peace of Zanjón .
background
The failure of the last reform efforts, the dismissal of the “information committee” and an economic crisis in 1866/67 paved the way for a new scenario. Despite the crisis, the colonial government made large profits in the country, but these were not invested in the country but instead were put into military expenditures (44%), put into the colonial government (41%) or sent to Spain (12%). The Spaniards, who made up eight percent of the population, owned over 90% of the island's wealth. In addition, a large part of the Cuban population had no political rights . All of this gave the underground movement a boost, especially in the east of the country.
In July 1867, the Bayamo Revolutionary Committee was founded under the leadership of one of the wealthiest Cuban plantation owners , Francisco Vicente Aguilera . The conspiracy quickly expanded to eastern cities, especially Manzanillo , where Carlos Manuel de Céspedes became the protagonist of the uprising. Originally from Bayamo , Céspedes owned property and a sugar factory called La Demajagua . The Spaniards tried to subdue him by capturing his son Oscar. Father Céspedes refused to negotiate and Oscar was executed.
Call of Yara - start of the uprising
The date of the uprising was brought forward as the Spaniards got wind of the plans in early October. In the early morning of October 10th, Céspedes published the “October 10th Manifesto” in the La Demajagua sugar mill , thus starting the war against Spanish rule in Cuba. As a first step, Céspedes freed his slaves and called on them to join the uprising. However, many questioned the release of slaves, particularly the number of slaves to be released, while others disagreed with his call to join Cuba with the United States .
During the first few days the uprising nearly failed. Céspedes attempted to take the nearby town of Yara , from which the Revolution took its name, on October 11, but suffered numerous incidents and was eventually wiped out by Spanish troops along the way. Céspedes escaped with only twelve men. October 10th is a national holiday in Cuba today, known as the Grito de Yara . Despite the defeat, the Yara uprising was supported in various regions of the Orient . On October 13, the rebels took eight cities in the province, where they were able to capture numerous weapons, which was clearly conducive to further development. At the end of October, the insurgents had around 12,000 followers.
In the same month, Máximo Gómez taught the Cuban forces what would prove to be their deadliest tactic: attacking with a machete . Gómez was a former cavalry officer in the Spanish Army in the Dominican Republic and had exceptional military skills. However, the machete attacks were also carried out with the support of firearms: if the Spaniards were found during the march, attempts were made to breach their ranks with machetes. Then, if the Spanish troops, following their standard tactics, formed a square, they were inflicted heavy casualties by hidden infantry units with rifle fire and pistol and carbine fire from attacking cavalry. However, the Spanish armed forces suffered the greatest losses from yellow fever , against which, unlike the native Cubans, they were unable to build up immune protection in childhood .
Course of the war
The rebels took the strategically important city of Bayamo after a three-day battle. The enthusiasm of this victory inspired the poet and musician Pedro Figueredo to La Bayamesa , the later Cuban national anthem to write. In Bayamo the first government of the so-called Republic in Arms , led by Céspedes, was established. Three months later, on January 12, the Spaniards retook the city and burned it to the ground.
Nevertheless, the war spread in eastern Cuba. Camagüey rose on November 4, 1868, and Las Villas followed in early February 1869 . In the western provinces of Pinar del Río , Havana and Matanzas , however, the uprising found little support and, with a few exceptions, remained underground. A staunch supporter of the rebellion was José Martí , who was arrested at the age of 16 and sentenced to sixteen years of hard labor and later deported to Spain. He eventually became a leading Latin American intellectual and became Cuba's first national hero as the chief architect of the Cuban War of Independence from 1896–1898.
After a few initial victories and subsequent defeats, Céspedes replaced Gómez with General Thomas Jordan , who brought a well-armed force with him, as the leader of the Cuban army. Its fighting style seemed effective at first. However, the families of the insurgents became far too vulnerable to the strategy of ethnic cleansing of the ruthless Blas Villate , Count of Balmaseda , who commanded the Spanish troops. Valeriano Weyler , who became famous as the butcher Weyler in the later war of 1895 , fought at his side. General Jordan then resigned and Gómez returned to the command. A new generation of experienced Cuban commanders grew up, including Antonio Maceo , José Maceo , Calixto García Iñiguez and Vicente García González . Other notable leaders who fought for the Cuban Mambises include: Donato Mármol , Luis Marcano-Alvarez , Carlos Roloff , Enrique Loret de Mola , Julio Sanguily , Domingo Goicuría , Guillermón Moncada , Quintin Bandera , Benjamín Ramírez , and Julio Grave de Peralta .
On April 10, 1869, a constituent assembly was held in the city of Guáimaro (now Camagüey Province ). Its aim was that the revolution would be more organized and placed under a legal entity and consisted of representatives from all rebellious areas. One of the main topics of the discussions was the question of whether there should be a common military and civilian government or whether the two offices should be run separately. Eventually the latter was subordinated to the former. The vast majority voted in favor of an option to separate functions. Céspedes was elected President of this Parliament and General Ignacio Agramonte and Antonio Zambrana , lead authors of the proposed constitution, which was also named after the Constitución de Guáimaro , were elected as its secretaries. After the completion of its work, the assembly was reconstituted as the House of Representatives and the supreme power of the state. Salvador Cisneros Betancourt was elected its first president, Miguel Gerónimo Gutiérrez as vice-president and Agramonte and Zambrana as secretaries. Céspedes was elected President of the Republic in Arms on April 12, 1869, and General Manuel de Quesada , who fought in Mexico under Benito Juárez during the French invasion of the country, head of the armed forces.
After no agreement was reached with the insurgent forces, the Spaniards began an unleashed war of extermination in early 1869. The colonial government passed various laws: all captive commanders and collaborators were to be executed on the spot, ships loaded with weapons were to be confiscated and the crew to be killed immediately, males of 15 years or older who were outside their fields or Unauthorized residences were encountered should be made short, all cities had to hoist the white flag, otherwise they would be burned down and all women found outside their farm or place of residence were to be concentrated in the cities. Apart from its own army, the government was also able to fall back on volunteer corps that were formed a few years earlier to counter the announced invasion of Narcisco López and that were known for their barbaric and bloody actions. One such outrage was the execution of eight students from the University of Havana on November 27, 1871. Another was the hijacking of the steamship Virginius on October 31, 1871 in international waters , killing a total of 53 people, including the captain, most of the crew and some rebels on board. In the so-called Creciente de Valmaseda, farmers and their families, who were counted among the Mambises, were also killed en masse or put in internment camps.
The Mambises fought guerrilla warfare and their efforts were far more successful in the eastern part of the island than in the west, partly due to a lack of supplies. Ignacio Agramonte was killed in a hail of bullets on May 11, 1873. Máximo Gómez took over his command of the central troops. Due to political and personal differences and the death of Agramonte, Céspedes was deposed as president by parliament and replaced by Cisneros. While still alive, Agramonte realized that his dream of a government and a constitution for a republic in arms was ill-suited, which is why he also gave up his post as secretary and the command of the Camagüey region that had been assigned to him . Circumcised by Congress, he understood the plight of Céspedes and became his supporter. Céspedes was later killed by a Spanish patrol on February 27, 1874. The new Cuban government left him only one bodyguard and refused his request to leave Cuba for the USA in order to prepare military support from there and send it to Cuba.
The activities of the Ten Years 'War reached their peak around 1872 and '73, but were limited to the regions of Camagüey and Oriente after the death of Argramonte and Céspedes' inability to act. Gómez began an invasion of western Cuba in 1875, but the vast majority of slaves and wealthy sugar producers did not join the revolt there. After his closest general, the American Henry Reeve , was killed in 1876, the invasion ended.
Spain's fighting strength was weakened by a civil war that broke out in the motherland in 1872 , the Third Charlist War . However, when this war ended in 1876, Spain sent more troops to Cuba until they finally numbered 250,000 men. The effects on the liberation forces were severe. None of the war opponents was able to win a single battle, but in the long run the Spaniards won the upper hand.
International participation
Among the foreigners who voluntarily participated in the war on the side of the rebels were French, Italians, Cuba-born Spaniards, Americans ( Henry Reeve Brigade ), Puerto Ricans and Dominicans such as Máximo Gómez .
Among the Germans, it was initially unclear whether a volunteer militia should be created to protect German properties, plantations and industries. Otto von Bismark gave his consent on the condition of absolute neutrality. Ferdinand Heydrich then formed a committee with influential business people (George Rasch, PJNiese, Gustav Rohlson, A. Felix ) and himself as president. They called this the "Club Aléman" with the task of putting together a militia.
aftermath
From the beginning of the war there was a deep fragmentation of the independence fighters and their organizations, which came to light after the assembly of Guáimaro with the removal of Céspedes and Quesada in 1873. The Spaniards knew how to exploit regional sentiments and fears, for example that slaves from Matanzas could destroy the unstable balance between blacks and whites. The Spaniards changed their policy towards the Mambises, offering them amnesties and reforms. For various reasons, the Mambises could not prevail. There was a lack of organization and resources. The white population tended to participate less, there was internal racist sabotage (against Maceo and the goals of the Liberation Army), the struggle could not be extended to the western provinces (e.g. Havana), and last but not least, the US government opposed it a Cuban independence. The US recently sold weapons to the Spanish troops, but not to the Cuban rebels.
Tomás Estrada Palma succeeded Cisneros in the presidency, but was captured by Spanish forces on October 19, 1877. As a result of this unsuccessful succession, the constituent organs of the Cuban government were dissolved on February 8, 1878, and peace negotiations began in Zanjón , Puerto Principe.
General Arsenio Martínez Campos came to Cuba to implement the new policy, but it took almost two years to convince the majority of the rebels to agree to the Peace of Zanjón , which was signed by a negotiating committee on February 10, 1878 . The document contained most of the promises the Spaniards had made.
The ten years war came to an end. Only a small group of rebels, led by Generals Garcia and Antonio Maceo , resisted and protested on May 15 in Mangos de Baraguá , today the municipality of Mella time to Palma Soriano belonging, against this treaty, which as a protest of Baraguá became known . Even a provisional government and a constitution were installed, but the revolutionary vigor was gone. The Provisional Government convinced Maceo to give up, and the war officially ended on May 28, 1878.
Many of the leading participants in this war also became central figures in Cuba's War of Independence , which began in 1895. Among them were the Maceo brothers, Maximo Gómez, Calixto Garcia and others.
The Zanjón Pact promised various reforms on the island, which should improve Cuba's financial situation. Probably the greatest advance was the release of all the slaves who fought Spain. A major conflict beyond the war was the abolition of slavery . Both the rebels and people loyal to the Spaniards were in favor of their abolition. In 1880, the Spanish government passed a law that all slaves were to be released. However, the slaves were legally obliged to work for their masters for a certain number of years in return for payment. The wages for the slaves, however, were so low that it was hardly possible to make a living from them. Since neither the landowners nor the freed slaves were satisfied with this law, the Spanish government canceled it a short time later.
After the war ended, tensions between the Cuban people and the Spanish government began for 17 years, including the Little War (→ Guerra Chiquita ) between 1879 and 1880. The separatists followed José Martí , and the most passionate rebels chose exile instead of themselves subordinate to Spanish power. There was also a deep depression over the country. A total of around 200,000 people lost their lives in this conflict. The war also wiped out the country's coffee industry, and American tariffs severely damaged Cuban's export economy.
See also
literature
- Antonio Pirala, Anales de la Guerra en Cuba , 1895, 1896, Felipe González Rojas (ed.), Madrid.
- Perez Jr., Louis A: Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution . Oxford University Press, New York 1988.
- Navarro, José Cantón: History of Cuba. The Challenge of the Yoke and the Star. Editorial SI-MAR SA, Havana, Cuba, 1998, ISBN 959-7054-19-1 .
Web links
- History of the Cuban Liberation Wars (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Navarro, José Cantón: History of Cuba, Havana, Cuba, 1998, p. 43
- ↑ Navarro, José Cantón: History of Cuba, Havana, Cuba, 1998, pp. 43–44
- ↑ Máximo Gómez Báez - Guerra de los diez años (1868–1878) ( Memento of August 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Spanish)
- ↑ Navarro, José Cantón: History of Cuba, Havana, Cuba, 1998, p. 45
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento from March 19, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Navarro, José Cantón: History of Cuba, Havana, Cuba, 1998, p. 47
- ↑ Navarro, José Cantón: History of Cuba, Havana, Cuba, 1998, p. 48
- ↑ Navarro, José Cantón: History of Cuba, Havana, Cuba, 1998, p. 50
- ↑ Lucia Newman: Castro: US hasn't responded to Katrina offer. CNN, September 5, 2005, accessed July 5, 2017 .
- ↑ Michael Zeuske: Germans as Elites in Latin America (19th Century). Regions, types, networks and paradigmatic life stories . tape 27 . SCRIPTA MERCATURAE VERLAG, St. Katharinen 2006 ( academia.edu ).
- ^ A b History of Cuba - The Ten Year War
- ↑ Navarro, José Cantón: History of Cuba. Havana, Cuba, 1998, p. 52