Bolivar’s Total War War, Politics, and Revolution in the Age of Independence

This article proposes introducing the concept of total war into the study of Latin American Independence in the 1810s and 1820s. We argue that total war was not an exclusively North Atlantic phenomenon, but an experience that also manifested itself at the beginning of the nineteenth century in the S...

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Published inRevista científica "General José María Córdova." Vol. 19; no. 35; pp. 643 - 676
Main Author Rojas, Daniel Emilio
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Escuela Militar de Cadetes “General José María Córdova” (ESMIC) 01.07.2021
Escuela Militar de Cadetes "General José María Córdova"
SeriesContribuciones de Chile a la polemología contemporánea
Subjects
History
Humanities and Social Sciences
SOCIAL SCIENCES, INTERDISCIPLINARY
revolutions
politics
política
independences
war
independencias
siglo XIX
guerra
revolución
New Granada
Nueva Granada
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Summary:This article proposes introducing the concept of total war into the study of Latin American Independence in the 1810s and 1820s. We argue that total war was not an exclusively North Atlantic phenomenon, but an experience that also manifested itself at the beginning of the nineteenth century in the Spanish Viceroyalty of New Granada. To prove it, we analyze the social militarization caused by the enlightened reforms of the eighteenth century, the impact of political revolution in the Atlantic world and the decisive role of religion in creating an enemy that should be exterminated. The article concludes by pointing out two topics that underline the uniqueness of total war in a region of Latin America: the spatial and temporal unity of different forms of regular and irregular warfare, and the fact that total war was not the consequence of state action, but the starting point for State-building.
ISSN:1900-6586
2500-7645
2500-7645
DOI:10.21830/19006586.794