April 27, 1825 Venezuela was in a state of total shambles. In the south, where my mother lives, there is liberation by San Martin’s army while right here in the north a man by the name of Simon Bolivar pursues a similar task. I remember back a few years ago in 1810 when Bolivar had been involved in the organization of liberating the junta (several local administrations that were nationalistic) in Caracas. He strongly believed in independence for our nation and republican forms of government. I can remember back to when the royalists, slaves and llaneros (Venezuelan cowboys) challenged the authority of the republican government. Bolivar was nowhere to be found. Some say he was exiled others say he was a coward but, regardless he was back two years later in 1816. With him, he brought the Haitian army to launch a new invasion on my struggling nation of the time. Many of my friends and various other local men started a league to bet on who would win and which country exactly would Bolivar capture next. Needless to say, my wife was not happy when I came home down 50% in the little money we had at the time. But, hey, what else could we do? We were all too old for the army at this point anyway. First off, Bogota, the capital of New Granada (present day Colombia, Bolivia and Ecuador), was taken first. It was extremely smart on behalf of Bolivar because now he had a secure base for an attack on Venezuela. Hooray for Bolivar, nay for me. I lost a quarter of my money already to Juan on my first bet. But like Bolivar in 1816 I was bound for a comeback, so I persisted. Five years later in 1821, Bolivar had done it. They captured Caracas and he was named the president. A joyous day for all I recall. For years we had been in turmoil but now we had the tools to fix the machine that had not been running on all cylinders for the past few years. A year later in 1822, Bolivar’s army joined up with San Martin’s army with a goal to liberate Quito. At one of the most famous meetings in history at Guayaquil, the two armies stood face to face in sharp disagreement over the future political structure of Latin America. San Martin believed that a monarchy was required which would put our thriving nation back into a life of unrest and tension. Bolivar stuck to his republican virtues and San Martin went into exile in Europe. Bolivar then skillfully in 1823 let Peru fall into confusion and chaos politically in order to send his troops in to take control. On December 9, 1824, at the battle of Ayacucho, the Spanish royalists fell at the hands of the liberating army. This battle marked the end of the Spanish efforts to retain their American Empire. I had never been more proud of my country in my 76 years of existence. This nationalistic feeling spread throughout as Venezuela became known as a great power in Latin America while using a new republican style of government. Even though I may have lost half of my money, things were looking up for everyone.
This story is interesting because, while they still supported what was going on, the people weren’t really involved. They watched what was going on with Bolivar and rooted for him, and in that way they built up their nationalism. Nationalism was really their only political force as they hoped their country could be helped. After Venezuela was safely under the control of Bolivar, they maintained their nationalism and further strengthened their country.
This story is very humorous and entertaining. I was curious about the fate of other South American nations, so I explored it.
The Spanish sent a fleet in 1823 to reconquer the country but were defeated at the Battle of Lake Maracaibo. The fight for independence, which killed half of Venezuela's white population, was finally over in Venezuela. In the following years, Venezuelan forces, as part of the army of Gran Colombia, continued campaigning under the leadership of Bolívar to liberate the southern parts of New Granada and Ecuador. Once this was accomplished, Gran Colombia continued its fight against the Spanish in Peru and Bolivia, completing the efforts of Chilean and Argentine patriots, such as José de San Martín, to liberate southern South America.
Along with what Jackie said about the nationalistic views they all had towards their want for a new government there were also the group of people that never gave up on Bolivar who when he was gone they knew that he would come back with reinforcements, and he did. Bolivar also sparked the hope that the people needed in order to overtake the whites and then later on he used clever tactics of confusion in order to strengthen Venezuela.
I enjoyed this story in particular, due to the fact that it was entertaining and informative. The nationalistic feelings that were portrayed within the story really shined through. Even though the man in the story was far too old to fight for his country, he still bet money that he couldn't afford to in his country's favor in the war. I found it interesting that like in Haiti, the people fighting in this war had no assets but their pride in the country. They had no access to the aristocratic advantages in the country, therefore it was the vigor in their fight that kept their driving force alive.
I enjoyed this story and thought it was very entertaining. I found Bolivar to be an interesting ruler in the way that he ruled and the way that he was able to bring Venezuela to a better place. I also found it interesting like said above the strong sense of Nationalism that this country had and the way it worked for their benfit.
Overall, the story was very informative and I was able to enjoy it a lot. I was particularly interested in Bolivar’s personality as I kept on reading the story. At one point, the people of Venezuela were afraid that he was not going to return to the country, but, as David said, he did. He actually joined forces with Martin, which I found very the most interesting. Two military generals joining forces with one another. I was surprised when you mentioned that, after all of this had taken place, the two generals met with one another, and they disagreed on how the future political structure of Latin American would be. You think that since everyone was fighting for freedom, that they would agree on the same political ideas. This can be related to today’s world. Even though there are certain issues that republicans and democrats agree on, they don’t all want to do the same things about them.
Another fact that I focused on throughout your story was the economic turmoil during the time of revolution. You focused many points of your story on how the people were not able to support themselves due to the declining economy. Throughout the revolts that were taking place, the people were suffering under the surface even more due to the economic disaster and lack of funds to support everyone.
I really enjoyed this story both on a literary and historical note. It was very interesting see how you used the nationalism as a power. For many people in their countries unless they were part of the nobility or upper upper class they did not hava a significant say in the politics of their nation. While the majority of the people did not have political power, nationalism gave these people the power to believe in a cause and fight worth fighting for. While the people were not as involved in the decision making like Martin and Boliviar were, the people's choice to stand behind their country and support it was a choice and stance of power and self security.
¡Me gusta el cuento mucho porque la mezcla de su informacion y elementos personales es perfecta!
I really enjoyed hearing about Venezuela because it wasn’t on continental Europe. We haven’t looked into what’s been going on overseas too much and I was fascinated to see Europe’s impact on another region of the world.
The meeting at Guayaquil particularly intrigued me. Martin and Bolivar’s contrasting ideas about the future political structure of Latin America were presented reminded me of Russia’s clandestine societies. Initially, like Bolivar and Martin, all the liberals were unified under the Union of Welfare. However, as time progressed, it was evident that there were two factions who wanted very different things. The Northern Society was less liberal, like Martin, while the South was more radical.
I was also very interested about WHY exactly this revolution happened. It turns out that by the 19th century, the economic interests of white Venezuelans and the Spanish imperial government had diverged. While Spain viewed its colonies as a steady source of income to be kept under complete control, the planters living in those colonies wanted the freedom to sell their goods, like coffee, on the open world market. However, anyone who wanted any greater economic, social, or political mobility came into contact with the Spanish government because they sought to preserve Venezuela’s hierarchical social order. Eventually, restrictions on trade would be lifted thanks to the radical legislation passed by the junta.
This isn’t something new to European history. Several nations controlled foreign territories all over the world and they made sure that a status quo was maintained so that they may continue to rule and benefit. Especially in the 19th century, it is evident that nationalism can break these restrictions. As previous posts detail, nationalism was all the people had in Venezuela and Haiti. Taking pride in their cultural identity and supporting liberation efforts in any way they could was the only way they could help. And you know what? That, coupled with other factors such as great leaders like Bolivar and Martin, was just enough.
As I was reading this post I became extremely interested in the fact that no one in Venezuela knew what happened to Simon Bolivar between the years of 1814 to 1816. His disappearance interested me greatly and I was very compelled to find out what happened to him.
Through my research I found that, by 1814, the regular royalist army headed by Governor and Captain General Juan Manuel Cajigal was overshadowed by a large, irregular force of llaneros recruited and led by José Boves. Despite their passion, the revolutionaries in Venezuela suffered their first major setback at the Battle of La Puerta on June 15, 1814, and Boves took Caracas on July 16. The revolutionaries in Caracas, who feared Boves's llanero hoards, had to flee to the east and the combined forces of Mariño (another general of the revolution) and Bolívar’s armies were defeated again at Aragua de Barcelona on August 18, at a cost of many serious casualties. Due to their many defeats and their lack of progress both Bolívar and Mariño were arrested and removed from power by José Félix Ribas and Manuel Piar, each representing the two republican commands then in place in Venezuela. A few days later Ribas and Piar decided not to try them and instead released them into exile. Thus, on September 8, Bolívar and Mariño set sail for Cartagena de Indias, leaving Piar and Ribas to lead the increasingly encircled republicans in Venezuela.
In all, Simon Bolivar’s exile caused him to not be present in Venezuela from 1814 to 1816 and I found this research very interesting.
enjoyed your journal Jeff as it expressed the struggle Venezuela faced when fighting for liberty and independance the character of Simon Bolivar definitely stuck out to me as he seemed like the hero of much of South America with that said I further read up and researched about him and found this video that easily, and quite creatively describes who Simon Bolivar truly was as he still to this day is known as the Great Liberator throughout much of South America.
Like everyone else, I enjoyed you're post, it was witty and factual and I was opened to a new look at how Nationalism played a part in countries, especially since this country is not in Europe at all. I am extremely curious as to why Bolivar left for those two years. Why did he leave? What would have happened if he didn't leave? Would things have worked out the same way? By the way Jeff described him he seems to be a brillant man, and I am very curious as to why he left, I feel like he is a man who does everything for a reason.
April 27, 1825
ReplyDeleteVenezuela was in a state of total shambles. In the south, where my mother lives, there is liberation by San Martin’s army while right here in the north a man by the name of Simon Bolivar pursues a similar task. I remember back a few years ago in 1810 when Bolivar had been involved in the organization of liberating the junta (several local administrations that were nationalistic) in Caracas. He strongly believed in independence for our nation and republican forms of government. I can remember back to when the royalists, slaves and llaneros (Venezuelan cowboys) challenged the authority of the republican government. Bolivar was nowhere to be found. Some say he was exiled others say he was a coward but, regardless he was back two years later in 1816. With him, he brought the Haitian army to launch a new invasion on my struggling nation of the time. Many of my friends and various other local men started a league to bet on who would win and which country exactly would Bolivar capture next. Needless to say, my wife was not happy when I came home down 50% in the little money we had at the time. But, hey, what else could we do? We were all too old for the army at this point anyway. First off, Bogota, the capital of New Granada (present day Colombia, Bolivia and Ecuador), was taken first. It was extremely smart on behalf of Bolivar because now he had a secure base for an attack on Venezuela. Hooray for Bolivar, nay for me. I lost a quarter of my money already to Juan on my first bet. But like Bolivar in 1816 I was bound for a comeback, so I persisted. Five years later in 1821, Bolivar had done it. They captured Caracas and he was named the president. A joyous day for all I recall. For years we had been in turmoil but now we had the tools to fix the machine that had not been running on all cylinders for the past few years.
A year later in 1822, Bolivar’s army joined up with San Martin’s army with a goal to liberate Quito. At one of the most famous meetings in history at Guayaquil, the two armies stood face to face in sharp disagreement over the future political structure of Latin America. San Martin believed that a monarchy was required which would put our thriving nation back into a life of unrest and tension. Bolivar stuck to his republican virtues and San Martin went into exile in Europe. Bolivar then skillfully in 1823 let Peru fall into confusion and chaos politically in order to send his troops in to take control. On December 9, 1824, at the battle of Ayacucho, the Spanish royalists fell at the hands of the liberating army. This battle marked the end of the Spanish efforts to retain their American Empire. I had never been more proud of my country in my 76 years of existence. This nationalistic feeling spread throughout as Venezuela became known as a great power in Latin America while using a new republican style of government. Even though I may have lost half of my money, things were looking up for everyone.
This story is interesting because, while they still supported what was going on, the people weren’t really involved. They watched what was going on with Bolivar and rooted for him, and in that way they built up their nationalism. Nationalism was really their only political force as they hoped their country could be helped. After Venezuela was safely under the control of Bolivar, they maintained their nationalism and further strengthened their country.
ReplyDeleteThis story is very humorous and entertaining. I was curious about the fate of other South American nations, so I explored it.
ReplyDeleteThe Spanish sent a fleet in 1823 to reconquer the country but were defeated at the Battle of Lake Maracaibo. The fight for independence, which killed half of Venezuela's white population, was finally over in Venezuela. In the following years, Venezuelan forces, as part of the army of Gran Colombia, continued campaigning under the leadership of Bolívar to liberate the southern parts of New Granada and Ecuador. Once this was accomplished, Gran Colombia continued its fight against the Spanish in Peru and Bolivia, completing the efforts of Chilean and Argentine patriots, such as José de San Martín, to liberate southern South America.
Along with what Jackie said about the nationalistic views they all had towards their want for a new government there were also the group of people that never gave up on Bolivar who when he was gone they knew that he would come back with reinforcements, and he did. Bolivar also sparked the hope that the people needed in order to overtake the whites and then later on he used clever tactics of confusion in order to strengthen Venezuela.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this story in particular, due to the fact that it was entertaining and informative. The nationalistic feelings that were portrayed within the story really shined through. Even though the man in the story was far too old to fight for his country, he still bet money that he couldn't afford to in his country's favor in the war. I found it interesting that like in Haiti, the people fighting in this war had no assets but their pride in the country. They had no access to the aristocratic advantages in the country, therefore it was the vigor in their fight that kept their driving force alive.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this story and thought it was very entertaining. I found Bolivar to be an interesting ruler in the way that he ruled and the way that he was able to bring Venezuela to a better place. I also found it interesting like said above the strong sense of Nationalism that this country had and the way it worked for their benfit.
ReplyDeleteOverall, the story was very informative and I was able to enjoy it a lot. I was particularly interested in Bolivar’s personality as I kept on reading the story. At one point, the people of Venezuela were afraid that he was not going to return to the country, but, as David said, he did. He actually joined forces with Martin, which I found very the most interesting. Two military generals joining forces with one another. I was surprised when you mentioned that, after all of this had taken place, the two generals met with one another, and they disagreed on how the future political structure of Latin American would be. You think that since everyone was fighting for freedom, that they would agree on the same political ideas. This can be related to today’s world. Even though there are certain issues that republicans and democrats agree on, they don’t all want to do the same things about them.
ReplyDeleteAnother fact that I focused on throughout your story was the economic turmoil during the time of revolution. You focused many points of your story on how the people were not able to support themselves due to the declining economy. Throughout the revolts that were taking place, the people were suffering under the surface even more due to the economic disaster and lack of funds to support everyone.
I really enjoyed this story both on a literary and historical note. It was very interesting see how you used the nationalism as a power. For many people in their countries unless they were part of the nobility or upper upper class they did not hava a significant say in the politics of their nation. While the majority of the people did not have political power, nationalism gave these people the power to believe in a cause and fight worth fighting for. While the people were not as involved in the decision making like Martin and Boliviar were, the people's choice to stand behind their country and support it was a choice and stance of power and self security.
ReplyDelete¡Me gusta el cuento mucho porque la mezcla de su informacion y elementos personales es perfecta!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed hearing about Venezuela because it wasn’t on continental Europe. We haven’t looked into what’s been going on overseas too much and I was fascinated to see Europe’s impact on another region of the world.
The meeting at Guayaquil particularly intrigued me. Martin and Bolivar’s contrasting ideas about the future political structure of Latin America were presented reminded me of Russia’s clandestine societies. Initially, like Bolivar and Martin, all the liberals were unified under the Union of Welfare. However, as time progressed, it was evident that there were two factions who wanted very different things. The Northern Society was less liberal, like Martin, while the South was more radical.
I was also very interested about WHY exactly this revolution happened. It turns out that by the 19th century, the economic interests of white Venezuelans and the Spanish imperial government had diverged. While Spain viewed its colonies as a steady source of income to be kept under complete control, the planters living in those colonies wanted the freedom to sell their goods, like coffee, on the open world market. However, anyone who wanted any greater economic, social, or political mobility came into contact with the Spanish government because they sought to preserve Venezuela’s hierarchical social order. Eventually, restrictions on trade would be lifted thanks to the radical legislation passed by the junta.
This isn’t something new to European history. Several nations controlled foreign territories all over the world and they made sure that a status quo was maintained so that they may continue to rule and benefit. Especially in the 19th century, it is evident that nationalism can break these restrictions. As previous posts detail, nationalism was all the people had in Venezuela and Haiti. Taking pride in their cultural identity and supporting liberation efforts in any way they could was the only way they could help. And you know what? That, coupled with other factors such as great leaders like Bolivar and Martin, was just enough.
As I was reading this post I became extremely interested in the fact that no one in Venezuela knew what happened to Simon Bolivar between the years of 1814 to 1816. His disappearance interested me greatly and I was very compelled to find out what happened to him.
ReplyDeleteThrough my research I found that, by 1814, the regular royalist army headed by Governor and Captain General Juan Manuel Cajigal was overshadowed by a large, irregular force of llaneros recruited and led by José Boves. Despite their passion, the revolutionaries in Venezuela suffered their first major setback at the Battle of La Puerta on June 15, 1814, and Boves took Caracas on July 16. The revolutionaries in Caracas, who feared Boves's llanero hoards, had to flee to the east and the combined forces of Mariño (another general of the revolution) and Bolívar’s armies were defeated again at Aragua de Barcelona on August 18, at a cost of many serious casualties. Due to their many defeats and their lack of progress both Bolívar and Mariño were arrested and removed from power by José Félix Ribas and Manuel Piar, each representing the two republican commands then in place in Venezuela. A few days later Ribas and Piar decided not to try them and instead released them into exile. Thus, on September 8, Bolívar and Mariño set sail for Cartagena de Indias, leaving Piar and Ribas to lead the increasingly encircled republicans in Venezuela.
In all, Simon Bolivar’s exile caused him to not be present in Venezuela from 1814 to 1816 and I found this research very interesting.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteenjoyed your journal Jeff as it expressed the struggle Venezuela faced when fighting for liberty and independance the character of Simon Bolivar definitely stuck out to me as he seemed like the hero of much of South America with that said I further read up and researched about him and found this video that easily, and quite creatively describes who Simon Bolivar truly was as he still to this day is known as the Great Liberator throughout much of South America.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B25aZxSl-Kc&feature=related
I enjoyed*
DeleteLike everyone else, I enjoyed you're post, it was witty and factual and I was opened to a new look at how Nationalism played a part in countries, especially since this country is not in Europe at all. I am extremely curious as to why Bolivar left for those two years. Why did he leave? What would have happened if he didn't leave? Would things have worked out the same way? By the way Jeff described him he seems to be a brillant man, and I am very curious as to why he left, I feel like he is a man who does everything for a reason.
ReplyDelete