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...
| Published in: | Revista Científica General José María Córdova |
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| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English Spanish |
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Sello Editorial ESMIC - Escuela Militar de Cadetes "General José María Córdova"
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://revistacientificaesmic.com/index.php/esmic/article/view/794 https://doi.org/10.21830/19006586.794 |
| 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. Este artículo propone introducir el concepto de guerra total para estudiar la independencia de América Latina en las décadas de 1810 y 1820, pues se argumenta que la guerra total no fue un fenómeno exclusivamente noratlántico, sino una experiencia que también se manifestó a principios del siglo XIX en el Virreinato español de Nueva Granada. Para demostrarlo, se analiza la militarización social provocada por las reformas ilustradas del siglo XVIII, el impacto de la revolución política en el Atlántico y el papel de la religión en la creación de un enemigo que debía ser exterminado. Se concluye con la singular coexistencia de diferentes formas de guerra regular e irregular, y el hecho de que la guerra total no fue consecuencia de la acción estatal, sino el punto de partida para la construcción del Estado. |
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