What events led to the start of the Venezuelan Revolution?
The establishment of the Supreme Caracas Junta following the forced deposition of Vicente Emparan as Captain General of the Captaincy General of Venezuela on 19 April 1810, marked the beginnings of the war. On 5 July 1811, seven of the ten provinces of the Captaincy General of Venezuela declared their independence in...
What was the war of independence in Venezuela?
Venezuela portal. The Venezuelan War of Independence (1810–1823) was one of the Spanish American wars of independence of the early nineteenth century, when independence movements in Latin America fought against rule by the Spanish Empire, emboldened by Spain's troubles in the Napoleonic Wars.
Who was the leader of the Venezuelan Revolution?
Persons such as Francisco de Miranda, a long-term Venezuelan expatriate, and Simón Bolívar, a young, Criollo aristocrat—both influenced by Age of Enlightenment ideas and the example of the French Revolution —led the movement. The Congress declared Venezuela's independence on 5 July 1811, establishing the Republic of Venezuela.
What is the history of Venezuela in Latin America?
History & Culture. Venezuela was a leader in Latin America's Independence movement. Led by visionary radicals such as Simón Bolívar and Francisco de Miranda, Venezuela was the first of the South American Republics to formally break away from Spain.
When did Venezuela enter a new era?
Venezuela entered a new political era when the late president Hugo Chavez came into power in 1998, a historic political event that became known as the Bolivarian Revolution. The founder of the fifth republic movement and the United Socialist Party (PSUV), Chavez followed the revolutionary spirit of 19th-century Venezuelan leader Simon Bolivar, ...
How did the Bolivarian Revolution affect Venezuela?
From Hugo Chavez to Nicolas Maduro, the Bolivarian Revolution has influenced the political outlook of many Venezuelan politicians , inspiring them to take an anti-imperıalist stance.
What was Hugo Chavez's policy?
Another important policy of late president Hugo Chavez was the nationalisation of key companies in energy and telecommunications. He first introduced a nationalisation programme in 2007 and saw his act approved by parliament.
What are Cuba and Venezuela united against?
Cuba and Venezuela see themselves as united against what they call US " imperialism .". As well as Maduro’s stance against the US, however, oil prices had fallen by more than 70 percent by 2016, throwing the country into crisis. Maduro has presided over Venezuela's spiral into its worst-ever economic crisis.
How many laws did Chavez pass in 2001?
In 2001, Chavez passed 49 laws that aimed to redistribute land and wealth from the rich or private companies to poor citizens. He tried to concentrate political and economic power on the state, much as Cuba did.
What activities did Chavez engage in?
In this era, Chavez engaged in door-to-door anti-poverty activities that include food distribution, a vaccination campaign and increasing education in slum areas.
What was Chavez's ideology?
According to Chavez, the Bolivarian ideology encouraged nationalism and a state-led economy in South America. After Chavez was elected as the president of Venezuela, he immediately introduced a new constitution that espoused a socialist economy and social policies, funded by the country's oil revenue.
What happened to Venezuela after the colonial era?
After the destruction of the colonial system, Venezuela passed through an era of government-by-force that lasted more than a century, until the death of Juan Vicente Gómez in 1935. Backed by their personal armies, a series of warlordlike caudillos (leaders) assumed power, which they exercised for their personal benefit rather than for that of the nation.
Who was the first dictator of Venezuela?
The first of the military dictators was General José Antonio Páez, who gave the country better government than it would see again for nearly a century. Bolívar had left Páez in charge of the armed forces of Venezuela, and he soon took full control of the country. He led the separation movement from Gran Colombia in 1829 and in 1830 convoked a constitutional convention for Venezuela. Páez dominated Venezuelan politics until 1848, both as president (1831–35 and 1839–43) and as a major political player. He subdued ambitious provincial caudillos and ruled in cooperation with the large landholders and leading merchants of the Conservative Party. The constitution that they enacted in 1830 reflected their social and political philosophy—a centralist state, property qualifications for voting, the death penalty for political crimes, guarantees for the freedom of trade and commerce, and the continuation of slavery. The church lost its tax immunity and its educational monopoly, and the army was shorn of its autonomy; thus, state supremacy was achieved. The government then began to reconstruct the war-torn economy by putting finances in order, establishing firm lines of foreign credit, and amortizing the national debt. It also constructed new roads to promote domestic commerce and facilitate coffee and cacao exports.
What did Miranda sign with Spain?
In the ensuing war with royalist forces, however, Miranda signed an armistice with Spain.
Who was the leader of the Liberal Party in 1848?
He intimidated the Conservative congress and appointed Liberal Party ministers. When Páez rebelled in 1848, Monagas defeated him and forced him into exile. The decade 1848–58 was one of dictatorial rule by José Tadeo Monagas and his brother, General José Gregorio Monagas, who alternated as president during the period.
What was the Conservative Party's dominance in 1830?
In contrast to the troubled times that preceded and followed it, the 1830–48 period of Conservative Party domination was an era of political stability, economic progress, and responsible administration.
What was the independence movement?
The independence movement. A group of Venezuelan Creoles boldly proclaimed their country an independent republic in 1797 . Although their effort failed, it forewarned of the revolutionary movements that were soon to inflame Latin America. In 1806 Francisco de Miranda —who had earlier fought under George Washington against the British, ...
When did Crespo take power in Venezuela?
In October 1892 Crespo seized power.
When did the Venezuelan uprising happen?
2019 Venezuela uprising. Venezuela portal. v. t. e. The Venezuelan War of Independence (1810–1823) was one of the Spanish American wars of independence of the early nineteenth century, when independence movements in Latin America fought against rule by the Spanish Empire, emboldened by Spain's troubles in the Napoleonic Wars .
Who led the Venezuelan independence movement?
As the Congress deliberated, a faction proposing outright independence quickly won favor. Persons such as Francisco de Miranda, a long-term Venezuelan expatriate, and Simón Bolívar, a young, Criollo aristocrat—both influenced by Age of Enlightenment ideas and the example of the French Revolution —led the movement.
What battle did the Spanish defeat in 1823?
The Spanish sent a fleet in 1823 to reconquer the country but were defeated at the Battle of Lake Maracaibo. 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.
What was the impact of the French invasion of Spain?
The French invasion of Spain in 1808 led to the collapse of the Spanish Monarchy. Most subjects of Spain did not accept the government of Joseph Bonaparte, placed on the Spanish throne by his brother, Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte of France. At the same time, the process of creating a stable government in Spain, which would be widely recognized throughout the empire, took two years. ( See Junta (Peninsular War) .) This created a power vacuum in the Spanish possessions in America, which created further political uncertainty. On April 19, 1810 the municipal council of Caracas headed a successful movement to depose the Spanish Governor and Captain General, Vicente Emparán. A junta was established in Caracas, and soon other Venezuelan provinces followed suit. The reverberations of this act of independence could be felt throughout Venezuela almost immediately. Across Venezuela, towns and cities decided to either side with the movement based in Caracas or not, and de facto civil war ensued throughout much of Venezuela. The Caracas Junta called for a congress of Venezuelan provinces to establish a government for the region. Initially, both the Junta and Congress upheld the "rights of Ferdinand VII ," meaning that they recognized themselves to still be part of the Spanish Monarchy, but had established a separate government due to the French invasion of the Iberian Peninsula. As the Congress deliberated, a faction proposing outright independence quickly won favor. Persons such as Francisco de Miranda, a long-term Venezuelan expatriate, and Simón Bolívar, a young, Criollo aristocrat—both influenced by Age of Enlightenment ideas and the example of the French Revolution —led the movement. The Congress declared Venezuela's independence on 5 July 1811, establishing the Republic of Venezuela.
What was the Venezuelan War of Independence?
Venezuelan War of Independence. The Venezuelan War of Independence (1810–1823) was one of the Spanish American wars of independence of the early nineteenth century, when independence movements in Latin America fought against rule by the Spanish Empire, emboldened by Spain's troubles in the Napoleonic Wars .
Which two provinces were not recognized by Spain?
Two provinces, Maracaibo Province and Guayana Province, and one district, Coro, never recognized the Caracas Junta and remained loyal to the governments in Spain. Military expeditions to bring Coro and Guayana under the control of the Republic failed.
When did Colombia become independent?
On 17 December 1819 , the Congress of Angostura declared Gran Colombia an independent country. After two more years of war, the country achieved independence from Spain in 1821 under the leadership of its most famous son, Simón Bolívar. Venezuela, along with the present-day.
Who cooperated with the Venezuelans?
U.S. Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson cooperated with the Venezuelans in defeating a Cuban-backed insurgency in Venezuela during the 1960s. United States and Venezuelan militaries developed strong mutual security and defense links through this experience.
How did Venezuela influence the Cold War?
Certainly Venezuelan influence in the region during the Cold War, especially when backed by abundant oil money, occasionally frustrated U.S. designs. But these actions did not preclude frequent cooperation between the two countries. After the 1958 transition to democracy, Venezuela’s political leaders were firmly convinced of the importance of supporting like-minded governments in the region and opposed the Cuban revolution model on both ideological and pragmatic grounds. U.S. Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson cooperated with the Venezuelans in defeating a Cuban-backed insurgency in Venezuela during the 1960s. United States and Venezuelan militaries developed strong mutual security and defense links through this experience.
What was the result of the Bolivarian Revolution?
The Bolivarian revolution has produced a new constitution, a new legislature, a new supreme court and electoral authorities, and purges of Venezuela’s armed forces and state-owned oil industries. These policies consolidated Chavez’s domestic authority but generated a great deal of opposition in Venezuela, including a failed coup attempt in 2002. Even so, after his victory in a presidential recall referendum during the summer of 2004, Chávez seems likely to consolidate his grip on power and even win reelection in 2006.
Why are Venezuela's two countries important partners in Venezuela's foreign policy?
Beyond oil, these two countries are key partners in Venezuela’s Bolivarian foreign policy because they represent alternative sources of technology and military equipment, and their decisions to cooperate with Chávez are unlikely to be influenced by U.S. objections.
Why is Venezuela so tense with Colombia?
Venezuela has always had a tense relationship with Colombia because of border disputes and spillover effects of its neighbor’s multiple violent insurgencies.
Why is Venezuela important to the United States?
The strategic importance of Venezuela to the United States only truly emerged after the discovery in 1914 of major oil deposits in Venezuela. In a sense, the United States was present at the creation of the Venezuelan oil industry . American oil companies and the Royal Dutch Shell Corporation created the physical infrastructure for Venezuela to become the largest oil exporter in the Western Hemisphere. They also were key in shaping Venezuelan oil legislation and the role this natural resource would play in politics. The strategic importance of Venezuelan oil to the United States was confirmed during World War II and reconfirmed time and again during each political or military crisis of the Cold War and beyond.
What was Venezuela's role in OPEC?
Venezuela’s leading role in OPEC gave it a new prominence during the oil crises of the period. Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez also promoted a Venezuelan leadership role in the nonaligned movement, which was often critical of U.S. policies.
Venezuela Under The Spanish
Miranda Invades Venezuela
- Francisco de Miranda was a Venezuelan soldier who had gone to Europe and had become a General during the French Revolution. A fascinating man, he was friends with Alexander Hamiltonand other important international figures and even was the lover of Catherine the Great of Russia for a while. All throughout his many adventures in Europe, he dreamed of freedom for …
April 19, 1810: Venezuela Declares Independence
- By early 1810, Venezuela was ready for independence. Ferdinand VII, the heir to the Spanish crown, was a prisoner of Napoleonof France, who became the de facto (if indirect) ruler of Spain. Even those Creoles who supported Spain in the New World were appalled. On April 19, 1810, Venezuelan Creole patriots held a meeting in Caracas where they declared a provisional indepen…
The Admirable Campaign
- By October of 1812, Bolívar was ready to rejoin the fight. He went to Colombia, where he was given a commission as an officer and a small force. He was told to harass the Spanish along the Magdalena River. Before long, Bolívar had driven the Spanish out of the region and amassed a large army, Impressed, the civilian leaders in Cartagena gave him permission to liberate western …
The Second Venezuelan Republic
- Bolivar quickly established an independent government known as the Second Venezuelan Republic. He had outsmarted the Spanish during the Admirable Campaign, but he had not defeated them, and there were still large Spanish and royalist armies in Venezuela. Bolivar and other generals such as Santiago Mariño and Manuel Piarfought them bravely, but in the end, the …
The Years of War, 1814-1819
- During the period from 1814 to 1819, Venezuela was devastated by roving royalist and patriot armies that fought one another and occasionally amongst themselves. Patriot leaders such as Manuel Piar, José Antonio Páez, and Simón Bolivar did not necessarily acknowledge one another's authority, leading to a lack of a coherent battle plan to free Venezuela. In 1817, Bolívar had Piar …
Bolívar Crosses The Andes and The Battle of Boyaca
- In early 1819, Bolívar was cornered in western Venezuela with his army. He was not powerful enough to knock out the Spanish armies, but they were not strong enough to defeat him, either. He made a daring move: he crossed the frosty Andeswith his army, losing half of it in the process, and arrived in New Granada (Colombia) in July of 1819. New Granada had been relatively untouc…
The Battle of Carabobo
- Alarmed Spanish officers in Venezuela called for a cease-fire, which was agreed to and lasted until April of 1821. Patriot warlords back in Venezuela, such as Mariño and Páez, finally smelled victory and began to close in on Caracas. Spanish General Miguel de la Torre combined his armies and met the combined forces of Bolívar and Páez at the Battle of Carabobo on June 24, …
After The Battle of Carabobo
- With the Spanish finally driven off, Venezuela began putting itself back together. Bolívar had formed the Republic of Gran Colombia, which included present-day Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Panama. The republic lasted until about 1830 when it fell apart into Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador (Panama was part of Colombia at the time). General Páez was the main leader behind …
Overview
The Venezuelan War of Independence (Spanish: Guerra de Independencia de Venezuela, 1810–1823) was one of the Spanish American wars of independence of the early nineteenth century, when independence movements in Latin America fought against rule by the Spanish Empire, emboldened by Spain's troubles in the Napoleonic Wars.
The establishment of the Supreme Caracas Junta following the forced deposition of Vicente Emp…
First Republic (1810–1812)
The French invasion of Spain in 1808 led to the fall of the Spanish Monarchy. Most subjects of Spain did not accept the government of Joseph Bonaparte, placed on the Spanish throne by his brother, Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte of France. At the same time, the process of creating a stable government in Spain, which would be widely recognized throughout the empire, took two years. (See Junta (Peninsular War).) This created a power vacuum in the Spanish possessions in …
Second Republic (1813–1814)
Bolívar and other republicans continued the resistance from other parts of the Spanish South America and the Caribbean, or organized guerrilla movements in the interior of the country. In 1813 Bolívar joined the army of United Provinces of New Granada. After winning a series of battles, Bolívar received the approval of the New Granadan Congress to lead a liberating force into Venezuela in what became known as the Admirable Campaign. At the same time, Santiago Mariño invaded …
Spanish reconquest of New Granada (1815–1816)
In Spain, anti-French forces had liberated the country, and the restored Ferdinand VII sent a large expeditionary force to Venezuela and New Granada under Pablo Morillo, who had distinguished himself during Spain's War of Independence.
Royalist forces under Morillo and Morales captured Cartagena and Bogotá in 1816. Before leaving for New Granada Morillo had decommissioned most of the irregular forces that had fought unde…
Stalemate (1816–1819)
Bolívar and Brión returned and tried in 1817 to capture Barcelona, where the Spaniards repulsed them. In the meantime, Piar and Mariño had occupied defenceless Angostura (a city at the narrowest and deepest part of the Orinoco River, hence its name, subsequently changed to Ciudad Bolívar), to where Bolívar headed and was chosen as supreme leader of the independence movement. (It was at this time that Bolívar ordered the addition of a new star for Guayana to th…
Consolidation of independence
In 1819, to break this impasse Bolívar invaded New Granada, which had been reconquered by Morillo's expeditionary force three years earlier. Bolívar decisively defeated the royalists at Boyacá. With the liberation of New Granada, the republicans had a significant base from which to attack Morillo's forces. A republican Congress at Angostura (today Ciudad Bolívar), which already had a s…
Aftermath
The Spanish sent a fleet in 1823 to reconquer the country but were defeated at the Battle of Lake Maracaibo. 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 d…
See also
• Military career of Simón Bolívar
• Simón Bolívar
• Eulalia Ramos
• Spanish American wars of independence