Latin American Independence Wars
Between 1808 and 1826 armies led by Simon Bolivar and Jose de San Martin freed Spanish South America from colonial rule.
Overview
The Napoleonic invasion of Spain in 1808 shattered imperial authority, and juntas formed across Spanish America. Republican experiments in Venezuela collapsed until Bolivar relaunched the war from New Granada, winning decisive victories at Boyaca in 1819, Carabobo in 1821, and Junin and Ayacucho in 1824, the last securing Peru. San Martin liberated Argentina, crossed the Andes to free Chile alongside Bernardo O'Higgins, and took Lima before handing the final campaign to Bolivar. Mexico and Central America separated by 1823. Spain lost an empire of millions in less than two decades. The new republics adopted written constitutions, but Bolivar dream of a united Spanish America quickly fragmented into rival states.
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