Bolivar's War is a term coined by some historians to refer to a series of independence wars in South America from 1811 to 1825 led by the famous general Simon Bolivar. These wars eventually led to the independence of several South American states from the colonial rule of Spain and the formation of Great Colombia.

The term Bolivar's Wars was coined to a linked series of emancipation movements in South America in which Bolivar had the command of the patriot forces, therefore it shouldn't be confused with the wars of liberation of the individuall countries (Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia) but with the time in which Bolivar was the commander in chief of the revolutionary forces. For example in Venezuela Bolivar wass only appointed commander in chief in 1813 following his victory in the Admirable Campaign and later shared the supreme command with other generals like Santiago Marino, Manuel Piar and Jose Francisco Bermudez

Beginning of the independence movement

Independence movements in the northern regions of Spanish South America had an inauspicious beginning in 1806. The small group of foreign volunteers that the Venezuelan revolutionary Francisco de Miranda brought to his homeland failed to incite the populace to rise against Spanish rule. Creoles in the region wanted an expansion of the free trade that was benefiting their plantation economy. At the same time, however, they feared that the removal of Spanish control might bring about a revolution that would destroy their own power.

Creole elites in Venezuela had good reason to fear such a possibility, for one such revolution had recently exploded in the French Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue. Beginning in 1791, a massive slave revolt sparked a general insurrection against the plantation system and French colonial power. The rebellion developed into both a civil war, pitting blacks and mulattos against whites, and an international conflict, as England and Spain supported the white plantation owners and rebels, respectively. By the first years of the 19th century, the rebels had shattered what had been a model colony and forged the independent nation of Haiti. Partly inspired by those Caribbean events, slaves in Venezuela carried out their own uprisings in the 1790s. Just as it served as a beacon of hope for the enslaved, Haiti was a warning of everything that might go wrong for elites in the cacao-growing areas of Venezuela and throughout slave societies in the Americas.

Independence movement in New Granada

Creole anxieties also contributed to the persistence of a strong loyalist faction in the Viceroyalty of New Granada, but they did not prevent the rise of an independence struggle there. Creoles organized revolutionary governments that proclaimed social and economic reforms in 1810 and openly declared a break with Spain the following year. Forces loyal to Spain fought the patriots from the start, leading to a pattern much like that which characterized the Plata: patriot rebels held the capital city and its surroundings but could not dominate large sections of the countryside. Some interpreted an 1812 earthquake that wreaked particular destruction on patriot-held areas as a sign of divine displeasure with the rebels. The year 1812 certainly was the onset of a difficult period for the independence armies of New Granada. Loyalist forces crushed the rebels' military, driving Bolivar into temporary exile.

Bolivar's Campaigns

Venezuelan War of Independence (1811-1812)

For details, see Venezuelan War of Independence

Venezuela declared its independence from Spain July 5 1811, beginning its wars against that country.

In 1812, Spanish forces led by General Juan Monteverde defeated the Venezuelan revolutionary army, led by Francisco de Miranda, which surrendered at La Victoria in July 12, 1812, effectively ending the first phase of the revolutionary war; Simon Bolivar and other revolutionary leaders fled abroad.

Bolivar in Venezuela (1813-1814)

After his defeat in the Venezuelan War of Independence in 1811-1812. rebel leader Simon Bolivar fled to New Granada. He later returned with a new army, while the war had entered a tremendously violent phase. After much of the local aristocracy had abandoned the cause of independence, blacks and mulattos carried on the struggle. Elites reacted with open distrust and opposition to the efforts of these common people. Bolivar's forces invaded Venezuela from New Granada in 1813, waging a campaign with a ferocity captured perfectly by their motto, "guerra a muerte" ("war to the death"). Bolivar's forces defeated Juan Monteverde's Spanish army in a series of battles, taking Caracas in August 6, 1813 and besieging Monteverde at Puerto Cabello in September 1813.

With loyalists displaying the same passion and violence, the rebels achieved only short-lived victories. In 1814, heavily reinforced Spanish forces in Venezuela lost a series of battles to Bolivar's forces but then decisively defeated Bolivar at La Puerta in June 15, 1814, took Caracas in July 16, 1814, and again defeated his army at Aragua in August 18, 1814, at a cost of 2,000 Spanish casualties of 10,000 engaged and most of the 3,000 in the rebel army. Bolivar and other leaders then returned to New Granada.

The army led by the loyalist Jose Tomas Boves here demonstrated the key military role that the llaneros (cowboys) came to play in the region's struggle. Turning the tide against independence, these highly mobile, ferocious fighters made up a formidable military force that pushed Bolivar out of his home country once more.

Spanish Invasion of New Granada (1815-1816)

For details, see Spanish Invasion of New Granada

By 1815, the independence movements in Venezuela and almost all across Spanish South America seemed moribund. A large military expedition sent by Ferdinand VII in that year reconquered Venezuela and most of New Granada. Yet another invasion led by Bolivar in 1816 failed miserably.

Bolivar in Venezuela (1815-1816)

For details, see Bolivar in Venezuela 1815-16

Bolivar returned to Venezuela in December 1816, again leading a largely unsuccessful insurrection against Spain in 1816-18.

Bolivar in New Granada (1819-1820)

For details, see Bolivar in New Granada

In 1819, Bolivar's forces crossed the Andes into New Granada in June-July 1819. At Boyaca August 7, his army of 2,000 defeated a Spanish and colonial force of 3,000. In spring 1820, Bolivar's republican forces took Bogota; he then became the first president of the Colombian republic.

Bolivar in Venezuela (1821)

For details, see Bolivar in Venezuela 1821

Bolivar returned to Venezuela in April 1821, leading an army of 7,000 from New Granada. At Carabobo, June 24, his forces decisively defeated Spanish and colonial forces, winning Venezuelan independence, although hostilities continued.

Republican Campaign in Ecuador

For details, see Republican Campaign in Ecuador

At Pinchincha, Ecuador in May 24 1822, General Antonio de Sucre's Venezuelan forces defeated Spanish and colonial forces defending Quito, conquering the city.

Republican Campaign in Bolivia

For details, see Bolivian Independence War

Bolivar was now president of Gran Colombia and Peru. Only a small section of the continent in Upper Peru was still defended by royalist forces. The liberation of this region fell to Antonio de Sucre, and, in April 1825, he reported that the task had been completed. The new nation chose to be called Bolivia after the name of the Liberator.

Aftermath of Bolivar's War

Simon Bolivar had a dream of uniting all South American, Central American and Caribbean countries and turning them into a single, economically independent country, which he had planned to name Gran Colombia. However, internal divisions had resulted in wars, and the fragile South American coalition collapsed, leaving the newly-independent countries exposed to foreign meddling and exploitation which doomed them to instability and poverty.

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Bolivar's War