The Latin-American Revolution
The historical events that led to the formation of several states can be traced to several revolutionary occurrences that took place at different periods. Most of these revolutions not only took long but also were significantly bloody. In the Latin America, as it was in many other regions, a lot of these wars took place the late 18th and 19th centuries. By this time, the American and French revolutions had set precedence thus setting an example that affected the Spanish, Portuguese and French colonies in the Americas. The Haitian Revolution led to the liberation of Haiti from French making it the second to gain independence after the United States. The revolutions in Latin America gave the nations that were formed out of them some very unique characteristics, while the revolutions themselves were unique in their own ways. This essay attempts to examine the various ways in which these revolutions helped to make those nations what they are today.
One characteristic of most of these revolutions is that they took a long time to materialize in to what the army leaders visualized. It can also be deduced for instance that leaders of these revolutions were still hungry to achieve more in territory and ruler ship than they initially did. Although most revolution movements had died out by 1815, Simoni Bolivar led an invasion on Colombia in 1816.It is important to highlight that by this time, most of the Latin America had stabilized and out of the Spanish colonizers. In that case, another attack on a neighboring nation could have just passed as insatiable need to expand the territory though the battles were largely meant to phase out colonialism.
The nature and extent to which these revolutionaries influenced the existence of Latin American nations can further be seen in the Mexico’s successes and failures. Porfirio Diaz had ruled Mexico since 1876 , a period that saw Great economic changes being effected within the land especially due o the building of railroads and the flourishing mining and expert businesses. This was mostly the work of foreigners (John). However, a moderate reformer named Francisco Madero proposed to ran against the rather elderly Diaz . This was not to happen as he was arrested while the president won a rigged election. This led to a general rebellion led by Madero, Pancho Villa. Consequently, peasant rights supporter Emiliano Zapata Díaz was toppled. There was a problem though in that the various leading faction could not agree and this again led to a spiral of confrontations over the years with assassinations of leaders and coup de tats of successful leaderships.
In consideration of the entire Latin America Revolution, the Mexican Revolution was one of the characteristically huge struggle in the Latin America. Led by Francisco I. Madero he fought a hard battle against the aristocrat Porfirio Díaz The battle lasted for about a decade ceasing at around l around 1920. This evolution has an interesting twist that is seen in its changing nature from a revolt to a multi-sided civil war where power struggles could often shift
It may be correctly said that the revolutionary nature of the Latin America caused more distress on the nations and caused more harm to the economies. The greatest danger is that the effects of these revolutionaries spilled to well into a period when most nations had gained ground. The world banking crisis of 1908 for instance caused distress and stimulated rebellion and civil war in Mexico which only ended in 1920. This was not a new phenomena since these revolutionaries were characteristically destabilizing economies whenever they happened. Most nations that were reduced in the wake of these revolutionaries therefore had to face the daunting task of rebuilding the nations
When these revolutions settled and there was the serious business of building the nation once more, factors such as the political culture of virtually the entire Latin America altered. There was an increase in urban labor force that led to the growth of a larger middle class. In addition, landholding set ups changed and the middle class forged a united front geared towards defending their interests. It was this post –revolution period that oppressive political alliances met reformers, workers, and peasants who were seeking to redress the inequalities of the society at the time (Andrie and Lyman).
The revolutionary period of the Latin America seems to have played a key role in addressing territorial respects. It was more of a mighty way of expressing power and conquering colonial masters thus gaining or regaining independence. In that case, the revolutionaries seem to have been interested in nothing more than marking territorial superiority. The nations curved out of these battles rightfully failed o think of the several challenges ahead. Nevertheless, the reality of economic challenges dawned on them soon after gained this independence
Works cited
Andrie, Kenneth and Lyman, Johnson. The Political Economy of Spanish America in the Age of Revolution, 1750–1850. Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press, 1994. Print.
John, Charles. Americanos: Latin America's Struggle for Independence. Oxford University Press, 2008
Bushnell, David and Macaulay, Neill. The Emergence of Latin America in the Nineteenth Century (2nd edition). Oxford University Press, 1994.
