Argentina-Brazil War
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| Argentina-Brazil War | |||||||
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| Combatants | |||||||
 Brazilian Empire |
 United Provinces of the Río de la Plata(present Uruguay and Argentina) |
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| Commanders | |||||||
| Pedro I of Brazil Rodrigo Pinto Guedes Marquis of Barbacena |
Juan Antonio Lavalleja Bernardino Rivadavia Francis Drummond Carlos María de Alvear |
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The Argentina-Brazil War (Portuguese: Guerra da Cisplatina; Spanish: Guerra del Brasil) was an armed conflict that took during the 1820s between the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, which were recently emancipated from Spain, and Brazil, then a monarchy, over the possession of the territory of today's Uruguay. The United Provinces were a loose confederation of provinces that would later become known as Argentina.
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[edit] Background
The original territory of the United Provinces included most of the former Viceroyalty of the same name (Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay). The land east of the estuary of the Río de la Plata and the Uruguay River was called Banda Oriental (Eastern Bank in Spanish) and considered a province. The territory was called Cisplatina by the Brazilians, and it had already been in dispute between Spain and Portugal during the times of the Treaty of Madrid.
The May Revolution of 1810 gave rise to a local government in Buenos Aires. The Eastern Bank, in turn, revolted against Spanish rule in 1811, led by José Gervasio Artigas. Ten years later, after the defeat of Artigas in Battle of Tacuarembó and with the support of the aristocratic families of Uruguay, the Brazilian forces of Dom Joao VI occupied and annexed it under the name of Provincia Cisplatina, claiming it as inheritance of his wife Princess Carlota Joaquina. The control of the area provided a strategic position over the Río de la Plata, and the exit to the open sea, main port for the exportations of Argentina.
Being both stated economically dependent of the British Empire, the United Kingdom, represented by war mediator George Canning, had a very important role in the war and its outcome.
[edit] The conflict
Intending to regain control of the Banda Oriental or Cisplatina, the Argentine Confederation of the United Provinces of the Ríver Plate urged the Uruguayans leaded by Juan Antonio Lavalleja to rise against the Brazilian domination, giving them political and material support.
After years of resistance by Uruguayan separatists, such as Fructuoso Rivera and Lavalleja, the Congress of Deputies of all over the Eastern Bank met in 1825 in La Florida and declared its independence from the Portuguese Empire, reaffirming its belonging to the United Provinces. The response of the imperial government of Brazil was to declare war on Argentina.
Emperor Pedro I of Brazil replied by blocking the Río de la Plata and its ports (Buenos Aires and Montevideo). The main base of the Argentine fleet was moved south, first to Ensenada and then to Carmen de Patagones. Brazil attempted to take Carmen de Patagones in 1827, trying to tighten even more the block on the Argentine foreign commerce, but the troops were repelled by the local civilians.
The Argentine army crossed the Río de la Plata placing its camp near Durazno, while General Carlos María de Alvear incursioned in the Brazilian territory. The Viscount of Barbacena, in command of the imperial troupes, clashed with the Argentines at the Battle of Ituzaingó.
Pedro I started the land offensive at the end of 1826, gathering the troops in the south of the country, mainly composed of volunteers and some units of European mercenaries. He had problems gathering an army to resist the Argentinian forces because there were constant popular rebellions in the provinces of the newly independent Brazil, including in Rio de Janeiro, its capital at that time.
The lack of men slowed the response capacity against the Uruguayans now backed up by the Argentine Army. The war took place as many smaller confrontations, with the Battle of Ituzaingó being the only battle of magnitude, in which the Brazilian left defeated. Other battles include the Battle of Sarandí and the naval Battle of Monte Santiago.
[edit] Aftermath
Brazil was finally driven back, but both Brazil and Argentina ultimately lost. Given the high cost of the war for both sides, and the unease of the United Kingdom that had business with the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, conversations for a peace treaty started. With France and the United Kingdom as arbitrators, and under pressure of the British, the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata and the Brazilian Empire signed in Rio de Janeiro the Treaty of Montevideo acknowledging the independence of the República Oriental del Uruguay.
In Brazil, the loss of the Provincia Cisplatina was another motive to the popular discontent with the government of Dom Pedro I, after a war that was already unpopular. Even though the Guerra da Cisplatina is not considered the main reason for which the emperor abdicated in 1831, it did add to the outcome.
Besides the Uruguayan people that acquired their independence, probably the main winner of the war was the British Empire, who obtained a zone of free commerce controlled by the United Kingdom on the strategically located Río de la Plata.
