bolvar in venezuela 1813-14

Simn Bolvar's Campaign in Venezuela 1813-14 was Venezuela's second war of independence against Spain and part of Bolvar's War in South America. After defeat in Venezuelan War of Independence in 1811-1812 rebel leader Simn Bolvar returned with a new army, and the war 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. Bolvar's forces invaded Venezuela in 1813, waging a campaign with a ferocity captured perfectly by their motto, "guerra a muerte" ("war to the death"). Bolvar'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 Bolvar'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. Bolvar then fled into exile. The army led by the loyalist Jos Toms 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 Bolvar out of his home country once more.

Bolvar In Venezuela 1813-14

See also