Question

The Latin American Revolutions from 1804 to 1821 were

Answer 1

The Latin American revolutions from 1804 to 1821 were unsuccessful and left strong conservative governments in place.

During the time following the French Revolution in Europe, revolutions began to take place across Latin America. Napoleon came to power in France, and he extended his regime to Portugal and Spain (and elsewhere). Napoleon's focus was on seizing control in Europe. Movements for independence spread across countries in Latin America that had been controlled by Spain and Portugal. But those movements didn't yield the ideals of liberty that the revolutionaries hoped for.

One of the famous freedom fighters in Latin America was Simón Bolivar. Bolivar reflected on the revolutions with a famous phrase: ""All who served the Revolution have plowed the sea." He was expressing his frustrations with how independence had led to situations where caudillos (authoritarian leaders) rose to power. Bolivar had wanted a united Spanish America, a great nations, but the wars of independence had tended to result in charismatic military rulers leading their own countries in authoritarian ways -- what we today would call dictators.