Latin American Independent Movements
There are several reasons why Latin American movements for independence did not fulfill the high expectations of their protagonists. First of all, it is important to look at why the Latin Americans craved independence and indeed there were many causes for this. These causes included the French Revolution, the Enlightenment, Spain's increasing inability to provide colonial defense and other needs, and more importantly the Imperial Crisis. "Under the influence of the Enlightenment and the American and French revolutions, leaders of independence movements in Latin America were clearly inspired more by concepts of liberty and sovereignty than by the ideal of creating a "cultural nation-state" that fired the imaginations and struggles of the romantic European nationalists in later decades."(Stavenhagen, R. Vol. 45 Issue 2, p421) The Imperial Crisis pretty much caused the collapse of the Spanish governmental system. During this time many of the people in Spain became uncomfortable with the changes that were taking place, which included the occupation of many French armies in Spain. The Spaniards began to fight a series of small wars while the Spanish leaders argued about who should take the king's place in Spain. "...the rebellion
s, insurgencies, and counterinsurgencies that led to independence for Spanish America were wars in every sense of the word." But even though there were important benefits later on because of what the Spaniards did, the fact remains that there was much that was lost. Indeed it was not what Latin America had in mind. Because of the conditions they were enduring, many people in Latin America felt that a movement for independence would produce enormous benefits. They certainly had extremely high expectations for what they were doing. But they were not as powerful as they had thought and their plans were not carried out in the way in which they had hoped. It may even be safe to say that they would have experienced more benefit had they stayed in the conditions they were in until the conflict and conditions of the area had been resolved. It would have been a safer and more familiar way to go. However, they could not endure their conditions any longer and therefore felt that a move for independence would have phenomenally impacted their lives and the times. Indeed they were faced with quite a predicament before their venture to independence and were probably quite disappointed that their independence movement was not all that they had expected. But there were many things surrounding this event and many things to consider. Overall, Latin America did not become organized very well. One key reason for this would probably be because they sought for independence prematurely, before they were ready. There we
Some common words found in the essay are:
Latin America, Stavenhagen Vol, Cuba Brazil, Spanish Portuguese, Europeans Creoles, Hull Burns, Spanish America, Imperial Crisis, Spain Spaniards, Portugal Spain, latin america, economic benefits, movements independence, independence movements, 45 issue 2, 45 issue, imperial crisis, movement independence, leaders independence, independence fulfill expectations, portugal spain, vol 45 issue, selling products, issue 2 p421, leaders independence movements,
Approximate Word count = 1023
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
