Regular and irregular forces in conflict: nineteenth century insurgencies in South America

RABINOVICH, ALEJANDRO M.; SOBREVILLA PEREA, NATALIA

Small Wars & Insurgencies

Routledge. Taylor and Francis Group

Año: 2019 vol. 30 p. 775 - 796

0959-2318

In the decades following independence from Spain, ?civil wars? ravaged thenewly established polities in South America. Former vice-regal capitals inherited a larger portion of the colonial administration and had larger economicresources and a hegemonic project they were able to have permanent andprofessional armed forces, capable of leading the offensive and giving battlefollowing the European rules of military art. The central hypothesis of this workis that there is a necessary relationship between the shape of these asymmetrical conflicts, their outcome and the political territorial configuration of eachcountry in post-revolutionary Spanish America. When permanent armies tookover from local militias, the capital kept the integrity of its territories and therewas a tendency towards political centralization. When this did not happen andthe militias managed to find a way to defeat their centralizing enemies, thelocal powers had an opportunity to renegotiate their participation in thepolitical body, and sought to maintain their independence, which was manifest in federal agreements, otherwise a process of territorial fragmentationbegan. More than a difference between regular and irregular forces there wasone between intermittent, and permanent mobilization.