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Uruguay The Great War, 1843-52
Oribe's siege of Montevideo marked the beginning of the
Great
War (Guerra Grande, 1843-52). The Great War centered on
the nineyear -long siege of Montevideo, described by Alexandre
Dumas as a
"new Troy," although the city itself suffered relatively
little
from the war. Britain had saved Montevideo at the outset
by
allowing the city to receive supplies. During the Great
War,
there were two governments in Uruguay: the Colorados at
Montevideo (the so-called government of the "defense") and
the
Blancos at Cerrito (Little Hill), a promontory near
Montevideo.
The intervention first of France (1838-42) and then of
Britain and France (1843-50) transformed the conflict into
an
international war. First, British and French naval forces
temporarily blockaded the port of Buenos Aires in December
1845.
Then, the British and French fleets protected Montevideo
at sea.
French and Italian legionnaires (the latter led by
Giuseppe
Garibaldi) participated, along with the Colorados, in the
defense
of the city.
Historians believe that the reason for the French and
British
intervention in the conflict was to restore normalcy to
commerce
in the region and to ensure free navigation along the Río
Paraná
and Río Uruguay, thus guaranteeing access to provincial
markets
without Buenos Aires's interference. Their efforts were
ineffective, however, and by 1849 the two European powers
had
tired of the war. In 1850 both withdrew after signing a
treaty
that represented a triumph for Rosas of Argentina.
It appeared that Montevideo would finally fall. But an
uprising against Rosas led by Justo José de Urquiza,
governor of
Argentina's Entre Ríos Province, with the assistance of a
small
Uruguayan force, changed the situation. They defeated
Oribe in
1851, thereby ending the armed conflict in Uruguayan
territory
and leaving the Colorados in full control of the country.
Brazil
then intervened in Uruguay in May 1851 on behalf of the
besieged
Colorados, supporting them with money and naval forces.
With
Rosas's fall from power in Argentina in February 1852, the
siege
of Montevideo was lifted by Urquiza's pro-Colorado forces.
Montevideo rewarded Brazil's vital financial and
military
support by signing five treaties in 1851 that provided for
perpetual alliance between the two countries, confirming
Brazil's
right to intervene in Uruguay's internal affairs;
extradition of
runaway slaves and criminals from Uruguay (during the war,
both
the Blancos and the Colorados had abolished slavery in
Uruguay in
order to mobilize the former slaves to reinforce their
respective
military forces); joint navigation on the Río Uruguay and
its
tributaries; tax exemption on cattle and salted meat
exports (the
cattle industry was devastated by the war); acknowledgment
of
debt to Brazil for aid against the Blancos; and Brazil's
commitment for granting an additional loan. Borders were
also
recognized, whereby Uruguay renounced its territorial
claims
north of the Río Cuareim (thereby reducing its boundaries
to
about 176,000 kilometers) and recognized Brazil's
exclusive right
of navigation in the Laguna Merín and the Río Yaguarón,
the
natural border between the countries.
Data as of December 1990
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