The Plurinational State of Bolivia, abbreviated as Bolivia, the legal capital of Sucre, the actual capital of La Paz, covers an area of 1.09 million square kilometers, with a population of 10.62 million, is the fifth largest country in South America. The name Bolivia is obviously intended to commemorate bolivar, so what role did bolívar play in the founding of Bolivia?
Before the founding of the State of Bolivia, it was a Spanish colony, commonly known as Upper Peru, which belonged to the jurisdiction of the Spanish Viceroyalty of La Plata, which was completely different from the Pampas Plain, the core of Upper Peru, which was dominated by the Andean mountainous plateau, and for the convenience of administration, Spain had a Royal Court of Chalcas in the Upper Peru region to administer this area.
At the end of 1824, sucre defeated the main force of the Spanish colonial army at the Battle of Ayacuccio, liberated La Paz in February 1825, and in April 1825 Sucre completely annihilated the last field troops of the Spanish colonial army, immediately liberating all of Peru, and the future of the next Upper Peru region became unknown, at this time there were three roads in front of Peru:
The first way, join the United Province of La Plata and accept the leadership of Buenos Aires. For hundreds of years, the upper Peruvian region had been under the jurisdiction of the Viceroy of La Plata, who after the liberation of La Plata had launched a large-scale expedition to the Upper Peru region of the Spanish colonists to win upper Peru to join, although it ultimately failed, but Buenos Aires still looked at Upper Peru.
The second way, merging with Peru, accepts the leadership of Lima. The upper and lower Peru are closely linked, and the terrain is similar, the race is similar, the people are close, and the import and export of the Upper Peru region must pass through Peru, and upper Peru is rich in natural resources, and the merger of the two countries is just complementary; in addition, the merger of the two countries is basically the territory of the old Inca Empire, the restoration of the old Inca Empire, which was still very marketable in South America at that time; moreover, some of the generals of the revolutionary army came from Lower Peru and naturally supported the merger with Lower Peru.
The benefits of the third path, leaving aside Lima and Buenos Aires, for independent statehood, are self-evident and are embraced by almost all the provinces of Upper Peru.
In the People's Liberation Army that controlled Upper Peru at that time, whether it was Sucre or other generals, at this moment, in name, they were all subordinates of Bolívar, and Sucre, the first hero of the liberation of Upper Peru, was Bolivar's number one confidant and close friend. At this moment, Bolívar's attitude towards the fate of the upper-Peruvian region is crucial.
The first way that Bolívar ruled out was that joining the United Provinces of La Plata was not in the interest of many revolutionary generals, as well as in the interests of parliament and local government. According to Bolívar's original idea, the Peruvian region should be incorporated into the Republic of Peru, one and two places have a lot in common, the same Andean mountain plateau, the national conditions are similar, and the people of the two places are very common to move each other, and the division into two countries is not conducive to exchanges; moreover, although the main force of the Spanish colonial army was annihilated at that time, in some remote areas, the Spanish colonial government still has a lot of remnants of these scattered forces, and it is also a huge force, and the establishment of the two countries is easy to be broken by each. Bolívar's plan was embraced by a large number of military generals, and Peru was originally one, three hundred years ago it was the core of the ancient Inca Empire, and the merger of the two countries was equivalent to the revival of the Inca Empire.
However, Bolívar soon changed his mind, at this time Bolívar was the president of the Republic of Gran Colombia, as the core of Spain's colony in South America, Lower Peru was already strong, if upper and lower Peru merged into a unified Republic of Peru, in South America, the Republic of Gran Colombia would have a strong competitor, even surpassing Gran Colombia. Although Bolívar also served as the dictator of Peru at the same time, Peru's position in Bolivar's mind was still far inferior to that of Gran Colombia, after all, Gran Colombia can be said to be a country that bolivar's Northern Revolutionary Army shot down with one knife and one shot, and although the liberation of Peru also had great merits of the Northern Revolutionary Army, the Southern Revolutionary Army led by Saint Martin also had great merits.
After several considerations, Bolívar abandoned the plan to merge upper and lower Peru and established the policy of independent statehood in upper Peru. However, many generals, represented by Santa Cruz, are bound to oppose this new plan. In order to silence the military generals, Bolívar instructed his confidant and close friend, Sucre, the commander of the Upper Peru garrison, to bypass the military and vote directly on the future of the country in the Upper Peruvian Parliament, and after several hours of heated discussions, only one vote was in favor of joining the United Province of La Plata, two votes in favor of merging with Peru, and the remaining votes were all in favor of independent statehood.
On August 6, 1825, Upper Peru declared its statehood, in honor of Bolívar's merits, the name of the country was named the Bolivarian Republic, soon renamed the Republic of Bolivia, the largest city in La Paz, and appointed Bolívar as President of the Republic and Sucre as Vice President. When all the dust settles, some generals, even if they are dissatisfied, can only accept this result for the time being and wait for the opportunity.
After Bolívar's return to Gran Colombia, he left his successor, Sucre, a militarily capable force, intending to continue to control Bolivia and prevent bolivia from merging with Peru. Ironically, this force instead contributed to Sucre's resignation and the withdrawal of Gran Colombian forces.
Ten years later, Santa Cruz, then governor of Chuquisaka Province, followed the second path and briefly succeeded. And the problem that Bolivar feared at that time also seemed to have been fulfilled, the merged country was too powerful to threaten the neighboring country, unfortunately, this neighboring country is not gran Colombia, which has long ceased to exist, but Chile and Argentina in the south.
That's it, I am Beiling Hanyuan, I hope to discuss the modern history of Latin America with you, I hope you will not hesitate to teach, I am grateful, I am honored!