In 1780 a rebellion led by Tomás Catari –who acted in agreement with Túpac Amaru in Peru– spread to Charcas, Oruro, Cochabamba and La Paz. After the leader died, his brothers Dámaso and Nicolás assumed the leadership of the insurgents and besieged Chuquisaca (Charcas) with more than 12,000 men. Defeated, the two brothers were executed. In the same year of 1780 the Indian Julián Apaza, better known as Tupac Catari, entered fighting in La Paz. Rejected after several days of bloody fighting, he gathered his forces and besieged the city twice more, the first for 109 days and the second for 75. At last defeated, the leaders were dismembered. These uprisings were opposed to the excessive collection of taxes, the abuses of half and the ignorance of other rights.
Subsequently, other events happened. In La Paz, the 16 of July of 1809, a group of revolutionaries headed by Pedro Domingo Murillo raided the headquarters of La Paz and dominated the city. The revolutionaries were defeated; Murillo, Basilio Catacora, Buenaventura Bueno, Melchor Jiménez, Mariano Graneros, Juan Antonio Figueroa, Apolinar Jaén, Oregorio Lanza and Juan Bautista Sagárnaga were hanged on January 29, 1810.
Since then, many unsuccessful efforts have been made to liberate Bolivia, in a 15-year war. Rivero, Arce and Guzmán Quitón launched the emancipatory cry in Cochabamba, they obtained some triumphs in 1810 but were defeated the following year.
The years between 1818 and 1820 were of incessant warfare in the so-called Guerrilla War in which Juana Azurduy de Padilla stood out, as well as in Tarija Eustaquio Méndez, better known as the Moto Méndez.
In 1823 General Andrés Santa Cruz received from Simón Bolivar the order to attack the royalists in Upper Peru, but was defeated in La Paz. The independence of Bolivia was only achieved once Bolivar and his lieutenant Antonio José de Sucreobtained the decisive triumphs of Junín and Ayacucho, and entered Upper Peru.
The 6 of August of 1825, in Chuquisaca, today Sucre, in the House of Representatives independence of the new state, to which the name of Republic of Bolivar was in tribute to the Liberator, name that little time was changed proclaimed by the current Bolivia. The following year the Constitution dictated by Bolivar himself was adopted, who was in power for a short time and returned to the North. The Assembly elected Antonio José de Sucre, Marshal of Ayacucho, president.
The Republic
The first 50 years of the Republic were characterized by political instability and by constant external threats that put its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity at risk. In 1825, the Empire of Brazil invaded the east of the country, occupying the province of Chiquitos. At that time, Marshal Antonio José de Sucre sent an ultimatum, threatening to send the liberating army to expel the invaders. The province was evacuated by the Brazilians. Subsequently, the invasion of Peruvian troops in 1828, led by Agustín Gamarra and whose main objective was to force the departure of the troops from Gran Colombia. The conflict ended with the Treaty of Piquiza and the Peruvian withdrawal from Bolivian soil after achieving the resignation of President Sucre and the establishment of a government without Bolivarian influence.
Following Sucre’s resignation, Andrés de Santa Cruz ruled for ten years. He abolished the Bolivarian Constitution and managed to impose a plan for the Federation of Peru and Bolivia (1836).
The Peru-Bolivian Confederation fails to consolidate because Chile, the Argentine Confederation and Peruvians opposed to Santa Cruz oppose its formation, unleashing the War against the Peru-Bolivian Confederation. In the first phase of the war, the Confederation emerged victorious, but in the second phase, the Battle of Yungay took place, which defined the dissolution of the Peru-Bolivian Confederation and the overthrow of Santa Cruz in 1839. On the southern front, the Bolivian army, under the command of General Otto Philipp Braun, defeats the Argentine Confederation in the Battle of Montenegro, achieving its withdrawal.
After the disappearance of the Peru-Bolivian Confederation, as a country located in South America according to THESCIENCETUTOR.ORG, Bolivia experienced a period of anarchy and political confrontations between supporters and opponents of the union with Peru. The Peruvian President Agustín Gamarra, ideologue of the annexation of Bolivia to Peru, taking advantage of the situation decided to invade Bolivian territory, occupying several areas of the Department of La Paz. Faced with this circumstance, Bolivians decide to unite in the face of a common enemy and the powers of the State are left to José Ballivián. The 18 November as as 1841 The Battle of Ingavi occurred, in which the Bolivian Army defeats the Peruvian troops of Gamarra (killed in the battle). After the victory, Bolivia invades Peru, but withdraws after the signing of the Treaty of Puno. The Ballivián Presidency manages to consolidate the independence and sovereignty of Bolivia.
