The 1000 Day War would have a prelude that began many years before, when the several bloody civil wars, where clashes between enemies would predominate and characterized by the existence of two political beliefs that fought each other, supposing both to be right.
Great triggers of these conflicts that were experienced, were developed by a common factor: the ambition for power of different political bossesin addition to religion, social inequality, inherited hatred, political divisions and intolerance.
These warlike events where proclamations, speeches and propaganda sessions alternated with the politics of weapons, left immense losses and great wounds that took years to heal, and a political fracture that prompted thousands to kill each other.
War between Federalists and Centralists
How will we lead and what will be the formation of this new nation? That was the great unknown of the population as a result of the political revolution that took place in 1810in the quest to achieve independence from the Spanish crown.
The first major conflict, after the cry for independence, took place between 1812 and 1815, during which years of extreme unconstitutional instability were experienced, due to thes ideological struggles amid the formation of a new government and the search for suitable models for its constitution.
“The war between centralists and federalists is very important because it is the period of the “homeland fool”, which is actually called the interregnum, which is the word that is assigned to a transition period when a state does not know what it is going to do, which is what follows after independence in 1810”, explains Valentina Mena Castro , historian of Signal Memory.
The war was defined mainly, in the political-administrative differences between the federalists of the United Provinces of New Granadaled by Camilo Torres Tenorio and the centralists of the Free State of Cundinamarca, led by Antonio Nariño.
The first wanted to continue the north american modelwhere sovereignty would be divided, maintaining a general government, but allowing each state to have autonomy and freedom in certain decisions.
Also read: Bipartisanship: the main ingredient of a bomb called ‘War of 1000 days’
The federal system, which was presented as a modern, progressive and innovative political tendency, promoted the autonomist and regionalist sentiment, motivating some states to sanction their own constitutions.
While, the centralists demanded that the authority in which political power resided be unique and indivisibleexercised in the fullness of its faculties by a strong central power that would prepare this new independent nation in a single united front that would respond to the possible Spanish reaction.
Civil wars before the great war
War of the Supremes
“The war of the Supremes occurred in San Juan de Pasto, which has been a very important place in our historyon June 30, 1839, after several priests opposed the order of Congress to dissolve the convents,” Mena commented.
According to the historian, this decision of Congress would upset the Churchwhich at that time had a fundamental role, since they would take away the legal, political, administrative and economic power that they possessed.
This conflict that developed from 1839 to 1842, would have great importance in the political life of Colombia, since would begin the formation of a characteristic style of confrontation between conservatives and liberals.
In addition to that the main actors of the political history of our stormy nineteenth century would emerge, among which would stand out, José María Obando, Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera, Pedro Alcántara Herrán, José Ignacio de Márquez, Mariano Ospina Rodríguez, Rafael Núñez, among others.
But, one of the most important features of this war was that would start the chain of “inherited hatreds”forging in the heat of the war great political friendships, as well as enmities, that would last a lifetime.
war of 51
The civil war of 1851 was started by conservative landowners in Cauca because they were in opposition to the liberal reforms of José Hilario López, who proclaimed the freedom of slaves on May 21, 1851, in addition to expelling the Jesuits, consecrating freedom of the press and abolishing the death penalty and prison for debts.
“López had many progressive ideas in his government, which displeased many and for which several regions that did not agree with his new policies rose up”
“In Popayán, Cauca, the workforce in all these sugar and cotton regions were slaves, so the approach of: let’s free all the slaves and now you will have to pay them for their work, the conservatives did not like it at all”, Mena argues.
war of 54
At the end of José Hilario López’s administration, both liberals and conservatives They were divided into different factions.as is the case of the liberals, where the Golgothas or radicals stand out on the one hand and the Draconians or old liberals on the other, qualified as inflexible in their doctrines and political practices.
With this panorama extremely divided, even internally in the parties, in 1854 as a result of the presidential elections of 1853, a coup d’état was presented by José María Melowho did not accept his defeat against José María Obando.
The accelerated deterioration of Obando’s authority was further complicated when it was his turn to sanction the new National Constitution of 1853in which by the way he did not believe because it seemed too liberal.
This Constitution was fundamentally decentralized, it allowed the election of the rulers by vote, the free expression of thought; separated the Church from the State, authorized trial by jury, proclaimed the freedom of slavesamong other provisions that alarmed the population of the time.
As was the case with the Conservatives, who did not understand such excesses, as José Manuel Restrepo, a prominent Conservative, who was minister of Bolívar and Santander, described in his Diario Politico y Militar:
“We hope that its duration will be short and we are based on the fact that its main provisions are contrary to the uses, customs and habitual of our people. Poor Granadans given over to so many empiricists and ignorants who copy Proudhon, Louis Blanc, Girardin and other Frenchmen who are their models, many without having read them”.
great war
the great war it was the only insurrection of this bloody century won by the insurgents. It developed from 1860 to 1862, due to the union of forces of the two divisions of the liberal party against the government of conservative hegemony and the abuses of Mariano Ospina Rodríguez.
“This conflict pitted the conservative government of Mariano Ospina Rodríguez against the liberal party, led by the defender of federalism Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera, because they did not agree with the conservative reforms,” says Mena.
The uprising began in Cauca on May 8, 1860, when General Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera took up arms along with other states that supported himand ended with the defeat of the Conservatives and the issuance of a new Constitution in 1863.
Welcome to the United States of Colombia! The Constitution issued in 1863 in Rionegro, Antioquiawas of a liberal and federalist nature, and despite the fact that it proposed to prevent the establishment of a new hegemonic government and prevent the spread of public order problems and civil wars throughout the national territory, new rivalries and fights were established, promoted, once again, for ideas of change.
“Between 1819 and 1862, 40,000 Colombians died in these wars. Wars have been our birth control”, highlights Mena.
War of the Schools
We took up arms again due to the following debate: the formation of ideals in educational institutions; How was it going to be taught in schools? Will they have a religious teaching? What can and cannot be said? What are we going to teach and what are we going to hide? Who is going to be in charge of educating the village?
In this conflict, The Church played a major rolebecause they encouraged the population to fight, to rise up with the ideal of “saving the country”, with the intention of stopping the secular education presented by Aquileo Parra, and reestablishing the “spirituality of the soul” hand in hand with religious education .
war of 85
New political disagreements are presented! In this opportunity, the liberals sought power again, because they were tired of the policies of Rafael Núñez and his “Regeneration” project.
This war unfolded from regional conflicts that slowly acquired a national characterand that would culminate in the surrender of the insurgent Liberals.
Later the Constitution of 1886 would be developed, which would convert the states into departments, in addition to returning power to the Catholic Church
The War of ’95
After the death of Rafael Núñez, and with the consolidation in power of Miguel Antonio Caro, the atmosphere of opposition and disagreement intensifiedespecially since Caro responded to the demands of his opponents with exile, jail, press censorship, and absolute marginalization, including some co-partisans who contradicted him, this attitude was analyzed by the liberals as an opportunity to resume the can.
The war began in January 1895 and ended in March of the same year, with a failed coup attempt against the government of Miguel Antonio Caro.
Afterwards, it was tried a general uprising in various departments, but they were also out of luck as the government easily put down the rebellions.
Its short duration was also due to the fact that neither the resources nor the conditions existed, within the liberal party, to sustain a prolonged conflict.
VIVIANA LOPEZ