Andean Republics 1914
By Jamie Bisher
Colombia
In 1914, Colombia was emerging from a gory century of
fratricidal war as Europe slid into the Great
War. The climactic War of a Thousand Days
had exhausted itself in 1902, leaving Colombia’s extremists discredited by the
death toll, raggedy invalids, and widespread poverty that their futile struggle
had produced. In 1903 Colombia had suffered the secession of Panama, an isolated province long neglected by Bogota, but not by
foreigners eager to commence with the building of the long awaited isthmian
canal. The secession owed its’ success
to a small number of US Marines, gunboat USS
Nashville, American engineers manning the Panama Railway who prevented
Colombian troops from boarding trains to put down the insurrection, and
well-placed bribes with Columbian military officers. The secession opened the gates to foreign
development and US influence in Panama,
but cut Colombia
out of the lucrative economic benefits that would soon flow from the
canal. A chill fell upon Colombian-US
relations for years to come. Only in
1914 did Colombia grudgingly
recognize Panama in exchange
for rights in the Canal Zone and payment of an indemnity from the United States (the indemnity intended to compensate for the US’ unabashed assistance to Panamanian separatists in 1903; as President Theodore Roosevelt would later explain, “I took Panama, and left Congress to debate it later”).
Moderate Conservatives took the helms of the Colombian government and, along with other sweeping reforms, in 1907 began transforming the feudal armies of Colombia’s city-states and baronial warlords into a national army. A Chilean military mission arrived in 1909, and stayed only two years but created a disciplined, goose-stepping army. Nevertheless, Colombian security forces faced a daunting challenge in keeping order over the country’s four distinct geographic regions, each isolated from the others by three immense Andean mountain ranges. The impoverished navy faced an equally formidable challenge to patrol 1,500 miles of coastline on two oceans and an even longer network of navigable rivers.
German influence was significant in intellectual circles, the clergy and commerce. The pro-German affinity among intellectuals manifested itself in newspaper propaganda and an informal neutrality movement. Percy Martin asserted that “the clergy of ultramontane tendencies were almost solidly pro-German,” promising fertile ground for the recruitment of agents in the future. However, German enterprises in mining and agriculture posed the greatest security concerns to Allied and US interests because of the resources at their disposal, strategic locations and importance to local economies.
Moderate Conservatives took the helms of the Colombian government and, along with other sweeping reforms, in 1907 began transforming the feudal armies of Colombia’s city-states and baronial warlords into a national army. A Chilean military mission arrived in 1909, and stayed only two years but created a disciplined, goose-stepping army. Nevertheless, Colombian security forces faced a daunting challenge in keeping order over the country’s four distinct geographic regions, each isolated from the others by three immense Andean mountain ranges. The impoverished navy faced an equally formidable challenge to patrol 1,500 miles of coastline on two oceans and an even longer network of navigable rivers.
German influence was significant in intellectual circles, the clergy and commerce. The pro-German affinity among intellectuals manifested itself in newspaper propaganda and an informal neutrality movement. Percy Martin asserted that “the clergy of ultramontane tendencies were almost solidly pro-German,” promising fertile ground for the recruitment of agents in the future. However, German enterprises in mining and agriculture posed the greatest security concerns to Allied and US interests because of the resources at their disposal, strategic locations and importance to local economies.
Ecuador
Ecuador was the third smallest republic in South America, but had internal problems befitting a much larger nation. Her lethargic international commerce approximated only $30 million in 1913, and her prime export was cacao, an expendable luxury to European consumers in times of hardship or war. The country’s most attractive wartime attribute was possession of the Galapagos Islands, superbly situated for a naval base to harass or defend the Pacific approach to the Panama Canal. Ecuador’s population was less than two million people with negligible European or Japanese immigration.
German influence made itself felt nevertheless. Germans controlled a significant portion of the commerce of Guayaquil, the major port. The ministries of interior, public works and education all had German technical advisors, German contract teachers were influential throughout academia; a German construction firm, Orenstein and Koppel, was constructing the Cuenca-Simbambe Railway; and germanophiles were common among army officers and clergy owing to Chilean military advisors and Spanish clerical influence.
Political tranquility was a new development. After decades of lengthy dictatorships, which included a sixteen-year “eccentric theocracy,” interspersed with periods of anarchy, President Flavio Eloy Alfaro Delgado began steady modernization of the nation’s armed forces in 1895 with guidance from French officers. French influence waned when Chilean military and naval missions arrived in 1903 and began a protracted relationship that reflected both Ecuador and Chile’s rivalry with their common enemy Peru. Indeed Peru was perceived as Ecuador’s nemesis, as evidenced by the looting of a Peruvian consulate and merchant ship in Guayaquil in April 1910 by an incensed mob, and similar occasional outrages against other Peruvian establishments.
Mayhem returned to Ecuador in 1911. President Alfaro resigned near the end of his term, his successor suddenly died of a heart attack, and a bitter political rival, General Leonidas Plaza, declared himself president, provoking Alfaro to revolt. Thousands rallied to Alfaro’s cause until 3,000 rebel soldiers were mowed down by government forces’ recently imported machine guns. President Alfaro was captured by rebels. On January 28, 1912, his captors allowed a mob—supposedly led by churchmen—to storm his prison, drag him through the streets, hack him to pieces, then torch his remains in retaliation for nationalizing church lands, allowing civil marriage and otherwise curtailing church influence. The horrors escalated as Liberals and Conservatives plunged the nation into yet another round of civil war tinged with racial and regional animosities. The bloodbath dragged on until March 1914, when government forces stormed the Alfarista stronghold of Esmeraldas.
“Next to the Tacna and Arica question, the dubious boundaries of Ecuador constituted the most serious international problem in South America,” wrote William R. Shepherd. The Amazonian Oriente region just east of the Andes was claimed by Peru, Brazil and Colombia. Had the claims of all nations been satisfied, “nothing would have been left of Ecuador but the strip between the Andes and the Pacific coast, including the cities of Quito and Guayaquil.” War in Europe was the least of Ecuador’s concerns.
Political tranquility was a new development. After decades of lengthy dictatorships, which included a sixteen-year “eccentric theocracy,” interspersed with periods of anarchy, President Flavio Eloy Alfaro Delgado began steady modernization of the nation’s armed forces in 1895 with guidance from French officers. French influence waned when Chilean military and naval missions arrived in 1903 and began a protracted relationship that reflected both Ecuador and Chile’s rivalry with their common enemy Peru. Indeed Peru was perceived as Ecuador’s nemesis, as evidenced by the looting of a Peruvian consulate and merchant ship in Guayaquil in April 1910 by an incensed mob, and similar occasional outrages against other Peruvian establishments.
Mayhem returned to Ecuador in 1911. President Alfaro resigned near the end of his term, his successor suddenly died of a heart attack, and a bitter political rival, General Leonidas Plaza, declared himself president, provoking Alfaro to revolt. Thousands rallied to Alfaro’s cause until 3,000 rebel soldiers were mowed down by government forces’ recently imported machine guns. President Alfaro was captured by rebels. On January 28, 1912, his captors allowed a mob—supposedly led by churchmen—to storm his prison, drag him through the streets, hack him to pieces, then torch his remains in retaliation for nationalizing church lands, allowing civil marriage and otherwise curtailing church influence. The horrors escalated as Liberals and Conservatives plunged the nation into yet another round of civil war tinged with racial and regional animosities. The bloodbath dragged on until March 1914, when government forces stormed the Alfarista stronghold of Esmeraldas.
“Next to the Tacna and Arica question, the dubious boundaries of Ecuador constituted the most serious international problem in South America,” wrote William R. Shepherd. The Amazonian Oriente region just east of the Andes was claimed by Peru, Brazil and Colombia. Had the claims of all nations been satisfied, “nothing would have been left of Ecuador but the strip between the Andes and the Pacific coast, including the cities of Quito and Guayaquil.” War in Europe was the least of Ecuador’s concerns.
Peru
Peru’s strategic landscape was shaped by unhealed wounds from the nation’s bloody, violent beginnings in the nineteenth century and persistent friction with neighboring Chile. “Peruvian independence had been largely won by the intervention of the Argentine-Chilean Army of Liberation, supported by the Chilean Navy, from the south and Bolivar’s Army of Gran Colombia from the north,” wrote historian Adrian J. English. Not one year passed after the eviction of the last Spanish colonials before Peru was fighting with its Gran Colombian liberators, meeting a quick defeat at the Battle of Tarqui in 1829. Civil war then polarized Peru into northern and southern factions, the latter aligning itself with Bolivia, which had been split off into a separate state by Simon Bolivar in 1825. Marshal Andrés Santa Cruz, the Bolivian dictator and hero of the independence struggle, intervened to help Peruvian President Luís José de Orbegoso, and in 1835 formed a Peruvian-Bolivian Confederation that was recognized by Great Britain, France and the United States. Unfortunately the Confederation struck fear into its powerful neighbors, Chile and Argentina, and also inherited an explosive financial and economic predicament that awaited only the slightest spark to ignite a conflict. Chile bristled about Peruvian ingrates who owed her a million and a half pesos plus interest from the war for independence, and erected trade barriers to Chilean agricultural products. Peruvians, on the other hand, were envious that Chile’s port of Valparaiso was usurping Callao as Latin America’s prime Pacific trading hub.
Peru’s strategic landscape was shaped by unhealed wounds from the nation’s bloody, violent beginnings in the nineteenth century and persistent friction with neighboring Chile. “Peruvian independence had been largely won by the intervention of the Argentine-Chilean Army of Liberation, supported by the Chilean Navy, from the south and Bolivar’s Army of Gran Colombia from the north,” wrote historian Adrian J. English. Not one year passed after the eviction of the last Spanish colonials before Peru was fighting with its Gran Colombian liberators, meeting a quick defeat at the Battle of Tarqui in 1829. Civil war then polarized Peru into northern and southern factions, the latter aligning itself with Bolivia, which had been split off into a separate state by Simon Bolivar in 1825. Marshal Andrés Santa Cruz, the Bolivian dictator and hero of the independence struggle, intervened to help Peruvian President Luís José de Orbegoso, and in 1835 formed a Peruvian-Bolivian Confederation that was recognized by Great Britain, France and the United States. Unfortunately the Confederation struck fear into its powerful neighbors, Chile and Argentina, and also inherited an explosive financial and economic predicament that awaited only the slightest spark to ignite a conflict. Chile bristled about Peruvian ingrates who owed her a million and a half pesos plus interest from the war for independence, and erected trade barriers to Chilean agricultural products. Peruvians, on the other hand, were envious that Chile’s port of Valparaiso was usurping Callao as Latin America’s prime Pacific trading hub.
The constant antagonism between Peru and Chile sparked the War of the Pacific in 1879. It raged until 1883 and profoundly affected Peru for decades. Chile dealt Peru a painful defeat—the Peruvian Navy was neutered and the smaller Chilean Army invaded Peru. Lima suffered a humiliating occupation from 1881 until 1885. Worse yet, Chile took Peru’s resource-rich provinces of Tacna and Arica.
Military preparedness became the mantra of Peruvian leaders after the War of the Pacific. French military and naval missions influenced training, tactics and acquisitions from the turn of the century until World War I. Although Peru became the first Latin American nation to operate a two-boat submarine fleet in 1910, the nation’s purchases of two cruisers, a handful of gunboats and a destroyer could not keep pace with the high stakes naval arms race of the ABC powers—Argentina, Brazil and Chile. Thus Peru had to rely upon aggressive intelligence and counterintelligence arms to counterbalance Chile’s undisputed naval superiority. Chileans sometimes accused Peru of being a puppet of the United States because of the latter’s diplomatic support for Lima during the War of the Pacific.
Chile’s annexation of Tacna-Arica poisoned diplomatic relations for decades. In 1909, Chile began to colonize the occupied territories, prompting Peru to break off relations two years later. Officially, amicable relations were restored in 1913, when the two countries agreed to delay resolution of the Tacna-Arica conflict for another twenty years. However, it was no secret that Peru seethed to avenge her humiliation and recover her lost territory.
The constant antagonism between Peru and Chile sparked the War of the Pacific in 1879. It raged until 1883 and profoundly affected Peru for decades. Chile dealt Peru a painful defeat—the Peruvian Navy was neutered and the smaller Chilean Army invaded Peru. Lima suffered a humiliating occupation from 1881 until 1885. Worse yet, Chile took Peru’s resource-rich provinces of Tacna and Arica.
Military preparedness became the mantra of Peruvian leaders after the War of the Pacific. French military and naval missions influenced training, tactics and acquisitions from the turn of the century until World War I. Although Peru became the first Latin American nation to operate a two-boat submarine fleet in 1910, the nation’s purchases of two cruisers, a handful of gunboats and a destroyer could not keep pace with the high stakes naval arms race of the ABC powers—Argentina, Brazil and Chile. Thus Peru had to rely upon aggressive intelligence and counterintelligence arms to counterbalance Chile’s undisputed naval superiority. Chileans sometimes accused Peru of being a puppet of the United States because of the latter’s diplomatic support for Lima during the War of the Pacific.
Chile’s annexation of Tacna-Arica poisoned diplomatic relations for decades. In 1909, Chile began to colonize the occupied territories, prompting Peru to break off relations two years later. Officially, amicable relations were restored in 1913, when the two countries agreed to delay resolution of the Tacna-Arica conflict for another twenty years. However, it was no secret that Peru seethed to avenge her humiliation and recover her lost territory.
Bolivia
Ancestors of modern Bolivians had been first to revolt against the Spanish masters in 1661, yet had been last to throw off the colonial yoke in 1825. Similar misfortune had followed Bolivia through history. Its confederation with Peru fought off invasions from Argentina and Chile but succumbed to internal dissension in 1839. In 1883, Chile invaded and took Bolivia’s outlet to the sea, Antofogasta Province, and in 1903 Brazilian squatters took over Acre Province, a territory five times the size of Belgium, and forced Bolivia to sell it. A similar scenario seemed to be shaping up in the Chaco region where Paraguay was selling off tracts of disputed land to foreign investors. These events obliged Bolivian intelligence to keep wary eyes on Chile, Brazil and Paraguay and to prepare her limited resources for the inevitable conflicts of the future.
As a result, the Bolivian government contracted five French officers in 1905 to reorganize its forces (the most notable member of the French mission was General Jacques Sever). When they departed four years later, Bolivia possessed a General Staff, Staff College and Reserve Officers School, with a small (4,300-man) yet efficient army equipped with modern Mausers and 16 machine guns.
Berlin encouraged a strong bond between the Bolivian and German militaries. A large German military mission—five officers and 20 NCOs—arrived in 1911, “imposed a superficially Prussian veneer... which impressed observers of military parades and exercises,” but actually presided over a decline in military efficiency, trading competence for showmanship. Major Hans Kundt, the chief of mission, made a lasting impression nevertheless until his departure two months before the European War in 1914. The year before, a Bolivian delegation traveled to Germany to accept an order of German military radios. Bolivia’s envoy Salinas Vega and two Ministry of War representatives, Captain Alcoreza and Señor de Asin, toured Telefunken facilities, observed acceptance tests, officially took delivery and supervised the packing of the four transportable radios. They were deployed in the Gran Choco to help secure Bolivian territorial claims against Paraguayan encroachment.
As a result, the Bolivian government contracted five French officers in 1905 to reorganize its forces (the most notable member of the French mission was General Jacques Sever). When they departed four years later, Bolivia possessed a General Staff, Staff College and Reserve Officers School, with a small (4,300-man) yet efficient army equipped with modern Mausers and 16 machine guns.
Berlin encouraged a strong bond between the Bolivian and German militaries. A large German military mission—five officers and 20 NCOs—arrived in 1911, “imposed a superficially Prussian veneer... which impressed observers of military parades and exercises,” but actually presided over a decline in military efficiency, trading competence for showmanship. Major Hans Kundt, the chief of mission, made a lasting impression nevertheless until his departure two months before the European War in 1914. The year before, a Bolivian delegation traveled to Germany to accept an order of German military radios. Bolivia’s envoy Salinas Vega and two Ministry of War representatives, Captain Alcoreza and Señor de Asin, toured Telefunken facilities, observed acceptance tests, officially took delivery and supervised the packing of the four transportable radios. They were deployed in the Gran Choco to help secure Bolivian territorial claims against Paraguayan encroachment.
German influence was strong, even though the expatriate colony was numerically very small. Germans gained high visibility in the economy by running the breweries and a number of small manufacturing ventures. Bolivia was the only Latin American nation where Germany had enjoyed unquestioned superiority in imports until 1913. Nevertheless, the recently inaugurated president, General Ismael Montes Gamboa, wisely recognized that Germany would never forsake Bolivia’s arch-enemy Chile and was openly pro-Allied.
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Copyright 2018, Jamie Bisher.