Libertad o Muerte! - AARgentina

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Table of Contents​

Dictatorship of Juan Manuel de Rosas
Pt. I - 1836 Pt. II - 1837 Pt. III - 1838 Pt. IV - 1839 Pt. V - 1840 Pt. VI. - 1841 Pt. VII - 1842

summary​

The Kingdom of Platinea, Reign of Carlos I.
Pt. VIII - 1843 Pt. IX - 1844 Pt. X - 1845 Pt. XI - 1846 Pt. XII - 1847 Pt. XIII - 1848
Pt. XIV - 1849 Pt. XV - 1849 Pt. XVI - 1849

summary​

The Kingdom of Platinea, Reign of Juan I.
Pt. XVII - 1849 Pt. XVIII - 1850 Pt. XIX - 1850

Prime Minister San Martín's term​

Pt. XX - 1850 Pt. XXI - 1851 Pt. XXII - 1852 Pt. XXIII - 1853 Pt. XXIV - 1854 Pt. XXV - 1854

summary​

Prime Minister Juan Bautista Alberdi's first term​

Pt. XXVI - 1854 Pt. XXVII - 1855 Pt. XXVIII - 1856 Pt. XXIX - 1856 Pt. XXX - 1856 Pt. XXXI - 1856
Pt. XXXII - 1857 Pt. XXXIII - 1857 Pt. XXXIV - 1857 Pt. XXXV - 1857 Pt. XXXVI - 1857 Pt. XXXVII - 1858

Prime Minister Juan Bautista Alberdi's second term​

Pt. XXXVIII - 1858 Pt. XXXIX - 1859 Pt. XL - 1859 Pt. XLI - 1860 Pt. XLII - 1861 Pt. XLIII - 1862
summary

Prime Minister Bartolomé Mitre's first term​

Pt. XLIV - 1862 Pt. XLV - 1862 Pt. XLVI - 1863 Pt. XLVII -1864 Pt. XLVIII - 1865 Pt. XLIX - 1866


The American Civil War Special
1861 1862 1863 1864


Map 1840 ~ Map 1850 ~ Map 1860
News from around the World: 1850 ~ 1855 ~ 1860
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Inroduction​

Castillo de San Miguel - Palacio Presidencial - Buenos Aires

Presidente de Rosas stood upon his private balcony with a glass of wine in the one hand and looked down into the streets of Buenos Aires where the common people were still celebrating the dawn of the new year. He left his own 'Presidencial New Year's Eve Party' more than an hour ago. He wasn't in the mood for extended celebrations. But he should be. The bygone year was a very good one. He was reelected as Governor and Generalcaptain for an indefinate time he was more powerfull than ever before. But for quite a time he was haunted by this queasy feeling in his stomach. He got word through his secret service that some of the wealthy citizens of Buenos Aires, especially interlectuals, were quite dissatisfied with his current decisions. Rosas emptied his glass and wished for a moment that he could dance and celebrate in the streets together with the common people until the sun sets. After a last short view into the streets he went back to his office. His desk was piled with reports, bulletins and memoranda about the internal and external affairs of the United Provinces of the La Plata. He decided to start with the reports and the maps that Felipe Arana, the foreign secretary, handed him yesterday. The foreign affairs weren't plain sailing but compared to the interior problems he was facing they looked rather simple.​

The blue line indicates the extension of the former viceroyalty of La Plata. Please note that Chile was not part of the viceroyalty.​

Argentina really had better times, once as Vicekingdom of La Plata, it dominated the most territories of southern south america but was dominated herself by spain. In the meantime the spaniards were expelled from south america but the Vicekingdom was shattered into pieces. Rosas began to outline the border of the vicekingdom on his present day map of south america as he was thinking about the several lost territories. Paraguay defected first, back then form the vicekingdom, but their independency was never recognized. And Bolivia was stolen by Simon Bolivar an since a few days it was part of a confederation with Peru lead by General Santa Cruz. Rosas was not sure what he had to expectfrom this new nation but it would be nothing good and he reminded himself to have always a close look on this confederation. Amother strong and hostile nation at Argentinas borders was the last thing he could want. The Banda Oriental defected some ten years ago when France and England forced the governments of Argentina and Brazil to recognize the independence of the new nation of Uruquay. An unsustainable state for President de Rosas. Argentinian man have lost their lives in this struggel and for what? For the wealth of some europeans? Rosas wasn't very satisfied with this answer and went on to the next neighbouring nation: Chile. A rather small country at the coast of the pacific ocean and since the liberation through San Martin the relation between both states was wether hostile nor very amicable. There was only a rather little dispute over the chilean an argentinean claims in Patagonia, nothing to worry about yet. But the newly founded Piratini Republic was a matter he had to worry about. A few weeks ago the province of Rio Grande dol Sul declared themselves independet from the Brazilean Empire. Emperor Dom Pedro II declared war upon the defectors and warned the neigbouring nations to stay out of this internal brazilian conflict. Till today Rosas didn't intermingle. Last week he even send the newly announced ambassador of the Piratini Republic away who had asked for military and financial support. Rosas was indecisive about this case. On the one side it would be an excellent oppurtunity to weaken the Brazilian Empire and to destabilize it for a long time so they wouldn't be able to threaten Argentina in the future. On the other side it was possible to turn out as big mistake, with thousands of slain argentinean soldiers and an european intervention. The generals were enforcing the matter every day but Rosas wasn't willing to give in. The price was too high and the outcome very unclear. But he knew that it would be time for his first move soon if he really would reunite the territories of the La Plate Vicekingdom. Rosas was thinking a long time about the matter but came to no decision so he changed his attention to the internal affairs.

​

In order to finance the educational and military spending he was recently foced to rise the taxes and tarifs. A not very popular decision. The secret service reports that not only the liberal Unitarios were opposing him and that he might have to face an open rebellion in the countryside but that dissent was spreading through the ranks of the conservatives. To prevent a military coup d'etat he exiled General Alvear and imprisoned General Paz.
As long as he was supported by the aristocracy, the catholic church and his officer corps his position and might should be secured.

The economy of Argentina was based on agriculture, mainly on livestock farming. Only near Vinchina some iron ore was raised. So there were no factories and all and only a tiny amount of resouces to build an industrial sector on. Things that had to be changed if Argentina should get really independent from europe. The sulfur and iron mines of southern bolivia would be a great improvement for the argentinean industry Rosas thought. But first we need to research practical steam engines to get something like a factory.

The military reports were the last he studied. He got two divisions of infantry and one division of cavalry each some 5000 soldiers strong. A rather tiny army compared to the 50.000 soldiers Brazil could field. No doubt, the argentinean ary had to be reinforced as soon as possible. The argentinean navy was even smaller, they was nonexistant actually. Rosas wasn't sad about the lack of a navy, ships wouldn't be very helpful in the andes, the pampas or the gran chaco.

Rosas laid the last report aside and watched the sun setting. A new year was dawning, full of challenges and opportunities.

 

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Possible strategem

I normally take out Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru before taking on Brazil. They can be very tough, especially when there is minimal infrastructure. This looks like it could be an exciting AAR, good luck!

 

[sanmartin]

Personally, I'd hold off any military operations until you've set up a strong home front; in my game as Argentina, I managed to build up my exports enough to sustain the continent's most powerful army (And I even gave Germany a run for its money when they invaded ).

And make sure that you conquer Patagonia, by any means necessary. Once they find oil at Trelew, it becomes an immigrant magnet, I had nearly 1m people in all the souther provinces by around 1910 thanks to that one oil province (And it quickly became the industrial heartland of the country).

 

[Garra-Ush]

I will follow this AAR, looks good.

Suggestion: After Piratini is defeated(the normal), declare war and try to annex it.

 

[unmerged(81390)]

Good beginning!

sanmartin, are you saying Germany invaded south america?

 

[unmerged(74032)]

Thank you all for your interest and support!

M79: Perhaps I will take out some of the 'minors' first, but it seems quite unrealistic to me, that Brazil will just sit there watching how i steamroll south america.

sanmartin: I will deal with Patagonia around 1860 i guess. I don't think a peaceful aproach would fit to Rosas. And I guarantee history will take another way.

Garra-Ush: In the most cases Piratini is beaten and annexed by brazil. And it wouldn't be a spoiler when i say things will turn out differently than you might think .

 

[sanmartin]

Good beginning!

sanmartin, are you saying Germany invaded south america?

Yes, I'd done some conquering in Africa, and apparently I took a piece of coast they really wanted in Nigeria, so they ended up invading me. They controlled a large amount of my territory before I managed to push them back to Buenos Aires, but the war was bankrupting me and I simply couldn't go on

Rosas didn't have a stable enough home front to really worry about foreign intervention. That's not to say he didn't occasionally meddle in Uruguay, but there was no way he could have carried out a genuine military invasion of any of his neighbors. And I'm all for taking history in another direction, I'm just saying that in my experience Argentina doesn't have the resources to really do anything militarily in the beginning, especially since Brazil has a huge lead in that regard, both because of their size and because they start and war and will build troops for it.

Also, don't neglect the so called "weaker" RGOs like cattle, grain and wool. With enough industrial tech, those RGOs become excellent sources of income, and will be the basis of your wealth until the immigrants start flowing in.

 

[Garra-Ush]

Also, don't neglect the so called "weaker" RGOs like cattle, grain and wool. With enough industrial tech, those RGOs become excellent sources of income, and will be the basis of your wealth until the immigrants start flowing in.

That's right. In my last game with Argentina, in 1881, I was winning $170 per month. And I only had about 10 pops of 25.000 working in it.

 

[likk9922]

Argentina is great for attracting immigrants. Get them, start out slow., and when you have a crazy ahistorically massive population and industrial base sweep all opposition aside and crush it to dust!

 

[elbasto]

Argentina is great for attracting immigrants. Get them, start out slow., and when you have a crazy ahistorically massive population and industrial base sweep all opposition aside and crush it to dust!

I agree.

A second rank is obtainable. Most of your immigrants will go to La Rioja though.

Good luck! Love the style so far.

 

[Juan_chaca]

Exellent!! Argentina is a very difficult contry in the begining. We had got nothing.
For first i admire Juan Manuel de Rosas, but in this game is party is very bad for inmigrants. So with a liberar party you just only must to wait the grown of the plurality.
And wait for attack the neighbouring contrys, if you annex Uruguay, Brazil atacck you by event.

 

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Libertad o Muerte! Pt. I - 1836

Castillo de San Miguel - Palacio Presidencial - Buenos Aires​

The secret reports of a possible open revolt seemed to be exaggerated. The Unitarios were uncommonly quite in the last month and so were the other oppositionell groups. Rosas wasn't deluded that they were loving him out of a sudden (?). They weren't even supporting him, he guessed. But many of them were fearing him for sure. His secret service, the mazurka, excelled at its duties. And the exilation of nearly a dozen liberal writers and journalists did the necessary to force many liberals into hiding. His influence was increasing day by day and the federal flag was flying over nearly every fortification in the United Provinces. To show his generosity he allowed the intellectual and liberal teacher Sarmiento to return from his exile in Chile to San Juan. But first he made sure that Sarmiento wouldn't become a threat in the future. Sarmiento was forced to promise to give up his affilation with the Unitarios. And the Mazurka had a very close look on his activities and teachings.

Rosas had to admit that it was a very comfortable situation he found himself in. And it became even better a few hours ago when a despatch from the argentinean ambassador in Montevideo reached him. The ambassador informed him, that Uruguay forged an military alliance with the brazilean Emperor Dom Pedro II. and send their whole army northwards to support the Imperial Army against the piratini rebels. His generals and ministers were debating about this new fact since they were assembled in the great salon and informed about it. That was merely three hours ago. Some were a angry about the Uruguayans and called them traitors for their alliance with brazil, was the banda oriental for them little more than an autonomous province. Others were thoughtfull, perhaps frightened by the alliance which easily could turn against the United Provinces. Rosas himself was wether frightened nor angry. He was calm, listening to the opinions of his ministers like a marmoreal statue and weight out the pros and cons of the loomin opportunities. But in the inside he was smiling bright, he was smiling victoriously. The brazilians had made the first step. And the first mistake, Rosas thought. Now with the Uruguayan army joined the war on the behalf of Emperor Dom Pedro II. the Piratenesi war of independence was no longer a brazilian domestic affair. This was a nearly perfect opportunity to bring the rebellious Uruguayans back into the Federation and a even better opportunity to weaken Brazil. Rosas was sure that the debates in the great salon would continue till the late evening but he was also sure that a messenger would be on his way to Porto Allegre before dawn.​

In Brazil the war was named "Second Cisplatinean War". In Argentina it was first called "Rio Grande Conflict" but later it was called "Guerra del Banda Oriental" or "2nd Argentinean-Brazilean War".

Plaza de Mayo - Montevideo​

The sun stood high at the sky and the masses were waiting down there at the plaza. It was sixtynine long days since President Rosas left together with 10.000 soldiers the military camp near Colon. And now it would be only a case of a few minutes to end this campaign. It was a strange campaign anyway there were not a sign of military resistance. To the contrary, in some towns and villages they were welcomed as liberators. The rural populace supplied them with water and food cheerfully. His troops advanced very fast and without any problems. And even the capital, Montevideo, surrendered without a single round fired. President Oribe seemed not to be very popular, perhaps of his military alliance with the brazilian Empereror? A thing that has to be checked by the Mazurka Rosas noted. The mass cheered again but they became more and more nervous. Time to bring this to a dignified end. He turned around to the other assembled men in the hall. "Gentlemen now it is time to face the truce. Sign this proclamation and bring it to a dignified end so the history books might commemorate you as true patriots and responsible statesmen." Rosas said to the assembled Ministers. "And what if we refuse to?" one of them asked. "If you really had a choice you would have prevented my appearance, wouldn't you?"
One by one signed the proclamation. In a few minutes Uruguay would have ceased to exist and the Banda Oriental would be a province of the Argentinean Federation again. With a loyal governor and a thankful populace. Hopefully General Gutierrez was equally successfull in his attempt to convince the uruguayan army to surrender. Manuel de Rosas already could hear the cheers they would gave him.

69 Days after the declaration of war Montevideo and the uruguayan government surrendered to Generalcaptain and President Juan Manuel de Rosas. The Argentinean Army faced little to no resistance on their advance to Montevideo.

Road to Pelotas - Pelotas Province​

General Gutierrez was successfull, too. The Banda Oriental taken back without a single fallen soldier. Rosas was very pleased. This would really be a great propaganda success for him. Shortly after he received the news of the surrender he ordered Gutierrez to encamp near Pelotas and to wait for his arrival. A meeting of the general staff was in need to coordinate further operations against the Imperial Army. The Imperial Army was as strong as the piratini and the argentinean forces together. So no side would probably win this war by a few succesfull battles. But for a longer war whether Argentina nor the Piratini Republic had the needed rescources of men, guns and money. And the large brazilian navy could blockade the argentinean harbors and rivers easily. Bare stripped of most of his strategic options Rosas was desperately thinking about a way to end this war with the largest gains and fewest lossest possible. Slow but steadily a quite odd idea came to his mind. An idea that wouldn't please General Gutierrez but he would execute it, no doubt. Rosas was quite curious to see the look on his general's face when he reveals him that he and his men will ride behind the enemy lines straight to Rio de Janeiro to occupy it while Rosas and his two infantry divisions would be supporting the piratini army around Curitiba and Sao Joao.​

The daring ride of the 1st Cav. Div. under the command of Gen. Gutierrez. The Division left Curitiba in July in an attempt to occupy Rio de Janeiro unattended. They reached it in early November.

Battlefield near Cacador - Vila do Principe Province​

Rosas looked down to the battlefield were hundreds of dead, brazilian and argentinean soldiers alike were lying. It was a hard and long fought battle against superior numbers. The Imperial Army attacked with nearly 20.000 men, his own troops were mot quite as half as many. But thanks to the sloppy hills of the "Vila do Principe" Region they were able to withstand the enemy. he was sure that he didn't lost a quarter of his men whereas the Imperial Army was nearly slaughtered to the last man. Some three thousand of them were in a wild retreat to the sulfur mines of miranda. Possibly they would build up some kind of deseperate last defense. Nothing to worry about too much. For now it was time for a drink and for some 18.000 burrials.

*due to a savegame crash i had to replay the second phase of the war. Thats why the maps aren't the same.

Authors note:
Selfmade event: "Intervention in the Farrapos War". It's the first selfmade event for this AAR and is the point of divergence. The event picture is from VIP.

 

[Herbert West]

Ah, South America. Ponchos, pistols and presidents. A sadly neglected piece of AARland. Keep up the good work!

 

[Garra-Ush]

It's going pretty well. Fuck that damm brazilians!!

And can you send me that events you prepared for the AAR in a PM?
They look nice and I would like to try them in my PC.

 

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Libertad o Muerte! Pt. II - 1837

Hotel Imperial - Curitiba​

"You can't expect from us that we will give you the sulfur mines of Miranda." declared the brazilian negotiator and looked to Felipe Arana in anger. "I demand the sulfur mines and the whole province of Miranda, this point is not negotiable" Arana replied for the twentieth time. He was discussing this point for hours with his counterpart. He wished President Rosas weren't forced to return to Buenos Aires to care about other important governmental issues. But the relations with the Peruvian-Bolivian Confederation were extremely strained and it seemed that they were at the brink of another war even befor this one had officially ended. "Do I have to remind you that your army is crippled and that three whole divisions are occupying your capital?" Arana asked. He hoped that his counterpart wouldn't recognize his bluff. If their really are hostilities with Peru-Bolivia than the argentinean divisions had to march to the west as soon as possible. Hopefully the brazilians didn't have the same informations. "Are you trying to threaten me?" the brazilian negotiator asked in return. "Well, yes I'm threatening you. Whether the peace treaty includes the sulfur mines or hostilities will beginn anew." Arana replied.

The Peace of Curitiba ended the "Guerra del Banda Oriental" and Argentina got the province of Miranda and twothousandfivehundred pound sterling as compensation.

Castillo de San Miguel - Palacio Presidencial - Buenos Aires
​

Rosas was very exhausted by the stresses and strains of the last months in the field. And just as he had the Brazilian Empire down on its knees he got the rumor of a peruvian-bolivian attack on chile and rumors of hostilities along the argentinean-bolivian border. The Chileans were under enormous pressure. They were initially beaten and forced to retreat southwards, so the confederated army was able to occupy the most northern part of Chile. Rosas wasn't willing to let the Confederation grow even bigger by chewing up Chile. He had to stop the Confederation in one way or the other or otherwise they would soon controll almost the complete pacific coast and therefore would become a major power in south america. War has to be declared soon! Rosas knew that his army was on the opposite edge of the nation but he had to distract the confederates from their initial plans and he was willing to trade in some argentinean soil for time and thus victory.

In April 1837 Argentina joined the war against the Peruvian-Bolivian Confederadtion. Against al expectations it stayed very quiet at the border till Octobre.

The Asociacion de Mayo one of the most important liberal movements of the 19th century was founded. Rosas forced the dissolution of the National Bank, breaking the financial supremacy of the central government, a thorn in the side of the federals since their foundation.



President de Rosas was studying the military maps of the campaign against the Peruvian-Bolivian Confederation over and over again. 'Something is rotten in the stae of Denmark' Rosas muttered to himself. Why is the confederated army not doing anything? It seemed as the confederated army was just sitting on their side of the border waiting for the argentinean army to arrive. Rosas couldn't understand why the enemy had abondoned their tactical initiative. Unless perhaps they... Three knocks were coming from the door and a moment later Enrico his personal secretary was slipping in. "Presidente" Enrico started "there are some writers out there who wish to have an audience." "What is there request?" Rosas asked. "Financial sponsorship to be precise. They want you to patronize their works." Enrico answered. "Well I've more important things to handle than literature. You will care about this matter, give them half the amount they demand. Anything else?" Rosasas asked and hoped he could work on soon. "No Presidente de Rosas". Enrico left the office instantly. Good, back to the unforseen startegical move of the Confederates.

The steamengine would revolutionize the industrial sector as well as the agricultural sector. But in 1837 only a few argentineans recognized the true potential of the steamengine.

Field Quarters: 1st Cavalry Division - Santa Cruz Province
​

"Dear Generalcaptain,
We are camping near the village of Santa Cruz. I have send several advance parties to the northwest but sofar no enemies could be detected. The enemy seems to be completely occupied by his ventures at the chilean border. With a lot of luck we could perhaps reach Lima without a single hostile encounter. I expect to commence our advance to Lima in two or three days. But the soldiers are very depleted our supplies are insufficient and the roads are only farm tracks. And it is raining day and night, therefore the tracks are now mud pits and we can move only a few miles per day. I will sent out the 1. Cavalry Division to secure Lima as fast as possible.
With the best regards,
Gen. Gutierrez

The argentinean campaign in fall/winter of 1837 didn't met any resistance. Meanwhile the confederated army was retreating from nothern Chile to intercept Gen. Gutierrez.

Authors note:
Selfmade event: "Peace of Curitiba"

 

[unmerged(54970)]

Awesome AAR! Any industralization?

 

[Davisx3m]

Cool

 

[Sarganto]

Are all of these events selfmade?

Indeed very cool AAR

 

[Garra-Ush]

What's next? Paraguay?

 

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likk9922, elbasto, Herbert West, Congo, Davisx3m, Sarganto: Welcome aboard! It's nice to see your interest for the fate of Argentina.

likk9922: I'll try to get as much immigrants as I can but in earlier games I wasn't very successful at it.

Garra-Ush, Sarganto: Only two events ("The Rio Grande Conflict" and "The Peace of Curitiba") are selfmade the other events are all from VIP:R 0.1.

Garra-Ush: If you want to I can send you all the event files, but I'm going to edit some more in the future. And Paraquay is definately on President de Rosas to do List.

Congo: No industrialization around. I don't have a single factory or railroad track. One might call it a backwater nation but I wouldn't say that into President de Rosas face. I'm only a historian but not a suicide. And my payment is just too low to risk death for it .

Thank you all for your great support! I leave you for tonight with a little teaser.