Relatively small countries that split from small countries, such as Uruguay , are more completely disintegrated. Compared with Argentina and Brazil , which are less completely disintegrated, it is easier to achieve freedom and democracy.
Uruguay location map
This is the lesson that Spanish colonies left to the world in the process of democratization.
一
The founding fathers of Uruguay have three groups of people
Uruguay River
According to the founding myth and national myth of Uruguay, the founding fathers of Uruguay have three groups of people. One group is the founding father Londeo, and the other group is the father of independence Artiga. Sri Lanka, there is also a group of "Thirty-three East Bank Thirty-three" who are the fathers of independence.
But in fact, if you look at the La Plata-Paraná River colonies from a macro historical perspective, you will see: First, Artigas and Londeo, the two later founders of Uruguay, At that time, no one wanted Uruguay to be independent. They were all Uruguayans, but they all considered themselves Argentine warlords; moreover, they were on opposite sides in the civil war.
Londeo, the great hero of the War of Independence, sided with the Argentine totalitarians and demanded that Argentina rule all the provinces; Artigas, another great hero, sided with the federalists and demanded that the east coast of Uruguay be included. Province, Cordoba Province and other provinces are under federalism and implement a high degree of autonomy, but they are not trying to overthrow Argentina or become independent from it.
Their original purpose was to invade Buenos Aires instead of escaping, but they ended up losing. The reason for the defeat was that it was attacked from both sides by the Argentines and the Portuguese.
The Portuguese controlled all of Brazil, and the Argentine territory east of the Uruguay River was the part of Argentine territory closest to Brazil. The Argentinian centralists would rather hand over the eastern coast of Uruguay to the Portuguese than allow the federalists to occupy it. As a result, the Brazilian Portuguese invaded Uruguay in 1816 with the acquiescence of the central government of the United Provinces, and the original federal provinces also abandoned Artigas. Artigas was already old, so he went to Paraguay and became a retired manor owner, completely withdrawing from politics. By this time, Londeo had become chairman of the central government in Buenos Aires.
Whether it is Artigas or Londeo, the goal pursued is not to establish an Uruguayan state and the Uruguayan nation at all. Londeo's purpose was to establish a centralized Argentine state, and his attitude towards Uruguay was at best to turn it into a part of centralized Argentina. Artigas's purpose is to create a federalist Argentina like the United States and turn Uruguay into a state in Argentina like American states . None of them wanted the Uruguayan nation, so they went their separate ways.
Under Portuguese rule, Uruguay had to find other people, and these people were Uruguayans in exile in Argentina, who later became the famous heroes of Uruguay's "again" independence, the so-called "Thirty-Three People".
二
Argentina wanted to turn Uruguay into a province, but Brazil disagreed and the United Kingdom intervened.
According to Uruguay’s national mythology, these 33 people crossed the Uruguay River and reached the east bank. They drove away the Portuguese invaders and restored the country in 1825. Uruguay's independence. But the actual story is this:
The Argentine government never forgets the eastern coast provinces of Uruguay that were taken away by British imperialism and Portuguese imperialism. In their view, the east coast of Uruguay is living well under the rule of the Argentine federation. Lundeo has become a high official like the president. Argentina has not treated its Uruguayan compatriots in the slightest.
Uruguay is not willing to be independent, but is annexed by imperialism. Then, of course, Argentina must establish the Uruguay Liberation Organization in Buenos Aires on the territory, and always look for opportunities to take Uruguay back from the Portuguese.
Most of the 33 people in Uruguay were actually residents of Uruguay under Portuguese rule. They then ran to Argentina and were incorporated by the Argentine centralists. They hoped to use the power of Argentina to fight back to Uruguay and re-integrate Uruguay into the power of Argentina.
Argentina and Uruguay, who are both in the Pampas.
Such an opportunity finally came. Amid civil unrest in Portugal and another unrest in Uruguay, the Argentine army crossed the Uruguay River and reoccupied it under the leadership of 33 people. to Uruguay, declaring that Uruguay has been the land of Argentina since ancient times, and now it has finally returned.
33 people actually established independent Uruguay not as heroes of the Uruguay War of Independence, but as the leading party of the Argentine army. Under the protection of the Argentine army's bayonets, Uruguay was re-turned into a province of Argentina.
But the international situation at that time did not allow Argentina to annex Uruguay. Brazil is a big country in South America. The failure was temporary and it soon came back. Although Argentina's strength is no problem against Uruguay, it is a bit difficult to beat Brazil, and the British come in to interfere again. The British did not care about anyone ruling anywhere, but they did care about free trade.
The British saw that a South America with many small countries would be more advantageous. On the one hand, small countries are more likely to be stable and are less likely to break out of unrest like big countries; on the other hand, small countries are more likely to implement free trade policies and will not be as ambitious as big countries like Brazil and Argentina.
Both Brazil and Argentina want to turn themselves into the United States of South America, a major country on an equal footing with Britain. In that case, if you want to be a big country, you must have a strong industrial system. If you want to have a strong industrial system, you must implement high tariffs, develop your own industry as much as possible, and exclude British industrial and commercial products as much as possible. A small country like Uruguay has no such pursuit, because in terms of its size, it is only 176,200 square kilometers. It is impossible to turn itself into a big country like the United States, and it is impossible to put itself on an equal footing with the British Empire of.
Instead of expending all the efforts to drive out British products and wasting money and people on building an industrialized system, it would be better to open the market and engage in free trade, allowing cheap, high-quality British products to enter the market, and then use the power of the British to resist Argentina and Brazil is a big country. Therefore, the independence faction in Uruguay - the "Uruguayan independence elements" - firmly advocated being pro-British, and the British were willing to support them.
The final result of the war was that neither Argentina nor Brazil could defeat the other, and both sides decided to cease the war under the mediation of the British. The best way to end the war is to establish a buffer zone. Uruguay was the main cause of the war and was best suited to serve as a buffer zone. So the two sides reached an agreement under the mediation of the British. Neither the Argentine army nor the Brazilian army would enter Uruguay and let Uruguay manage itself.
This is the same thing that happened when Denmark and Sweden competed for Norway . The result of the mediation between the two parties is that no one wants to get Norway, and Norwegians are allowed to be autonomous. The next step to autonomy is independence. The British also used a similar method to mediate the dispute between Brazil and Argentina. Both parties withdrew from Uruguay, and the future of Uruguay was decided by the Uruguayan people themselves. As a result, Uruguay was founded.
三
How was the Uruguayan nation built?
The Uruguayans did this not because Uruguay already has a nation in the modern sense and is eager to establish a nation that is different from the Argentine nation and the Brazilian nation. The main consideration is:
"We are a small country, we are orphans in South America, and we have had enough. The military of any country is not a good person. When the military comes, they treat us as colonial residents. It seems that we can only govern ourselves. Only by yourself can you live a good life.
If any great power is better, it is only the distant British Empire.The British Empire does not want to occupy territory and do business with us, which is a very good thing. If we follow Argentina, in a few decades the Brazilians will come over to fight. If we follow Brazil, in a few decades the Argentines will come over to fight. Is this going to end? It would be better to just establish an Uruguay country under the protection of the British Empire. "
In the end, this faction gained the upper hand and established the country of Uruguay.
Therefore, Uruguay is a system where there is a country first and then a nation. After Uruguay establishes a country, it must unite its citizens and let the next generation know that their own people We are compatriots with our own people, but not compatriots with Argentines and Brazilians, so we must have a national hero.
In fact, Uruguay has no real national hero, although Londeo was later elected as Uruguay's first. served as head of state, but at least at the beginning he actually thought he was an Argentine totalitarian; the second-generation national hero Artigas thought he was an Argentine federalist; the third-generation national hero was the Uruguayan 30 Three people, they are actually the leading party in Argentina.
There is a city of thirty-three people on the map
But it doesn’t matter. As long as the Uruguayan country must exist, the Uruguayan nation can be created. Through the primary and secondary school textbooks in Uruguay, the above three groups of people - in fact, these three groups of people do not consider themselves Uruguayan at all, are invented to become Uruguay's national heroes and heroes of the War of Independence
In fact, any country. National inventions are selective, and the United States is no exception. The United States regards Washington as a national hero, but during the Anglo-French war , Washington was undoubtedly a British militia general who followed the British. The French; and it was not until the Revolutionary War that he led the residents of the American colonies to fight the British, but he was still a national hero in the United States. This is how national heroes are created in all countries in the world.
The reason why national heroes are needed. , the need for national history, in the final analysis, is to maintain the cohesion of the country. Uruguay used a similar method to create Uruguay's national heroes
Argentina and Uruguay
4
Uruguay. Why is it called the "Switzerland of South America"?
The constitutions of South American countries are generally presidential constitutions. It is easy for the presidency to fall into the hands of warlords during a coup; then the warlord refuses to step down after becoming president. Others think To overthrow him, we can only rely on other warlords and let the new warlords fight the old warlords; and after the revolutionary party enters the capital, it will become an old warlord. Once it enters the capital, it will also become a statist.
Uruguay. This was also the case for several decades after independence, with the liberal centralist Red Party and the conservative federalist White Party fighting back and forth.
After quelling internal disputes, Uruguay changed to a Swiss-style constitutional system in 1918. It did not implement a presidential monopoly system, but implemented a Swiss-style committee system . For example, although the Red Party was elected, it could only occupy 6 of the 9 seats in the Federal Council; although the White Party failed, it would still have 3 seats. The difference between the Swiss-style federal council system and the presidential system is that power is decentralized.
The power does not lie with the president, but with the Federal Council, which is formed based on proportional representation. This is the so-called Swiss system, so Uruguay got the nickname "Switzerland of South America".
One factor is diplomatic. After Uruguay was frightened by the competition between Brazil and Argentina, it adopted a Swiss-style approach and declared Uruguay to be a neutral country. It does not oppose anyone and its neighboring countries should not try to interfere with it. In this way, Uruguay was able to enjoy a long period of peace and economic development in the latter decades of the 19th century when Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil were often at war.
On the one hand, it does not adopt the presidential system and caudillo system (military dictator) common in Latin America, but adopts a federal council system. Therefore, the domestic struggle in Uruguay is much more civilized than that in Argentina and Brazil.
These two advantages are dividends for Uruguay to create a nation and build a small country. If it becomes part of Argentina or Brazil, Argentina and Brazil are both big South American countries and both have ambitions to compete with the United States and the United Kingdom. Then residents of Uruguay Province in Argentina and Uruguay Province in Brazil can share in Argentina. Dictator Rosas and Brazilian dictator Vargas 's dream of a great power.
Although all the original politicians and residents of Spain, Mexico, , Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay firmly advocated the unification of Greater Spain at the beginning, no one thought of making the American colonies independent, let alone making the Americas independent. The colonies once again split, split twice, and split three times, but the result was an uncontrollable situation, and the de facto independence caused by warlord separatism finally turned into a multinational system. This is the history of Uruguayan nation-building.
