Spain and the Independence of Colombia, 1808-1825

Rebecca Earle is a lecturer in the History Department at the University of Warwick. She is editor of Civil War in Nineteenth-Century Latin America (Macmillan, forthcoming late 1999) and Epistolary Selves: Letters and Letter-Writers, 1600-1945 (Ashgate Press, forthcoming late 1998).

• List of Table and Maps, vii; Acknowledgements, viii; List of Abbreviations, ix; Introduction: 'This vile rebellious rabble...', 1; PART I-CRISIS: 1808-1814; 1 War in Spain and America, 9; The Peninsular War, 9; Spanish Liberals, American Juntas, 13; Responses and Representations, 27; 2 Royalist Enclaves in New Granada, 36; Liberty Trees and Bayonets, 36; The Retreat to Panama, 41; In Defence of Regionalism, 43; PART II-RECONQUEST: 1815-1819; 3 The Reconquest of New Granada, 57; General Morillo in Venezuela, 58; The Siege of Cartagena, 61; Consolidating the Conquest, 64; The Expeditionary Army, 69. 4 Conciliation or Confrontation?, 75; Spain and the Infidentes, 75; Repression and Punishment, 78; Conciliation and Pardon, 83; The Viceroy and the General, 85; 5 The Reconquest of the Economy, 91; The Impact of War, 92; Rebuilding the Colonial Economy, 96; Free Trade in Cartagena, 101; 6 The Cost of Reconquest, 105; Soldiers and Civilians, 107; Paying for a War, 115; Disease and the Royalist Army, 123; PART III-COLLAPSE: 1819-1822; 7 The Battle of Boyaca, 133; The Campaign of 1819, 133; Military Repercussions, 140; Royalist Responses, 142; 8 Armistice and Surrender, 145; The 1820 Revolution in Spain, 145; The Constitution in Cartagena, 147; Peace Commissions, 154; The Surrender of Cartagena, 161; Royalist Guerrillas in Pasto, 163; Epilogue: Spain and the Loss of Colombia, 166; Notes, 173; Glossary of Spanish Terms, 224; Political Chronology 1808-1821, 226; Bibliography, 232; Index, 246.

... absolutely outstanding. Earle is at the cutting edge of recent historiography reexamining the nature of the Spanish American Wars of Independence and this book will serve to stimulate other similar studies of the royalist struggle and collapse elsewhere in South America.Christon I. Archer, Department of History - University of Calgary