Barrios' War of Reunification (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

: ) was a war initiated by President

Justo Rufino Barrios Justo Rufino Barrios Auyón (19 July 1835 – 2 April 1885) was a Guatemalan politician and military general who served as President of Guatemala from 1873 to his death in 1885. He was known for his liberal reforms and his attempts to reuni ...

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

. His goal was to reunify Central America with himself as President. He died in battle on 2 April 1885 and peace was reached on 14 April.

Background

The

Federal Republic of Central America The Federal Republic of Central America ( es, República Federal de Centroamérica), originally named the United Provinces of Central America ( es, Provincias Unidas del Centro de América), and sometimes simply called Central America, in it ...

formed in 1821 after declaring independence from the

First Mexican Empire The Mexican Empire ( es, Imperio Mexicano, ) was a constitutional monarchy, the first independent government of Mexico and the only former colony of the Spanish Empire to establish a monarchy after independence. It is one of the few modern-era, ...

. The

First Central American Civil War The First Central American Civil War ( es, Primera Guerra Civil Centroamericana) was a civil political and military conflict within the Federal Republic of Central America which lasted from 1826 until 1829. The civil war was fought between Libe ...

solidified the nation's existence under

Francisco Morazán José Francisco Morazán Quesada (; born October 3, 1792 – September 15, 1842) was a Central American politician who served as president of the Federal Republic of Central America from 1830 to 1839. Before he was president of Central America h ...

from 1826 to 1829, but the

Second Central American Civil War The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

tore the country apart from 1838 to 1841. In April 1871, two Guatemalan Divisional Generals,

Miguel García Granados Miguel García Granados y Zavala (29 September 1809 – 8 September 1878) was a Spanish-born Guatemalan politician and military general who served as President of Guatemala from 1871 to 1873. Early life García Granados was born in El ...

and

, overthrew President

Vicente Cerna y Cerna Vicente Cerna y Cerna (22 January 1815 – 27 June 1885) was president of Guatemala from 24 May 1865 to 29 June 1871. Loyal friend and comrade of Rafael Carrera, was appointed army's Field Marshal after Carraera's victory against Salvadorian lead ...

. García Granados replaced Cerna y Cerna as President, but he retired in 1873 and was succeeded by Barrios. He was a firm supporter of

Central American reunification Central American reunification, sometimes called Central Americanism, is the proposed political union of the countries of Central America ( Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua), which had historically occurred during t ...

and he wanted to make himself President of a reunited Central America. He was inspired by

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of J ...

successfully uniting Germans under

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

. He wished to do the same; unite Central Americans under

War

Declaration of unification

On 28 February 1885, Barrios gave a speech where he declared himself President of Central America. He declared he had supreme authority over all the nations of Central America:

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

, Guatemala,

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

, and

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

. The National Assembly of Guatemala held a session on 5 March and the legislature approved Barrios' declaration. Barrios believed all the other Central American nations would be enthusiastic to join Guatemala to recreate a Central American union, but instead, only Honduras accepted his declaration on 7 March. The other three nations, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, all denounced the declaration and wished to remain independent.

Mexican involvement

Barrios began mobilizing the

Guatemalan Army The Guatemalan Armed Forces ( es, Fuerzas Armadas de Guatemala) consists of the National Army of Guatemala (''Ejercito Nacional de Guatemala'', ENG), the Guatemalan National Defense Navy (''Marina de la Defensa Nacional'', includes Marines), the ...

on 10 March and began moving his soldiers to the Salvadoran border on 23 March. He threatened military force and thought that the threat of military action would make El Salvador submit, however, Salvadoran President

Rafael Zaldívar Rafael Zaldívar (1834 – 2 March 1903) was President of El Salvador The president of El Salvador ( es, Presidente de El Salvador), officially known as the President of the Republic of El Salvador ( es, Presidente de la República de El ...

began preparing his own army to defend against Barrios' invasion force. El Salvador called for assistance from

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

to distract the Guatemalans while they prepared their army. President

Porfirio Díaz José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori ( or ; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915), known as Porfirio Díaz, was a Mexican general and politician who served seven terms as President of Mexico, a total of 31 years, from 28 November 1876 to 6 Decem ...

mobilized an army of 15,000 soldiers along the Guatemalan border, and in response, Barrios had 1,500 soldiers stationed on the border under the command of

Manuel Barillas Manuel Lisandro Barillas Bercián (17 January 1845 – 7 April 1907) was a Guatemalan general and acting president of Guatemala from 6 April 1885 to 15 March 1886 and President from 16 March 1886 to 15 March 1892. He was born in Quetzaltenango, ...

to defend from a Mexican invasion. The Guatemalans attempted to negotiate with the Mexicans through the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

' ambassador to Guatemala, Antonio Batres Jáuregui. The negotiations succeeded and Díaz demobilized his soldiers, stating that the measures were for self-defense purposes.

Invasion of El Salvador

On 31 March, Barrios marched his soldiers into Salvadoran territory and the first target to capture was the town of

Chalchuapa Chalchuapa is a town and a municipality located in the Santa Ana department of El Salvador. The city of Chalchuapa is in a wide valley at 650 meters above sea level, and watered by the Pampe River. Overview It is situated 15 kilometers west ...

. The Salvadorans defended the town with a garrison of 5,000 soldiers under the command of Adán Mora. The Guatemalans waged a

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

from 1 to 2 April but the defensive forces stood their ground. Barrios was killed during the battle with reports claiming he was either shot in the heart by a Salvadoran soldier and fell off his horse or that he was shot in the back by a Guatemalan soldier who accidentally shot him. After Barrios was killed, one of his military officers,

Felipe Cruz Felipe is the Spanish variant of the name Philip, which derives from the Greek adjective ''Philippos'' "friend of horses". Felipe is also widely used in Portuguese-speaking Brazil alongside Filipe, the form commonly used in Portugal. Noteworthy pe ...

, took command of the army. He attempted to keep waging battle, but due to falling morale, he had his forces retreat.

Peace

Zaldívar attempted to seek peace but Cruz initially refused. Honduras and Nicaragua agreed to peace on 11 April while Guatemala, El Salvador, and Costa Rica came to peace on 14 April.

Aftermath

After Barrios' death,

Alejandro M. Sinibaldi Alejandro Manuel Sinibaldi Castro (1825–1896) was acting President of Guatemala from April 2, 1885, to April 5, 1885. Biography Of partial Italian descent, he was a rich businessman who Was "First Designate to the Presidency", the equiv ...

became President of Guatemala, who was then succeeded by Barillas in 1886. Zaldívar was overthrown on 22 June by

Francisco Menéndez Francisco Menéndez Valdivieso (3 December 1830 – 22 June 1890) was Provisional President of El Salvador from 22 June 1885 to 1 March 1887, then President of El Salvador from 1 March 1887 until his death on 22 June 1890. General Francisco Me ...

. Costa Rican President

Próspero Fernández Oreamuno Juan Primitivo Próspero Fernández Oreamuno (July 18, 1834 – March 12, 1885) was President of Costa Rica from 1882 to 1885. Fernández studied philosophy at the University of San Carlos of Guatemala before embarking on a military career. ...

died in office during the war and was succeeded by

Bernardo Soto Alfaro Ramón Bernardo Soto Alfaro (12 February 1854 – 28 January 1931) was President of Costa Rica from 1885 to 1889. He took office when his father-in-law, President Próspero Fernández, died in office in 1885, and in a gesture of national conc ...

References

{{Reflist Conflicts in 1885 Invasions 1880s in El Salvador 1880s in Guatemala 1880s in Costa Rica 1880s in Honduras 1880s in Mexico 1880s in Nicaragua Wars involving El Salvador Wars involving Guatemala Wars involving Honduras Wars involving Nicaragua Wars involving Costa Rica Wars involving Mexico