The First Siege of Montevideo ( es, Primer Sitio de Montevideo) took place between May and October 1811, when the troops of the

United Provinces of the Río de la Plata The United Provinces of the Río de la Plata ( es, link=no, Provincias Unidas del Río de la Plata), earlier known as the United Provinces of South America ( es, link=no, Provincias Unidas de Sudamérica), was a name adopted in 1816 by the Co ...

unsuccessfully besieged the city of Montevideo, still held by Spanish loyalists. In 1810, the

May Revolution The May Revolution ( es, Revolución de Mayo) was a week-long series of events that took place from May 18 to 25, 1810, in Buenos Aires, capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. This Spanish colony included roughly the terri ...

had forced the Spanish to abandon Buenos Aires, but they held on to the

Banda Oriental Banda Oriental, or more fully Banda Oriental del Uruguay (Eastern Bank), was the name of the South American territories east of the Uruguay River and north of Río de la Plata that comprise the modern nation of Uruguay; the modern state of Rio Gra ...

(present-day Uruguay), as

Francisco Javier de Elío Francisco Javier de Elío y Olóndriz (Pamplona, 1767 – Valencia, 1822), was a Spanish soldier, governor of Montevideo. He was also instrumental in the Absolutist repression after the restoration of Ferdinand VII as King of Spain. For th ...

moved the headquarters of his

Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata ( es, Virreinato del Río de la Plata or es, Virreinato de las Provincias del Río de la Plata) meaning "River of the Silver", also called " Viceroyalty of the River Plate" in some scholarly writings, i ...

to Montevideo. In May 1811, the revolutionary

José Gervasio Artigas José Gervasio Artigas Arnal (; June 19, 1764 – September 23, 1850) was a political leader, military general, statesman and national hero of Uruguay and the broader Río de la Plata region. He fought in the Latin American wars of in ...

defeated the Spanish in the Banda Oriental at the

Battle of Las Piedras The Battle of Las Piedras was fought on May 18, 1811 as part of the Uruguayan struggle for independence. Background and development of events In 1810, the May Revolution had forced the Spanish to abandon Buenos Aires, but they held on to the ...

. After the battle, the Royalists only remained in control of two cities:

Colonia del Sacramento , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = Basilica del Sanctísimo Sacramento.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = Basílica del Santísimo Sacramento , pushpin_map = Uruguay , subdivisio ...

and Montevideo, which was besieged by Artigas and

José Rondeau José Casimiro Rondeau Pereyra (March 4, 1773 – November 18, 1844) was a general and politician in Argentina and Uruguay in the early 19th century. Life and Politics He was born in Buenos Aires but soon after his birth, the family moved t ...

. Montevideo had formidable fortifications and the Spanish controlled the

Río de la Plata The Río de la Plata (, "river of silver"), also called the River Plate or La Plata River in English, is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River at Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and fo ...

river. When a Portuguese relief army entered the Banda Oriental at the request of Spain, the United Provinces signed a truce with Elío, recognizing him as the ruler of the Banda Oriental. Artigas felt the truce to be treasonous. He broke relations with Buenos Aires, and lifted the blockade over Montevideo in October 1811. The city would finally be conquered by Artigas and Rondeau in 1814 after the second Siege of Montevideo.

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* * Colonial Uruguay 1811 in Uruguay Conflicts in 1811 Battles of the Argentine War of Independence 19th century in Montevideo History of Montevideo {{Uruguay-hist-stub

See also

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