The French blockade of the Río de la Plata was a two-year-long naval blockade imposed by

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

on the Argentine Confederation ruled by

Juan Manuel de Rosas Juan Manuel José Domingo Ortiz de Rozas y López de Osornio (30 March 1793 – 14 March 1877), nicknamed "Restorer of the Laws", was an Argentine politician and army officer who ruled Buenos Aires Province and briefly the Argentine Confedera ...

. It closed Buenos Aires to naval commerce. It was imposed in 1838 to support the

Peru–Bolivian Confederation The Peru–Bolivian Confederation () was a short-lived state that existed in South America between 1836 and 1839. The country was a loose confederation made up of three states: North Peru and South Peru—states that arose from the division of th ...

in the War of the Confederation, but continued after the end of the war. France did not land ground forces, but instead took advantage of the

Uruguayan Civil War The Uruguayan Civil War, also known in Spanish as the ''Guerra Grande'' ("Great War"), was a series of armed conflicts between the leaders of Uruguayan independence. While officially the war lasted from 1839 until 1851, it was a part of armed ...

and the

Argentine Civil Wars The Argentine Civil Wars were a series of civil conflicts of varying intensity that took place in the territories of Argentina from 1814 to 1853. Beginning concurrently with the Argentine War of Independence (1810–1818), the conflict prevente ...

, supporting Fructuoso Rivera and

Juan Antonio Lavalleja Juan Antonio Lavalleja y de la Torre (June 24, 1784 – October 22, 1853) was an Uruguayan Libertadores, libertador, revolutionary, military general, and political figure. He was born in Minas, Uruguay, Minas, in a region now named after him ...

against

Manuel Oribe Manuel Ceferino Oribe y Viana (August 26, 1792 – November 12, 1857) was the 2nd Constitutional president of Uruguay and founder of Uruguay's National Party, the oldest Uruguayan political party and considered one of the two Uruguayan "tr ...

and Rosas. After two years without the expected results, France signed the Mackau-Arana treaty with the Argentine Confederation, ending the hostilities.

Development

Start of the blockade

The Supreme Protector of the Peru–Bolivian Confederation, Andrés de Santa Cruz, supported free trade with Europeans, as well as the Unitarians, whereas Rosas was leader of the

Federales ''Federales'' is a slang term in English language, English and Spanish languages referring to security forces, particularly those of the federal government of Mexico. The term gained widespread usage by English speakers due to being popularized ...

. Rosas would later declare war against the

Confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

for harboring Unitarian leaders. The war did not develop favorably for Argentina, and the French consul Aimé Roger went to Buenos Aires to request the capitulation of Argentina. He demanded that a pair of French citizens were released from prison. Those citizens were César Hipólito Bacle, who had sold Argentine cartography to Bolivia, and Pedro Lavié, who had stolen from a regiment in Dolores. It was also demanded that another pair were exempted from military service, and that France received the condition of "''most favoured nation''". This designation would provide commercial privileges, similar to those granted by Bernardino Rivadavia to Britain. Although the requests were light, Rosas believed that they would only provide precedent for further French interference in the internal affairs of Argentina, and refused to comply. As a result, France started a naval blockade over Buenos Aires. The French admiral Louis François Jean Leblanc started it on March 28, 1838. Rosas took advantage of the British interests in the zone. The minister Manuel Moreno pointed out to the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United ...

that the commerce between Argentina and Britain was being harmed by the French blockade, and that it would be a mistake for Britain to support it. France underestimated the chance of having such problems with its European ally, counting on the blockade being short and Rosas being forced to leave the government in a short time. They judged that the people would seize the opportunity to stand against Rosas, but underestimated his popularity. With the nation being threatened by both two European powers and two neighboring countries allied with them, patriotic loyalty increased to the point that even some notable Unitarians who had fled to Montevideo returned to the country to offer their military help, such as Soler, Lamadrid and Espinosa.

José de San Martín José Francisco de San Martín y Matorras (; 25 February 177817 August 1850), nicknamed "the Liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru", was an Argentine general and the primary leader of the southern and central parts of South America's succe ...

, who was living in France, wrote a letter to Rosas pledging his full support. San Martín repudiated the Unitarians that allied themselves with a foreign country against their own nation, saying that "''not even death can expunge such felony''". He also offered his services to Rosas in the war, who declined due to San Martín being over sixty years old.

Attempts of secession

Things became more complicated for France as time passed: Andrés Santa Cruz was weakening, the strategy employed by Moreno was bearing fruit, and the French themselves started to have doubts about continuing a conflict that they had counted on being quite short. Even more, Britain would not allow the French to deploy troops, as they did not want a European competitor gaining territorial strength in the zone. Domingo Cullen, governor of Santa Fe (replacing the ill López,) considered Rosas to have nationalized a conflict that involved just Buenos Aires, and proposed to the French that Santa Fe, Córdoba, Entre Ríos and Corrientes secede, making a new country that would obey them if the naval blockade was spared to this new country. To complete the

pincer movement The pincer movement, or double envelopment, is a maneuver warfare, military maneuver in which forces simultaneously attack both flanking maneuver, flanks (sides) of an enemy Military organization, formation. This classic maneuver has been im ...

, France would need another army attacking Rosas from the east. For this purpose France aided Fructuoso Rivera against the Uruguayan president

, who was forced to resign. Oribe escaped to Buenos Aires, and Rosas received him as the legitimate president of Uruguay, denying such recognition to Rivera. France also took control of the strategic island Martín García. The alliance between Cullen and Rivera did not take place, as Juan Pablo López, brother of Estanislao López, defeated Cullen and drove him away from the province. Cullen escaped to Córdoba and then to Santiago del Estero, but the governor Felipe Ibarra wanted to stay on good terms with Rosas, so he captured Cullen for him. In the north, Andrés Santa Cruz was defeated by the Chilean army at the Battle of Yungay, and the

ceased to exist. Now Rosas was free to focus all his attention towards the French blockade and Rivera.

Lavalle joins the war

Rivera was urged by France to take military action against Rosas, but he was reluctant to do so, believing that the French underestimated his strength, even more so after Santa Cruz's defeat. On paper, Rivera was supposed to cross the Parana with 600 men, Entre Ríos would immediately join the resistance against Rosas and the army would grow to 6.000 men, then the same would happen in Santa Fe and the size of the army would be duplicated, and then it would attack Buenos Aires with support of the French navy, whose population would revolt against Rosas. The French and Unitarians believed in this scenario, but Rivera was aware that the popular support to Rosas was genuine, so sending a small army to Buenos Aires would be doomed to failure. As Rivera did not take action, they elected Juan Lavalle to lead the attack, who shared the unitarian optimism on the fate of a small army. He requested not to share command with Rivera, and as a result they led both their own armies. His imminent attack was backed up by conspiracies in Buenos Aires, led by former members of the May Association. The most notable member of the conspiracy was Ramón Maza, son of the former governor Manuel Vicente Maza, who got military support. As Lavalle was delaying, they developed a new plan: Pedro Castelli and Nicolás Granada would make a revolt at Tapalqué, while the military in the city killed Rosas, Manuel Maza assumed government and allowed Lavalle to take the city.Luna, p. 8 The plot was discovered by the Mazorca, but Rosas thought that Manuel Maza was innocent and carried to the plots of his son, so he urged him to leave the country. He could not: Martínez Fontes, one of the military talked into the plot, revealed it in public. Popular commotion was high, and the people took the streets demanding the execution of the people involved. Ramón Maza was executed, and his father was killed in his office by the Mazorca. Nevertheless, Pedro Castelli attempted to make a rebellion in the countryside. The people did not follow him, and he was executed as well.

Ending of the blockade

Tensions between Britain and France started to increase. Lord Sandon criticized France at the British Parliament on March 19, 1839. He said that France was attacking a foreign country just because it did not sign a treaty, and that it had toppled Oribe from power without being at war with Uruguay. Mr. Lushington added that the French pretensions were unjustified and would have never been enforced against a country with the means to defend itself. Rosas did not wait to be attacked, and ordered

Pascual Echagüe Pascual Echagüe, (16 May 1797 – 2 June 1867) was an Argentine soldier and politician. He served as Governor of Entre Ríos Province, Entre Ríos and Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe provinces and Minister of War and Navy during the government ...

to cross the Parana and extend the war into Uruguay. The Uruguayan armies split: Rivera returned to defend Montevideo, and Lavalle moved to Entre Ríos alone. He called all people to stand against Rosas, regardless of color or political ideas, but he found severe resistance, so he moved to Corrientes to join governor Ferré. Ferré defeated López, and Rivera defeated Echagüe, leaving Lavalle a clear path towards Buenos Aires. However, by that point France had lost faith in the effectiveness of the blockade, as what was thought to be an easy and short conflict was turning into a long war, without a clear path toward a final victory. The admiral Leblanc was replaced by Dupotet, with new orders to negotiate peace with the Confederation in an honorable way. Those negotiations would include the British ambassador Mandeville. As part of the peace treaty, France requested again the status of "''most favoured nation''" of the initial request, but allowing for a similar status for the Confederation by France. As a result, France ceased financial support to Lavalle. He didn't find help at local towns either, and there was heavy desertion in his ranks. Buenos Aires was ready to resist his military attack, but the lack of support forced him to give it up and retire from the battlefield, without starting any battle. His army escaped to the north in disorder, and he died in a confusing episode at

San Salvador de Jujuy San Salvador de Jujuy (), commonly known as Jujuy and locally often referred to as San Salvador, is the capital and largest city of Jujuy Province in northwest Argentina. Also, it is the seat of the Doctor Manuel Belgrano Department. It lies near ...

French order of battle

* ''Minerve'' * ''Expéditive'' * ''D’Assas'' * ''Alerte'' * ''Camille'' * ''Bordelaise'' * ''Vigilante'' * ''Éclair'' * ''Forte'' * ''Lutin'' * ''Sylphe''

Bibliography

* *
Affaires de Buénos-Ayres
un Officier de la flotte. '' Revue des Deux Mondes'' 4ème série, tome 25, 1841

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:French Blockade Of The Rio De La Plata Campaigns of the Argentine Civil War Wars involving Argentina Wars involving France Argentina–France military relations France–Uruguay relations Maritime history of Argentina Uruguayan Civil War War of the Confederation Blockades Conflicts in 1838 Conflicts in 1839 Conflicts in 1840