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Imperial Skirmishes: War and Gunboat Diplomacy in Latin America
Since the early 19th century, South America has witnessed a series of conflicts, some short & small-scale, others long-lasting & extensive. Battles have been fought over serious issues -- border disputes, trading disagreements & oil wealth -- but also over such seemingly trivial matters as manure & the result of a soccer match. The heyday of South American war-mongering was the 19th century, the period reconstructed here. Considers how Britain treated the continent as part of its empire with a policy of gunboat diplomacy. Analyzes how distant wars were viewed in Europe & how they affected the people who actually fought them. Captures the imperial ambitions, belligerence & incompetence of Victorian generals & profiteers. Illustrations.
194 pages, Paperback
First published May 24, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 11, 2025
I've had this book on my shelf forever and never got around to reading it, but I'm glad I finally did.
To start off, the introductory section states that the late Andrew Graham-Yooll was an Argentine journalist with a British background, making him uniquely placed to examine the relations between Argentina and the UK.
The writing style is crisp and expressive, it's to the point, and the book was mercifully short. The pages were, however, a little small in print.
Graham-Yooll focuses a lot on the British in Latin America, though the narrative encompasses the actions of Spain, France, the United States, and Germany as well. It begins during the revolts against Spanish power, and includes some information on grandiose British and French schemes for partitioning or seizing Spain's colonies.
Of course that never materialized, but from the very beginning the Europeans were closely involved with Latin American politics. The narrative includes instances like the Pastry War, where Santa Anna lost his leg. It includes the French blockade of Buenos Aires, the Anglo-German blockade of Venezuela, a brief section on the American Banana Wars, and other interventions. Though, sadly, not much on the Mexican-American War.
More valuable, in my opinion, are the sections dealing with wars between the Latin American states themselves. We see here the attempted blockade of Argentina by Brazil, which resulted in a surprising Brazilian defeat as the Argentines were commanded by former British naval officers. Buenos Aires fought in the Uruguayan Civil War which saw the interesting spectacle of the Argentines under British command and the Uruguayans under American officers.
These had lessons for the naval enthusiast in that the Brazilian Navy was superior on paper, with more and larger ships, but the Argentines were better commanded and had more skill. One is reminded of the Greeks against the Turks around the same time period.
The greatest revelation was the incredible success of Chile in the various wars post independence, and largely due to the Chilean Navy. Chile was consistently victorious against Bolivia and Peru. This is all the more extraordinary in the time of Andres de Santa Cruz, who united Bolivia and Peru into a single confederation.
Santa Cruz was the favorite of the international community, who predicted a swift victory over Chile. Instead Chile won and the confederation collapsed. Chile was also a serious rival for Argentina in Patagonia, and the Argentines sought to secure this region partially through concern that Chile had ambitions to expand in this direction.
Lars Schoultz mentioned that Chile's great reputation in US calculations rested on wars won long ago, and his point is taken in that past success has never been a guarantee of future success. But I feel in his book he understated the Chilean successes against Peru and Bolivia.
It was interesting to learn that there are still lingering territorial disputes, and not just in the Falklands, which is the subject of the final chapter. In Central America El Salvador and Honduras still have unsettled claims, Bolivia was expelled from the Pacific by Chile and during the Chaco War sought compensation in Paraguay. Chile and Argentina still dispute islands in the Beagle Channel.
A particular sore spot is in Ecuador, where Peru used the world's distraction in WWII as a chance to land grab. In regards to these disputes it is curious that many of them have been submitted to international arbitration, chiefly British or American, and the arbitration has been rather successful in maintaining peace.
The Paraguayan War and the characters of key figures like the Irish courtesan Eliza Lynch was perhaps the most fascinating part of the entire work. Of interest to students of European diplomacy might also be that pesky gunboat Panther, which, before provoking the Agadir Crisis in Morocco, was engaged in banditry in the Caribbean.
Other events were only hinted at, such as the revolt of the Brazilians against Dom Pedro, and the bizarre millenarian revolt of the Canudos and Contestados, which reminds one in a way of the Taiping Rebellion, or the Conquest of the Desert which, though it was the subject of a chapter, was only sparsely covered.
As this book covered many events and persons I knew nothing about, it was a very useful introduction to the subject. I was given a lot to track down and read more about, so that I can learn more about this region.
I feel like that the section about the Falklands is intended to be the highlight of the work, and it is well-written. But I was less interested in that than in many other incidents, like that Prince of Wales shipwreck that led to tension between Brazil and the UK.
Another interesting thing was the Guano War, or War of the Pacific. All the more so because the German discovery of how to acquire ammonia from the air made the whole nitrate industry in South America redundant.
The most exciting idea is Graham-Yooll's contention that the UK even did a service for Argentina, and Latin America more widely, by defeating the military regime in Buenos Aires which worked a sort of icebreaker in democratizing South America and toppling many dictators in the region.
The information provided was thought-provoking and very interesting, so I would argue that this book is a very nice introduction not only to the informal imperialism of the European powers post-independence, but works as an overview of the conflicts of South America over the last two centuries in general.
For anyone looking for a starting point to delve into the history of independent Latin America this is as good a place as any.
My only issue with this book is that the bibliography is overwhelmingly focused on the Falklands, and I would have preferred more sources on the Latin American countries and on earlier wars. But this is a minor problem for anyone with internet access, who can find plenty of works online.
To start off, the introductory section states that the late Andrew Graham-Yooll was an Argentine journalist with a British background, making him uniquely placed to examine the relations between Argentina and the UK.
The writing style is crisp and expressive, it's to the point, and the book was mercifully short. The pages were, however, a little small in print.
Graham-Yooll focuses a lot on the British in Latin America, though the narrative encompasses the actions of Spain, France, the United States, and Germany as well. It begins during the revolts against Spanish power, and includes some information on grandiose British and French schemes for partitioning or seizing Spain's colonies.
Of course that never materialized, but from the very beginning the Europeans were closely involved with Latin American politics. The narrative includes instances like the Pastry War, where Santa Anna lost his leg. It includes the French blockade of Buenos Aires, the Anglo-German blockade of Venezuela, a brief section on the American Banana Wars, and other interventions. Though, sadly, not much on the Mexican-American War.
More valuable, in my opinion, are the sections dealing with wars between the Latin American states themselves. We see here the attempted blockade of Argentina by Brazil, which resulted in a surprising Brazilian defeat as the Argentines were commanded by former British naval officers. Buenos Aires fought in the Uruguayan Civil War which saw the interesting spectacle of the Argentines under British command and the Uruguayans under American officers.
These had lessons for the naval enthusiast in that the Brazilian Navy was superior on paper, with more and larger ships, but the Argentines were better commanded and had more skill. One is reminded of the Greeks against the Turks around the same time period.
The greatest revelation was the incredible success of Chile in the various wars post independence, and largely due to the Chilean Navy. Chile was consistently victorious against Bolivia and Peru. This is all the more extraordinary in the time of Andres de Santa Cruz, who united Bolivia and Peru into a single confederation.
Santa Cruz was the favorite of the international community, who predicted a swift victory over Chile. Instead Chile won and the confederation collapsed. Chile was also a serious rival for Argentina in Patagonia, and the Argentines sought to secure this region partially through concern that Chile had ambitions to expand in this direction.
Lars Schoultz mentioned that Chile's great reputation in US calculations rested on wars won long ago, and his point is taken in that past success has never been a guarantee of future success. But I feel in his book he understated the Chilean successes against Peru and Bolivia.
It was interesting to learn that there are still lingering territorial disputes, and not just in the Falklands, which is the subject of the final chapter. In Central America El Salvador and Honduras still have unsettled claims, Bolivia was expelled from the Pacific by Chile and during the Chaco War sought compensation in Paraguay. Chile and Argentina still dispute islands in the Beagle Channel.
A particular sore spot is in Ecuador, where Peru used the world's distraction in WWII as a chance to land grab. In regards to these disputes it is curious that many of them have been submitted to international arbitration, chiefly British or American, and the arbitration has been rather successful in maintaining peace.
The Paraguayan War and the characters of key figures like the Irish courtesan Eliza Lynch was perhaps the most fascinating part of the entire work. Of interest to students of European diplomacy might also be that pesky gunboat Panther, which, before provoking the Agadir Crisis in Morocco, was engaged in banditry in the Caribbean.
Other events were only hinted at, such as the revolt of the Brazilians against Dom Pedro, and the bizarre millenarian revolt of the Canudos and Contestados, which reminds one in a way of the Taiping Rebellion, or the Conquest of the Desert which, though it was the subject of a chapter, was only sparsely covered.
As this book covered many events and persons I knew nothing about, it was a very useful introduction to the subject. I was given a lot to track down and read more about, so that I can learn more about this region.
I feel like that the section about the Falklands is intended to be the highlight of the work, and it is well-written. But I was less interested in that than in many other incidents, like that Prince of Wales shipwreck that led to tension between Brazil and the UK.
Another interesting thing was the Guano War, or War of the Pacific. All the more so because the German discovery of how to acquire ammonia from the air made the whole nitrate industry in South America redundant.
The most exciting idea is Graham-Yooll's contention that the UK even did a service for Argentina, and Latin America more widely, by defeating the military regime in Buenos Aires which worked a sort of icebreaker in democratizing South America and toppling many dictators in the region.
The information provided was thought-provoking and very interesting, so I would argue that this book is a very nice introduction not only to the informal imperialism of the European powers post-independence, but works as an overview of the conflicts of South America over the last two centuries in general.
For anyone looking for a starting point to delve into the history of independent Latin America this is as good a place as any.
My only issue with this book is that the bibliography is overwhelmingly focused on the Falklands, and I would have preferred more sources on the Latin American countries and on earlier wars. But this is a minor problem for anyone with internet access, who can find plenty of works online.
June 4, 2024
I have owned this book for a while and had not gotten around to reading it. It is very interesting in that the author shows the manipulation of South American Politics by the bankers and merchants of the British Empire, primarily in the 19th Century. I have read a fair amount about these conflicts and have seen little or no mention of this before. The author backs his research with lengthy passages from newspaper sources at the time. This is also the chief drawback of the book. It is at times tedious. Despite this, if you are interested Britain's role in 18th Century geopolitics or more specifically, about the causes of wars in 19th Century South America, I strongly recommend this book. It gives a good solid view of the reasons for the conflicts of the time.
June 18, 2013
An excellent overview of many forgotten and little known episodes in South American history, mainly focused on the 19th century.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews