Balance of Power

This is the first flag of the Federal Republic of Greater Peru from the ouster of Supreme Protector Marshal Andres de Santa Cruz until the admission of the first Ecuadorian province as a state of the republic after annexation in 1860.

Red and white are from the original Peruvian flag and represent the blood spilled for independence and the snow-capped Andes. Green and god from the original Bolivian flag and represent the wealth of the nation and the Amazonian resources beyond the Andes. The three stars are the three formative republics North Peru, Bolivia a.k.a. Alto Peru, and South Peru. The Sun disk represents the Incan god Inti for the history of the Peruvian nation before the Spaniards.



In the second flag, made official after the elevation of Guayaquil territory to statehood in the Republic in 1861, the the original two gold stars and one green stars were replaced with four white stars representing the four conceptual (but not actual) republics that form the nation

South America Jumps on the Bandwagon, Part II, 1843-1871

The Empire of Brazil, in this era, made progress in both social and political spheres, and all segments of society benefited from the reforms and shared in the increasing prosperity. Brazil's international reputation for political stability and investment potential greatly improved, starting with the abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade in 1850, a personal project of Emperor peter II who threatened to abdicate over it. The Empire was seen as a modern and progressive nation unequalled in the Americas, with the exception of the United States. The economy began growing rapidly and immigration flourished. Railroad, shipping and other modernization projects were adopted. When slavery was outlawed in 1867, the Empire’s future seemed bright indeed, with many wondering if it might even eclipse the United States as the engine of the New World after secession of the Confederate States of America and resulting economic troubles.

Down in the former Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata, the states of Entre Rios and Corrientes seceded from the Argentine Confederation over a dispute with the state of Buenos Aires in 1851 and a year later at the Battle of Caseros, with the help of Brazil, they defeated Buenos Aires and send its governor, Juan Manuel Rosas, into exile in Great Britain. The governor of Entre Rios, Justo José de Urquiza, became the provisional president of the Argentine Confederation and he called a constituent assembly in in 1852 in order to write a new constitution but things remained as turbulent as ever. While Urquiza, who had had become the provisional president of the Confederation and governor of Buenos Aires was out of state for diplomatic reasons, the city rebelled on September 11, 1852 and proclaimed their secession from the Confederation. The capital is moved to Paraná, Entre Rios and armed conflict ensues as Buenos Aires attempts to stop the new government which puts the new constitution in place on May 1, 1853 and invites Buenos Aires to return. Instead, the city-state writes its own constitution in 1854. In 1856 the Confederation attacked Buenos Aires, only to be repulsed but the country was mostly at peace. On April 1, 1859, following the assassination of former San Juan Province Governor Nazareno Benavídez by a presumed Buenos Aires agent, the Confederation Congress passed a law by which President Urquiza was obliged to “reincorporate the dissident province of Buenos Aires", peacefully if possible but was allowed to make use of the national army to accomplish that purpose. Buenos Aires interpreted that law as a formal declaration of war and in May, the Legislature of the State allowed the Governor to repel any military aggression with the Province's militia. Colonel Bartolomé Mitre, in charge of Buenos Aires troops, was ordered to attack Santa Fe Province while the Navy was sent to blockade Paraná, the capital city of the Confederation.

Given the seriousness of impending conflict and its probable effect on trade, Brazil, Paraguay, the United States and the United Kingdom tried to prevent it by diplomatic means. The neighbouring country of Paraguay sent a young Francisco Solano López as a plenipotentiary minister to intercede in the emergency. But every attempt at resolution of the conflict failed since Buenos Aires demanded Urquiza's resignation as President, and the Confederation wouldn't comply to that. On the 23rd of October the Confederation attacked and eventually laid siege to Buenos Aires while seeking mediation through Solano. Bowing to the international pressure, Buenos Aires agreed to rejoin the Confederation on November 11, 1859, based on the passing of certain amendments to the constitution and that Buenos Aires would give up customs control to the federal government as well as management of foreign relations, all spelled out in the Pact of San Juan de Flores. The amendments are passed, but when President Derqui left for his home province of Córdoba to temporarily assume the governorship during a period of unrest, the Argentine Assembly threatened to reject the Buenos Airean delegates for not being elected as per Confederation laws. The foreign powers who pressured the Confederation into signing the Pact of San Juan de Flores indicated that they would see such a rejection as an abrogation of the pact and throw their support behind Buenos Aires and the Assembly backed down. In the ensuing scandal over foreign influence, Derqui, who was blamed by both unionists and federalists for letting the Assembly make such a rash move, is outed from the presidency in January of 1861. In a move that was designed to placate Britain, France and the other trading partners, the Assembly named Buenos Airean governor Bartolomeo Mitre as interim president after he committed to upholding the constitution and new amendments.

Around the same time as the unrest in the Argentine Confederation, the Greater Peruvian states of Amazonas, Loreto and Lima started to move settlers into the territories that it disputed with Ecuador and then in 1853 created the unofficial Maynas Department, overlapping with the Amazonian basin part of the Ecuadorian province of Pichincha . While there were diplomatic problems over this, there is no conflict on the ground as this is remote territory. In 1857 the Ecuadorian government, desperate for money, tries to sell title to some of the Amazonian lands claimed by Greater Peru who raises a diplomatic protest over this. After repeated diplomatic tiffs, Ecuador expels the Greater Peruvian ambassador in the summer of 1858. As a result, North Peruvian factions who have always been troublesome in the senate push for war with Ecuador to take the territory outright and work to stir up irredentist support as Ecuador falls into civil war. In October, President Linares declares war on Ecuador in alliance with the faction of Gabriel Garcia Moreno and sends the Greater Peruvian navy to blockade the port of Guayaquil. In 1859, one of the major factions in the Ecuadorian civil war - the Provisional Government of Quit - splinters and starts fighting against itself and Greater Peru throws its support behind General Guillermo Franco and sends the army to help him in Guayaquil. By early January, Greater Peruvian forces have reached Quito and the annexation of Ecuador is announced after a treaty is signed with Franco. With the except of Pichincha, all Ecuadorian provinces are made territories in Greater Peru under the interim governorship of Franco until they can be admitted as federal states by the senate. The eastern half of Pichincha is split off into Maynas Territory and is placed under the governor of Loreto. Linares, riding high on the victory and annexation, became the first president of Greater Peru to win reelection.

As things started to settle down in Greater Peru and the Argentine Confederation, tensions in Uruguay between the Colorado and Blanco political parties reaches new heights. Venacio Flores, leader of the Colorado party started the “Cruzado Libertadora” in April of 1863 and by that fall it had escalated into another crisis of international scope with factions in the Argentine Confederation supporting the two sides. Argentine president Mitre and his Unionist party covertly supported Flores and the Colorados but denied any involvement while the Argentine Federalist party supported the Blancos.

Paraguay, being land-locked, depended on the rivers that drained into the Rio Plata basin for trade, as did Brazil for access to southern interior districts due to the lack of roads, and any conflict in Uruguay threatened the free access to those rivers, especially if the Argentines were to become caught up in the conflict. President Solano of Paraguay had been entreating Uruguay and Riograndense since becoming dictator, fearing that the Argentines desired to recreate the Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata. Brazil, for its part, had a history of covertly funding opposition parties in its former territories and in Argentina as it tried to keep itself as the preeminent regional power. Riograndense also had ties to Flores’ Colorados from the Ragamuffin War that had given it independence, but as their economy was in large part dependent of French trade the decided to stay neutral in the conflict.

When Uruguayan President Bernardo Berro asked Great Britain and France for their help in enforcing the Argentine promise of non-interference according to the Arroyo Grande treaty from 1842, naval ships from the French Empire were the first to show up in June and start a blockade of Buenos Aires but they were joined by British ships a few months later. Later that fall, both the governing Unionist party and the opposition Federalist party of the Argentine Confederation withdrew their support from the various Uruguayan factions as the trade damage to the newly stable nation became evident.

In the spring of 1864, the new interim president of Uruguay, Atanasio Aguirre, asked for Paraguayan help against the Argentine and Riograndense allies of the Colorado rebels. At the same time, Brazil sent Jose Antonio Saraiva as an ambassador to try and mediate an end to the conflict and ensure the safety of Brazilian citizens. Saraiva eventually managed to get the British and French consuls Montevideo involved, but the talks went nowhere. In August, Saraiva relayed an ultimatum from the Brazilian government which was rebuffed by the intransigent Aguirre and Brazil starts openly supplying the Colorado rebels though war is not declared. There was talk in Rio de Janeiro about sending a Brazilian troops and a fleet to Montevideo in support, but that would mean another conflict with France and the last one did not go so well. Instead, sent military ships under flag of truce up the rivers to protect Brazilian citizens though the guns were opened and hypothetical reprisals were mentioned. Solano of Paraguay sent an ultimatum to Brazil to stop, and when that was ignored, the Paraguayan steamer Tacuari captured the Brazilian ship Marquês de Olinda in November of 1864. In response, two British ships left over from the Buenos Aires blockade travel up the Paraguay River and force the Tacuari to relinquish its hostage. To try and prevent the conflict from spreading spreading back to Argentina, Great Britain pressured Brazil into withdrawing support from the Colorados as the price for maintaining the Arroyo Grande navigation rights.

With external support removed from the Uruguayan civil war, except for the French and Paraguay, the Colorados still continued to gain control of the departments. When moderate Blanco Tomás Vilalba is elected as president on February 15th, 1865, he requests French troops which land at Montevideo. Villalba entered into talks with Flores and Paranhos. With the Sardinian resident minister Raffaele Ulisse Barbolani serving as intermediary, an agreement was reached. Flores and Manuel Herrera y Obes (representing Villalba's government) signed a peace accord on 20 February at the Villa de la Unión. A general amnesty was granted to both Blancos and Colorados, and Villalba handed over the presidency to Flores on an interim basis until elections could be held.

The seizure of the Marquês de Olinda, however was to have other consequences. After being forced to relinquish the ship by the British, the dictatorial president of Paraguay, Solano declared war on the British as well and on 14 december 1864 they invaded Brazil’s Mato Grosso. When the Argentine Confederation refused Solano’s request to cross an army through Corrientes province, Solano declared war on Argentina as well and in April the Paraguayan army invaded Corrientes and the Riograndense Republic. This action caused the Argentine Confederation, the Brazilian empire, the French Empire, Riograndense and Uruguay to secretly sign what later became known as the Treaty of the Quintuple Alliance to stop Paraguayan aggression.

Until June, the Paraguayan army scored several victories in spite of being poorly trained and equipped with inferior weaponry. The tide was turned at the Battle of Riachuelo where the Brazilian navy all but obliterated the Paraguayan navy. By the fall of 1865 the Quintuple Alliance had finally moved enough troops to the region to match the Paraguayan numbers and had begun began to push them back into their own nation. On April 16th of 1866 the Alliance armies crossed the Paraná River and began to take on the Paraguayans on their home turf. While the Paraguayans were defeated at the end of May at the Battle of Tuyuti which has come to be known as the bloodiest battle in South American history, they rebounded and defeated the Alliance at Curupayty in September. Bickering among the Allies as to who was to blame for this loss to poorly trained troops with inferior weaponry was to stop their progress for nearly a year, which the Paraguayans used to recover. Under the Brazilian Marques of Caxias, the Allied troops restarted their offensive in July of 1867, but were matched by such fierce resistance from the Paraguayans that they were not able to conquer the capital of Asunción until New Years Day, 1869, though Solano had fled on Christmas Eve. Solano lead a guerrilla resistance for the next year.

As a result of the war, Paraguay was occupied by Brazilian, French and Argentine troops for several years and forced to cede its northern departments from the Miranda and Ivinheima Rivers to the Empire of Brazil and to give up its claim to the area known as the Missiones, which was annexed to Correntes province. The area north of the Bermejo River, part of the region known as the Gran Chaco, was also supposed to go to Argentina.

Much of this territory had been implicitly given to Paraguay in an 1852 treat that had never been ratified by the Argentine Assembly, and since that time Greater Peru had also gained an interest in the Chaco. Because none of the three nations had any real presence in between the Verde and Bermejo Rivers, the area was left out of the final reparations forced upon Paraguay and would not be resolved for decades. The Emperor Peter II of Brazil, who had disliked that his representative to the Treaty of the Quintuple Alliance had given all the Paraguayan Chaco to Argentina, started referring to it as “The Bolivian Chaco” and implicitly acted as if the area were already under Peruvian control.

Yes, it is the same person as from OTL. In general as a stylistic choice, I'm trying to refer people and places as an native English (American, Canadian or British) speaker of the times would have known them in OTL. E.g. "Dutch Guyana" rather than "Surinam(e)", "Emperor Peter II" rather than "Dom Pedro II", "Servia" rather than "Serbia", and so on.

Final South America 1871 map.

Aw, shucks!

In the Balance of Power ATL, Canada's flag is the so-called "Pearson Pennant", so in honour of the Canada 150 celebrations this year here is what the Canada 150 logo might look like in BoP:



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A little bit of image editing, et voilà, an #alternatehistory postage stamp for the Texian centennial!