Revolutions and new nations

Revoluciones y nuevas naciones

1808–1898. Napoleon's invasion of Spain in 1808 set off a crisis across the Spanish world.

What happened

Napoleon's invasion of Spain in 1808 set off a crisis across the Spanish world. In Spain it brought war and the Constitution of Cádiz; in the Americas, wars of independence that by 1826 had left Spain only Cuba and Puerto Rico there. The new republics spent the century building states, fighting over borders and land, and writing national literatures of their own. The century closed in 1898, when Spain lost its last colonies in the Americas and Asia.

Within it

• The wars of independence (1808–1826)
• The new republics (1826–1898)

Its events

1. 16 September 1810: The Grito de Dolores
2. 24 February – 27 September 1821: The Plan de Iguala and Mexican independence
3. July 1847–1901: The Caste War of Yucatán
4. 2 February 1848: Mexico loses half its territory: the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
5. 1855–15 July 1867: Benito Juárez and La Reforma
6. 5 May 1862: Cinco de Mayo: the Battle of Puebla
7. 1876–May 1911: The Porfiriato: order, progress and inequality