Decembrist revolution | |||||||
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Part of Argentine Civil Wars | |||||||
Execution of Manuel Dorrego |
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Belligerents | |||||||
Federales | Unitarians | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Manuel Dorrego Juan Manuel de Rosas Estanislao López Facundo Quiroga |
Juan Lavalle José María Paz (POW) Gregorio Aráoz de Lamadrid |
The Decembrist revolution (Spanish: Revolución decembrina) was a military coup in the Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Juan Lavalle, returning with the troops that fought in the Argentine-Brazilian War, made a coup on December 1, 1828, deposed the governor Manuel Dorrego and closed the legislature. Dorrego was captured and executed a short time afterwards. The rancher Juan Manuel de Rosas organized militias that fought against Lavalle and removed him from power, restoring the legislature. However, as the coup had reignited the Argentine Civil Wars, Rosas was appointed governor of the Buenos Aires province to wage the war against the Unitarian League. José María Paz made from Córdoba a league of provinces, and so did Rosas. The conflict ended a short time after the unexpected capture of Paz, who mistook enemy troops for his own.
The Argentine Civil Wars began during the Argentine War of Independence. The conflict was between the federals, who wanted to organize the country as a federation, and the Unitarians, who preferred a centralist government with capital in Buenos Aires. The last military conflict was the 1820 battle of Cepeda; since then a new constituent assembly was convened to write a new constitution and organize the country. The provinces rejected the 1826 constitution because of its centralist tendencies, and the unitarian president Bernardino Rivadavia resigned. The provinces became a confederation once more, and federal Manuel Dorrego was appointed governor of Buenos Aires.