Anarchy Versus National Order
The first 20 years of Argentine independence were characterized by an almost continuous state of civil war. Political power struggles between Buenos Aires, which had already developed into the country's major urban center, and the provinces had resulted in the emergence of numerous regional caudillos. Each caudillo had organized his own private army — composed of gauchos, Indians, and even fugitives from justice — for whom he provided weapons and lodging. The provincial caudillos regularly formed and broke alliances and warred among themselves. The government in Buenos Aires, however, usually remained their principal enemy.
Even before the end of the war with Brazil, a renewal of the civil war had resulted in the desertion of Argentine army troops, who returned to fight in their home provinces and thus contributed to Rivadavia's resignation from the presidency in 1827. After the peace treaty with Brazil was signed, the national army quickly fell apart and was not reorganized until nearly a quarter-century later.
By the late 1820s Juan Manuel de Rosas had distinguished himself as one of the most powerful of the caudillos. In late 1829 the legislature recognized Rosas for his role in leading a militia of some 600 men against a mutinous general who had deposed and executed Buenos Aires' provincial governor the year before. The legislature named the caudillo the new governor of the province of Buenos Aires, gave him unlimited powers for a three-year term, elevated him from the rank of army colonel to that of brigadier general, and bestowed upon him the honorific title of Restorer of the Laws.
Anarchy again prevailed for three years after Rosas' first term. In 1835 the legislature reappointed Rosas governor of the country's most powerful province, and he returned from leading an expeditionary force against the Indians to restore order in the capital once more. During this term, which lasted five years, Rosas' Machiavellian pretensions were barely concealed as he managed to play the other provincial caudillos against each other and to manipulate them in his favor.
National unification, according to some accounts, was one of Rosas' main contributions to Argentine history. His "order," however, was achieved at a high social cost. Between 1840 — when his third term as governor began — and his demise 12 years later, thousands of Argentines were murdered in a campaign of state-sanctioned terror designed to eliminate all opposition to Rosas' government. In addition to his well-cared-for army, which had swelled to almost 30,000 troops, Rosas relied for his security on the Mazorca, a popular support organization that evolved into a secret police composed of spies and assassins loyal only to the dictator.
Various groups rose in opposition to the dictatorship, but lacking sufficient military strength, all were defeated until the campaign against the government that was organized and led by General Justo José de Urquiza, a former Rosas ally. Urquiza's Great Liberating Army was made up of former soldiers from Rosas' army, members of other government opposition organizations, and forces from Brazil and Uruguay which, after years of intrigue against them by the Argentine caudillo, were anxious for Rosas' defeat.
At the Battle of Caseros in February 1852, Urquiza's army of some 28,000 men confronted Rosas' troops, which by then numbered only 23,000. Almost 7,000 of Rosas' men were captured along with their arms and munitions; some who had deserted to join Rosas' army were hanged or decapitated by Urquiza's soldiers. Casualties from the conflict ran as high as 1,500 dead and wounded, of whom some 600 belonged to the Great Liberating Army. Even before the fighting ended, Rosas abandoned his command and fled to nearby Buenos Aires. Once there, he renounced his leadership before the legislature and by the following day had departed on a British warship bound for Britain.
For nearly 10 years following Rosas' defeat, two national military bodies coexisted, each with a command structure independent of, and politically opposed to, the other. The dividing issue pertained to the ever contentious relationship between Buenos Aires and the provinces. The Army of the Confederation, created under the 1853 Constitution and commanded by Urquiza, was ultimately defeated in 1861 by the Army of Buenos Aires led by Bartolomé Mitre. By 1862, when Mitre became the first president of the Argentine Republic, the soldier-statesman had incorporated into his force segments of Urquiza's army and ushered in the era during which the Argentine armed forces finally became a consolidated national institution.
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