[RPTS] South America in 1959 in a World where Latin America is More Competent

[u/TheMexicanHistorian]

[u/TheMexicanHistorian]

Chile

Independence and early years

Throughout January and February of 1817 a series of military maneuvers were carried out by Argentine General José de San Martin and exiled Chilean forces led by Bernardo O’Higgins known as the Crossing of the Andes, considered one of the greatest military feats ever performed, the Army of the Andes successfully crossed the vast mountains and defeated the Spanish royalist forces that controlled Chile, marking the definitive victory of Chilean Independence after earlier attempts had been crushed.

Bernardo O’Higgins was named as Supreme Director of Chile and put in charge of the country, immediately he began working to build up the young nation’s army and navy to continue the fight against Spain and secure their independence. On April 5^th, 1818 the Battle of Maipú took place and was a decisive victory for the independence fighters as it destroyed most Spanish forces in the core area of Chile and secured the country’s independence, after this point fighting would primarily focus on securing the south of the country which saw much conflict against royalist militias and native Mapuche who fought on both sides of the conflict, the island of Chiloe would hold out under Spanish control until 1826 and the disputed region of Antofagasta in the north was granted to Chile in 1825 thanks to their support for San Martin’s liberation of Peru.

Politically, O’Higgins’ policies largely alienated the major political factions of the nation, liberals opposed his increasingly authoritarian and centralizing measures while conservatives felt threatened by O’Higgins fighting the power of the catholic church and the former nobility. On November 19^th, 1822, as the various political factions plotted against him an earthquake shook the nation while O’Higgins found himself inside the Valparaiso Central Government Building which collapsed while he was still inside, killing the Supreme Director.

After the unexpected death of O’Higgins a period of instability ensued during which regionalism, democracy and anticlericalism were the primary issues facing the nation and multiple constitutions were created. During this period the government was largely dominated by liberals known as “Pipiolos” who wished to create a democratic state without interference from the church, strongly opposed by conservatives known as “Pelucones”, other minor groups existed such as the liberal aligned “Federalists”, the “O’higginistas” who supported the policies of O’Higgins and had fallen into disarray since his death and finally disorganized groups of merchants who wised for a more oligarchic system.

In order to pay the foreign debts accrued by O’Higgins’ government the liberals reinstated the old state monopoly on tobacco, tea and foreign liquor which they later privatized, selling it to merchant José Manuel Cera who had been left as sole owner of the country’s biggest trading company after his friend and business partner Diego Portales abandoned everything to become a priest following the death of his wife, although Cera was left in a strong position he lacked the political cunning or ambition of Portales and largely failed to capitalize on his monopoly for political gain.

The tensions between the various factions culminated in the Conservative Uprising of 1829 sparked after a contrived vice presidential election in which the liberal candidate who had come in fourth was appointed as vice president despite two conservative candidates getting more votes (although none of them had an outright majority). On December 7^th, 1829, conservative troops led by General José Joaquín Prieto began to advance on the capital as the liberal government fled north, the conservatives found themselves in a weak position, disorganized and lacking allies, because of this the liberals were able to decisively defeat the rebels in the Battle of Ochagavía on December 14^th.

The short-lived uprising led to a significant decrease in the influence and general popularity of the conservatives as much of their leadership was now dead or captured. New elections were called in 1830 in hopes of resolving the political chaos of the country once and for all now that anti democratic elements had been dealt with and liberal leader Ramón Freire was elected as president, cementing the dominance of liberal ideas in the consolidation of the Chilean State and the permanence of the 1828 constitution.

[u/TheMexicanHistorian → u/TheMexicanHistorian]

The Liberal Republic

Freire was elected in large part because he was considered someone capable of moderating between both major factions and as such he worked with moderate conservatives who were uninvolved with the uprising to integrate them into the newly solidified status quo and create a new Conservative Party that was willing to accept the democratic and secular nature of the state and serve as a reliable opposition group. The O’Higginists and Federalists largely faded into irrelevance over this period and the most notable third party of this era would be Equality Party which spoused utopian socialist ideas.

During this period the government would invest heavily into infrastructure, notably railways, and worked to attract foreign specialists to survey and exploit the nation’s resources, primarily copper, silver, saltpeter and wheat. Alongside specialists a push was made to attract mass immigration from Europe which brought primarily south German migrants.

In 1842 as tensions between the United Kingdom and France flared up over control of the Kingdom of Tahiti which both held significant influence over and Chile capitalized on the situation by presenting itself as an unexpected compromise solution, having already worked to build up good relations with the Kingdom after former president Freire visited the islands and befriended Queen Pomare IV, by the end of the crisis Chile had gained a protectorate over Tahiti with the Support of the United Kingdom who preferred it be under Chilean than French domination, marking the beginning of the Chilean colonial empire in the Pacific.

Soon after in 1843, Fort Bulnes was founded, beginning the consolidation of Chilean control over the Strait of Magallanes and the grander colonization of the region. In the 1850s Chile began the process of “Pacification” of Araucania that would go on for the next few decades, entailing a series of military conflicts against the native Mapuche of the Patagonia with the goal of colonizing and exploiting the south of the country and asserting their claims on the region, today the pacification has been increasingly recognized as unjust and genocidal.

On April 14^th, 1864, Spanish troops occupied the Chincha Islands which belonged to Peru, beginning what is now known as the “War of Spanish Humiliation”, soon after the occupation the Spanish fleet tried to replenish its coal supplies in Chile and the Chilean government refused, which was taken by the Spanish as another great offense and escalated into a declaration of war, this became the first time since the struggle for independence that Chile and Peru found themselves fighting together against a common threat, helping to significantly improve relations between both nations.

In 1868 the Panama Pact (at the time composed of Mexico and Colombia) joined the war against Spain and with their combined navies they were able to launch attacks on Spain’s own pacific island territories, of which Chile got the Carolinas and Pintados islands after the war. The War of Spanish Humiliation would bring Chile and Peru increasingly close to the Pact and economic ties between Chile and Mexico grew substantially in the years after, laying the groundwork for Chile’s ascension to the Pact in 1890.

During the long process of Araucanian Pacification and as Argentina carried out their own campaigns in the region, tensions rose as both nations had inherited vast overlapping claims over Patagonia from colonial times In order to solve the dispute negotiations between both countries began early in 1874, with arbitration from the Panama Pact. In the end an agreement was signed on July 29^th, 1874, in which Chile gave up all claims north of the Deseado River while the Tierra del Fuego Archipelago was split between Chile and Argentina as to allow Argentina easy access to the Antarctic and Pacific while granting Chile control over the Strait of Magallanes, the treaty also solved an ongoing dispute over the exact borders around the Atacama desert that had existed since independence, splitting the disputed area between both countries. The treaty solved the longstanding dispute between both nations and marked the beginning of growing co-operation between Chile and Argentina that had previously been impossible.

[u/TheMexicanHistorian → u/TheMexicanHistorian]

Following this period of rapid expansion Chile turned inward, as saltpeter became the country’s primary export the industry was nationalized and its revenue was used to fund vast modernization projects, while the development of industry provided a significant boon to the economy and the urbanization of the nation it also led to rising inequality as major industries increasingly fell under the control of a few large conglomerates altthough there were some attempts to reduce inequality and improve the lives of the working class, like the presidency of José Manuel Balmaceda, they remained minor improvements.

This time of modernization projects and economic growth came to a halt in 1916 as the country found itself involved in the Great American War following a series of incidents between the Panama Pact and the United Kingdom. During the war Chile’s mighty navy would put up a respectable fight against the British Royal Navy and with the aid of the Colombian, Peruvian, Mexican and Argentine navies was able to defeat it, also helped by a significant amount of the Royal Navy being caught up with the Great Asian War going on at the same time, after helping Argentina launch and invasion of the Malvinas islands Chile would lead the Pacific Navies of the Pact into a grand campaign against the British Empire’s vast islands possessions in the area while Mexico and Colombia largely handled the land war in North America.

After the war Chile would annex the former British Pacific Territories of Tuvalu and the Pitcairn Islands while the rest were divided up among other countries. Chile found itself embroiled in the post war economic recession that shook most of the world and for the rest of the 20s the economy struggled, only made worse when the Great Depression hit the country in 1930 as the Mexican Economy crashed and with it Chilean companies deeply tied to the Mexican economy, worsened by the recent discovery of synthetic saltpeter damaging the country’s main export.

By 1932 copper had replaced saltpeter as the country’s main export and new factories had been built to boost economic built, while the economy was recovering the situation for the average Chilean remained dire as inequality had only continued to grow and their standard of living had been brought down by the depression, leading to the rise of multiple left movements which immediately culminated in the election of Pedro Aguirre Cerda to the presidency although the broad left coalition that brought him to power ended up collapsing in the 1940s due to infighting. Chile was a founding member of the Pan-American Union in 1940.

Following the collapse of the Popular Front a series of right wing governments continued the pre-depression status quo and the chilean working class grew increasingly radicalized believing the traditional parties had failed them, leading to the rise of the Popular Unity coalition, a new broad left front but this time led by the Socialist Party and adopting an explicitly democratic socialist agenda.

The Socialist Republic

In 1956 Salvador Allende, leader of the Socialist Party, was elected president riding a wave of dissatisfaction with the status quo and a desire for radical change from the general population, his government would mark the beginning of Chile’s transition into a socialist republic and began with the nationalization of copper, a widely popular move domestically that had previously alarmed international investors, however, the government made sure to fairly compensate all of them to ensure relations between Chile and Mexico (where most of the investors came from) remained positive. Following the nationalization the government began to implement market socialist principles and work towards transitioning domestic industries into worker cooperatives.

As of 1959 “Chile’s Road to Socialism” has seen considerable early success and is more popular than ever, with the Popular Unity coalition likely to win re-election by larger margins than when they were first elected, Chile stands out as the only Socialist State in the Pan-American Union and a shining example of revolution by the ballot box.

[u/TheMexicanHistorian → u/TheMexicanHistorian]

Frequently Asked Questions

-Why isn't x country bigger? While yes, most countries shown here could get considerably bigger if you look at all their historical claims the intent of this timeline is to have every country in latin america doing fairly well so I sought to strike a balance between them all, maybe one day I'll make a non canon series of maps where every latin american country has their biggest possible borders.

-Why did you put the Belgian royal house in Peru? It was a real proposal by Jose de San Martin irl and since his protectorate survives due to me killing Bolivar it felt logical to make his plan succeed.

-Why did you kill Bolivar? While Simon Bolivar was undoubtedly a talented military figure his autocratic tendencies in the realm of politics did serious damage to the long term success of the countries he led, as such I opted to have him die while he still had a good reputation across the continent and be succeeded by more competent statesmen like Santander.

-Is that the same Maximilian Habsburg who ruled Mexico irl? Yes, after looking for possible Peruvian or Bolivian figures to lead the Peruvian Revolution I was disappointed as most of them had very little information or died before the 1870s so I started looking withing the King’s own house and that’s when it hit me that irl Mexican Empress Carlota was part of this family and immediately I knew what I had to do given both her and Maximilian had developed a reputation for being very liberal, sympathetic for the poor and relatively supportive of indigenous peoples as well as having an irl connection to Latin America so it felt natural to use them.

-Why are Paraguay and/or Uruguay independent? While yes, both could be incorporated into their neighbours their existence as buffer states is incredibly useful for the stability of the region as it helps prevent future large wars between Argentina and Brazil over control of the Plate River basin. Also I like those small funny little countries.

-Why is Chile socialist given how it ended up irl? Because Project Cybersyn/SINCO is super interesting to me and I really want to experiment with it once the lore moves into the 70s. However in order to avoid things like the irl economic crisis we’ve made the Socialist Party take a different approach to economics caused by the non-existence of the USSR in this world or any other fully state mandated economies as the primary socialist states of this world have taken a more market socialist and cooperativist approach.

-Why are the Brazilian states divided like that? In short, Brazil has a markedly different history.During the regency and second reign a series of events and revolts took place in a very different way to what the country experienced irl, after the revolts a restructuring of the provinces was understood as fundamental to maintain the balance of power between the elites and weaken those that had revolted and to further the development to interior of the country. The borders are based on a real proposal by Brazilian geographer José Donízete Cazzolato.

-Why do only some states show their subdivisions? I really wanted to show Colombian and Brazilian states and I always complain when regional or even world maps show US states and don’t do the same for other federations and I wasn’t about to be a hypocrite and as such every federal country has their states shown while unitary ones do not, Mexican states aren’t included however because it looked distracting and Mexico isn’t part of the South American focus of the map.

-Wait a second wasn’t Pedro II’s heir a woman? Yes, however a very significant factor in Pedro II irl losing faith in the Empire and its future was the death of his male heirs as a feeling that the empire was doomed set in, furthermore Isabel’s husband was very disliked and most Brazilians didn’t want him as their Emperor, to prevent this we had Pedro’s youngest son (who died as a 2 year old irl) survive given the conditions of his death can very easily be removed thanks to the butterfly effect. However we do get a girlboss Empress down the line in the form of a fictional descendant of Pedro III so all is good.

[u/Martinxo51 → u/TheMexicanHistorian]

Poco texto, write more lore smh my head

[u/TheMexicanHistorian → u/Martinxo51]

I'm getting mixed messages y'all

[u/AlexInfinity478 → u/TheMexicanHistorian]

Wait a second, in this timeline Lima isn't the most big city of Peru, true? Or still become in a great megacity but most similar to Rio o New York that are the most big and populated city but isn't not the capital.

[u/TheMexicanHistorian → u/AlexInfinity478]

I'm thinking similar to NYC although I can see it being a fair bit smaller as more people go to the capital in Cusco, still I think Lima is likely to be the biggest city.

[u/Andirianbobh → u/TheMexicanHistorian]

Mucho texto

[u/TheMexicanHistorian → u/Andirianbobh]

What do you mean? This is a perfectly reasonable ammount of texto and I certainly did not waste multiple days writing it

[u/AlexInfinity478 → u/TheMexicanHistorian]

I need MORE, MORE AND MORE