United Provinces of the Río de la Plata Provincias Unidas del Río de la Plata United Provinces in South America Provincias Unidas en Sud-América
1810–1831
Flag (1819-1820) Coat of arms
Motto: En unión y libertad "In Union and Freedom"
Anthem: Marcha patriótica "Patriotic March"
Sol de Mayo [1] "Sun of May"
Territory ever controlled (not simultaneously)   Territory claimed but never controlled
Status	Spanish provinces (1810-1816) Sovereign state (1816-1831)
Capital	Buenos Aires
Common languages	Spanish Indigenous languages
Religion	Catholicism
Government	1810-1811: Government Junta 1811–1814: Triumvirate 1814-1820: Directorial republic 1820-1826: Confederation (de facto) 1826-1827: Unitary presidential republic 1827-1831: Confederation (de facto)
Recognised Monarch
• 1810–1816	Ferdinand VII
Head of State
• 1810–1811	Cornelio Saavedra
• 1811	Domingo Matheu
• 1811-1812	First Triumvirate
• 1812-1814	Second Triumvirate
• 1814-1820	Supreme Director
• 1826–1827	Bernardino Rivadavia
• 1827	Vicente López y Planes
Governor of Buenos Aires[a]
• 1820	Matías de Irigoyen
• 1820-1828	See full list...
• 1828-1827	Manuel Dorrego
• 1828-1829	Juan Lavalle
• 1829-1832	Juan Manuel de Rosas
History
• British invasions	1806–1807
• May Revolution	25 May 1810
• Independence	9 July 1816
• Battle of Cepeda	1 February 1820
• First Presidency	1826-1827
• Treaty of Montevideo	28 August 1828
• Federal Pact	4 January 1831
Population
• 1810 census	530,000
Currency	Real (1813-1815) Sol (1815-1826) Peso fuerte (1826-1881)
Preceded by Succeeded by Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata 1831: Argentine Confederation 1828: Uruguay 1825: Upper Peru 1815: Federal League
^ Between 1820 and 1826, the United Provinces functioned as a loose alliance of autonomous provinces put together by pacts and treaties (see Treaty of Pilar, Treaty of Benegas, Quadrilateral Treaty), but lacking any actual central government until the 1825 Constitutional Congress.

The United Provinces of the Río de la Plata or United Provinces of the River Plate,^[a] along with United Provinces in South America,^[b] are names used to refer to the emerging state that succeeded the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata after the May Revolution, from 1810 to 1831, encompassing the Argentine War of Independence, the Cisplatine War and the beginning of the Argentine Civil Wars. The aforementioned state is now the Argentine Republic. The name "United Provinces of the Río de la Plata" is recognised as one of the official names of Argentina according to Article 53 of its constitution.

The state that succeeded the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1810 used different names depending on political interests and people's common usage.

• Provinces of the Río de la Plata (Spanish: Provincias del Río de la Plata): This name first appeared in a proclamation issued by the Junta of Cadiz, urging the Spanish American territories to create provisional government juntas while Ferdinand VII was imprisoned by Napoleon. After the May Revolution, the Junta of Buenos Aires adopted the name.^[2]
• United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (Spanish: Provincias Unidas del Río de la Plata): This name was adopted by the First Triumvirate during the final months of 1811, and became the most common name to refer to this period. It is also recognised as one of the three official names of Argentina in Article 35 of its constitution.^[3]
• United Provinces of the South (Spanish: Provincias Unidas del Sud): This was the name used to refer to the state in the Argentine National Anthem (’‘Marcha patriótica’’), composed in 1813. It was not used in official documents.
• United Provinces in South America (Spanish: Provincias Unidas en Sud-América): This name appears in the Argentine Declaration of Independence of 1816. It was probably chosen because it was a more encompassing name,^[4] and the borders of the new state were not clear yet. Besides, Río de la Plata was strongly associated with Buenos Aires, so changing it could seem a better option for supporters of federalism. However, the name was never widely used.
• Argentina: It became the most common name during the 1820s. Argentina comes from argentum, which means silver in Latin, so the name is related to Río de la Plata, which literally means "River of the Silver". Since argentum means silver, Argentina literally means "related to silver".
• Argentine Republic (Spanish: República Argentina): This name was officially adopted by the 1826 constitution. However, in 1827, the constitution stopped being applied. Nowadays, it is the most common official name used by Argentina.
• Argentine Confederation (Spanish: Confederación Argentina): This was a widely used name after the Federal Pact, although it was used before. It is also one of Argentina’s official names according to Article 35.

Río de la Plata can be translated as River Plate. This translation originated when plate could mean silver in English. One of Argentina's two largest football clubs is named after this translation (Club Atlético River Plate). A more accurate English version of Río de la Plata would be River of the Silver, but it is not used. Also, the Río de la Plata is not a river, but an estuary.

The United Provinces of the Río de la Plata were bordered on the south by the sparsely populated territories of the Pampas and Patagonia, home to the Mapuche, Ranquel, and Puelche peoples. To the north, the Gran Chaco was populated by the Guaycuru nations. To the northwest, across Upper Peru (modern-day Bolivia), lay the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru. Across the Andes, to the west, was the Spanish-controlled Captaincy General of Chile. To the northeast was Colonial Brazil, part of the Portuguese Empire (in 1815, the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves), later the Empire of Brazil in 1822.^{[citation needed]}

However, the territory of the United Provinces changed repeatedly. Since the beginning, the government of Buenos Aires (the juntas, the triumvirates and later the Directory) wanted to control all the intendancies that belonged to the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. Nevertheless, this goal was never achieved due to resistance by royalist governments. The Intendancy of Paraguay (modern-day Paraguay) rejected Buenos Aires’ authority and swore loyalty to the provisional government of Peninsular Spain (the Council of Regency of Spain and the Indies). Buenos Aires launched a military expedition known as the Paraguay campaign, but it was defeated and Paraguay became an independent country a few months later. The intendancies of La Paz, Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, Córdoba del Tucumán, Salta del Tucumán and the political and military governments of Moxos and Chiquitos were annexed by the Viceroyalty of Peru after the May Revolution; Córdoba del Tucumán and Salta del Tucumán were fully regained after the Second Upper Peru campaign, commanded by Manuel Belgrano, but the other territories (known as a whole as Upper Peru) were never retaken, and became Bolivia years later.^{[citation needed]}

Montevideo did not acknowledge Buenos Aires’ government either, and was declared the new capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, where that administrative division continued to exist until 1814, when the city was conquered by the United Provinces. However, Montevideo became part of the Oriental Province (Banda Oriental, modern-day Uruguay) and acted as the capital of the League of the Free Peoples, a federal alternative to the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, which had a unitary government. This alternative state was composed of the provinces of Córdoba, Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Santa Fe, Misiones and Banda Oriental. In 1820, Banda Oriental was fully captured by Portuguese Brazil, and the League was abolished; the rest of its provinces came under Argentine control. Banda Oriental became an independent state (Uruguay) in 1828 after British intervention in the Cisplatine War.^{[citation needed]}

The beginning of the state is situated during the May Revolution (specifically on 24 or 25 May 1810), when the viceroy of the Río de la Plata, Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros, was dismissed by the Open Cabildo. The reason behind this decision was a very complex political context originating after the capture of King Ferdinand VII of Spain by Napoleon: the people of the Iberian Peninsula organised a provisional government known as Supreme Central Junta, which ended up being acknowledged by Spanish America, and appointed Cisneros as viceroy; however, this junta was disestablished by French forces, so the Viceroy legitimacy was in danger, as he had been elected not by the King, but by a spontaneous junta that did not exist anymore.^[5]

The criollos, people with Peninsular Spanish ancestry born in the Americas, were legally considered Spanish, but in practice were excluded from important government offices. Many of them were influenced by Enlightenment and liberal ideas, and wanted to change their situation and their society. Besides, Spanish America had a history of indigenous and criollo rebellions, like the Rebellion of Tupac Amaru II and the Revolutions of La Paz and Chuquisaca. Therefore, when the Peninsular government fell, they demanded the dismissal of Cisneros and the creation of a government junta, sustained by the principle of retroversion of sovereignty to the people, which says that, in absence of a legitimate sovereign, such as the King, sovereignty must return to the people. They were supported by Buenos Aires' urban militias such as the Regiment of Patricians, commanded by Cornelio Saavedra. Nevertheless, other criollos oppossed the Revolution, especially those who benefited from the Spanish commercial monopoly and the bureaucratic elite.^[6]

The Primera Junta (the government created by the May Revolution) swore loyalty to Ferdinand VII and did not declare independence, but refused to recognise the authority of the Council of Regency of Spain and Indies —which was the new provisional government in the Iberian Peninsula— since it had not been chosen by Spanish American citizens.^[7] This created a huge debate among historians, which is usually divided between those who think that the initial discretion was a strategy of the revolutionaries while they were waiting for a better international context, and those who say that the 1810 was the best context for the revolutionaries to declare independence, but they did not do it since it was not the goal at first, and became the only option when Ferdinand VII returned to the throne and turned extremely conservative.^[8]

After the May Revolution, there were two main political positions in the Provinces. The first one was composed of those who wanted to preserve the Old Regime, such as the ecclesiastical elite, bureaucrats related to the viceregnal administration and rich merchants who benefited from the Spanish commercial monopoly; they were encamped in the Royal Audiencia and the Cabildo of Buenos Aires. On the other hand, the revolutionaries encompassed a petty bourgeoisie and a new merchant bourgeoisie. The first one was integrated by lawyers (Moreno, Castelli, Belgrano and Paso), popular priests (Alberti, José Ignacio Grela and Juan Manuel Aparicio) common workers (Domingo French, Antonio Beruti, Agustín José Donado, Buenaventura de Arzac, Francisco Mariano de Orma, etc.) and doctors (Cosme Argerich); primarily influenced by Enlightenment and popular sovereignty ideas. The second group (the merchant bourgeoisie) was related to the free trade sanctioned in 1809, but also to smuggling. There were criollo families (Riglos, Aguirre, Sarratea, Escalada, García, Rivadavia, etc.) and British ones (Miller, Parish, Bellinghurst, O'Gorman, Wilde, Craig, Dillon, Twaites, Gowland, Lynch, Robertson, Mackinson, Brittain, Armstrong, Ramsay, etc.).^[6]

The Primera Junta, founded on 25 May 1810, was a government junta similar to the ones from the Iberian Peninsula. It was integrated by Cornelio Saavedra as chairman, Manuel Belgrano, Juan José Castelli, Manuel Alberti, Miguel de Azcuénaga, Juan Larrea and Domingo Matheu as voting members, and Mariano Moreno and Juan José Paso as secretaries. However, one of the debated issues in creating an spontaneous junta in Buenos Aires was the lack of representation of the other provinces, so one of the first measures of the Primera Junta was to send a circular to each city of the former Viceroyalty announcing its creation and requesting them to send deputies.^[9]

As the news spread, the Primera Junta started to work as the new government immediately. Although Saavedra was the chairman, the Junta’s political measures were chosen by Moreno and his friends, such as Belgrano and Castelli (known as a whole as Morenism), who had greater influence and were considered to be extremists, since they were inspired by the French Revolution. On the other hand, Saavedra and his followers (Saavedrism) had more moderate ideas. There is a document called Operations Plan which is attributed to Moreno and contains a list of policies in order for the provisional government to win the war against absolutism. Some authors, like Diego Bause, claim that the Plan is apocryphal, and a copy of a French play called The Cemetery of Magdalena, while others, like Norberto Galasso, say that it is an authentic document that correlates with the Junta’s measures under Moreno’s influence.^[10]

Regarding the economy, the Primera Junta established a fund to promote the mining industry, redistributed lands in the Pampas, and imposed limits to prevent the concentration of large estates. They maintained tariffs on imported goods despite pressure from British merchants and launched an enterprise to manufacture rifles in Buenos Aires and Tucumán, as well as another to produce gunpowder in Córdoba. Nevertheless, there was not enough time for Moreno’s policies to take effect, and some of them, such as the maintenance of tariffs on imported goods, put him at odds with the social classes that supported the revolution (the criollo and British merchants). This strengthened support for Saavedrism as an alternative to Morenism.^[10]

When the cities of the other provinces (intendacies) and political-military governments received the news about the dismissal of Cisneros, some of them acknowledged the authority of the new government, while others refused to do so. There was a counterrevolution in Córdoba led by former viceroy of the Río de la Plata Santiago de Liniers, but it was suppressed and he was executed. On the other hand, the Viceroyalty of Peru, which had recognised the authority of the Council of Regency, considered the new Buenos Aires government to be illegitimate and annexed the intendancies and governments of Upper Peru. The Intendancy of Paraguay refused to accept the new Junta as well and swore loyalty to the Council of Regency. The Political and Military Government of Montevideo did the same. This forced the Junta to launch military campaigns to Paraguay, Upper Peru and Banda Oriental, marking the beginning of the Argentine War of Independence.^[10]

Eventually, the deputies from the provinces arrived in Buenos Aires to join the Junta. Moreno did not want to admit them, arguing that it would slow down the government and that they should participate in a General Congress to decide the permanent organization of the State instead. On 18 December 1810, the deputies were accepted after a vote, marking the beginning of the Junta Grande. Moreno submitted his resignation, but it was refused; instead, he was sent on a diplomatic mission to the United Kingdom and died in International Waters under strange circumstances.^[10]

The Junta Grande was integrated by the same members of the previous junta, along with the deputies that had come from the provinces. Morenism lost its majority and became a minor political force, while Saavedrism rose to prominence with a more moderate political agenda. The military expeditions that the Primera Junta had launched to Upper Peru and Paraguay, commanded by Morenists Castelli and Belgrano respectively, were defeated, and the Banda Oriental campaign had significant defeats such as the Battle of San Nicolás. This worsened the situation of Morenism and the government.

On 5 and 6 April 1811, the Saavedrist party positioned people across the Plaza de la Victoria (modern-day Plaza de Mayo), right in front of the Fort of Buenos Aires (where the Casa Rosada is now located), to demand the dismissal of the last Morenist members of the Junta. Larrea, Azcuénaga, Hipólito Vieytes and Nicolás Rodríguez Peña were expelled from the government, consolidating Saavedrist control over the Junta’s politics. Many Morenists were exiled: Azcuénaga and Gervasio Antonio de Posadas to Mendoza, Larrea to San Juan, Rodríguez Peña to San Luis, and French, Beruti and Vieytes to Patagonia. It is debated among historians whether this revolution was a popular movement or not.^[11]

The Banda Oriental campaign escalated with a siege and even a Portuguese attack called by Viceroy Francisco Javier de Elío of Montevideo. Since the conflict surrounded the Río de la Plata, it affected commercial interests of those whose wealth depended on the ports of Buenos Aires and Montevideo. The Junta Grande did not reach an agreement with the government of Montevideo about signing a treaty, so it was accused of ineptitude by the Cabildo (mainly composed of British and criollo merchants). An assembly was convened —taking advantage of the fact that Saavedra had been sent to reorganise the Army of the North and was being replaced as chairman by Matheu— and a new government was established on 23 September 1811: the First Triumvirate. The Junta continued to exist with the name of Junta conservadora de la soberanía del señor don Fernando VII y de las leyes nacionales (Junta for the Preservation of the Sovereignty of Lord Don Ferdinand VII and the National Laws) but without the executive power, and was dissolved months later.^[11]

The First Triumvirate was established on 23 September 1811 with Feliciano Antonio Chiclana, Manuel de Sarratea and Paso as triumvirs, but the aforementioned was replaced by Juan Martín de Pueyrredón later. Bernardino Rivadavia, Vicente López y Planes and José Julián Pérez were appointed as ministers. This new government was somewhat reluctant to continue the war (probably due to the way it complicated trade, since it had been established primarily by merchants, according to historians such as Norberto Galasso), so it signed treaties with both Paraguay and Montevideo on 12 and 20 October respectively. The first one acknowledged Paraguay's independence from Buenos Aires, while the second treaty recognised the authority of the new viceroy appointed by the Council of Regency (Francisco Jaiver de Elío) over Banda Oriental and Montevideo, but not the rest of the former Viceroyalty; logically, this implied the cessation of hostilities between the two governments, so José Gervasio Artigas, the main leader of Banda Oriental (Uruguay) struggle for independence, was left alone.^[11]

On 12 January 1812, a ship set sail from London to the United Provinces with José de San Martín, Carlos María de Alvear and other Spanish officers who wanted to join the fight in South America. They arrived on 9 March 1812 and met with the First Triumvirate, which a few days later promoted San Martín to lieutenant colonel and ordered him to create a military regiment for the cause, which received the name of Regiment of Mounted Grenadiers.^[12] The officers secretly created a lodge, known as the Lautaro Lodge, in which they discussed the politics of the provinces and supervised the Triumvirate's actions.^[11] San Martín participated there while also training the new military corps during 1812.^[12]

On the other hand, on 18 February 1812, the First Triumvirate approved the use of the Argentine cockade at Belgrano’s request, with the light blue and white pattern.^[13] Nonetheless, after this measure, the lawyer decided to create a flag with the cockade colours and raise it while he was in Rosario supervising the Paraná River, as well as to administer the oath to the new flag to his soldiers. When the Triumvirate found out, it ordered Belgrano to hide the flag and sent him a Spanish red and yellow one, but he had already departed for the north with the duty of reorganising the Army for a second Upper Peru campaign, so he did not receive the message. Belgrano held another ceremony when he arrived in San Salvador de Jujuy, in which a priest blessed the flag. The Triumvirate sanctioned him, and Belgrano said that he would hide the flag until a significant victory was achieved. A few weeks later, the collegiate government ordered Belgrano to withdraw from the north and return to Córdoba. The lawyer obeyed the order despite his strong disagreement —since it meant abandoning a lot of territory—, but when he and his soldiers arrived in Tucumán, the population supported the struggle, so Belgrano stopped there and successfully defended the city in the Battle of Tucumán. This event affected the government’s reputation and marked a promising beginning for the Second Upper Peru campaign.

The news about Belgrano’s victory in Tucumán after ignoring government orders arrived in Buenos Aires during the first days of October and ruined the Triumvirate’s reputation. San Martín, along with the other members of the Lautaro Lodge, wanted to gain participation in the government in order to take more radical measures than the Triumvirate was willing to adopt, and waited until the election of new triumvirs. Nevertheless, their candidate —Bernardo de Monteagudo— was rejected, and a sympathiser of Rivadavia and his policies was chosen instead. Therefore, on 8 October 1812, San Martín and the Logia Lautaro deployed the grenadiers and other soldiers across the Plaza de la Victoria to protest, while the Patriotic Society brought people to do the same. The First Triumvirate resigned and the Cabildo created the Second Triumvirate.^[11]

The Second Triumvirate was established on 8 October 1812 with Morenist Rodríguez Peña, Peninsular liberal Antonio Álvarez Jonte and Paso as triumvirs. It marked the return of Morenist and radical ideas to the revolutionary government. Logically, it was supported by the Lautaro Lodge and the Patriotic Society —since these organisations promoted its creation— but the relation with San Martín was gradually ruined due to political disagreements with Alvear in the Lodge. Álvarez Jonte (San Martín's friend) was replaced by Gervasio Antonio de Posadas (Alvear's uncle).

The Second Triumvirate reestablished the siege of Montevideo, led by José Rondeau and Artigas. This provoked a lack of food supplies in Montevideo, so the urban militias started sacking United Provinces territory, such as the coasts of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River. In January and February 1813, a fleet from Montevideo disembarked at the San Carlos Convent, where it encountered strong resistance from locals. This led them to think that the convent might have valuable goods, so they prepared for a counterattack. However, San Martín, along with his grenadiers, had been following the fleet in secret and was prepared to launch a surprise attack, which took place on 3 February 1813, in the Battle of San Lorenzo, where the Mounted Grenadiers had their baptism of fire and defeated the Montevideo militia. This ended the frequent sackings and boosted confidence in San Martín and his regiment.

On the other hand, Belgrano and the Army of the North were victorious in the Battle of Salta, securing the northern provinces. Nonetheless, when he tried to recover Upper Peru, he was defeated at Vilcapugio and Ayohuma. This marked the failure of the Second Upper Peru campaign, although overall it meant the definitive expulsion of the Viceroyalty of Peru’s royalists from the north of present-day Argentina. Belgrano handed over command of the Army of the North to San Martín in the Yatasto relay, an important event in Argentine history that brought together the two most recognised figures of Argentine independence. Nevertheless, San Martín did not last long in that office since his plan was to cross the Andes to defeat the Captaincy General of Chile and therefore attack the Viceroyalty of Peru by sea, instead of keeping trying to defeat its forces from the north of the United Provinces.

One of the Second Triumvirate's first measures was to convene an assembly with representatives from all the provinces to discuss important subjects related to the emerging State, which took place from 31 January 1813 until 24 January 1815. Historiographically, it is known as Asamblea del Año XIII (Assembly of the Year XIII), but its official name was Asamblea General Constituyente y Soberana del Año 1813 (General Constituent and Sovereign Assembly of the Year 1813). The Assembly held sessions in Buenos Aires.

Many subjects were debated during the two years in which the Assembly met. Although it was finally rejected, the idea of declaring independence from Spain had grown and was proposed by many deputies; different policies were adopted in that direction. Some historians relate this with the decline of liberal and democratic movements in Peninsular Spain, and the rise of conservative stances. However, some representatives were sent with the specific instruction not to consent independence, such as the deputies from Tucumán. The sanction of a constitution was discussed as well, but it was not approved.^[14]

Artigas was offered to send deputies in the name of Banda Oriental. He accepted and sent them with the duty of demanding the declaration of independence, the establishment of a federal system, civil and religious freedom, etc. These ideas, considered radical by the government of Buenos Aires, led to his representatives being rejected from the Assembly. In response to this and other decisions, Artigas abandoned the siege of Montevideo, which he maintained along with Rondeau. Some historians claim that the rejection of Artigas' deputies was a shift to Enlightened absolutism by the old Morenists, who had radical ideas but wanted to govern without the people. Others say that the caudillos (such as Artigas) were barbarians, and therefore it was a good choice not to let them in.^[14]

The measures taken by the Assembly were the following:

• Sanction of the Law of Wombs, which stated that the descendants of slaves were born free from there on
• Immediate freedom for any slave who entered the territory of the United Provinces from there on
• Abolition of the Inquisition and torture (torture instruments were burnt in the square)
• Abolition of noble ranks
• Abolition of the mit'a, encomienda and yanaconazgo (labour systems for indigenous people)
• Declaration of indigenous people as completely free citizens with the same rights as any other citizen
• Special taxes on wealthy people in order to finance the State and the military (500 pesos per year)
• Comission of the composition of an anthem
• Approval of the anthem composed under the name Marcha patriótica, nowadays known as Argentine National Anthem
• Removal of Ferdinand VII's image from coins
• Creation of En unión y libertad (In Union and Freedom) motto
• Creation of the coat of arms of Argentina
• The creation of the Directory in place of the Triumvirate.^[14]

The Directory was established on 31 January 1814 by the Assembly of the Year XIII. It consisted of a Supreme Director who exercised power during a two-year term and was to have a Council of State composed of seven members. It is considered a more unitarian form of government. In fact, the Directory was the longest-lived form of government until the formalisation of the Confederation, although the supreme directors changed many times.

Posadas was appointed as the first supreme director of the United Provinces. His directorship was marked by the Second Banda Oriental campaign and the appointment of San Martín as governor of Cuyo, intended to organise the Crossing of the Andes. However, Posadas had to deal with the ongoing conflict with Artigas, which had started after the rejection of his deputies from the Assembly of the Year XIII, but had antecedents in the treaty signed by the First Triumvirate with Montevideo. This conflict is considered the beginning of the Argentine Civil War due to the gradual shift to unitarianism by the governments of Buenos Aires and the rejection of Artigas’ federal proposals

Around March 1814, a small fleet was created with the duty of ending Montevideo’s control of the rivers. On 1 March 1814, William Brown was appointed as lieutenant colonel and commander of the Buenos Aires Squadron. On 15 March 1814, he defeated Captain Jacinto de Romarate in the Naval Battle of Martín García and occupied the island. On 20 April 1814, Brown established a naval blockade against Montevideo and defeated its fleet again in the Battle of Buceo, ending the naval superiority of the present-day capital of Uruguay. Finally, on 17 May 1814, Captain General Gaspar de Vigodet negotiated the surrender, and the city was occupied by Alvear on 23 May 1814, who had been appointed as chief as a replacement for Rondeau by Posadas.^[15]

This last-minute replacement of Rondeau by Alvear in the besieging army led some people to think that it was intended to concede Alvear the glory of entering Montevideo. Within that framework, Posadas appointed Rondeau as general-in-chief of the Army of the North in place of San Martín, who had leave in order to recover from a stomach ulcer;^[16] Rondeau spent the rest of the year reorganising and preparing the army for a third Upper Peru campaign. Meanwhile, Posadas appointed San Martín as governor of Cuyo at his request. Cuyo was a former Argentine province that included present-day territories of Mendoza, San Juan and San Luis provinces), and limited with Chile. San Martín spent two years there creating an army for the Crossing of the Andes with local help.^[17]

On the other hand, in February 1814 the Province of Entre Ríos rebelled against Buenos Aires authority, following Artigas, and achieved autonomy after the Battle of El Espinillo.^[18] Posadas declared Artigas a traitor to the nation, but this did not stop his movement. The Province of Corrientes rebelled against its Cabildo, declared autonomy and adhered to the “federation system, with General Artigas as Protector”. Misiones embraced federalism as well, with Andresito Artigas (Artigas’ adopted son) as governor. These rebel provinces, with Artigas as their leader, marked the beginning of the Union of the Free Peoples, commonly referred to as the Federal League, which became an alternative to Buenos Aires’ government for the provinces of the Río de la Plata.^[14]

This civil war between the United Provinces and the Federal League reached Banda Oriental. At first, the government of Buenos Aires had the upper hand: Alvear won a battle against Fernando Ortogués and Manuel Dorrego defeated Artigas in the Battle of Marmarajá. Nevertheless, the situation was reversed with the federal victory in the Battle of Guayabos on 10 January 1815, after which the entire Oriental Province (Banda Oriental, including Montevideo) entered the Federal League. This growing conflict, along with the return of Ferdinand VII to the Spanish throne, complicated Posadas' directorship. His last measure was trying to replace Rondeau by Alvear, again, this time as general-in-chief of the Army of the North. However, the soldiers did not recognise the appointment. Alvear retreated to Buenos Aires before arriving at the north and Posadas resigned on 9 January.^[19]

Alvear was appointed as supreme director on 9 January 1815 after the resignation of his uncle Posadas. His directorship was marked by a strong persecution of political dissent and adversaries; he organised an espionage network, executed people without prior trial and ended up decreeing death penalty for anyone who criticized his government. Alvear was primarilly supported by the members of the Lautaro Lodge (except San Martín, who was already at odds with him and opposed his directorship). This government is considered the final ideological degeneration and shift to elitism of the old Morenists by some historians. There is no consensus about him being a dictator since he only exercised power for 95 days. Regarding his federal opponents, Alvear was seen as the ultimate expression of unitarianism and centralism.

The Supreme Director also had aristocratic opponents who objected his French ideas and considered him a traitor to his class, because he came from an aristocratic family. Alvear responded this group not only with persecution but by imposing high taxes as well. He also seized funds from factories belonging to churches and pious confraternities and, faced with the danger of an absolutist expedition sent by Ferdinand VII, who had just returned to the Spanish throne, Alvear allowed slaves to enlist in the army in exchange for freedom.

The governor of Córdoba, Francisco Ortiz de Ocampo, resigned after being threatened by Artigas, and was replaced by José Javier Díaz. Although he declared himself as an ally of the caudillo, he did not break off relations with the Directory. The intendant of La Rioja —which at that time, was part of Córdoba—, for his part, refused to acknowledge Artigas' authority and remained under the control of the Directory. Alvear, willing to terminate the conflict, offered Artigas the independence of the Oriental Province, but the caudillo refused, since he was compromised with the entire Federal League, which encompassed most of the Argentine littoral, and his project was not about separatism, but bringing federalism to the all the provinces.

Due to the desperate situation, on 28 February, Alvear sent the diplomatic Manuel José García to Rio de Janeiro to negotiate with the British consul Lord Strangford the possibility of making the United Provinces part of the United Kingdom as a protectorate, hoping to end the civil in that way and reestablish a central government without Artigas. This plan, known as la misión García (the García Mission), did not succeed because the United Kingdom and Spain had become allies against Napoleon, and the United Provinces were still part of the Kingdom of Spain formally. A few weeks later, another federal revolution broke out, this time in Santa Fe, which appointed Francisco Candioti as governor and included the province in the Federal League. In response, Alvear launched an army commanded by Ignacio Álvarez Thomas with the duty of taking over Santa Fe, crossing Entre Ríos and trying to attack the Oriental Province. However, they refused to march towards Santa Fe and issued a proclamation against the Supreme Director during the Mutiny of Fontezuelas. Alvear resigned and went into exile in a British frigate, the Lautaro Lodge was dissolved and its supporters were arrested or exiled. Rondeau was chosen as supreme director, but he could not exercise power since he was in Upper Peru; therefore, Álvarez Thomas was appointed instead.

Rondeau was appointed as Supreme Director on 20 April but he could not exercise power properly as he was in Upper Peru, so the next day the Cabildo appointed Álvarez Thomas as interim supreme director. Four days earlier, the Third Upper Peru campaign, which Rondeau had been organising, had begun. Antonio Álvarez de Arenales, with 500 men and the help of Martín Miguel de Güemes, defeated Francisco Fernando de la Cruz and his army. Thereafter, Rondeau moved forward to Yavi, where royalist Pedro Antonio Olañeta had been located before withdrawing. Joaquín de la Pezuela ordered a retreat to Oruro and the majority of Upper Peru was annexed by the United Provinces by July. Nonetheless, Pezuela's army received reinforcements while encamped in Oruro, and counterattacked on 29 November in the Battle of Viluma. Rondeau was defeated in that battle and the campaign was sealed as a failure, meaning the loss of the majority of Upper Peru once again.

Güemes and his troops had split from Rondeau’s army due to differences with him, and were stationed around the north of the Province of Salta and the Puna de Atacama. Güemes took with him weapons left by the Army of the North during its march. He arrived in Salta, which was going through a difficult situation due to the absence of the governor and the demands of Buenos Aires on the province for resources for the Army of the North. Güemes, who had strong popular support, was appointed governor of Salta, marking the first time that the people of that province elected their own governor; Salta achieved political independence without resigning their belonging to the United Provinces as a country. When Rondeau lost the Battle of Viluma, he retreated to Salta with his army, occupied the provincial capital and declared Güemes as a traitor. Güemes deliberately allowed Rondeau and his men to pursue him, gradually wearing them down and ultimately forcing him to sign a treaty recognising him as governor of Salta. As a consequence of this treaty, Rondeau was formally removed from the office of supreme director.

Meanwhile, Artigas sent representatives to sign a peace treaty with Buenos Aires, but Álvarez Thomas ordered their arrest. Then, in order to finish the work that he refused to continue with during the Mutiny of Fontezuelas, he launched an army under Juan José Viamonte's command, which recovered the Province of Santa Fe from Artigas. However, on 2 March 1816, the caudillos Mariano Vera and Estanislao López rebelled and besieged the city of Santa Fe. On 21 March, Viamonte surrendered and provincial sovereignty was proclaimed, as well as the formal entry into the Federal League. In response, Álvarez Thomas launched another army, but General Díaz Vélez made an agreement with the federals, and the Supreme Director ended up resigning in circumstances similar to the mutiny which had allowed his appointment.

The Liga Federal (1815–1820), or Liga de los Pueblos Libres (League of the Free Peoples), was an alliance of provinces in what is now Argentina and Uruguay, organised under democratic federalist ideals strongly advocated by its leader, José Gervasio Artigas.^{[citation needed]}

The government of the United Provinces of South America felt threatened by the growing appeal of the Liga Federal, so they did nothing to repel the incoming Portuguese invasion of Misiones Orientales and the Banda Oriental, the stronghold of Artigas. Brazilian General Carlos Frederico Lecor, thanks to their numerical and material superiority, defeated Artigas and his army and occupied Montevideo on 20 January 1817, but the struggle continued for three long years in the countryside. Infuriated by the passivity of Buenos Aires, Artigas declared war on Buenos Aires while he was losing to the Portuguese.^{[citation needed]}

On 1 February 1820, Federal League governors Francisco Ramírez of Entre Ríos and Estanislao López of Santa Fe, defeated a Supreme Directorship diminished army, ending the centralized government of the United Provinces, and established a federal agreement with Buenos Aires Province. Similarly, the Federal League effectively came to an end when its constituent provinces rejoined the United Provinces.^{[citation needed]}

Artigas, defeated by the Portuguese, retreated to Entre Ríos. From there, he denounced the Treaty of Pilar and entered into conflict with his former ally governor Ramírez, who crushed the remnants of Artigas' army. The former Protector of the Free Peoples was exiled in Paraguay until his death. The Eastern Province was annexed by Portugal to its Brazilian dependences in 1821.^{[citation needed]}

The result of the wars was the independence of the provinces. Several new nations appeared, there were:

Five provinces would go on to become Bolivia: Charcas, Cochabamba, Mizque, Chichas [es], and Tarija.

The Eastern Province (Provincia Oriental) became independent as Uruguay as a consequence of the treaty of Montevideo, partly retaining its old name in its official name: the Eastern Republic of Uruguay. Due to the text of the aforementioned treaty, United Provinces and Imperial Brazil both renounced their claims to the province and agreed to grant it independence, but the treaty did not include nor ask the Orientals' opinion, and also omitted to detail the borders of the new state what would give Brazil a chance to move its borders further south. The Constitutional Assembly approved the Constitution of Uruguay on 10 September 1829 and it was sworn by the citizens on 18 July 1830.^[20]

The Misiones Orientales, after years of Portuguese dominion, were recovered with the 1828 Campaign of Fructuoso Rivera at the Misiones Orientales, but it was de jure recognized as Brazilian, following the outcome of the Cisplatine War.

Following a long civil war, the following provinces joined to become the Argentine Republic: Buenos Aires (The outpost of Carmen de Patagones in Patagonia is now part of Buenos Aires Province), Catamarca, Córdoba, Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Jujuy, La Rioja, Mendoza, Salta, San Juan, San Luis, Santa Fe, Santiago del Estero, and Tucumán.

The government of the new state changed repeatedly across the first two decades, depending on political crisis or the interests of the different social classes. After the Battle of Cepeda, the central government (at that time, the Directory) was disolved, marking the beginning of the Anarchy of the Year XX. The provinces became very autonomous states, but remained united through treatis. Usually, during these periods of power vacuums, the governor of Buenos Aires represented the country diplomatically.^{[citation needed]}

#	Picture	Name	From	Until	Office
1		Cornelio Saavedra	25 May 1810	26 August 1811	Chairman of the Primera Junta and the Junta Grande
2		Domingo Matheu	28 August 1811	23 September 1811	Chairman of the Junta Grande
	-	First Triumvirate	23 September 1811	8 October 1812	Collegial governing body
	-	Second Triumvirate	8 October 1812	31 January 1814	Collegial governing body
3		Gervasio Antonio de Posadas	22 January 1814	9 January 1815	Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata
4		Carlos María de Alvear	10 January 1815	15 April 1815	Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata
5		José Rondeau	20 April 1815	21 April 1815	Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (interim)
6		Ignacio Álvarez Thomas	21 April 1815	16 April 1816	Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata
7		Antonio González Balcarce	16 April 1816	3 May 1816	Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata
8		Juan Martín de Pueyrredón	3 May 1816	11 June 1819	Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata
9		José Rondeau	11 June 1819	1 February 1820	Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata
10		Juan Pedro Aguirre	1 February 1820	11 February 1820	Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (interim)
	-	Power vacuum	11 February 1820	8 February 1826	Lack of central government
11		Bernardino Rivadavia	8 February 1827	27 June 1827	President of the Argentine Republic
12		Vicente López y Planes	7 July 1827	18 August 1827	President of the Argentine Republic (interim)
	-	Power vacuum	18 August February 1827	4 January 1831	Lack of central government

• Name of Argentina
• Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata
• Rise of the Argentine Republic
• Argentine War of Independence
• Argentine Civil Wars
• Etymology of Argentina

• Crow, John A. (1992). The Epic of Latin America (4th ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-07723-2.
• Kopka, Deborah (2011). Central & South America. Dayton, OH: Lorenz Educational Press. ISBN 978-1-4291-2251-1.
• Símbolos Nacionales de la República Argentina ISBN 950-691-036-7
• Galasso, Norberto (2024). Breve historia argentina [Brief Argentine History] (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Colihue. ISBN 978-987-684-247-1.

34°40′00″S 58°24′00″W / 34.6667°S 58.4000°W / -34.6667; -58.4000