Definition of English Invasions

The events known as 'English Invasions' are those that took place in the River de la Plata, in the city of Buenos Aires, in the years 1806 and 1807 successively. These invasions were carried out by different English ships that arrived in the region with the aim of conquering the city and then being able to take control of the important activity commercial that was developed in her. In both cases, the English troops were defeated by the action of the same inhabitants of the city, who defended their Liberty through different strategies.

By the time these invasions took place, the city of Buenos Aires was under Spanish rule as it was part of the Viceroyalty of Río de la Plata, founded in 1776. The permanent confrontations between Spain and England, added to the interest aroused in the British by the intense Commerce which took place in the port of Buenos Aires, made the city become in the eyes of the English Crown a strategic point to be conquered.

While the First English Invasion took place in 1806, the second happened a year later, in 1807. In the first of both British incursions, having been taken by surprise, Buenos Aires fell for more than a month in power.

English. However, thanks to the organization of the urban militias commanded by Santiago de Liniers, the city could be recovered and the invaders expelled. This first invasion left a marked wound in the feeling of Buenos Aires as the inhabitants of the city ​​abandoned by the Spanish authorities who preferred to escape before facing the enemy invasive.

This is why when a year later the English tried again to invade the city, the response was much harsher and more effective: thus, in In 1807, the English could not even take effective command of the city and had to accept defeat in an extremely humiliating act for military of race what were they like. The most important consequences of these events were undoubtedly the subsequent awareness of the porteños of their military, economic and political power that would lead to the announcement to Council Opened a couple of years later (1810) and the consequent deposition of the viceroy on duty from his position with the ultimate goal of forming the first government homeland of Argentine history.

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