Some Consequences of the Thousand Days War Which took place in Colombia between 1899 and 1902, were the death of between 60 and 130 thousand individuals, the extensive damage in the territory of the country, the economic ruin at the national level and the subsequent independence of Panama.
By the year 1899, Colombia had a long history of conflicts between the liberal and conservative parties. The fundamental issues that separated both parties were related to the church, the right to vote and the centralization of government.
The"red children"of the Liberal Army in Panama.
These two phases of government existed from the moment when the Gran Colombia Was dissolved in 1831 (Britannica, 2017). For the conservative party, the vote had to be limited, the church and the state had to work together and power had to be centralized.
The liberal party believed in opposing ideas, asserting that the right to vote should be universal, there should be limits on the relationship between church and state, and there should be regional governments.
In 1989, conservative party leader Manuel Antonio Sanclemente was elected president of Colombia.
Against this backdrop, the Liberals showed their displeasure and took advantage of Sanclemente's health breaches to organize a rebellion that eventually became the Thousand-Day War. (Pike, 2017)
The Social, Economic, and Political Consequences of the Thousand-Day War
1 - Independence of Panama
One of the most serious consequences of the war was the loss of the department or province of Panama at the hands of the United States.
In this way, Panama was constituted as an independent republic in favor of the interests of the United States and the Panama Canal was constructed (Perez-Venero, 2001).
2 - Approximately 100,000 Kills
Although the numbers indicated during the war and those estimated at present differ widely, it is believed that the total number of people involved in the war amounts to 110,000 individuals, of whom 75,000 represented the government and 35,000 Liberals
The calculation of 100,000 deaths seems a little exaggerated, however, different historians and participants of the war estimate that during the conflict there were between 60,000 and 100,000 deaths (Minster, 2014).
3 - Lack of Food
After the war, Colombia was economically bled. In this way, their industry was paralyzed and food and basic necessities were scarce and could only be achieved at high costs.
The absence of these products was reaffirmed in 1901 when the government of Colombia tried to import food up to 60 days after the war was over.
The biggest problem that this represented for the people is that wages remained unchanged, despite the obvious increase in the cost of living (Citizens For Peace of Colombia, 2014).
4 - Increase in Transportation Tariffs
Prior to the war, Colombia had the disadvantages of rendering fluvial and terrestrial transport services. After the war, many of the available means of transport were in precarious conditions and others had been destroyed.
This situation is compounded by the increase in the prices of freight of any type of transport, caused by the scarcity of all goods, in general, within the country.
Transport tariffs inevitably rose during the war and were never reduced again (Dixon & Sarkees, 2016).
5 - Imports and Exports
During the war years, the products that came to port to be exported were stacked without being shipped.
On the other hand, inputs from other nations could not enter the Colombian market, and if they did, it was limited.
This represented a large loss for the national economy and negatively affected all market dynamics.
6 - Displacement and Violence
The populations of the interior of the country were greatly affected by the violence that brought the war with them. Many towns on the banks of the Magdalena River disappeared, and their inhabitants moved to the mountains and other territories where the war could not affect them in the same way.
It is said that the houses were burned, the animals badly wounded, and the corpses of the combatants stacked in the mountains. By the time the villagers returned to their homes, they had been devoured by the vegetation.
In this way, each people took years to recover and to return from the primitive state to which they had been overturned.
7 - Resentment
One of the consequences of the war that has been most difficult to erase in Colombia is the resentment and hatred accumulated between the members of the parties and all those people whose lives were devastated by the conflict.
More than a decade after the war was over, fighting was still raging among villagers most affected by bipartisan violence.
8 - Disappearance of the National Party
The National party embraced both liberals and conservatives. He was not in favor of conservative ideals and was against radical liberalism. It had a nationalist ideology whose power was centered on the state.
Following the war, and the conflict between liberals and conservatives, the nationalist party was overthrown at the moment its last president (Manuel Antonio Sanclemente) was revoked.
His greatest legacy was the complete abolition of a federal nation and the integration of both conservative and liberal party members.
9 - Cost of War
It is estimated that the cost of war was extremely high, so that the country's coffers suffered significant losses. Some historians that the total value of the war was between 75 and 370 million pesos gold.
These figures are disproportionate, since the value of money that was calculated was to circulate throughout the country, for the time, did not exceed 12 million gold pesos.
10 - Introduction of Legitimate Tickets
Before and during the war, the number of different tickets that began to circulate in the market of Colombia was diverse and diverse.
In each of these tickets began to include the figure of political figures representing the moment, including the president and leaders of both the liberal and conservative parties. This situation favored the counterfeiting of the currency and further weakened the economy.
Once the war was over, a National Amortization Board was established and later the Central Bank, in order to withdraw all the diverse and worthless currency from the market, and to recover the country's monetary order again (Henao, 2000).
References
- Britannica, T.E. (2017). Encyclopædia Britannica . Retrieved from"The War of a Thousand Days": britannica.com.
- Citizens for the Peace of Colombia . (November 25, 2014). Obtained from Consequences of the war of a thousand days: citizensporlapazdecolombia.com.
- Dixon, J., & Sarkees, M.R. (2016). A Guide to Intra-state Wars. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
- Henao, I.A. (August 2000). Credential Magazine History. Retrieved from One Hundred Years of a Thousand Days: banrepcultural.org.
- Minster, h. (September 11, 2014). Thoughtco . Retrieved from"The Thousand Days' War: thoughtco.com.
- Perez-Venero, A. (September 19, 2001). AMS Press, New York . Obtained from The Thousand Days War: bruceruiz.net.
- Pike, J. (2017). GlobalSecurity . Obtained from Thousand Day War: globalsecurity.org.