The Maitland Plan & South American Independence
Sir Thomas Maitland & British Liberation of Spanish South America
Sep 10, 2009
Had the Maitland Plan of 1800 been successfully executed as proposed, Latin America could today be a very different place. The little-known proposal outlined the invasion of Spanish controlled South America in order to overthrow Spanish colonial rule, weakening the Spanish Empire by liberating her colonies.
Whether the British would have overthrown Spanish rule and peacefully left the newly liberated continent without a push for British rule will never be known. While the Maitland Plan was indeed put into action, it was to prove a best forgotten episode in British colonial history.
Nicholas Vansittart, Sir Thomas Maitland and the Maitland Plan
In 1795 Henry Dundas, then British War Secretary to William Pitt, received a proposal from a member of parliament by the name of Nicholas Vansittart. In it, Vansittart outlined a plan to overthrow Spanish Colonial rule in South America.
Initially accepted, the plan was later cancelled in 1797 due to other pressing demands in Europe, as historian Juan Bautista Sejean relates: “los crecientes problemas de Europa obligaron a Gran Bretaña a concentrar esfuerzos en el Viejo Mundo” (“the growing problems in Europe obligated Great Britain to concentrate forces in the Old World”).
Nicholas Vansittart’s idea was not to be buried. At some time during the period 1800-03, a friend and colleague of Vansittart, Major General Thomas Maitland, picked up and reinvigorated the original plan. Again it was submitted to Dundas, and this time the plan was given the go-ahead.
The Maitland Plan and the Proposed British Liberation of South America
The Maitland Plan, as it was to be known, comprised of a distinct set of stages which Sir Thomas Maitland believed could overthrow Spanish rule in South America. This in turn would weaken Spanish trade, and the Spanish Empire as a whole, and make up for loss of British control in North America.
Despite the rhetoric of liberation in his plan, it is unclear as to whether Maitland’s unspoken ultimate aim was to establish full-blown British rule in South America. The proposal put forward in the Maitland Plan, entitled “Plan to capture Buenos Aires and Chile, and then emancipate Peru and Quito”, comprised of the following distinct stages:
- Gain control of Buenos Aires. For this Maitland estimated that four thousand infantry would be needed, along with 1500 horse mounted troops and some artillery.
- Take up positions in Mendoza. After securing the Argentine capital, Maitland saw Mendoza as perfectly positioned for a subsequent crossing of the Andean range.
- Coordinate actions with an army in Chile. A prepared force within Chile, be it British troops landing on the coast or an independent Chilean army, would be necessary for the later stages.
- Cross the Andes. Maitland recognized the logistical and physical difficulties of this, stating that “The crossing of the Andes from Mendoza into the lower parts of Chili [sic] is an operation of some difficulty. Even in summer the cold is intense”. However, Maitland saw no reason why it could not be accomplished.
- Defeat the Spanish and control Chile. Maitland expressed this in no uncertain terms, the aim being to “annihilate the government in the Kingdom of Chili”.
- Proceed by sea to Peru. An attack on the port of Callao was proposed before moving on to Lima. The British would need an open sea connection to facilitate the entire operation, and Callao was ideal. Maitland recognized the importance of relations with the native inhabitants of Peru, understanding that an overly aggressive or ‘colonial’ stance would lead to disaster. As historian Andrew Graham-Yooll points out, “The objective therefore would be to secure the emancipation of Peru”.
The Maitland Plan and South American Independence
In 1806 and 1807 respectively, British troops captured and held both Buenos Aires and Montevideo in the Río de la Plata region (Argentina and Uruguay today). The Maitland Plan was in effect, but the British forces were soon overthrown and the cities re-captured. The British had underestimated local resistance capabilities and, combined with mismanagement of the attacks by those in charge, the invasion was a disaster.
However, the heroic local resistance, largely unaided by Spanish colonial troops, was to give new impetus to the South American independence movement. If the British could be beaten then why not the Spanish themselves?
Ten years later, in 1816, Argentina declared themselves independent and soon Spanish colonial rule was to disintegrate across Latin America. While the Maitland plan was not realized as laid out by Thomas Maitland, British subversion of Spanish rule in South America would continue. Eventually the various nations of South America would gain their independence, and the borders of the Spanish Empire would contract.
Sources:
Graham-Yooll, Andrew – Imperial Skirmishes: War and Gunboat Diplomacy in Latin America, Signal Books, 2002, ISBN 1902669215
Terragno, Rodolfo H. – Maitland & San Martin, Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, 1998, ISBN 987917335X
Sejean, Juan Bautista – San Martin y la Tercera Invasion Inglesa, Editorial Biblos, 1997
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