The Wars of Spanish American Independence 1809-29

Simon Bolivar and Jose de San Martin independently led the South American revolutionary armies that freed much of Latin America of Spanish rule.

In 1808, Napoleon Bonaparte treacherously outmaneuvered the corrupt Spanish Bourbons and installed his brother Joseph as King of Spain, igniting the flames of war across the Iberian Peninsula. Far across the Atlantic, this event lit the fuse for a war that raged for the better part of two decades as Spain's colonies grasped the opportunity to …