Why did Gran Colombia Fail? (Short Animated Documentary) 

Gran Colombia IRL: Falls in 11 years Gran Colombia in Civ VI: Conquers the world in 11 years

"Now that they had to get along, they didn't." You could sum up so so much of history this way.

"Why can't you guys just get along?" "They speak funny"

Me as brazilian seeing this and realizing how crazy it is that my country remained united.

"It's always Napoleon.." I could near feel the eye roll in that phrase 😂😂😂

So basically, in wanting to keep Gran Colombia together, Bolivar did literally everything that would break it apart. It's like an overbearing parent wondering why their kids don't want to hang out with them.

_Hearing about the collapse of Gran Colombia as a kid:_ Oh, what a tradgedy! _Hearing about the collapse of Gran Colombia after playing Civ 6:_ Oh, what a relief!

fairly confident that ill get a solid history grade now if i answer every question with "Napoleon"

"We have to go back to Napoleon... it's always Napoleon." Me: "Seems about right."

As a Colombian it is nice to see my country being acknowledge. To add a bit. The problem with the unification of the provinces is geography. Colombia has 3 mountain range crossing it from south to north. So getting to bogota from Caracas was extremely difficult. Whatever laws Bogota would have promoted they would have arrived 3 months later to Caracas. Road and rail conexion is still a big problem in Colombia just because how expensive it is to build roads on the andes mountains.

Imagine a world where Kelly Moneymaker didn’t make so much money and was unable to fund these quality videos

As a south american, It would be interesting if you could make a video on the Peruvian-Bolivian Confederation

Napoleon is like Rome, all roads lead to him.

The more I learn about other revolutionary leaders, the more I’m convinced that America’s worked out was because Washington stepped down and didn’t want to be king or dictator for life. That’s it, really. If he had been a bit more corruptible we wouldn’t have had any stability to start or example.

America is a country with an army. Prussia was an army with a country. Genghis Khan was a man with an army who unified a people, whom made an empire. Napoleon was a man with many countries to build him many armies, which he used to get more countries. Gran Colombia was a man and his army trying to make a country.

“And now that they had to get along, they didn’t.” Isn’t that the UN’s tagline?

You should do a video on why the Isle of Mann is not part of the UK. An Island right next to the UK, which had a high proclivity for taking land wherever it could, that wasn't incorporated into the

You should make a mug with napoleon's face peaking out, and have it say "it's always napoleon"

That just goes to show you how big was Napoleon in the history of the world.

Bolívar famously said: "The Americas are ungovernable". Which is often used to berate ourselves among latinos about how we can't seem to get things right. In context, it's clear the phrase it's more about Bolívar's ego and inability to compromise. The Americas are ungovernable if you try to rule alone. If you are a caudillo. Things needs to get done together. That's the lesson of this story. A lesson South America needs.

Important to note that when the viceroyalty of New Granada was announced a century prior, it took 20 years to establish since both venezuelans and the people from Quito hated the idea

I’m getting the sense that Napoleon is to this channel what Walpole is to Extra History.

just a bit of context prior to the Spanish American wars of independence that would give birth to Gran Colombia. indeed the immediate cause of the wars was the capture of Ferdinand VII by Napoleon's forces and the transfer of the Crown to his brother Joseph Bonaparte. This was due to the internal chaos of Spain itself between King Carlos IV who was forced to abdicate by his son Fernando, this made Napoleon see the internal fragility of the Hispanic monarchy and he believed that he could improve it by putting his own brother on the throne, however this power vacuum would generate chaos in the colonies and spain itself because; 1) the Spanish empire was not organized in the same way as the colonial empires of the 19th and 20th centuries where the colonies are owned by the state of the metropolis, but rather in the spanish emperie all the American colonies were not part of the Spanish state , but personal property of the King of Spain himself, and European Spain and the American colonies were united only by the figure of the King. 2) the Magna Carta that organized the kingdom of Spain was in the "Partidas of King Alfonso the Wise" which were a set of laws created in the reconquest period that established the social organization of the kingdom in the following way; ''The king's power emanates from the people, the king rules based on this fact, once the king is gone, the power returns to the people.'' 3) This was the right that ruled over Spain and his american colonies during the Trastamara and Habsburg dynasties, but the Bourbons implemented the French absolutism where the king's power emanated from God, which generated discontent in the colonies, and they continued to operate with the spirit of the `` Partidas of King Alfonso '' 4) in this way, once Napoleon captures Ferdinand VII and puts his brother Joseph on the throne, part of the Spanish state resists and forms the courts of Cadiz as the new goberment created to oppose the French Hegemon, but in the colonies, neither recognized nor to the French king or to the courts, but the Hispanic law was appealed, and since the legitimate king had been imprisoned and the only thing that united the American colonies and Spain was the figure of the king, then power returned to the people, which would govern itself until the return of the rigthfull monarch. 5) In this way, the first government boards were created, with which the colonies would govern until the return of Fernando VII, however the Viceroyalties did not recognize these incipient forms of government and sent military troops to put an end to these "rebellions", in response, the criollos defended themselves from these aggressions, which would finally make the colonies want to be part of the Spanish empire and seek independence. all this without counting the influence of the Enlightenment. , the French Revolution and the American Revolution and all of the abusive, racist, monopolistic and authoritarian factors of Spanish institutions that were creating a deep feeling of discontent on the part of the Criollos towards the metropolis of Madrid

I'm an American Years ago, I had a friend from Colombia. One day I asked him when they were going to try to recreate Gran Colombia. He looked at me and said, 'How do you know about Gran Colombia?' I answered, 'I read'. LOL!

Because it lacked the financial support of James Bizanette.

james bisonette didn’t fund gran colombia, that’s why it fell apart

Venezuelan viewer here. Great video, very historically accurate! The only thing I will say is that it’s that Venezuela didn’t have it’s modern borders while a constituent of the Gran Colombia. There was a pretty large border dispute between the countries for over a century and a half after this. Other than that, excellent video as always.

You’ve gotta give it to Napoleon, in just over a decade he managed to change every place in the world for hundreds of years to come

Fun Fact: All the countries that were part of the Gran Colombia (Ecuador , Colombia and Venezuela) share similar flags and colors.

As a Colombian I like the video, it explains what happened quickly but summarizing a great deal of the main reasons why it failed

I would have preferred it if Gran Colombia became a federation after the constitutional convention and then later on some guy slowly undermined the federal states and centralized the country. There'd be a large and powerful Spanish-speaking state that could adequately defend against the growing USA and the potential Latinamerican superpower, Brazil. Gran Colombia could easily defend the northern approach (Isthmus of Panama) with numerous transverse fieldworks like the Portuguese 'Lines of Torres Vedras.' Naval resupply could maintain a stubborn and unbreakable rearguard. The east could be held at the Guiana highlands and Orinoco Delta. The south is protected by the virtually impenetrable Amazon, although the Colombians could fall back to a defensive line situated on the Guaviare River. The west is not an issue because it's got large mountains and easily defendable passes along the north-south axis. Gran Colombia could also build naval bases in Buenaventura, Manta, and Puerto Bolivar on its west coast; and in Barranquila and Cartagena. Upon completion of a 'Panama Canal' the Colombians could effectively control trade between Atlantic and Pacific, and enjoy naval supremacy in the Carribean by quickly moving their warships east through the canal when needed. Such wasted potential! (I'm an American who plays *WAAAY* too much EU4.)

As an American with strong Colombian ethnicity, I very much appreciate you covering Colombian history! If I could make a suggestion, maybe do a video on how Panama gained independence. The US was a major factor in its independence so it should be an interesting watch!

2:57 It didn’t Fractured, Chad just Colonised It

Also communication between cities was very difficult and travel was made worse because of the Andes mountains, complex geography did not allow for the building of big roads that could used by horses or carts, in 1830 it took more time to travel from the port city of Cartagena to the capital Bogotá then it did from Cartagena to Sevilla in Spain

0:20 “It’s always Napoleon” 🤣🤣🤣

2:39 No (in Spanish) the little things always make me giggle.

I love the off-screen *thunk* when he dies. Also, it's times like this that I realize how much we lucked out with Washington.

Hello! Colombian historian here, I wanted to say that it was really a really very entertaining video and it is interesting to see how important issues are touched for the separation of the great Colombia and the formation of the Republic of the new Granada (Of which a relative of mine was president ) and yes indeed, there is much that remains to be said about Gran Colombia after two centuries of historiographical scuffling, at the same time, they demonstrate what is already being done at that moment and the great potentialities of the subject in the immediate future. Gran Colombia contains two problems that, as a historical subject, have made it uncomfortable: it is halfway between what has traditionally been seen as the tremendous dream of the liberators - from what we could have been, if we had listened to the designs of the great dreamers - and the disappointment at their shipwreck, which has only been made conceivable by pointing out the meanness and clumsiness of our ruling classes. This supposed failure is explained by denouncing our precarious modernity, the interference of foreign imperialism or the unfortunate rivalry of the caudillos. And, in the case of the cult of Bolívar, which has played an important role as a legitimizing ideology of the State, this discourse acquires especially complex connotations, since it is a political historicism, according to which what is said by the Liberator is a norm of Compulsory compliance and the condition of patriot is equated with that of Bolivarian. In this sense, how to explain that precisely the State and nationality began to come together in 1830, destroying Bolívar's most important political project? Before this question, an answer is usually given in accordance with the ideology of the day. Either the paradox is attributed to the "betrayal of Bolívar", not as a work of the people, but of the oligarchy, thereby demonstrating its essentially anti-national character, or, at the other extreme, it is attributed to an ignorant and ungrateful people, that it cannot govern itself and that it must remain under the tutelage of some necessary gendarme at each juncture. The epic of Independence, the "Magna Gesta", has fulfilled the function of nurturing the national identity - in fact, the self-esteem - of Hispanic Americans. It is the founding myth, the golden age that demonstrates all our virtues, abandoned at some point, but still latent in us, which only require some kind of historical push to reappear. It is the heroic past as the promise of the future of all historicisms. In this context, Greater Colombia is seen as a magnificent hiatus, but after all, on our irremediable path to nationality or as a premature frustration of our longed-for Latin American union. Both cases produce discomfort. The point is that it has been difficult to deal with the fact that, if his great military victories are discounted, especially in Peru, his role in the creation of Bolivia and a very successful diplomacy for the circumstances, taking into account the internal order are put manifesting, already in Independence itself, all the problems that will plague our republics for more than a century: civil wars, rivalries between regional leaders and elites, between liberals and conservatives, economic famine, separatism, institutional weakness, dictatorship and, finally, collapse. La Gran Colombia is, then, perceived as the anticlimax of the Magna Gesta. All of the above explains the poor understanding of the period and even a certain lack of interest in reviewing the inherited budgets. In addition, this allows us to understand why the Republic of Colombia, as an event destined to be remembered, has not yet been explained. Its actors and witnesses were frequently assisted by the urgency to record their testimony and take sides. The event generated illusion or fright, depending on the opinion. Colombia was one, but it was not lived in the same way on both sides of the Orinoco. With the passing of time, the republic - what was built, dreamed of, thought possible and remained pending - was associated with Bolívar, and its collapse, therefore, appeared as a product of the despotic inclinations of the caudillo or of demagogic naivety of his opponents. Consequently, the memorialist channel will fundamentally follow two courses. In the case of New Granada, still many years after Gran Colombia, the Bolivarian people of Granada cultivated the nostalgic pen of the greatness of a lost order. Two texts are worth highlighting: Memoirs on the life of the liberator by Tomás Cipriano Mosquera (New York, 1853) and Historic-political memoirs. Last days of Gran Colombia and the Liberator by Joaquín Posada Gutiérrez (Bogotá, 1865-1881). During the first years of the transition, on the other hand, a narrative that vindicated the role of the Santander party, defender of the Constitution and legality in the face of the arbitrariness of Caracas, prevailed. Santander publishes the Process followed by General Francisco de Paula Santander, as a consequence of the event on the night of September 25, 1828 (Bogotá, 1831) and, later, his Apuntamientos para la memoria sobre Colombia i la Nueva Granada (Bogotá, 1837). Florentino González, a September conspirator, Francisco Soto and José María Obando (My relative) published defenses of their own actions over the next decade. In 1857 José Hilario López published the Memoirs of him (1857), concluded in 1840, but whose publication, according to him, had been delayed because of the passions that dominated the country.

Thank you for making this video! I’ve always wondered this. I’ve spent multiple nights trying to figure this out. Putting together in this clear narrative was super helpful!

I’m sorry, I love this channel so much but the intro is not entirely correct. The main reason why there was fracture and instability in Spanish American during the Peninsular War dates back to the War of Spanish Succesion. When the Bourbons won the Spanish throne, they directed many reforms different from that of the Hapsburgs before them, one of them was replacing American born Spanish (Creole or Criollo in Spanish) politicians with Peninsular ones. The Creoles wanted their power and prestige back. When Napoleon invaded Spain in 1808, there was a lot of uncertainty among the 4 Viceroys in America. The people, fearing they would favor Joseph, they revolted, not for independence, but for the loyalty and return of Fernando VII. During the Grito de Dolores on September 10, 1810, Miguel Hidalgo cried out “Viva Fernando VII”. Yet he is known as the igniter of Mexican independence even though he did not advocate for it. Agustin Iturbide on 1820 was the person who did call out for independence and made it a reality the following year. In South America, the case was that of independence vs loyalty to Fernando once again. Very few favored Joseph. Bolivar was born into the local aristocracy and knew that independence was the only way that the creoles could return to power.

As someone who is writing an Alternate History project, I like to thank History Matter for his videos, I mean, more then I already do. These types of videos are oddly helpful in being crash courses for specific subjects.

“To begin, we have to go back to Napoleon. It’s always Napoleon.” Lol

Thank you for this video, its nice to have videos talking about the history of my country, seeing that we have a very interesting history but it tends to get overlooked

Thank you for finally doing this episode. Will share widely

1:45 - 2:19 speaking as an American that learned about the revolution and tensions over the north and south over things like a strong federal government and slavery that makes SOOO much sense to me.

I was waiting for this episode! thanks, History Matters! Saludos desde Colombia.

I just love this channel. I would just have a random thought about historical geopolitics during the week and suddenly there's a video on it. 🥰

I can't save these for later. Favorite channel.

History Matters: *covers literally any topic after the late 18c.* Napoleon: "Where did that bring you? ...Back to me."

The animation and quality of your videos just keeps getting better with each one you put out and I masively respect that. Good job!

Finally! I've been waiting for this since I found this channel

"It's always Napoleon." -Prince Klemens von Metternich

It didnt fail! It merely failed to win!

The simple answer: it was the most powerful nation in Civ 6 so got nerfed in the next Patch

I am not embarrassed at all to disclose how much I have and do learn from your videos. And I consider myself to be quite the history nerd. Keep up the amazing work.

It is a pity it failed, Gran Colombia today could be a superpower with the Panama Canal and Venezuelan oil.

Video suggestion: "Why did Prussia and Austria have territories outside the HRE?" By that I mean why weren´t they included inside the HRE.

I have been waiting since FOREVER for this episode!!

Those wells always make me chuckle, excellent video as always

Funny. Everyone mentions Bolivar when discussing the fight for freedom and self-determination, but no one mentions that he wanted to be a dictator.

It’s amazing how spectacularly avoidable this was

You have a fantastic way of just slightly changing your tone to bring life to how you narrate these. It's a really rare skill to be able to do it that subtly and understated. The 'He kept getting made president of more and more countries' is a fine example

The really quick "well" with just a well in the frame at 2:06 was a nice touch.

Napoleon is almost as consistent as James Bisonette

What a great video to wake up to! Good job!

Great episode! I'm not sure if you did this because of my suggestion but thanks for doing it!

I loooove how this channel can squish complicated subjects into 3 minutes. Sometimes I might want a longer video, sometimes I just want a 3 minute TLDR

2:06 “WELL” I love these little nonsense-jokes ❤️

Definitely an interesting “what if” nation. Like what kind of nation would they become if they managed to stick together as a federation?

Congrats on hitting a million! You deserve every one of your subscribers. I’ll be here for 10 million!

Excellent video as always. First video to feature Colombia? I hope to see some more, my country has an interesting history, thanks!

Because James Bisonette wasn't a patron.

A leader like George Washington is something that was unprecedented in Revolutionary military leaders, and he alone is the reason the American Revolution succeeded where almost every other failed. Caesar, Cromwell, Napoleon, Bolivar, Lenin, Mao, Castro all made revolution about themselves. George Washington had an army loyal to him and enough public support to have been "Imperator ad vitam," but he didn't do it. Stepping down after 2 terms set a precedent that lasted 140 years (until someone messed it up) and the United States established a culture of limited executive power that lasted up until now.

Fantastic explanation of a often overlooked event in history! :D

Your videos are always amusing - at least. But this one was high on top. So many little perks that stand out on its own. I had a blast 😂

He was the "El libertador" and freed many countries from Spanish tyranny but he was a terrible or at best Mediocre statesman in my opinion. He certainly had charisma but far too less statemanagement skills.

**A time machine exists** *Girls:* Hi, I'm you from the future. *Boys:* Hey Bolívar, how many more countries do we need for Gran Colombia? It's incredible to see how my country (Colombia) have lost many territories because of its mistakes. Now we have a problem with Nicaragua with sea borders again. In 2012, we lost a part of our sea and some cays was given to Nicaragua, because Nicaragua won in the Tribunal of Hague.

funny i barely watched your boxer rebellion video rightnow and 5 seconds later i see another video, keep up de goodwork.

Great video, love seeing you take on South American history

Nice one! Cool that you are starting to cover latin american history. The Paraguay war is another interesting one. The Canudos Revolt in Brazil too. As well as the Zapatist movement in Chiapas, Mexico. And how the border between Mexico and Usa came to be where it is now. Cheers

As a Colombian, this greatly disappoints me

such an awesome channel!

Lol I needed this video like a week ago but it's all good another fantastic video once again

Greetings from Colombia, HM

"Now that they had to get along they didnt" Story of yugoslavia

I've been waiting for this.

Nicely explained.

As a Colombian History student, I have to say this is very accurate. We literally had one civil war after another one until the last in 1902, after which Panamá gained its independence. Great video ^^ ¡Saludos!

Pls do: how was life in central asia during the soviet union? Great video by the way!

i really love theese videos your'e one in a million evrytime u upload u make my day

Been waiting for this

Great video as always. Just one tip for future reference, Bolivar is pronounced Bo-LEE-var, with the accent on the “li” and not the “bo”

As a Venezuelan, thank you for teaching me an aspect of history I might not have paid enough attention

I would love a video about San Martin military campains in south america and is a interesting topic, great video!

Really good Video continue like this

Gran Colombia falling apart: How are you not dead? United States: I have no idea!

Watching this makes you realize just how special and unique the US and it’s founders were. Washington gave up power willingly and Bolivar wanted to keep it for himself, which to be fair is what pretty much everyone else in history did as well.

Congratulations on 1 million, I still remember you at 100k

Cool video thanks!

As A Venezuelan is good to see these kind of videos and also remember that Bolivar lost all support from Venezuela when he declared Bogota as the capital, bad idea to betray the trust of the people who supported for the very start