May Revolution

The May Revolution was a political uprising in Buenos Aires in May 1810 that ended Spanish viceroyal rule and established a local government, beginning Argentina’s independence process.

Napoleonic invasion of Spain: The French invasion of Spain beginning in 1808, which led to the abdication of Ferdinand VII and a crisis of royal authority. Napoleon’s seizure of the Spanish monarchy weakened the authority the Buenos Aires viceroy claimed to exercise.
Cabildo Abierto of May 22, 1810: An extraordinary open meeting of Buenos Aires’s municipal council convened during the May crisis to debate the viceroy’s authority. Its debate and vote turned the legitimacy crisis into a decision to remove Viceroy Cisneros.
Cornelio Saavedra: A military officer and politician who presided over the Primera Junta established in Buenos Aires in 1810. His influence among the urban militias helped secure support for removing the viceroy.
Argentine Declaration of Independence: The formal declaration by the United Provinces of South America on July 9, 1816, that they were independent of Spain. It completed a political break that the May Revolution began but did not declare in 1810.
Peninsular War: The conflict from 1808 to 1814 in which Spain and its allies fought French occupation. Developments in this war shaped Buenos Aires’s doubts about who legitimately governed Spain’s American territories.
Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros: The Spanish viceroy of the Río de la Plata from 1809 until his removal in May 1810. His removal was the immediate institutional break with Spanish viceroyal rule.
Mariano Moreno: An Argentine lawyer and political leader who served as secretary of the Primera Junta and promoted rapid reform. His reformist program represented a more radical direction within the new government.
May Revolution of 1811: A political uprising in Asunción in 1811 that ended Spanish colonial rule in Paraguay. Paraguay’s separate revolution showed that the Río de la Plata territories did not follow Buenos Aires’s political path.
Ferdinand VII: King of Spain whose forced abdication in 1808 created a crisis of legitimacy across the Spanish Empire. His captivity left colonial officials arguing over the authority exercised in his name.
Primera Junta: The governing junta formed in Buenos Aires on May 25, 1810, after the removal of Viceroy Cisneros. It was the local government established by the revolution, initially claiming to rule in Ferdinand VII’s name.

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