Military unit
The National Army of Colombia () is the land warfare service branch of the Military Forces of Colombia. With over 361,420 active personnel as of 2020, it is the largest and oldest service branch in Colombia, and is the second largest army in the Americas after the United States and before Brazil.
It is headed by the Commandant of the National Army (), falls under the authority of the Commandant General of the Military Forces (), and is supervised by the Ministry of National Defense, which answers to the President of Colombia.
The modern Colombian Army has its roots in the Army of the Commoners (), which was formed on 7 August 1819 – before the establishment of the present day Colombia – to meet the demands of the Revolutionary War against the Spanish Empire. After their triumph against the Spanish, the Army of the Commoners disbanded, and the Congress of Angostura created the Gran Colombian Army to replace it. Throughout its history, the Colombian Army has seen action in several wars and civil conflicts, including the Gran Colombia-Peru War, the Ecuadorian–Colombian War, the Thousand Days War, and the Korean War. Since the mid-1960s, the Colombian Army has been involved in a low-intensity asymmetrical war known as the Colombian Armed Conflict.
Mission.
The mission statement of the Colombian Army is to "conduct military operations oriented towards defending the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity (of the nation), and protecting the civilian population, and private and state resources, to contribute in generating an environment of peace, security, and development, that guarantees the constitutional order of the nation".
History.
The Modern Colombian Army traces its history back to the Army of the Commoners – the revolutionary army made up of peasants, llaneros, and other such militiamen during the days of the Colombian War of Independence.
Pre-Hispanic.
During Pre-Hispanic times, the Muisca army carried clubs, darts, spears, bows and arrows, and slingshots. Guecha warriors were allowed to wear feathered crowns and golden jewels, unlike the common man in the Muisca Confederation. The Muisca usually fought against other neighboring tribes, like in the Battle of Pasca, or the Southern Muisca against the Northern Muisca, like in the Battle of Chocontá. Army sizes ranged from around 100 to 60,000.
Independence.
On July 20 of 1810, following a long period of political instability within the Spanish Crown due to the Peninsular War, in the territory of present-day Colombia, many cities and provinces across the country set up their own autonomous juntas, that derived in the popular sovereignty and independence against the Spanish Empire. A period of nationwide instability and conflict known as the Foolish Fatherland broke out from 1810 to 1816, between federalists and centralists. Due to Colombia's challenging geography and the lack of communication between many provinces and cities, the juntas declared themselves sovereign from each other. This fragmentation prevented the proper establishment of a regular army, and it would take nine years before a truly national army would be formed. During this prolonged period of struggling consolidation, the Spanish Crown took advantage of the national disunity, and launched a military campaign in 1816, led by General Pablo Morillo to reassert the authority of the Spanish Empire over its previous holdings. The United Provinces of New Granada tried to resist with an army under the command of Antonio Baraya and Custodio García Rovira, but were defeated by the Spanish forces at the Battle of El Tambo and the Battle of Bajo Palacé effectively reestablishing Spanish rule in New Granada. With New Granada once again under control of the Spanish, Morillo launched a campaign known as "El Terror" by executing many of the leaders of the independence movement – often in public squares – who supported Simón Bolívar's "Guerra a muerte". The Gran Colombian Army was consolidated on August 7, 1819, following the defeat of the royalist army under command of Barreiro at the Battle of Boyacá against the Patriot army under the command of Simón Bolívar.
19th Century and civil wars (1819–1903).
With independence gained after the defeat of the Spanish Royalist forces at the Battle of Boyacá in 1819, the republic of Gran Colombia was established by the Constitution of Cúcuta in 1821, with its capital in Bogotá. There upon the Gran Colombian Army was formed.
Gran Colombia – Peru war.
In 1828 a war broke out with Peru and the Gran Colombian Army was called upon to defend the nation's sovereignty. The war lasted into 1829 with a Peruvian naval victory, but the Colombians were victorious on land with the crushing of the Peruvian invasion force at the Battle of Tarqui. The war ended in a stalemate.
Civil wars (1830–1903).
After the dissolution in 1830 of Gran Colombia and the death of Bolivar, the Army of the new New Granada had been involved in war and civil war without being able to progress or modernize. Its officers were not well trained or technically skilled. The government addressed this by founding and organizing military schools and colleges, but was hampered by the constant civil wars that financially drained the country's economy. In 1839 General Tomas Cipriano de Mosquera hired Italian Colonel Agustin Códazzi as an inspector of the army. As a consequence of these civil wars over partisan affairs, the chiefs and officers began to be involved in politics. The need to professionalize and retrain the army prompted the creation of a military school, which was created in 1887. In order to reorganize the army, the government hired a French military mission. Its mission was fruitful and the organization along French lines based on divisions, regiments and battalions was implemented in the country. Unfortunately another civil war, perhaps the most devastating of them all, the Thousand Days War, was declared on October 8, 1899, and did not allow the retraining and education of officers and commanders. This civil war lasted until 1903. With the ending of the Thousand Days War, General Rafael Reyes Prieto was elected President of Colombia with many ambitious plans to reorganize and professionalize the army. The first thing he did was to reduce troop numbers drastically: the army at the time had an estimated 80,000 troops who were poorly equipped, poorly trained, poorly dressed and very malnourished. Also the army lacked professionalism and sense of duty to the country and never acted as a national army, acting instead as militias and armed factions led by Commanders who had their own political agendas.
Military reform of 1907.
In 1907 a military reform was carried out by President Rafael Reyes Prieto right in the aftermath of the Thousand Days War which had devastated the country economically and morally. The ministry of war hired a Chilean military mission to advise the ministry on how to professionalize the army. This led to the creation of the Colombian Military School in June 1907. The Army was then dramatically reorganized under the guise of the Chilean military mission, the Chilean army which had adopted Prussian military doctrine and uniforms since 1886 did the same to the Colombian army as Colombian troops began using Prussian military uniforms and doctrine, which is still present today in the Colombian Military Academy with ceremonial uniforms being of Prussian influence and the use of Pickelhaube helmets. The Chileans reorganized the Colombian Army into Divisions made up of a divisional HQ, 3 Infantry regiments,1 Artillery regiment, and 1 Cavalry regiment each, meanwhile, military engineers were grouped with the Infantry regiments. This military reform allowed the Colombian army to become professionalized and a truly National army was established. The army remained under the influence of the Chilean military mission until the mission left in 1914. Colombia remained neutral during World War I but did watch how the conflict progressed and sent military attachés to Europe after the war to study new technological advancements in aviation, infantry, cavalry, engineering and training methods.
The Leticia Incident and the 1930s.
In 1926 the Colombian Government hired another military mission, this time from Switzerland, to reorganize the army again. As a result of this new combined brigades were implemented.
In late 1932 an armed band of Peruvian civilians and soldiers (supposedly acting without Peruvian government approval) took the Amazonian town of Leticia and forced the Colombian residents to flee. The Peruvian President tried to disassociate himself from these actions, but popular opinion quickly forced him to support the seizure of Leticia. The Colombian government responded forcefully, sending an expeditionary force which defeated the Peruvians and retook Leticia. The war led to an explosion of Colombian patriotism. In the Battle of Güepí 1000 Colombian troops attacked 200 entrenched Peruvian troops and took control of the sector with the Peruvians abandoning their positions.
The League of Nations was asked to mediate with the support of Brazilian diplomats, and eventually oversaw the peaceful return of the area to Colombian control. The process generated an interesting historical precedent: for the first time ever, soldiers wore the armband of an international organization (the League of Nations) as they performed peacekeeping duties. The soldiers were Colombian, and the use of the League armbands was primarily a face-saving device to permit the Peruvians to leave without appearing to submit to the Colombians. Nevertheless, the use of these 75 Colombian soldiers as international peacekeepers was an antecedent of United Nations peacekeeping several decades later.
During the latter part of the 1930s, Colombia began buying more German war material and the German Stahlhelm helmet became the standard-issue helmet for all Colombian troops until the 1950s.
1940s–1950s.
On the outbreak of Second World War in September 1939, Colombia, in accordance with its international policy, declared itself a belligerent, as did many other Latin American countries, and received arms and equipment from the United States as part of the Lend Lease program. The first American military missions arrived in the country, and Colombian officials were sent to the United States to perfect their knowledge; as a result of these links a new doctrine was adopted in the military forces. After the war, the army continued to receive assistance from American missions, and officers attended courses in the United States. Political changes in the country starting in 1946 led up to the civil war known as "la Violencia", which started with the "El Bogotazo" riots of April 9, 1948. The army then became involved in the restoration of public order.
Recent history.
The Colombian Army is presently at war with leftist rebels of the FARC, ELN and EPL, as well as other minor rebellious groups. Members of the military have been accused or condemned of collaborating with the activities of right-wing paramilitaries, such as the AUC and others. The BBC and other sources have reported on cases of corruption within the military, as well as other scandals. However, the army has taken measures to become a transparent and professional fighting force.
Plan Colombia and modernization.
The United States government approved the Plan Colombia initiative in the late 1990s. Part of the resources provided by this initiative would be directed to the support of the Colombian Army by strengthening its combat and logistics capabilities. This Plan greatly benefited the Colombian Army. During the 1990s with the guerrillas gaining more money than ever due to controlling large portions of the drug trade, the FARC began changing their tactics and went from guerrilla warfare to a war of large movements and large attacks where large numbers of guerrillas would combine their forces to capture towns and cities. With the aid received from Plan Colombia, then commander of the armed forces General Fernando Tapias led an internal purification in the army that had the support of the other force commanders and the government. This process contributed to improving substantially the problematic relationship the country had previously had with the United States. This was the beginning of the modernization of the army: Colombian soldiers began receiving the training and technology to confront the guerrillas head-on. With the buying of American Black Hawk helicopters, they learned to deploy quickly into rugged guerrilla terrain. Technical equipment was improved drastically with the US providing satellite-guided bomb “kits” to the Colombian army which also made the Colombian army the first military force in South America to utilize these "smart bombs". With the aid of these bombs the army killed more than two dozen FARC commanders, including Mono Jojoy. With training improved and better equipment the Colombian people now have high regards for the army and internationally they are widely viewed as Latin America's best-prepared and