Venezuelan War of Independence
The establishment of the Supreme Caracas Junta following the forced deposition of Vicente Emparan as Captain General of the Captaincy General of Venezuela on April 19, 1810, marked the beginnings of the war. On July 5, 1811, seven of the ten provinces of the Captaincy General of Venezuela declared their independence in the Venezuelan Declaration of Independence. The First Republic of Venezuela was lost in 1812 following the 1812 Caracas earthquake and the Battle of La Victoria (1812). Simón Bolívar led an "Admirable Campaign" to retake Venezuela, establishing the Second Republic of Venezuela in 1813; but this too did not last, falling to a combination of a local uprising and Spanish royalist reconquest. Only as part of Bolívar's campaign to liberate New Granada in 1819-20 did Venezuela achieve a lasting independence from Spain (initially as part of Gran Colombia).
Luisa Cáceres de Arismendi
Luisa was born in Caracas, Venezuela, to José Domingo Cáceres and Carmen Díaz, prosperous Criollos. On her father's side, she was of Canarian descent. She was baptized in the Church of Santa Rosalía, in Caracas. Her father was an intellectual, a historian and a professor of Latin. Educated by her father, Luisa learned how to read and write, and developed a love for her country. While Luisa was a young girl focussing on her studies, Spain was taken over by Napoleon, who installed his brother, Joseph, as its king. People not just in Spain, but in its colonies as well, were infuriated, and a war for Spain's independence broke out. In Venezuela, Spanish colonists saw this as an opportunity to break away from Spain while it was weak, and gain independence, and so a series of uprisings occurred. They were led by the Venezuelan marshal Francisco de Miranda, who had been involved in the French Revolution and the American Revolutionary War. Venezuela declared itself independent from Spain on July 5, 1811. This triggered the war for Venezuela's independence. The 1812 Caracas earthquake occurred where Luisa and her family were living, completely destroying the city. Because of this earthquake and a rebellion by the Venezuelan "Llaneros" and Canarians, the First Republic of Venezuela was toppled. A second Venezuelan republic was proclaimed on August 7, 1813, but lasted only a few months before it, too, was crushed.