Spanish occupation of the Dominican Republic
The Spanish occupation of the Dominican Republic (Spanish: Ocupación Español de la República Dominicana) was a brief period of Spanish recolonization of the Dominican Republic. In 1861, Dominican general Pedro Santana suggested retaking control of the Dominican Republic to Queen Isabella II of Spain, after a period of 17 years of Dominican sovereignty. The newly independent Dominican Republic was recovering economically from the recently ended Dominican War of Independence (1844–1856), when the Dominican Republic had won its independence against Haiti. The Spanish Crown and authorities, which scorned and rejected the peace treaties signed after the dismantling of some of its colonies in the Spanish West Indies some 50 years prior, welcomed his proposal and set to reestablish the colony.
Spanish occupation of the Dominican Republic | |||||||||
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| 1861–1865 | |||||||||
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| Status | Spanish colony | ||||||||
| Capital | Santo Domingo | ||||||||
| Common languages | Spanish | ||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
| Queen | |||||||||
• 1861–1865 | Isabella II of Spain | ||||||||
| Captain General | |||||||||
• 1861–1862 | Pedro Santana | ||||||||
• 1864–1865 | José de la Gándara | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Established | 1861 | ||||||||
• Restoration of Dominican sovereignty | 1865 | ||||||||
| Currency | Santo Domingo peso, Spanish peso | ||||||||
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The end of the American Civil War in 1865 and the re-assertion of the Monroe Doctrine by the United States, which was no longer involved in internal conflict and which possessed enormously expanded and modernized military forces as a result of the war, prompted the evacuation of Spanish forces back to Cuba that same year.
Occupation
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On March 18 , 1861, the tricolor flag, symbol of the Dominican people, was lowered throughout the Republic, in its place the Spanish flag was raised. The nation returned to be protected by the peninsular throne, this time directed by Doña Isabel II. Sovereignty was handed over voluntarily, without bloodshed, by the President of the Republic, General Pedro Santana, who was honored by the Crown of Spain with pompous titles, such as Civil Governor, Captain General of the Colony, Senator of the kingdom, Lieutenant General of the Royal Armies and Marquis de las Carreras. Santana was born in the town of Hincha in the year 1801, owned a herd in the city of Seibo called Hacienda el Prado, had stood out as a General and Patriot during the war against Haiti and was considered a national hero, for having defeated the Haitian army in the Battles of Azua and the Carreras. At that time he was exercising the presidency of the Republic for the third time. At 60 years old, the Hatero del Seibo lacked the energy shown in the past. Trying to perpetuate himself in power, he sent Felipe Alfau as a minister on a special mission to Spain in order to manage the annexation to the mother country. He argued that he wanted to rid the country of the Haitian threat, as well as the countless political skirmishes that decimated its population. The vast majority of Dominicans were against the annexation. However, Santana submitted the request to the Government of Spain pretending that the entire town sympathized with that measure. The negotiations carried out before the crown found fertile ground, but they did not have the support of the people, who had not been consulted. Therefore, protests soon began throughout the Dominican territory.
Immediate reactions
In the capital, Father Fernando Arturo De Meriño, General Eusebio Manzueta and Matías Ramón Mella, were the first to demonstrate against the annexation. In Santiago, after being invited, the people did not attend the flag change at the San Luis Fortress. In San Francisco, shots prevented the raising of the Spanish flag.
Rebellion of José Contreras
On the night of May 2, 1861, Colonel José Contreras, Cayetano Germocén and José Inocencio Reyes stormed the town of Moca, proclaiming the restoration of the Republic. Later being subdued and later shot along with 23 other people, by the troops of General Suero - the order was given by General Santana.
Invasion of Francisco del Rosario Sánchez
Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, who at the time was in Saint Thomas, learned of this action from Manuel Rodríguez Objío, who sailed from Dominican Republic upon hearing Santana's initial plans. In an effort to stop this, Sánchez, along with José María Cabral, Pedro Alejandro Piña, and Timothy Ogendo, established the Dominican Regeneration Movement. He managed to receive the support Haiti to cross into Dominican territory. He the Dominican Republic through its southern border, being vilely betrayed by Santiago de Óleo, who, after wounding him on the Juan Cruz hill, handed him over to the annexationist troops.
Aftermath
On August 16, 1863, 14 anti-annexationists led by Santiago Rodríguez Masagó made a daring raid on the Capotillo Hill, where they raised the Dominican flag. Except for Santo Domingo and some of the neighboring towns, the whole country rose in arms, and several towns in Cibao joined the rebellion. Soon, 6,000 Dominican insurgents rallied to Gaspar Polanco's army, which besieged Fort San Luis and its 800-man Spanish garrison and captured it on September 13. A steam frigate went to the support of Spanish troops holed up in the fort at Puerto Plata and drove off the rebels by firing grapeshot. Self-appointed president José Antonio Salcedo unsuccessfully lobbied for United States aid in the war, but the guerrillas killed a total of 1,000 Spaniards by March 1864, while another 9,000 had perished from fever. The 21,000-strong Spanish garrison received 6,000 reinforcements, and José de la Gándara y Navarro was appointed the new Spanish commander.
De la Gándara attempted to broker a ceasefire with the rebels, but Gaspar Polanco overthrew and assassinated Salcedo, who had made costly military mistakes and intended to recall the unpopular Buenaventura Báez to serve as president once more. After a failed attack on the Spanish at Monte Cristi, Polanco was overthrown by his own brother Juan Antonio Polanco, Pedro Antonio Pimentel, and Benito Moncion, who appointed Benigno Filomeno de Rojas as the new president in January 1865. By then, the American Civil War was almost at an end, frightening Spain. Queen Isabella II of Spain annulled the annexation on March 3, 1865, and, by July 15, there were no Spanish troops left on the island.
Governors
1861–1865
- 1861–1862: Pedro Santana
- 1862–1863: Felipe Ribero y Lemoine
- 1863–1864: Carlos de Vargas
- 1864–1865: José de la Gándara
