Timeline (Sunrise over the Silver River)

This is the Timeline page referring to most/all events of Sunrise over the Silver River This starts in 1808 and moves to the present day

The Fall of Spain
Over the course of the Napoleonic wars raging in Europe, Spain had been a beleagured ally to the French with British attacks all over the empire following the nations fleet suffering a disastrous reduction in power due to Trafalfar. With the mother countries ailing state and near non existant surplus in finances, communications with the American colonies were intermittent and somewhat unlcear at times. This in itself began some of the simmerings of independence in Spains colonies with specific growing resentment in the Viceroyalties of New Granada, and Rio de la Plata.

With Spains reason for allying with the French Empire having evaporated with their loss at Trafalgar and the massive social unrest comming to a head in Spain itself, Charles IV spent much of the 1807-1808 timeframe looking for a way to escape the alliance. With suspicions confirmed to Napoleon of his inconsistent ally in Spain he made plans in secret to deal with, and subjugate Spain in the future.

With the Invasion of Portugal and subsequent Spanish revolts breaking out Napoleon hastily organized forces to handle the revolts and search for insurgents which were beginning to crop up. The Abdication of Charles IV in favor of Ferdinand VII who was under intense duress to try and control the situation and promote further stability. As the uprisings continued, Napoleon attempted to pacify the region by having his brother Joseph Bonaparte confirmed as the King of Spain which threw the entire country into absolute chaos.

The surrender of multiple forces in Spain totalling nearly 50,000 stunned Napoleon who rather than try to maintain the Fascade of his own creation brought 250,000 troops to bear in a proper invasion of Spain. The Junta created to help secure the country and fight the war was summarily defeated in Northern Spain and its lines were enveloped by Napleon and the country came majorly once again under French occupation with the Spanish Junta now tied to Ferdinand VII fighting a Geurilla war to hinder and harass the Spanish into a massive and costly occupation of the country.

The fall of Spain shocked the colonies abroad and with simmering resentment against Spain rearing its head once again the Patriots across many Spanish American colonies began to coalesce into proper movements unbeknownst to the motherland in Spain.

A year of councils.
Following the fall of Spain, the American colonies were left without direction for the first time in centuries, the Mother country had never been occupied like this, and the systems of governance in place effectively relied on governance from Madrid to operate effectively in the name of the Crown. Many patriots in favor of independence began their own seperate movements to begin pushing for their seperation from Spain. Simon Bolivar took charge in Venezuela, Manuel Belgrano and eventually Jose de San Martin in La Plata, and Manuel Hidalgo in New Spain all convened movements to discuss seperation with Spain and eventually through what became known as the Silver Road they all became aware of each other.

They all saw the government in Spain as tyrannical, and unsuited to govern their countries from so far away. It was a well known fact as well that Spain itself was a mess, with much occupied by Napoleon and the Junta being the true rulers of the kingdom at the moment. When the Council of Caracas was slated to be held in october of 1809 even the Patriots in the south were invited to attend. However The Viceroyalty of Peru, staunchly Royalist and having mobilized troops loyal to the crown stood clearly in the way of the La platan seperatists who opted to convene their own council in Tucuman a the same month and attempt to send their decisions to Simon Bolivar.

These councils effectivelly decided that the Junta of Seville was not the sole ruler of the Spanish overseas empire and that the hastily assembled Juntas across Spanish America were by and large extentions of this and their authority held null and void, in varying degrees of aptitude

The next few months saw the Royalists, still in control of the vast majority Peru, Ecuador, the Carribbean, and New Spain,  begin plans to try and reorganize a liberal Spanish government in the face of the French to their own benefit as well as to the abolition of dated Spanish practices and traditions.

Simon Bolivar and Manuel Belgrano made independent decisions almost within weeks of eachother for their formal seperation from the Spanish and establishment of their own countries. The Junta of Buenos Aires, and Junta of Caracas both attempting to champion the "Cortez" (the movement to establish an innovative and liberal government in Spain) officially threw off the lie they perpetuated in 1810.

The Patriot Revolutions 1810-1821
In the Months of April and May of 1810 the revolution officially bagan with uprisings in Buenos Aires, and other small parts of La Plata, and the entirety of Venezuela declared independence and the Royalist Juntas immediately declared these regions in open revolt and began to mobilize their forces to handle them. The Congress of La Plata held shortly after Buenoes aires's secession from the Spanish empire brought notables from all across La Plata except Upper peru which had been quickly occupied by the Viceroyalty of Peru, still staunchly loyal to the crown and the bastion of of the Royalists across Spanish America. Simon Bolivar having been expressly successful in securing himself a powerbase in Venezuela immediately fought a series of skirmishes with the Royalist Junta in Bogota securing his borders and widely establishing a sense of pride and unity for the seperatist government.

In La Plata the same cannot be said as Manuel Belgrano saw the Royalist forces based in Montevideo force the patriots into a series of unsuccessful battles which saw their territory shrink, and began to call into question the legitimacy of the Congress of La Plata which was ongoing. The Congress was attempting to secure federalized system for the future country and many representatives sympathetic to the cause but unwilling to throw their lot in yet talked about the situation at hand. Manuel Hidalgo finally led a successful campaign in late 1810 known as the March to Paraguay attempting to quickly and decisively cut off the Royalist Peru and its support from the Junta in Montevideo. This offensive petered out as the Revolutionaries began to suffer attrition and supply issues. This continued until the Guirani revolt of early 1811 which saw the majority of the Guirani population rise up against the royalists and throw its lot in with the revolution. Being a relative backwater but with a high number of fighting age men, as well as being one of the poorest states represented in the congress, the Paraguayan soldiers ended up being the deciding factor of the Campaign and propelled Belgrano to absolutely legendary status within the La Platan Congress and cut the Viceroyalty in half as well as cutting support from Peru.

In New Spain, Manuel Hidalgo a priest New Spain organized a massive peasant revolt which targeted Peninsulares. Agustin de Iturbide disgusted with the atrocities caused by the peaseant revolutionaries decided specifically to pursue independence on his own terms and spoke with great skill marshalling a force of 10,000 Creoles and some sympathetic Peninsulares who began their own fight clashing with both the Peasants and the Royalists until he managed to secure a sizeable amount of territory near Mexico city and began building up his army further.