At the end of the 18th and the beginning of 19th century, there were historical conditions for the rise of independence movements in Latin America. The development of revolutionary processes was accelerated by the French revolution. The direct response to it was the revolution of the slaves in Haiti (1791-1803), in which a former slave Toussaint Louverture became an outstanding figure. As a result of this revolution which broke out in 1791 in the French colony Saint-Domingue, independence was proclaimed, and the equality of the citizens was established.
The preconditions for the war for independence in the Spanish colonies could lie in the following. The crisis of the Spanish colonial system which began in the last quarter of 18th century became aggravated to the beginning of the 19th century and outgrown in the bourgeois revolution, under the historical content, the War for independence.
The French bourgeois revolution and then the Napoleonic wars limited the commercial relations of the colonies with the mother land and promoted the deepening of the crisis of colonial economy. “A turning point for Latin America was Napoleon’s move into Spain and Portugal. From 1808 to 1814, Napoleon held Spain’s king, Ferdinand VII, captive. (“Independence in Latin America”)
Spain has appeared involved in ruinous wars with England that struck a crushing blow to the Spanish colonial trade. The defeat of the Spanish fleet by England operating together with France in 1805, almost completely interrupted the communications of Spain with colonies. It is possible to judge on trade reduction by trade turnover of the largest port Veracruz in Mexico. Export from Veracruz was reduced more than 7 times, and the import from Spain – 3 times.
During the period of wars, at the beginning of the 19th century, Spain appeared incapable of keeping the economic and the political control over the colonies. The essential loss to the economy of the American colonies was put by the reduction of slave-trade as a result of the French revolution and Napoleonic wars. Another cause for the start of the independence movements could be considered the result of the Bourbon Reforms, which in turn diminished the political power of creoles throughout the colonies. The outcome was the increased Creole animosity towards crown, which in turn provided the main thrust for independence.