User talk:Donald Albury

Hey, I get it. No worries. I felt the current content didn't really explain much about the Spanish Empire, so I edited it based on the content from the Spanish Wikipedia, which is stable. That said, you're right that it's missing references. Honestly though, the current English Wiki content is pretty confusing, has some glaring errors, and doesn't have much of a throughline. I'm not sure what conclusion you'd come to after reading it, but I doubt you'd walk away with a clear picture. I'll go dig up the citations, add them in, and then edit it the way you suggested. You're right, I know. Just give me a bit to track down the references for the content I edited. One question out of curiosity — are you more interested in well-referenced content in general, or specifically in the independence movements or the Spanish Empire? Cheers Historian1810 (talk) 13:09, 27 August 2026 (UTC)

If you need a citation for any paragraph, please add [citation needed]. I'll add it on Monday if there are no other questions. Best regards:

The breakup of Spanish America into around twenty new independent states was one of the most important events in the shaping of the modern world. It came about after a long and destructive civil war. By the late 18th century, the Spanish Empire had passed from the Habsburg to the Bourbon dynasty without major loss of territory. In 1808, however, Napoleon kidnapped the Spanish royal family as part of his Continental System strategy. He forced the Abdications of Bayonne: Charles IV was removed from the throne, Ferdinand VII was taken prisoner, and Napoleon's brother, Joseph Bonaparte, was made king, in an attempt to replace the Bourbon dynasty with the House of Bonaparte. This led to the Peninsular War (1808–1814). Britain, through the Apodaca–Canning treaty, supported the Spanish liberal resistance and recognized Ferdinand VII as the rightful king, even in his absence. Rebel Spanish juntas set up a liberal state through the Cortes of Cádiz.^[1][2]

Conflict between Spanish and American Juntas: In America, Napoleon's envoys were turned away, and officials suspected of loyalty to Joseph I were removed from their posts. In America, local juntas began their own revolutions. The final break came in 1810: after the Supreme Central Junta was defeated, it dissolved, giving way first to a Regency and then to the Cortes of Cádiz, dominated by peninsular Spaniards. These Cortes refused to recognize the American juntas and sent military expeditions to put down their rebellions. At the same time, neither the American juntas nor the Cortes of Cádiz accepted Ferdinand VII as an authority above their own national interests. Britain, the United States, and Portugal all took advantage of the resulting power vacuum to expand their influence in the Americas.

The Return of Ferdinand VII (1814): After France's defeat in Europe and the Treaty of Valençay, Ferdinand VII returned to Spain as an absolute king. He rejected the Constitution of 1812 and, together with the Cortes of Cádiz, declared the American juntas to be in open rebellion.^[3][4] Once absolutism was restored and Spain's liberal government collapsed, Britain cut off European support for Spain and instead backed the American rebels with troops, ships, and supplies.

The Continental War and Its End: Most of the uprisings turned into republics, which fought openly against the restored absolutist rule. Viceroys Félix Calleja (New Spain), Fernando de Abascal (Peru), and Pablo Morillo (Costa Firme) led the royalist defense. Despite warnings about Spain's weakened military, repeated liberal revolts inside Spain led to Rafael del Riego's uprising in 1820, which brought about the short-lived Liberal Triennium. Recognized only by Britain, this government halted troop deployments and could only negotiate truces. From 1820 on, Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín in South America — known as the "Liberators" — and Agustín Iturbide in North America led the final campaigns of the "patriot" armies against the "royalists." That term became widespread once Ferdinand VII took back the absolute throne in 1823, backed by French troops from the Holy Alliance, who occupied Spain until 1828. The last royalist strongholds held out in coastal forts until 1826, alongside scattered inland guerrillas and naval fighting in the Caribbean. These final efforts fed Spanish hopes of reconquering Mexico, hopes that ended only with Ferdinand VII's death in 1833.^[5][6][7]

Throughout the 15 years of fighting, Spain sent around 10,000 troops to Mexico.^[8] 20,000 Spanish soldiers were sent to South America. However, disease and combat claimed the lives of two-thirds of these soldiers. Even within the Viceroyalty of Peru, the center of Spanish power in South America, the majority of the Royalist army consisted of Americans, around 80%.^[9] After the Battle of Ayacucho in 1824, the captured Royalist army numbered only 751 Spaniards. Only 6,000 troops were sent to Peru and Upper Peru directly from Spain, although others arrived from neighboring theaters of operation.^[10] In 1829, Spain attempted to reconquer Mexico with only 3,000 troops.^[11] In contrast, Spain demonstrated a greater military commitment in the Caribbean, sending 30,000 troops to Santo Domingo in 1861 and maintaining a force of 100,000 soldiers in Cuba in 1876.^[12] Historian1810 (talk) 14:41, 28 August 2026 (UTC)

Good morning Donald, I have reverted the list readd, and noted the shift into edit warring, however it now looks like we may be getting an influx of meatpuppets on the talk page.--Kevmin § 14:43, 31 August 2026 (UTC)

I have asked them to explain how they found the discussion. I have other options, as well. Donald Albury 15:17, 31 August 2026 (UTC)

News and updates for administrators from the past month (August 2026).

Administrator changes

Dclemens1971

• Lectonar

• Bucketsofg
• Keenan Pepper
• The Wordsmith
• Caknuck

Oversight changes

• Richwales

Guideline and policy news

• Speedy deletion criteria G15 has been renamed from "LLM-generated pages without human review" to "Unambiguously LLM-generated pages" and has an additional sign of detection added to it following a RfC.

Miscellaneous

• The September 2026 New Pages Patrol backlog drive is ongoing. Help tackle the 30,000+ article backlog!
• This week's article for improvement will be added to the Main Page to try converting readers into editors following a RfC.