page_title: Battle of Tacuarí
section_title: Consequences
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Tacuarí / Consequences
caption_attribution_description: Español: Abrazo entre Manuel Belgrano y Manuel Cabañas, tras la batalla de Tacuari
context_page_description: The Battle of Tacuarí was a battle in Southern Paraguay between revolutionary forces under the command of General Manuel Belgrano, member of the Primera Junta government of Argentina, and Paraguayan troops under colonel Manuel Atanasio Cabañas, at the time at the service of the royalists.
context_section_description: Even though his army suffered a serious defeat, there are some accomplishments by Belgrano from his defense at Tacuarí.
  In first place, he succeeded in extracting an important part of the army from Paraguay, about 400 men, including the prisoners captured with Machain. These men would form the future United Provinces army that would fight at the Banda Oriental (present-day Uruguay), supporting the local militia commanded by José Artigas.
  Belgrano wrote a proposal that general Cabañas took to Asunción to form the base for a peace treaty between Asunción and Buenos Aires; this included free commerce between the two capitals and the formation of a new local government in Asunción. He also requested this new government to send a representative that would form part of the Government (Junta) in Buenos Aires and would negotiate all the reparations that would be paid by Buenos Aires for the war they took to Paraguay. Belgrano made the condition that this would require at the formation of a local autonomous government (outside of Spain and the Royalists) and that it recognized the rebel government in Buenos Aires.
  His best success, in any case, was to have Paraguay start to seriously consider independence from Spain, even without joining the United Provinces. In effect, shortly after May 14, the Paraguayans declared their independence from Spain (on May 17) and formed their first government after a peaceful rebellion at Asuncion that forced the resignation of the entire city and provincial councils, after a plan to have Portuguese troops from Brazil as reinforcements to the Spanish troops as counterweight to the Argentine troops was exposed. Among their first proponents were several of the victors at Tacuarí, especially Fulgencio Yegros.
  Belgrano's campaign did not accomplish their goal of having Paraguay to form part of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, joined by the other ex-provinces of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata.
  Due to his military defeat in Paraguay the Primera Junta in Buenos Aires opened a Court Martial for Belgrano on June 6, 1811, even though they did not have a definite charge against him, instead a people's petition (petición del pueblo) to make the charges that would be appropriate. Nobody presented any charges against him, and the officers under his command in the Paraguay campaign did not have any complaints and defended his patriotism and irreproachable conduct.
  Finally, the government decided on August 9, 1811 to absolve him of all charges and published the verdict in the Buenos Ayres Gazette
  ...it is declared that General Manuel Belgrano, of the Army of the North, has conducted himself in command of the army with courage and deserves the recognition of the motherland...
caption: Manuel Belgrano and Manuel Cabañas embraced after the battle.
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