The Thousand Days' War

The Thousand Days’ War was fought from 1899-1902 and around 100,000 people died from the war. The conflict was between the Liberals and the Conservatives and the main cause of the war was the election in 1898. Manuel Antonio Sanclemente, a conservative, was elected president of Colombia, but due to his ill health most of the work was done by the vice president, José Manuel Marroquín, The Liberals were furious and believed that election fraud had taken place, so the liberal generals planned a rebellion for October 1899. The Liberals were successful in the battle of Peralonso but they were outnumbered in the battle of Palonegro. This defeat ruined the liberal army and they had to surrender. Throughout the war moderate liberals were trying to stop the two sides but they both refused to agree with one another, even so they signed the Treaty of Neerlandia on October 24^th 1902 which was basically a truce between the liberals and the conservatives. The war was formally ended on November 21^st 1902 when a second treaty was signed on the American Battleship, Wisconsin.