In this volume McFarlane presents a definitive narrative of the wars that brought independence to the vast regions that were part of the Hispanic monarchy. With great reach and detail he traverses the continent from north to south covering the period between 1808, when the imperial crisis began, and 1825, the time by which all the new independent republics were established. His ambition is twofold, to ‘reframe Spain's imperial crisis’ by setting ‘the collapse of the empire in the broad framework of international war and revolution in the Atlantic’ and ‘to reexamine Spain's crisis and emergence of independent states through the prism of warfare’ (p. 1). In this he succeeds completely as his narrative sets war in the central role in the process through which Spanish America became independent. This is particularly important given that, for a very long time, wars as phenomena have been, according to him, ‘mere props in the dramas of political transformation’ (p. 2) as histories tended to concentrate on the political and social dimensions of independence.

Moving away from nineteenth-century historias patrias that presented war as a confrontation between Spaniards and Americans, McFarlane builds from the work of John Lynch (The Spanish American Revolutions, 1806–1826, Norton, 1986), who gave much importance to the impact of the Bourbon reforms, as well as from Timothy Anna (Spain and the Loss of America, University of Nebraska Press, 1983), who stressed the role played by Spain itself in the empire's downfall, and from that of Brian Hamnett (The End of Iberian Rule on the American Continent 1770–1850, Cambridge University Press, 2016), who pointed out that revolution and counter-revolution played a crucial role in the process of independence. McFarlane agrees with François-Xavier Guerra (Modernidad e independencias: Ensayos sobre las revoluciones hispánicas, Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1993) and Jaime Rodríguez (The Independence of Spanish America, Cambridge University Press, 1998) in that the origin of the imperial crisis was an external shock, but he differs from their explanations in that he considers war to be at the very centre of this process as ‘without these wars there would have been no independent states, and the Spanish monarchy would have not collapsed as completely as it did’ (p. 5).

He makes this argument forcefully showing that throughout the wars there were those in America who remained loyal and others who opted for independence, and that they engaged in brutal and intense wars that shaped the process and ultimately led to independence. The book rests on a solid foundation of archival research as well as on a very strong body of new scholarship on the wars of independence published in the past decade. This is added to McFarlane's in-depth knowledge of the Bourbon project, and in particular the attempts at military reform. The book presents these arguments in three parts organised chronologically, with chapters that focus on a variety of geographical regions. The first one concentrates on the issue of war and the crisis of the Spanish monarchy, a second looks at the initial period of war between 1810 and 1815, and a final one focuses on reconquest and liberation between 1815 and 1825.

In the first part the scene is presented with the external shock of the invasion of the Spanish peninsula by Napoleon's troops that sets the whole machine into motion. But to place this in context McFarlane begins with the Bourbons, their ascendency through the War of the Spanish Succession and the changes they brought, as well as with how their tenure was influenced by a scenario of the imperial wars of the late eighteenth century. He concentrates on how these led to the creation and reform of armies and militias that were used to crush the rebellions of the 1780s. The importance of war in this period is never lost in these initial chapters and the crisis in Spain is seen as part of a much longer chain of events than simply the 1808 invasion. Attention then moves on to the reaction to the imperial crisis and how, even though there was no unified response to the abdication of the king, a series of patterns emerged with some remaining loyal and others creating juntas. McFarlane concludes that ‘Differences in army responses to the imperial crisis’ should be understood ‘in terms of the overall command structure of colonial governments and armies’ (p. 61). When analysing the paths that led to war McFarlane concludes that the move to war between Spain and its dominions was driven more by the divisions within American societies than by metropolitan repression (p. 77).

In the second section of the book attention is put on how the wars developed in the crucial five years between 1810 and 1815 when the king was captive and there was very little that could be done to support or confront those who either declared for independence or remained loyal. This was very much an American conflict between those supporting the crown and those against it, but it was also a confrontation between cities and regions. This took place against the backdrop of a liberal constitution passed in Cádiz in 1812 and rolled out in the sections of the continent still loyal to the monarchy. War set in motion a series of processes, such as mass mobilisation of all sectors of society as well as a strong sense of local identity. In Venezuela this led to the confrontation between cities, in New Granada to the emergence of multiple sovereignties. In the Río de la Plata it led to a clash between Buenos Aires and Montevideo, as well as to one between the junta in the former and the viceroy of Peru in the highland provinces of Upper Peru. In Mexico the scenario was different as rebellion broke out and the battle was between those who fought for popular mobilisation and the organised militias under the command of the viceroy.

The final part looks at the complex decade in which liberation became a reality and new independent republics began to emerge from the fulcrum of war. First, however, came the restoration, when Fernando VII, who returned to the throne, attempted to turn back the clock on constitutional arrangements, making it finally possible to send troops and reinforcements: Pablo Morillo led an expedition to New Granada and Venezuela, and, in Peru, Viceroy Fernando Abascal returned to Lima's control areas that had been lost during the Bourbon reforms, such as Quito, Chile and Upper Peru. But peninsular troops never made it to the Río de la Plata, where independence was proclaimed in 1816. This section is particularly rich, describing the multitude of conflicts in abundant detail. Here the personalities of José de San Martín, Simón Bolívar and others come into sharp focus as the wars mixed their abilities as military commanders who brought armies together, with the use of guerrilla forces from the prairies as well as from the mountains.

McFarlane presents both sides of the conflict aiming to understand the loyalists as much as those fighting for independence. He provides a clear analysis of what led to defeat and retreat in both Mexico and Peru that had been the centres for loyalism, and the impact that the return of the liberal constitutional regime had on the wars of independence. The book concentrates on the people who fought the wars, but not just on the commanders. It also looks into the motives that led those from different sectors of society to support one side or the other, and how in many cases this was not really a choice but a matter of where circumstances placed particular individuals. Indians, slaves and other members of the popular sectors played a role in the process and appear in the narrative showing that there was not just one kind of response, and that actors had the opportunity to try to make the best of the circumstances they were presented with.

This tour de force concludes with a final section that aims to bring together the main arguments put forward. McFarlane asserts that the wars did not have clearly defined beginnings ‘for they did not originate in a desire for independence that was firmly implanted or clearly announced at their outset’ (p. 410). They were triggered by demands for autonomy and started as an offshoot of a wider international war that then became a war between Americans: ‘essentially civil wars’ fought with the ‘military resources inherited from the Bourbon regime’ (p. 411). Loyalty was one of the main reasons the wars lasted so long and were so complex: it was impossible for Spain to fight in so many different smaller theatres at such a distance. Finally, McFarlane concludes that these civil wars among the elite ‘opened fractures along racial and social fault lines’ (p. 417) and led to the creation of armies that, even if they did not embody nations, played a crucial part in establishing states. Its focus on war and the level of detail provided in this book make it indispensable to anyone who truly wants to understand how the independence of Spanish America came about.