Great Siege of Montevideo

Great Siege of Montevideo
	Part of the Uruguayan Civil War and the Platine War
Date	16 November 1843 – 8 October 1851; (7 years, 10 months, 3 weeks and 1 day)
Location	Montevideo, Uruguay
Result	The siege is relieved after the intervention of the Empire of Brazil and the Entre Ríos province of Argentina.
Belligerents
Besiegers: Cerrito Government; Argentina; Supported by: Federalist Party;	Besieged: Defense Government; Unitarian Party; Supported by: Empire of Brazil; Entre Ríos (1851); Corrientes (1851); Italian Redshirts; United Kingdom; France; Piratini (1843–1845);
Commanders and leaders
Manuel Oribe; Ignacio Oribe [es]; Ángel Pacheco; William Brown; J. J. de Urquiza (1843-1850);	Joaquín Suárez; Melchor Pacheco; José María Paz; Martín Rodríguez; José Rondeau; Count of Caxias; J. J. de Urquiza (1851); Giuseppe Garibaldi; Jean Thiebaut [pt];
Strength
1843: 3,630; 3,550; ; ; 1851: 11,000–14,000	1843: 3,000–8,000; 1,500–2,000; 400–600; 500; 1851: 12,000–19,000; 5,000; 1,500; (Reinforcements)

The Great Siege of Montevideo (Spanish: Gran Sitio de Montevideo), named as Sitio Grande in Uruguayan historiography, was the siege suffered by the city of Montevideo between 1843 and 1851 during the Uruguayan Civil War.^[9]

In practice, this siege meant that Uruguay had two parallel governments:

Gobierno de la Defensa in Montevideo, led by Joaquín Suárez (1843 – 1852)
Gobierno del Cerrito (with headquarters in the present-day neighborhood of Cerrito de la Victoria), ruling the rest of the country, led by Manuel Oribe (1843 – 1851)

The siege inspired a book by the French writer Alexandre Dumas, The New Troy (1850).

^ ^a ^b Rela 1998, pp. 64 and 91.
^ Casas 2005, p. 255.
^ Solari 1951, p. 146.
^ Saldías 1978, p. 15.
^ Granaderos - Historial. Cronología 1835-1846
^ Núñez 1979, p. 3.
^ Salgado 1943, pp. 7.
^ Levene 1939, pp. 96.
^ Walter Rela (1998). Uruguay: República Oriental del Uruguay, 1830-1864. Montevideo: ALFAR.

[FOOTNOTERela199864_and_91-1] Rela 1998, pp. 64 and 91.

[FOOTNOTECasas2005255-2] Casas 2005, p. 255.

[FOOTNOTESolari1951146-3] Solari 1951, p. 146.

[FOOTNOTESaldías197815-4] Saldías 1978, p. 15.

[5] Granaderos - Historial. Cronología 1835-1846

[FOOTNOTENúñez19793-6] Núñez 1979, p. 3.

[FOOTNOTESalgado19437-7] Salgado 1943, pp. 7.

[FOOTNOTELevene193996-8] Levene 1939, pp. 96.

[Ref4-9] Walter Rela (1998). Uruguay: República Oriental del Uruguay, 1830-1864. Montevideo: ALFAR.

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