Great Britain and Argentina: From Invasion to Recognition, 1806-26 (review)

Klaus Gallo has written a diplomatic history of Argentine-British relations from 1806, when Sir Home Popham landed 1,600 soldiers in Buenos Aires, to 1826, the year after Britain formally recognized the new republic. The monograph, which is a revision of the author's doctoral dissertation and a Spanish edition published in 1995, is "a study of the evolution of the political and diplomatic relations between the two countries [Argentina and Britain]" (p. 1). It is divided into six chapters: "The River Plate Viceroyalty"; "The British Invasions of the River Plate"; "The Ministry of All the Talents and the River Plate"; "Strangford, Independence and the London Missions"; "Rivadavia and the British Attitude towards Recognition"; and "Great Britain and the Recognition of the River Plate." An introduction, conclusion, bibliography, and index are included.

There are numerous strengths to this work. First, it is nicely written (several typographical errors aside), with ample documentation for its conclusions from the British Library and Public Records Office, both in England, and the National Library of Scotland and Scottish Record Office. The author consulted a plethora of printed sources as well. Second, the analysis should interest students and scholars of the subject, and readers fascinated by the period's diplomatic history generally. Third, the complex interaction of domestic politics and foreign diplomacy—in the isles and River Plate—are intriguing to this reviewer, though the uninitiated might be somewhat lost at times because of the many players in this drama. Revisionists will relish Gallo's interpretations of the beginnings and early years of the Anglo-Platine relations. In contrast to mainstream writings, he concludes that the "correspondence between the River Plate emissaries and the [British] government officials does not suggest that this [a sound commercial relationship] was the exclusive objective" of the relationship (p.162).

A few suggestions for a later edition are in order. For example, the section on the Rivadavian reforms (pp. 115-36) should be expanded via a study (and literature review) of clerical attitudes toward British interference in the Río de la Plata, Bernardino Rivadavia's ecclesiastical policies, and the revolutionary struggles of the early 1800s. This strategy will flesh out Gallo's treatment of an important local elite, which, after all, was part of the Argentine-British equation. Moreover, the events surrounding the La Plata invasions are not sufficiently detailed for military specialists. The latter are not, however, Gallo's primary audience. A chronology, included as an appendix, would summarize the numerous events and leaders discussed in the book.

Gallo's publication is, overall, a solid contribution to the growing scholarship on the political actions and views of South American elites regarding independence from Spain, non-Iberian influence throughout the continent in the early nineteenth century, and contemporary European diplomacy vis-à-vis Latin America. I agree with previous reviews by John Lynch, Ines Pardal, and Eduardo Posada, which complimented the volume's writing style, scholarly thoroughness, and novel ideas. It is recommended reading for anyone interested in European opinions concerning a Latin America in transition, and of how the "indiscretion of Popham, followed by the diplomatic manoeuvres of Canning [head of Foreign Affairs] and Rivadavia, which opened Anglo-Argentine relations," influenced such perceptions (p. 164).