Chapter 18

Revolution in Central America: Twilight of the Tyrants?

The following material is designed to help you sort out the major themes and important information in our textbook Benjamin Keen, A History of Latin America, 5^th ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1996). You will be quizzed over this material in class. Also use this information as a study guide to prepare for the exam.

Learning Objectives

After you have read and studied Chapter 8, you should be able to:

1. Describe common elements in the recent histories of Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador.
2. Discuss the goals of the Guatemalan democratic revolution of 1944, the role played by the United States in its overthrow, and the long-range consequences of that event.
3. Discuss the origins and program of the Sandinista Revolution, U.S. policy toward the revolution, and the results of that policy.
4. Analyze the economic and social roots of the Salvadoran Revolution and explain how it survived a decade of massive U.S. financial and military support for the Salvadoran government and army.

Chapter Summary

The chapter opens with a survey of the transition to independence of the former captaincy general of Guatemala, the failure of efforts under Liberal leadership to preserve its unity, and its eventual breakup into its component parts. The three countries selected for special study--Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador--are then discussed from a historical perspective. It is pointed out that in each country, despite some diversity, there gradually arose a semifeudal order based on monoculture, the large estate, peonage, personal or military dictatorship, and acceptance of U.S. hegemony. It is also clear from the discussion how these conditions inevitably provoked revolts: the Guatemalan Revolution of 1944, crushed as a result of U.S. intervention; the Nicaraguan Revolution that triumphed in 1979; and the Salvadoran Revolution, still in progress after ten years of warfare. The chapter draws the conclusion that despite temporary checks or reversals, such as that in Guatemala in 1954 and the electoral defeat of the Sandinistas in Nicaragua in 1990, the movement for structural economic and social change in Central America appears irreversible.

Identification Terms

Be sure that you are able to identify and explain the historical significance of each of each of these terms from this chapter.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. This material is presented as a study guide exclusively for the use of students in Latin American History at Illinois State University. Please direct any questions to Marc Becker at mbecker@ilstu.edu.