British invasions exposed both River Plate wealth and imperial weakness

Small British forces occupied Buenos Aires briefly in 1806 and Montevideo for months in 1807, demonstrating the commercial value of the River Plate and the vulnerability of Spanish authority. Local society had to raise thousands of defenders, gaining military experience shortly before the independence crisis. Spain’s monopoly required colonial goods to pass through a home economy unable to supply the required volume, increasing prices and encouraging British and French trade. Regular Spanish naval protection also declined, forcing local merchants to fund alternatives. Napoleon’s occupation of Spain and the disputed succession then turned economic and military grievances into the May Revolution and competing royalist and patriot governments.