Today (5th November) is known as Guy Fawkes Day or Bonfire Night in the UK. It commemorates the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605 where a group of men, including Guy Fawkes, planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament. But there have been other acts of revolution on this date and I thought I’d cover a couple of those too.
The Negros Revolution of 1898
The Philippines has its own Fifth of November or “Negros Day” which commemorates the Negros Revolution of 1898 where Negrese nationalists took control of Negros Island from the Spanish and created their own republican government.
Sadly, the new “Negros Republic” only lasted about three months until US forces came in and ended it (tale as old as time) and in 1901, the population was annexed to the Philippine Islands.
Read more: Cinco de Noviembre and the Negros Republic
1811 Independence Movement of El Salvador
On this day in 1811, a Salvadoran priest named José Matías Delgado called for an insurrection by ringing a church bell:
[…] According to tradition, the rebels waited for a signal from the bell tower of the Church of La Merced, but this did not occur at the scheduled time. The rebels later assembled on the town square outside the church where Manuel José Arce proclaimed in front of the public: “There is no King, nor Intendant, nor Captain General. We only must obey our alcaldes,” meaning that since Ferdinand VII had been deposed, all other officials appointed by him no longer legitimately held power. A tumult in the square grew so that the intendant, Gutiérrez y Ulloa, asked the gathered appoint someone to deliver their demands formally. Manuel José Arce was chosen as the leader by the crowd. Despite this, the insurrectionists took arms and proclaimed the total independence of San Salvador from the Spanish crown but were later subdued.
Not every city council was on board for the revolution and the rebels had to collaborate with a group from Guatemala City which resulted in armed troops coming in and reclaiming San Salvador before being defeated and ending the movement.
Read more: José Matías Delgado y el movimiento insurgente de 1811