| Illustrations and Maps | |
| Preface | |
| Acknowledgments | |
| Abbreviations | |
| Introduction: What Were the Causes for War in Nineteenth-Century Latin America? | |
| Pt. 1 | Wars for Independence against the Monarchs of Europe | |
| 1 | Haiti (Saint Domingue), 1791-1803 | 1 |
| 2 | Viceroyalty of New Granada and the Captaincy-General of Venezuela, 1810-23 | 20 |
| 3 | Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata, 1810-24 | 41 |
| 4 | Viceroyalty of Peru, 1810-31 | 54 |
| 5 | Viceroyalty of New Spain, 1810-29 | 71 |
| 6 | Brazil, 1822-23 | 85 |
| Pt. 2 | Early Border Wars in Spanish America | |
| 7 | The United Provinces against Brazil and Uruguayan Independence, 1825-28 | 93 |
| 8 | Peru against Gran Colombia, 1828-29 | 105 |
| Pt. 3 | Wars of Separation versus Union - Spanish and Portuguese America | |
| 9 | Buenos Aires versus the Provinces, 1820-61 | 113 |
| 10 | Central American Union, 1826-61 | 126 |
| 11 | The Peru-Bolivia Confederation and its Aftershock, 1836-41 | 132 |
| 12 | Guayaquil versus Quito, 1830-1911 | 140 |
| 13 | Brazil, 1831-49 | 149 |
| Pt. 4 | Wars of Conquest by the United States and Great Britain | |
| 14 | Texas Independence, 1835-36 | 157 |
| 15 | Caudillos and the Second Texas-Mexican War, 1836-44 | 166 |
| 16 | The United States and Mexico, 1846-48 | 179 |
| 17 | Central America, 1834-59 | 198 |
| Pt. 5 | Wars of Conquest (Do-It-Yourself Manifest Destiny) - Filibustering | |
| 18 | Filibustering against Mexico, 1819-1911 | 205 |
| 19 | Filibustering against Cuba, 1849-50 | 214 |
| 20 | Filibustering against Central America, 1855-60 | 221 |
| Pt. 6 | The Age of the Caudillo in Mid-America | |
| 21 | The Struggle among Venezuela's Caudillos, 1830-1903 | 235 |
| 22 | Mini-Wars among Caudillos of Central America, 1844-1907 | 250 |
| 23 | The Misrule by Bolivian Caudillos, 1841-99 | 262 |
| Pt. 7 | Mid-Nineteenth-Century Intraclass Struggles | |
| 24 | Colombia and Sixty-three Years of Intraclass Conflict, 1839-1902 | 271 |
| 25 | Uruguayan Intraclass Conflict, 1832-1904 | 281 |
| 26 | Chilean Intraclass Conflicts, 1851 and 1859 | 289 |
| 27 | War of the Reforma, 1857-60 | 295 |
| 28 | French Intervention in Mexico, 1861-67 | 303 |
| Pt. 8 | Mid-Nineteenth-Century Attempted Territorial Conquest and Reconquest | |
| 29 | The War of the Triple Alliance, 1864-70 | 313 |
| 30 | The Pacific War, 1865-66 | 333 |
| Pt. 9 | Late Wars for Independence | |
| 31 | Captaincy-General of Santo Domingo, 1838-65 | 341 |
| 32 | Captaincy-General of Cuba, 1868-98 | 351 |
| Pt. 10 | Wars of Conquest against Native Americans | |
| 33 | The Indians, 1819-1927 | 365 |
| Pt. 11 | An Economic War | |
| 34 | The War of the Pacific, 1879-83 | 375 |
| Pt. 12 | Late-Nineteenth-Century Intraclass Struggles | |
| 35 | Argentine "Revolutions" of 1890 and 1893 | 391 |
| 36 | The Chilean "Revolution" of 1891 | 397 |
| 37 | The Brazilian "Revolution" of 1893-94 | 405 |
| Pt. 13 | Political Intervention by the United States | |
| 38 | The Spanish-American War, 1898 | 415 |
| Postscript: What Were the Surprises? | 426 |
| Notes | 428 |
| Index to Full Bibliographical Citations | 532 |
| Index | 541 |
| About the Author | 570 |