Malespín's War (Spanish: Guerra de Malespín) was a Salvadoran and Honduran invasion of Nicaragua caused by the election of liberal democrat Manuel Pérez at the time of Central American turmoil dictated by Rafael Carrera's conservative dictatorship in Guatemala.
The war mostly took place in León, which was besieged by the invading forces on 27 November 1844, a siege which would last until 24 January 1845.
Cause
On 1 April 1843 Supreme Director Pablo Buitrago y Benavente resigned and Parliament appointed Juan de Dios Orozco as Acting Supreme Director. Orozco was to oversee public elections, but those failed because no candidate obtained the required majority vote. Because of the failed elections, parliament elected liberal Manuel Pérez, with support from the de facto military dictator of Nicaragua, Casto Fonseca.
This concerned the conservative politicians mainly based in Granada. Under Pérez, Managua's council decided to move the jurisdiction policy of Granada towards the jurisdiction policy of León and Granadans feared that Managua would be controlled militarily by Fonseca, and that the leaders of Leonese liberalism would be a threat to them.
The conservative government in El Salvador under Francisco Malespín had at that time just avoided war with Guatemala after conservative dissidents, led by "liberal-turned-conservative" Manuel José Arce, attempted to invade El Salvador. The Governments of El Salvador and Honduras, led by Francisco Ferrera, then put blame for their internal unrest on the Nicaraguan liberals in León. The Nicaraguan liberals saw this as a threat of invasion, so they attacked Nacaome, Honduras on 23 October 1844, before they could form a military alliance, but were pushed back by the Hondurans. Malespín then began preparing to invade.
Initial invasion
On 25 October 1844 Malespín handed over the presidency to his Vice President, Joaquín Eufrasio Guzmán, and the Command of the Army, to his brother Calixto Malespín, and began leading his troops towards Nicaragua with military support from Honduras under José Santos Guardiola.
Manuel Pérez sent the Nicaraguan troops gathering in Chinandega to Chichigalp, thus preventing military action. However, this support given to Malespín provoked parliamentary opposition, and so Pérez was removed from office on 26 September and his duties were replaced by Emiliano Madriz. However, Pérez did not resign voluntarily and continued to work until 4 November.
On the night of 21 November the combined Armies of El Salvador and Honduras, known as the "Ejército Protector de la Paz" under the supreme command of Malespín, with Guardiola as second and José Trinidad Muñoz as third in command, set up camp at the Barranca de San Antonio gorge, and at 8 p.m. on 26 November they reached León and set up camp in the outskirts of the city.
Beginning the Siege of León
On 27 November at 3 p.m., Malespín, drunk, ordered the first attack, which ended disastrous for the attackers, however, the attack continued until 4 p.m., when allied troops ran out of ammunition and scores of their officers were killed or injured. Disorder ensued and the Honduran troops began to withdraw, but Malespín convinced them to stay in combat, not before Commander Manuel Quijano y García and 64 dragoons had already deserted. The attack continued under the command of Muñoz, who entrenched the following night, and by the morning of the next day, the allied troops were ready for an effective attack.
The Granadans offered their support to Casto Fonseca when he was besieged in León, under a pact to improve the regime; but the "Grand Marshal" replied that the government did not agree with rebels, that the Granadans should proceed as they saw fit, that he reserved giving them the punishment they deserved. The people of Granada had to arrange with Malespín to depose Fonseca's military absolutism as soon as possible. Initially, about 400 Matagalpa archers enlisted in the defense of León against the invading army, but due to the mistreatment they received from the liberal "Grand Marshal" and the breaking of the liberal-conservative alliance, they joined the occupying forces.