Colombia Military Records: Difference between revisions

The provincial militias were composed of men from the colonies, but the officers were almost exclusively Spanish. The local militias were created toward the end of the 18th century for community defense. 

[https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/show?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fcatalog-search-api%3A8080%2Fwww-catalogapi-webservice%2Fitem%2F238924 Hojas de Servicios Militares de América&nbsp;: Nueva Granada, 1787-1800]<br>  

Military Orders and Brotherhoods: Men could only be members of the military orders if they were nobility. To test this category, a person was required to submit a documented genealogy of the three previous generations of his family. At present, these records are mainly in the National Historical Archive in Madrid. There are members in these Latin American Spanish military orders. Many of these records are available through the Spanish National Archive: [http://pares.mcu.es Pares.]

The origins of the modern Colombian armed forces can be traced to the militia organized by the independent government of the United Provinces of New Granada declared in 1811 to fight against colonial rule. The force was composed of volunteers, divided among infantry and cavalry units, who were trained by the officers of a senior corps that was referred to as El Fijo (The Permanent). Spanish military structure and traditions were adopted.&nbsp;

The Constitution of 1886 included&nbsp;the first laws governing the military and formally defining the military's constitutional responsibilities and&nbsp;also called for a first program of universal military conscription, but this provision was not uniformly enforced until the early twentieth century.&nbsp;<br>  

The conflict known as the War of a Thousand Days began in 1899; this nearly three-year-long war, in which over 100,000 Colombians died, remains one of the most violent civil conflicts in the nation's history.&nbsp;

Other military records from this time are also available through FamilySearch including:&nbsp;

[https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/show?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fcatalog-search-api%3A8080%2Fwww-catalogapi-webservice%2Fitem%2F241910 Hojas de Servicios Militares de América&nbsp;: Expedición de Morrillo, 1814-1819]<br>  

The national exhaustion from the violence of the War of a Thousand Days helped form the basis for the establishment of a modern, professional military. The administration of Rafael Reyes, who came to office in 1904, began the reorganization and professionalization of the armed forces among its early initiatives to revitalize the country. By the 1920's however, government interest in the armed forces began to wane, only to be brought back into focus during the Colombia-Peru Conflict of 1932-1933. &nbsp;It was at this time that the United States of America began to establish strong ties with the Colombian military. Throughout the rest of the 20th Century, due to WWII and then La Violencia and the Colombian Armed Conflict, Colombia has continued to strengthen and build its military. Currently, the Colombian military is one of the largest and most well-equipped in Latin America. All young men at 18 years of age are required to serve in the military with a few exceptions. The requirement can be fulfilled by duty with either the army (18 months), the navy (24 months), the air force (18 months), or the National Police (12 months). However, only a small proportion of those eligible actually serve--usually those from the lower classes. <br>