The River Plate Invasions

The British invasions of the River Plate were a series of British attempts to seize control of areas in the Spanish colonial Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata that were located around the Río de la Plata in South America — in present-day Argentina and Uruguay. The invasions took place between 1806 and 1807, as part of the Napoleonic Wars, when Spain was an ally of Napoleonic France.

The First Invasion
A detachment from the British army occupied Buenos Aires for 46 days in 1806 before being expelled.