<P> The rebellion by the Thirteen Colonies in lower British North America from Great Britain was shifted by several factors, including a number of imposed taxes, repressive acts, and the lack of American representation in British government . This infuriated many colonists, and eventually became the spark that ignited the American Revolutionary War . Initial fighting began in 1775 and lasted until October 1781, when with French aid under Lafayette defeated the British army . British General Cornwallis surrendered in Yorktown, Virginia . The American colonists subsequently, coming after or later, founded a federated republican government grounded in Enlightenment thought . A wave of revolutions followed the conclusion of the American Revolution . The remaining portion of British North America (Upper and Lower Canada) remained loyal to the British crown . </P> <P> The French Revolution (1789--1799) started during the storming of the Bastille, and was a period of political and social upheaval in the political history of France and Europe as a whole, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based on Enlightenment principles of democracy, citizenship, and inalienable rights . These changes were accompanied by violent turmoil, including executions and repression during the Reign of Terror, and warfare involving every other major European power . </P> <P> Evolving from the wars that Revolutionary France fought with the rest of Europe, the Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars fought between France (led by Napoleon Bonaparte) and alliances involving Britain, Prussia, Spain, Portugal, Russia and Austria at different times, from 1799 to 1815 . </P> <P> In the case of Spain and its colonies, in May 1808, Napoleon captured Carlos IV and King Fernando VII and installed his own brother, Joseph Bonaparte on the Spanish Throne because he didn't want anyone outside of his own bloodline to rule Spain . This pivotal point greatly disrupted the political stability of both Spain and its colonies . Cities throughout Spain and its colonies in America each formed governing bodies primarily consisting of local elites . These ruling local elites were called juntas and their underlying principal in taking power over their communities was that "in absence of the king, Fernando VII, their sovereignty devolved temporarily back to the community ." The juntas swore loyalty to the captive Fernando VII and each ruled different and diverse parts of the colony . Most of Fernando's subjects were loyal to him in 1808, but after he was restored to the Spanish crown in 1814, his policy of restoring absolute power alienated both the juntas and his subjects . He abrogated the Cadiz Constitution of 1812 and persecuted anyone who had supported it . The violence used by royalist forces and the prospect of being ruled by Fernando shifted the majority of the colonist population in favor of separation from Spain . </P>

How and why did latin american nations achieve independence