
The British invasions of the River Plate were a series of unsuccessful 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.

General William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, 1st Marquis of Campo Maior, was an Anglo-Irish soldier and politician. A general in the British Army and a Marshal in the Portuguese Army, he fought alongside The Duke of Wellington in the Peninsular War and held the office of Master-General of the Ordnance in 1828 in Wellington's first ministry.

The Battle of Cardal, on 20 January 1807, was the main conflict between the Spanish defense forces of Montevideo, Uruguay, and British troops during the siege of Montevideo during the second British invasion of the River Plate. The British won an easy victory over the outnumbered opposing forces, which paved the way for the fall of the city,

Santiago Antonio María de Liniers y Bremond, 1st Count of Buenos Aires, KOM, OM was a French officer in the Spanish military service, and a viceroy of the Spanish colonies of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. Although born Jacques de Liniers in France, he is more widely known by the Spanish form of his name, Santiago de Liniers.

The Battle of Montevideo was a battle between the British and Spanish Empires during the Napoleonic Wars, in which British forces captured the city of Montevideo. It formed part of the British invasions of the River Plate. Locally, it is remembered as the Siege of Montevideo.

Rear Admiral Sir Home Riggs Popham, KCB, KCH, was a Royal Navy commander who saw service against the French during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He is remembered for his scientific accomplishments, particularly the development of a signal code that was adopted by the Royal Navy in 1803.

La Reconquista de Buenos Aires is an Argentine historical painting by Charles Fouqueray in 1909. It depicts the victory of Santiago de Liniers against William Carr Beresford during the first of the British invasions of the Río de la Plata, and the subsequent liberation of Buenos Aires from British rule. It was made in the proximity of the Argentina Centennial.

The Southern Star, also known in Spanish as La Estrella del sur was a bilingual newspaper edited in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1807. It was the first newspaper edited in the city, but it only lasted for a couple of months, while Montevideo was under British rule during the second British invasions of the Río de la Plata. The newspaper was used to promote free trade and loyalty to the British Crown, as a possible way to achieve independence from the Spanish Crown.

Juan Bautista Vitón (1780-1868) was a Spanish politician, who served in Buenos Aires as lieutenant in the Cuerpo de Voluntarios Artilleros de la Unión.