Colombian Civil War of 1876 (also called War of the Schools) was a civil war

Civil war

A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....

 in the United States of Colombia

United States of Colombia

The United States of Colombia was the name adopted in 1861 through the Rionegro Constitution for the nation which had been known as the Republic of New Granada since the dissolution of the federation of Gran Colombia in 1830-1831....

 (present-day Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

) that went on from 1876 to 1877. The causes of the war date back to approximately 1870 when members of the Colombian Liberal Party

Colombian Liberal Party

The Colombian Liberal Party is a center-left party in Colombia that adheres to social democracy and social liberalism.The Party was founded in 1848 and, together with the Colombian Conservative Party, subsequently became one of the two main political forces in the country for over a century.After...

 led by the Liberal radical Eustorgio Salgar

Eustorgio Salgar

Eustorgio Salgar Moreno was a lawyer, Colombian general and political figure, who was president of the Granadine Confederation from 1870 until 1872. Elected at age 39, was one of the youngest Presidents of the nation.- Biographic data :...

 attempted to introduce public education

Public education

State schools, also known in the United States and Canada as public schools,In much of the Commonwealth, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, the terms 'public education', 'public school' and 'independent school' are used for private schools, that is, schools...

 for the Colombian states, while the Colombian Conservative Party

Colombian Conservative Party

The Colombian Conservative Party , is a conservative political party in Colombia. The party was unofficially founded by a group of Revolutionary Commoners during the Revolutionary War for Independence from the Spanish Monarchy and later formally established during the Greater Colombia...

 advocated for putting education solely under the control of the Roman Catholic church.