Montevideo, or the new Troy is a 1850 novel by Alexandre Dumas. It is a historical novel

Historical novel

According to Encyclopædia Britannica, a historical novel is-Development:An early example of historical prose fiction is Luó Guànzhōng's 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which covers one of the most important periods of Chinese history and left a lasting impact on Chinese culture.The...

 about the Uruguayan Civil War

Uruguayan Civil War

The Uruguayan Civil War, also known as "Guerra Grande", was a series of armed conflicts that took place between the Colorado Party and the National Party in Uruguay from 1839 to 1851...

, where the Uruguayan presidents Manuel Oribe

Manuel Oribe

Manuel Ceferino Oribe y Viana was the fourth president of Uruguay.-Biography:Manuel Oribe was the son of Captain Francisco Oribe and María Francisca Viana, a descendant of the first governor of Montevideo, José Joaquín de Viana...

 and Fructuoso Rivera

Fructuoso Rivera

José Fructuoso Rivera y Toscana was an Uruguayan general and patriot who assisted in the efforts to force Brazilians out of the Banda Oriental.-Founder of Colorado Party and President of Uruguay:...

 disputed the rule of the country. The name sets a parallelism with the Trojan War

Trojan War

In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta. The war is among the most important events in Greek mythology and was narrated in many works of Greek literature, including the Iliad...

, as Oribe kept Montevideo

Montevideo

Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...

, capital of Uruguay, under siege for many years.

The plot of the book makes a summary of the history of Uruguay, since the Spanish discovery to the Civil War. Juan Manuel de Rosas

Juan Manuel de Rosas

Juan Manuel de Rosas , was an argentine militar and politician, who was elected governor of the province of Buenos Aires in 1829 to 1835, and then of the Argentine Confederation from 1835 until 1852...

, Facundo Quiroga, José Gervasio Artigas

José Gervasio Artigas

José Gervasio Artigas is a national hero of Uruguay, sometimes called "the father of Uruguayan nationhood".-Early life:Artigas was born in Montevideo on June 19, 1764...

, Bernardino Rivadavia

Bernardino Rivadavia

Bernardino de la Trinidad Gónzalez Rivadavia y Rivadavia was the first president of Argentina, from February 8, 1826 to July 7, 1827 . He was a politician of the United Provinces of Río de la Plata, Argentina today...

 or Giuseppe Garibaldi

Giuseppe Garibaldi

Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian military and political figure. In his twenties, he joined the Carbonari Italian patriot revolutionaries, and fled Italy after a failed insurrection. Garibaldi took part in the War of the Farrapos and the Uruguayan Civil War leading the Italian Legion, and...

 are thus treated as literary characters. Dumas describes Artigas and Rosas as barbaric

Barbarian

Barbarian and savage are terms used to refer to a person who is perceived to be uncivilized. The word is often used either in a general reference to a member of a nation or ethnos, typically a tribal society as seen by an urban civilization either viewed as inferior, or admired as a noble savage...

, and Montevideo as a source of civilization

Civilization

Civilization is a sometimes controversial term that has been used in several related ways. Primarily, the term has been used to refer to the material and instrumental side of human cultures that are complex in terms of technology, science, and division of labor. Such civilizations are generally...

. A similar dichotomy between Civilization and Barbarism was the theme of Facundo

Facundo

Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism is a book written in 1845 by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, a writer and journalist who became the seventh president of Argentina...

, another antrosist book published by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento

Domingo Faustino Sarmiento

Domingo Faustino Sarmiento was an Argentine activist, intellectual, writer, statesman and the seventh President of Argentina. His writing spanned a wide range of genres and topics, from journalism to autobiography, to political philosophy and history...

 some years before. Dumas described Rosas, who supported Oribe, as a coward who avoided the Argentine War of Independence

Argentine War of Independence

The Argentine War of Independence was fought from 1810 to 1818 by Argentine patriotic forces under Manuel Belgrano, Juan José Castelli and José de San Martín against royalist forces loyal to the Spanish crown...

 and took control of Buenos Aires with a barbaric horde, and Montevideo as a heroic city standing against him.

Dumas has never been in Uruguay, nor know by himself about the war. His work is based in the reports of the antirosist Melchor Pacheco, who sought French support against Rosas and thus twisted the information about Rosas's administration in order to get such support. It is likely that the similarities with Sarmiento's book were introduced by Pacheco's, as it would be unlikely that Dumas had read his work.

The book has been edited only once in Argentina, during the 1960 decade.