The Chilean War of Independence was part of the more aroused Spanish American wars of independence. Independence did not have unanimous support among Chileans, who were divided between independentists and royalists. What started as a political movement among elites against the colonial power, ended as a full-fledged civil war. Traditionally, the process is divided into three stages: the Patria Vieja, 1810–1814; the Reconquista, 1814–1817; and the Patria Nueva, 1817-1823.