He entered upon a campaign which was signalized by acts of barbarity on both sides.
His declaration of "war to the death" was answered in kind.

Wholesale slaughter of prisoners, indiscriminate pillage, and wanton destruction of property spread terror and desolation throughout the country.
Acclaimed "Liberator of Venezuela" and made dictator by the people of Caracas, Bolivar strove in vain to overcome the half-savage llaneros, or cowboys of the plains, who despised the innovating aristocrats of the capital.

Though he won a few victories, he did not make the cause of independence popular, and, realizing his failure, he retired into New Granada.
In this region an astounding series of revolutions and counter-revolutions had taken place.

Unmindful of pleas for cooperation, the Creole leaders in town and district, from 1810 onward, seized control of affairs in a fashion that betokened a speedy disintegration of the country.

Though the viceroy was deposed and a general Congress was summoned to meet at the capital, Bogota, efforts at centralization encountered opposition in every quarter.