The Federalist War is the biggest and bloodiest civil war that Venezuela, a country with a population of just over a million people, has had since its independence.

It is mainly a guerrilla war, largely without a centralized command for the Federalists, who professed to ride on social resentment.

Just three major conventional battles have been fought: The Battle of Santa Inés (December 10, 1859), in which Ezequiel Zamora and thirty-four hundred men defeated the Central Army of twenty-three hundred men, with about twelve hundred combined casualties; the Battle of Coplé (February 17, 1860), a victory of the government forces of general León de Febres Cordero over a Federalist army of forty-five hundred men, commanded by Juan Crisóstomo Falcón, and the Battle of Buchivacoa (December 26-December 27, 1862).

The hostilities end with the signing of the Treaty of Coche in April 1863, but the rule of the country remains dictatorial: as a result of the war, political power is centralized in the federal government.

Under the presidency of Falcon, Venezuela becomes in 1863 the first country to abolish capital punishment for all crimes, including serious offenses against the state.