Jose De San Martin Essay

Jose de San Martin was an Argentine liberator in South America. San Martin was considered one of the principal fighters against royalist forces in South America. He was considered a master in military strategy. This skill alone would lead him to success against the royalist forces. Jose de San Martin was born on February 28, 1778 in the viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata’. He started his career in the military as an infantryman in the Murcia regiment in southeast Spain. Although a Spaniard, between 1808 and 1811 he fought against the forces of Napoleon because of his dislike of the monarchy and the colonial system. In 1811 he resigned from the Spanish Army he sailed to Buenos Aires where he became a member of the revolutionary regime. In this new

role, he helped to organize forces to be used against the Spanish royalist in Peru. The royalist were threatening the government of Argentina and this was coming in the way of the opposition movement in the country. San Martin became involved in politics by helping to form an underground movement called the “Lautaro Lodge.” San Martin’s first battle was in South America against a royalist force from the Parana River, in which he defeated them on February 3, 1813. After this battle, the government of Buenos Aires sent him to stabilize and strengthen the anti-royalist movement in the Northern provinces of Argentina. He was unable to fulfill this mission in the middle of 1814 because he had to briefly retire and rest due to his weakening health status. This allowed San Martin the time to come up with a strategic plan to overthrow the royalists in Peru. His plan, although the most difficult, was to enter Peru through the Andes mountains of Upper Peru. He led his army up to 15,000 feet above sea level to cross the Andes Mountains in January 1817 with approximately 3,000 infantry soldiers and 250 artillery troops. He defeated the royalists in Chile in the battle of Maipu on April 5th, 1818 and later that year was offered the supreme dictatorship of Chile. A role he did not accept in favor of his Chilean friend Bernado O’Higgins. O’Higgins would become a close partner to San Martin during their struggle to create independent American kingdoms. San Martin became tired of using military force and now tried to negotiate with royalists in hopes that they would accept a peaceful settlement. His proposal that Peru be converted into an independent monarchy fell on deaf ears and the negotiations led to nothing. With the use of military force now inevitable, San Martin devised a plan to strike Peru by sea instead of by land. He would enlist the help of the rebel Chilean troops and gain control of the seas.

With this control his army was able to conquer Peru and entered Lima in 1821. On July 28th, 1821 San Martin formally declared the independence of Peru and became the “Protector of Peru.” In 1822, he met with a fellow liberator by the name of Simon Bolivar at Guayquil. During this meeting Bolivar persuaded San Marting to withdraw from Peru and therefore San Martin never took power over his conquered grounds. Both Bolivar and San Martin were committed to South American independence and willing to continue this revolution despite the fact that they disagreed on the type of government that was to be formed. In September 1822, San Martin went into voluntary exile in Europe and removed his military command in Peru. In 1823, his wife died and he set of to Europe with his daughter in 1824. As time went on, he realized that he was not going to be able to help with the internal peace between the new nations, so he decided to go back to America at the end of 1828. He returned to Europe in 1829, where he lived as a retired man in France. He was not totally inactive during this time because he would give moral support to the defenders of the American sovereignty and on August 17, 1850 Jose’ de San Martin died in Boulogne-sur-Mer,

France.