Mughals Merchants Marauders & Henry Every's Pirate Heist of the Century
Slaver Kings, Amazon Queens and the Brazilian Spartacus: The African Kingdom of Kongo
Margaret Thatcher: The Life and Times of the Woman Who Wouldn't Be Turned
Voltaire: The Rascal Philosopher
Amundsen: Quiet Conqueror of the World's Polar Regions
Codfish Heroes: Vikings, Basques and the Fishermen Who Changed the World
The Irish Problem, Fenian Rebels and the Catalpa Rescue
Joan of Arc: The Girl who Crowned a King and Saved a Nation
The Incredible Story of the Magellan-Elcano Circumnavigation 1519-1522
Thomas Paine: The Forgotten Father of Western Democracy
Brutus: Liberator of Rome or Traitor to Caesar?
Bartolomeo de las Casas: the Conscience of Renaissance Europe
Pemulwuy: The Aboriginal Warrior Who Almost Broke the British
James Cook: The Incredible True Story of the World's Greatest Navigator and Cartographer
Shakespeare: The Genius We Never Knew
Admiral Robert FitzRoy: The Troubled Genius who made Charles Darwin
An Ordinary Bloke: Old School Toughness and Character of Albert Facey
Prince Philip: Unlikely Stoic Role Model in a time of Woke
Napoleon Bonaparte: Despot or Enlightenment Hero?
Perfect Medieval Storm: Jan Hus- the reformer who inspired Martin Luther
Jose de San Martin: the Quiet Liberator (Part 2)
March 26, 2024
The 12 Labours of Hercules
Knights of St John and the Great Siege of Malta 1565
Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell
Jose de San Martin: the Quiet Liberator (Part 2)
La guerra de la independencia: Arriving in Buenos Aires, capital of the Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata; San Martin and his companions were faced with a colonial government in disarray. Not quite revolutionary, and not quite loyalist; attempting to form a new United Provinces; factional infighting so preoccupied them that they proved ineffective not only in subjugating outlying provinces, but barely securing their external borders. To be sure, there was much pride in the repulsion of two British invasions a couple of years earlier; which, it could be said was the primary trigger for self-determination; but beyond that, the local government struggled to define its purpose or its capacity to lead the rest of the colony.
Outlying provinces were suspicious of the motives of Buenos Aires, and pursued a federalist agenda, which carried its own risks, as border security was flimsy, and led by heroic leaders who for the most part, were nevertheless not professional soldiers.
San Martin was ideally suited to reorganise the military, but suspicions as to his motives ran deep, so early on he was assigned to mobilise a small cavalry regiment and police the river towns along the Parana River. Several successful engagements quickly proved his loyalty and skill and he was catapulted into senior leadership roles and quickly began re-organising the army.
His primary goal was to secure external borders, particularly against the northern Viceroyalty of Peru, which posed a huge threat of attack from the Highlands. Seeing no way to win in the mountainous terrain, he instead formed a new army, and crossed the Andean Alps into Chile, in a Herculean feat not seen since Hannibal's crossing of the Italian Alps into Rome, taking the enemy by surprise and liberating Santiago, and eventually sweeping up the coast and taking Peru, in battles that had so few casualties, that commentators were shocked at his ability to achieve victory.
From here he met up with the swashbuckling Bolivar, who, not willing to share the glory of Liberating the rest of the continent, insisted on going it alone rather than join forces with his southern ally. Low on funds, and lacking the support of Buenos Aires, who was embroiled in a civil war, San Martin left the war to the politicians and retired. Still unsatisfied, the ruling elites feared his political clout, so he voluntarily exiled himself to Europe, watching from afar, as his homeland continued to be plagued by both civil war as well as Portuguese incursion, entirely of their own making.
At the time, he was seen as a controversial figure by the ruling elite, refusing to raise a sword against his own countrymen in a civil war that to him, seemed like an unnecessary distraction from the wider scope of liberation from Colonial oppression. It took many decades for successive governments to begrudgingly recognise what the ordinary folk knew all along- that he was the enabler not only of liberation of the entire southern half of the continent, but also of the further ability of Simon Bolivar to finish what San Martin himself had started. It is highly probable that without San Martin's actions, Bolivar would have failed to take Peru, or indeed proceed any further south than Guayaquil in modern Ecuador, as he desperately needed San Martin's reinforcements even in that outlying campaign.
Forgotten for decades, San Martin now lies in the cathedral of Buenos Aires, rightly venerated by ordinary Argentines, Chileans and Peruvians alike, as "el libertador", the Liberator.
#josedesanmartin, #sanmartin, #libertador, #argentina
All footage used in this montage is for educational purposes. It remains the property of its respective creators, and is gratefully acknowledged in the end credits of the full length video. Copyright Disclaimer- under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favour of fair use. Please contact us on info@heroesandlegends.com.au if you have any concerns about its use.
For an audio-narration only version of this video, Please visit the Heroes and Legends Documentary Channel Podcast, through Spotify and other leading broadcasters.
If you enjoy my content, leave your suggestions and comments below, and please consider making a donation via PayPal or sign up as a Patreon supporter to help me continue making these unfunded educational videos:
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=4D958V58PAVDU
https://www.patreon.com/heroesandlegends
https://buymeacoffee.com/infoQh
For resources, links to my other videos, merchandise, the latest social media posts and podcast links, please visit my Heroes and Legends Website: www.heroesandlegends.com.au
-
58:02
The Memory Hole
1 month agoYou Wouldn't Read About This in the Establishment Press: Revolutionary Movements
7842 -
4:25
Whothrewthecurve
2 months agoGuns, Glory, and the Occasional Misfire: A Sardonic Salute to the Second Amendment
141 -
5:48
Bee History
4 months agoThe Miracle of Sacavém: The Mythical Battle that Sealed Portugal's Independence
26 -
1:17:37
CAPT JAKE's Sim Racing, and Gaming
1 month agoEPISODE 42 - Ultimate General - Civil War (Colonel) - Union - Gaines Mill - 27 June 1862 - Part 2
46 -
5:37
Crime Daily Dose
3 months agoPure Chaos: Most DANGEROUS Drug Cartels
364 -
2:02
natureforrileks
2 months agoDiscover Mexico San Jose Part-1
102 -
2:17
natureforrileks
2 months agoDiscover Mexico San Jose Part-2
73 -
1:45
natureforrileks
2 months agoDiscover Mexico San Jose Part-3
57 -
58:36
The Memory Hole
26 days agoRevolution or Death: How the U.S. Actively Supports Military Dictatorships
5391 -
29:22
World News and Events
4 months agoRep. Andy Biggs with Douglas MacGregor: American Foreign Policy
3302