After years of brutal campaigns to liberate Chile, General José de San Martín launches a successful attack on Peru’s coast and captures the port of Pisco. Next, he prepares to assault Lima…
If you need some background, check out our 1st episode of Peru’s War of Independence series.
After the naval attack that led to the capture of Pisco, San Martín and his generals planned their assault on Lima. Lord Cochrane was sent with his fleet to blockade the city’s port – Callao. Lord Cochrane was an Englishman, a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars who was kicked out of the Royal Navy for fraud allegations, and now commander of the revolutionary naval forces.
Here it is important to note that the Latin American wars of independence were heavily influenced by European politics.
European politics set the stage for revolutionary thinking while Napoleon’s invasion of Spain gave some independence forces the perfect opportunity to strike in the colonies. England, meanwhile, was eager to assist revolutionary forces, not only to take away colonies from their rival Spain but to invest in and gain economic control over those colonies for themselves (which they eventually did, to a large extent).
Spanish loyalists in Lima soon found themselves squeezed in between two revolutionary movements.
San Martín advanced from the south and Simón Bolivar from the north in 2 virtually independent revolutionary movements. At this time, political upheavals occurred within the Spanish loyalist forces as commander-in-chief José de la Serna overthrew the Viceroy and became leader himself.
After assuming leadership in Lima in January of 1821, Serna decided that the best defensive strategy against the two-pronged revolutionary advance would be a retreat into the interior of Peru.
San Martin’s road to Lima was clear.
Almost immediately upon entering the City of Kings, independence forces drew up a proclamation of independence and created the flag of Peru. Revolutionary leaders signed the proclamation on July 15 and presented it before a public audience on July 28, 1821.
This is the day we now celebrate as the official beginning of the modern state of Peru.
San Martin was named protector but was soon faced with a number of problems. He was resented by Peruvians for being a foreigner, being born in Argentina, and was considered a “heavy handed ruler.” He realized that he could not achieve victory over the remaining Spanish forces as well as maintain governance over the liberated territories.
In this historic moment, he reached out to the northern commander Simón Bolivar, known as “El Libertador” (The Liberator) for winning the independence of Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador.
The stage was set for the Conference of Guayaquil.
This conference is one of the great mysteries of the Latin American Wars of independence because there is no transcript, so we don’t know for certain exactly what happened. Here is the story according to the sources we have:
On July 26, 1822, nearly a year after the proclamation of Peru’s independence, José de San Martín traveled to Guayaquil in what is now modern-day Ecuador to meet for the first time with his revolutionary counterpart, Simón Bolivar. It is thought that San Martín sought an alliance and that in one moment, he even offered to serve under Bolivar. However, Bolivar rejected him.
Some speculate the Bolivar did not want to share the glory; others think that the 2 men had irreconcilable political differences.
There are still others who say that Bolivar’s bold and dominating personality overcame the more timid and reflective San Martín. Whatever the case, it is here that San Martín’s part in the story ends in an anti-climatic and somewhat pitiable fashion.
The general who liberated Chile and Argentina from the Spanish empire, who set the foundation for Peru’s independence, totally resigned his command of the revolutionary forces of the south. He would later go to Europe and spend the next 30 years going into deepening poverty before he died at the age of 72 in 1850.
In this decisive moment, Simon Bolivar took complete control of the revolutionary forces of South America.
San Martin laid the foundations of independence but the war has not yet been won. The fiercely loyal Spanish royalists continue to hold out in the interior regions of Peru.
Join us tomorrow as we follow Simón Bolivar into the heart of the Peruvian Andes, seeking to finish what San Martín began.
Next Episode: The Battles of Junin and Ayacucho
Photo: Flickr
