San Martín, José de

San Martín, José de (hōsā` thā sän märtēn`), 1778–1850, South American revolutionist, b. Yapeyú, in present-day Argentina. After service with the Spanish army in Europe, he returned (1812) to join the revolution against Spain in his native country. He superseded Manuel Belgrano in command of the army against royalist forces in Upper Peru and decided, after some experience, that the attack on the royalist stronghold could best be made through Chile. After training his troops at Mendoza, San Martín accomplished the difficult feat of leading an army across the Andes through Los Patos and Uspallata passes. Ably seconded by Bernardo O'Higgins, he defeated (1817) the Spanish at Chacabuco. San Martín was offered the governorship of Chile, which he refused. After a setback at Cancha Rayada, the patriots defeated (1818) the royalists at Maipú and completed the liberation of Chile. San Martín, with the aid of Thomas Cochrane (earl of Dundonald), prepared to conquer Peru. Lima was taken (1821), and San Martín became protector of Peru. When Simón Bolívar advanced with the intention of driving out the Spanish, San Martín interviewed (July, 1822) him at Guayaquil and then resigned, leaving the conquest of Peru to Bolívar. San Martín retired from public life and in 1824 went to Europe, where he spent his remaining years in exile and comparative poverty.

Bibliography

See B. Mitre, The Emancipation of South America (tr. 1893, repr. 1969); J. C. Metford, San Martín the Liberator (1950, repr. 1971).

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San Martín, José de

(born Feb. 25, 1778, Yapeyú, Viceroyalty of Río de la Plata—died Aug. 17, 1850, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Fr.) National hero of Argentina who helped lead the revolutions against Spanish rule in Argentina (1812), Chile (1818), and Peru (1821). Son of a professional soldier and colonial administrator, he was educated in Spain. Initially he fought loyally for Spain against the Moors (1791), the British (1798), and the Portuguese (1801), but in 1812 he returned to the New World to help the revolutionaries. His greatest campaign was the liberation of Lima, without which the independence of the Argentine provinces could not have been secured. His bold strategy was to lead an army over the Andes, a daunting undertaking. In 1817 he liberated Chile, which he turned over to Bernardo O'Higgins, and proceeded to Peru by ship, where he blockaded the chief port until the royalists withdrew. He then entered Lima and declared the independence of Peru, though he lacked adequate forces to subdue the royalists in the interior. The following year he met with Simón Bolívar; what passed between them is unknown, but San Martín soon afterward went into exile in France, leaving Bolívar to complete the liberation of Peru.

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San Martín, José de 

Born Feb. 25, 1778, in Yapeyú, Corrientes Province; died Aug. 17, 1850, in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France. A leader of the War of Independence of the Spanish-American Colonies of 1810–26. National hero of Argentina. General.

The son of a captain in the Spanish army, San Martin was educated in a military school in Madrid. From 1808 to 1812 he fought against France in the Spanish war of national liberation. In 1812 he returned to his native land. In 1814 he was appointed commander of the Army of the North, the army of the Argentine patriots fighting against the Spanish colonial authorities. In 1816, after the United Provinces of La Plata (from 1826, known as Argentina) were proclaimed independent, he became commander in chief of the Army of the Andes and led it over the difficult crossing of the Andes into Chile. In the Battle of Cha-cabuco in February 1817 and in the Battle of Maipù in April 1818, he defeated the Spanish troops, thereby winning independence for Chile. In 1820 and 1821 he marched into Peru, drove out the Spanish, and proclaimed Peru’s independence. As protector, he headed the first government of Peru, putting through a number of reforms that strengthened the country’s economic and military positions. After a meeting in Guayaquil in July 1822 with Simón Bolívar, in which Bolívar rejected San Martin’s proposal for joint action by their two armies, San Martin retired from military and political life and left for France.

REFERENCES

Ocherki istorii Argentiny. Moscow, 1961. Pages 99–114.
Mitre, B. Historia de San Martín. Buenos Aires, 1950.
Florit, E. San Martín y la causa de América. Buenos Aires, 1967.