The most arresting triumph in Simón Bolívar ’s farseeing conflict for Latin American independency came in 1819 , when the piece live as " El Libertador " ( " The Liberator " ) led a riffraff squadron over the unpassable Andes to engage an bald-faced surprise attack on the superior Spanish military force .
As the journalist and author Marie Aranawritesin her biography , " Bolívar : American Liberator , " the impulsive and ingenious Bolívar keep his plan mysterious from his men , who in all probability would have deserted rather than slog through mi of flooded swampland and over 13,000 - ft ( 3.9 - klick ) peaks in the middle of the South American wintertime .
But they bide with him , buoy by the warmth and personal magnetism of Bolívar ’s outsized personality , even asmalariaand yellow febricity turn one’s stomach hundreds in the soppy lowlands , and the glacial Andean wind ripped through their old-hat clothing and killed closely every buck and mule in the party .
Bolívar suffered right alongside his humankind but seemed much stronger than his lank 130 - dog pound ( 58 - kilo ) frame . When what remain of his man descended half - nude and starving on the Colombian side of the Andes , they met dead no Spanish resistance , because no sane Spanish superior general would ever have think such a snitch attack was potential .
" That was as audacious a military maneuver as Hannibal crossing the Alps , " says Richard Slatta , emeritus professor of chronicle at North Carolina State University and co - author of " Simón Bolívar ’s Quest for Glory . "
Within days , Bolívar had rallied reinforcements from theColombiancountryside and given his loyal troops time to rest and refuel for the coming fighting . On July 25 , Bolívar and his patriot charge uphill against the well - armed and bright uniformed Spanish at the Battle of Pantano de Vargas . The rebels ' secret arm were thellaneros , roughneck South American drover akin to American cowboy , who fell on the Spanish with their matchet and fishgig .
Next came the critical Battle of Boyocá , easily deliver the goods by Bolívar and his invigorated combat force . The Spanish general , spooked by the patriot ' guerrilla manoeuvre and promise of a " war to the last , " began to turn a loss their boldness and their branding iron grasp on the Latin American colonies . It would all be lost in a subject of age .
While Bolívar did n’t do alone , he was understandably the catalyst and " cult of personality " behind the 19th - century sack motion that won independence for six Latin American state : Venezuela , Colombia , Ecuador , Panama , Peru and Bolivia , a country named for the Liberator himself .
" In the age of revolution , Bolívar is the most critical form in the hemispheric story , " enjoin Lester Langley , emeritus professor of story at the University of Georgia and generator of " Simón Bolívar : Venezuelan Rebel , American Revolutionary . "
The “George Washington of South America”?
Marquis de Lafayette , the French military ship’s officer who came to America ’s deliverance in the Revolutionary War , admired Bolívar and dubbed him the " George Washingtonof South America . " Aranasaid in an interview at History News Networkthat Washington even sent Bolívar a ribbon containing a ringlet of the American Chief Executive ’s tomentum , which Bolívar treasured .
But Lafayette ’s cognomen is only half - meet , says Slatta . Yes , both Bolívar and Washington came from aristocratical family unit , and yes , they were both grand military leaders make love as the " fathers " of their state . But that ’s where the similarities cease .
" When it gets down to political values , I find them very different the great unwashed , " sound out Slatta . " Washington was cautious , both militarily and politically , while Bolívar was much more whimsical and mercurial . They were both essentially offered a kingship , and while Washington turned it down , Bolívar settled for being a dictator . "
Langley agrees , contend that Bolívar and Washington were military equalize in overcoming impossible betting odds against the world ’s secure armies , but otherwise they could n’t be more unlike , in personality and as politico .
" Where Bolívar fail , unlike Washington , was in his post - military career , " read Langley .
From Wealthy Widower to Revolutionary
Bolívar wasborn in Venezuelain 1783 to a flush mining family who were shore fellow member of thecriollo(pureblood Spanish ) elite group . orphan before he was 10 years old , a rowdy young Bolívar was passed between extended household extremity before being sent to Spain at 16 to canvas under tutor .
In Madrid , Bolívar fell in love and married Maria Teresa , the daughter of a Spanish Lord , but just a year after give their homestead back in Venezuela , his young Brigid expire of yellow fever . A widowman at 19 , Bolivar never marry again , though he had many affairs . Some historiansbelieve that if Maria Teresa had lived , Bolívar would have settle for the comfortable living of a criollo landholder . Instead , he returned to Europe , heartbroken and searching for a purpose , which he found in Paris while devouring Enlightenment thinkers like Locke , Rousseau and Voltaire .
The year was 1804 , and both the United States and France had already won their independence and instal new constituent anatomy of government . Bolívar came to believe that the Spanish - ruled colony in South America deserved the same exemption of ego - principle and that he was the world to light the fire of revolution .
Returning to Venezuela , Bolívar dove into the complex maze of South American interests vying for independency from Spain . Bolívar and his compatriots follow in shortly ousting the Spanish doubly from Venezuela , establishing the short - lived First and Second Republics of Venezuela .
But when those first attempts at self - governance conk out , Bolívar fled to Jamaica , where he penned his elegiac " Carta de Jamaica " ( " Letter from Jamaica " ) , a plea for British assist in which he laid out his vision of a united Latin America from Mexico to Chile .
" The bond that united us to Spain have been severed,“wrote Bolívar , undeterred by the losses he had hurt . " A people that love exemption will in the end be free . We are a microcosm of the human race . We are a world apart , restrain within two ocean , young in artwork and sciences , but sure-enough as a human society . We are neither Indians nor Europeans , yet we are a part of each . "
The Liberator Abolishes Slavery
When the British denied support for Bolívar , he turned to Haiti , which had of late pull ahead its independency from France in 1804 . The Haitian chairman Alexandre Pétion offered Bolívar heap of weapons and money in exchange for a hope : Bolívar must abolish the practice session of slaveholding in every Spanish colony that he liberated .
Arana sees this bit as a turning degree . She explained to History News internet that the Latin American wars of independency began like the Revolutionary War in North America , both started by rich whites who were threadbare of pay taxis to a foreign colonizer .
" But they could n’t get the rotation off the ground , " Arana said in the interview . " Bolívar translate that so deeply that … he had to manumit the slaves and get all the races on his side . As far as he was concerned , the foe was Spain and every coloring material of man needed to connect against that enemy force play . "
Gran Colombia and the Grand Collapse
Like Washington , Bolívar learned from his early defeats and the third attempt at revolution was the charm . That ’s when he executed his unforgettable entrance into Colombia over the Andes and began toppling the Spanish cheat piece in northern South America one by one .
Bolívar was made president of Gran Colombia , a newly organise state that include most of advanced - twenty-four hours Venezuela , Colombia , Ecuador and Panama . His vision of a unified Latin America was coming together .
In the following years , he used his growing political power to wrest control condition of Peru and establish the unexampled nation of Bolivia . argue that the people were n’t " ready " for a unfeignedly republican administration , Bolívar set up himself up as the de facto dictator of the land he aid to free .
" He must have been wizardly as all get - out , " say Slatta . " There are many records of him having audience with Spanish enemies and political challenger , and they add up out cordially supportive of him . His charisma carried him a long way . "
In 1826 , Bolívar convened the historical Congress of Panama , which add together representative from Mexico , Central America and his own Gran Colombia to sign a pact of mutual defense against Spain and its ally .
But back home , thing quickly began to fall apart . Political enemy and former military compatriot plotted to overthrow Bolívar . The res publica he wanted to tie together in a strong Dixie did n’t see themselves as buddy but seethed with internal feud and civil wars .
" Over the long terminal figure , Bolívar lose the conflict for Latin American unity , " says Slatta , " and Gran Colombia broke into half a dozen commonwealth . "
Bolívar’s Mixed Legacy
Unlike Washington , Bolívar died a failure . In 1830 , deprive of his business office and military commission , Bolívar was about to go into ego - visit exile when he succumbed to T.B. . His political enemy , then in charge of Venezuela , illegalize even the mention of his name .
And that ’s the way it remained until the 1870s , says Slatta , when a new generation of Venezuelan elites went looking for political symbols that would rally assistant to their cause . Slatta credit the previous 19th - century Venezuelan President Antonio Guzmán Blanco with recreate the " furor of Bolívar . "
Guzmán Blanco make the modern Venezuelan up-to-dateness and named it the bolívar . He also build the National Pantheon of Venezuela and had Bolívar ’s stiff reinterred in its hall of heroes .
Langley says that Bolívar doubtlessly deserve his championship as " The Liberator . "
" If you take Bolívar out of the pic completely , explain how the warfare for independency in Spanish America turned out the mode they did , " say Langley . " It ’s the same as if you tried to take Washington out of the picture . "
On the other hand , Bolívar ’s preference for autocratic rule has also inspired generations of Romance American " strongmen " politician , in good order down to one of Bolívar ’s superlative admirers , the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez .
" The ' cult of Bolívar ' has always been used as an apology for one-man rule , " tell Langley .
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