San Martín: Argentine Soldier, American Hero

Abstract

At first glance one might perceive this work by the distinguished historian John Lynch as a mere biography. However, this is not case. Once you begin to read you find a highly nuanced study that sheds serious new light on both the life and times of one of the greatest figures of the Latin American wars of independence, José de San Martín. Lynch brings to life the inner man and his psyche as it influenced his actions, which had a decided impact upon the course of Latin American history. Lynch purposely leads us to contemplate the question, without explicitly stating it, of what would have been the historical evolution of Latin American and South America if there had been no San Martín. In this regard this book will be pondered for a long time to come.For more than two decades before deciding to return to his native Argentina, San Martín was a loyal soldier and servant of the Spanish monarchy, despite his American birth. Yet beneath the surface, the future Liberator was always contemplating his American origins and also what he saw as the foundering of the Spanish Empire. He eventually came to the view, displayed by his actions and written words, that the yoke of Spanish rule within Latin America (and especially South America) must end if he and his native land were to reach their destiny. For San Martín the end of Spanish rule was not just the end of Spanish oppression but the fulfillment of a destiny, independence, so that all of the Latin American nations could seek out their destined economic and political futures. As Lynch demonstrates, the reforms (if we choose to use this word) that occurred during the latter stages of the colonial period unleashed a desire for freedom (particularly in the realm of trade and economics). San Martín fervently subscribed to what was becoming the liberal doctrine of classical economics — Latin Americans needed to be in control of their economic and financial destiny. San Martín made the excuse of needing to attend to his family’s financial affairs to gain the requisite authority to leave his military position and made his way back to his beloved homeland of Argentina, in the midst of the revolutionary turmoil of the era. During this period and thereafter he continuously clamored for British aide for the cause of Latin American independence, yet the interests of Great Britain did not coincide with the interests of Latin America, as Lynch so successfully demonstrates here and in his previous overviews of the independence movements in Spanish America.San Martín eventually gained the governorship of Cuyo, from whence he fashioned an army that began in January 1817 to move out to seize Chile, and which accomplished a great feat in military historical annals by traversing the mighty Andes. His forces marched into the capital of Santiago on February 12, 1817. However, royalist forces continued to contest the Liberator’s forces until their truly decisive defeat on the plains of Maipo on April 3, 1818. San Martín’s victory made him a true icon in the struggle for Latin American independence. Yet for him and others, the true jewel that needed to be conquered was that of the viceroyalty of Peru; a vanguard of royalist hegemony within South America. With aid from many in Argentina and elsewhere, San Martín put together an elaborate force destined to conquer Peru, although his English counterpart Thomas Cochrane questioned the strategies employed to take possession of Peru and end Spanish sway over the land. San Martín believed that the right path to acquiring Peru was by gaining the hearts of the populace, not a direct invasion and bloody conquest as advocated by Cochrane. The Liberator decided upon a course of negotiation with the Peruvian viceroy, yet when no real compromise could be found, he sought a solution on the field of battle in early August 1821. San Martín’s forces entered Lima on July 28, whereupon he declared Peruvian independence from Spain.Much of Peru remained in royalist hands until Simón Bolívar and Antonio José de Sucre finally drove out the final vestiges of Spanish rule by January 1826. Lynch clearly shows, despite his detractors, that without San Martín, South American independence (especially in Peru) would have been a much more formidable task and perhaps impossible. It was indeed San Martín’s fortitude that allowed for the maturation of the Latin American wars of independence. This work should be on the shelf of any historian. It tells the tale of one of the enduring icons in Latin American and, by extension, world history.