WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.299 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we are setting 00:00:03.299 --> 00:00:08.419 our sights on a figure who occupies a really 00:00:08.419 --> 00:00:13.000 strange space in the global consciousness. Yeah, 00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:15.189 he's sort of hiding in plain sight. Exactly. 00:00:15.330 --> 00:00:17.850 You know, you see his face on currency. His name 00:00:17.850 --> 00:00:20.390 is on street signs from Paris to Buenos Aires. 00:00:20.890 --> 00:00:23.609 And there are these huge statues of him on horseback 00:00:23.609 --> 00:00:26.550 in Central Park, in Belgrave Square in London, 00:00:26.629 --> 00:00:29.469 and, well, pretty much every single town square 00:00:29.469 --> 00:00:31.730 in the southern cone of South America. But he's 00:00:31.730 --> 00:00:34.009 not a Napoleon. He's not a Washington, at least 00:00:34.009 --> 00:00:36.500 not in the same global... the pot culture sense. 00:00:36.740 --> 00:00:38.700 Right. Unless you grew up in Argentina or Chile, 00:00:38.820 --> 00:00:40.719 you might walk right past him without realizing 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:43.579 that this specific guy on the horse orchestrated 00:00:43.579 --> 00:00:45.679 one of the most improbable military campaigns 00:00:45.679 --> 00:00:47.600 in human history. It is a story that sounds like 00:00:47.600 --> 00:00:49.280 fiction, honestly. We're talking about Jose de 00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:51.640 San Martin and the stack of sources we have today. 00:00:52.039 --> 00:00:54.439 Biographical records, military archives, political 00:00:54.439 --> 00:00:56.740 correspondence. They all paint this picture of 00:00:56.740 --> 00:00:59.340 a man who just defies the standard revolutionary 00:00:59.340 --> 00:01:02.140 archetype. He's not a chaotic firebrand. Not 00:01:02.140 --> 00:01:04.500 at all. He's not a demagogue. He's a chess player, 00:01:04.659 --> 00:01:08.040 a meticulous, patient strategist. And he has 00:01:08.040 --> 00:01:11.140 this massive title, the liberator of Argentina, 00:01:11.540 --> 00:01:15.540 Chile and Peru. I mean, that is a lot of geography 00:01:15.540 --> 00:01:19.640 for one man. It is huge. But the how is what 00:01:19.640 --> 00:01:21.700 we're here to unpack, because to earn that title, 00:01:21.859 --> 00:01:24.819 San Martin had to effectively dismantle the Spanish 00:01:24.819 --> 00:01:27.239 empire in South America by doing the one thing 00:01:27.239 --> 00:01:29.200 they thought was, you know, physically impossible. 00:01:29.340 --> 00:01:32.060 He took a professional army. Complete with heavy 00:01:32.060 --> 00:01:34.260 artillery, mind you. And marched them over the 00:01:34.260 --> 00:01:36.620 Andes Mountains. Which, just for context, are 00:01:36.620 --> 00:01:39.359 peaks that rival the Himalayas in terms of difficulty. 00:01:39.359 --> 00:01:41.480 We're not talking about rolling hills here. He 00:01:41.480 --> 00:01:43.620 crossed them to strike the empire from behind. 00:01:43.780 --> 00:01:46.299 It's the classic Hannibal crossing the Alps comparison. 00:01:46.719 --> 00:01:49.620 But many historians argue San Martin's feat was 00:01:49.620 --> 00:01:52.569 actually logistically harder. Harder. Why? Because 00:01:52.569 --> 00:01:55.049 of the specific altitude and crucially, the total 00:01:55.049 --> 00:01:57.469 lack of resources he had to work with. He had 00:01:57.469 --> 00:01:59.569 to build his entire supply chain from scratch. 00:01:59.670 --> 00:02:02.290 And then the kicker. This is the part that always 00:02:02.290 --> 00:02:05.129 gets me. After liberating half a continent at 00:02:05.129 --> 00:02:07.829 the absolute height of his power, he just walks 00:02:07.829 --> 00:02:10.490 away. He resigns. Leaves the continent and dies 00:02:10.490 --> 00:02:13.050 in obscurity in France. Which is the ultimate 00:02:13.050 --> 00:02:15.389 twist. It's the Cincinnatus moment. You know, 00:02:15.409 --> 00:02:17.370 the Roman general who saved the Republic and 00:02:17.370 --> 00:02:19.530 went back to his farm. Right. So our mission 00:02:19.530 --> 00:02:23.520 today. is to understand that arc. How does a 00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:27.159 career Spanish officer become the empire's worst 00:02:27.159 --> 00:02:30.560 nightmare? How do you move an army over 4 ,000 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:33.099 -meter peaks? And why, when you have the world 00:02:33.099 --> 00:02:35.819 at your feet, do you just walk away? It's a huge 00:02:35.819 --> 00:02:38.330 story. Let's jump into the sources. We have to 00:02:38.330 --> 00:02:40.289 start with the origin story because that Hispanic 00:02:40.289 --> 00:02:43.409 officer part is genuinely confusing. He's born 00:02:43.409 --> 00:02:45.090 in the Americas, right? Right. He is born around 00:02:45.090 --> 00:02:48.490 1778 in a place called Yapayú. Today, that's 00:02:48.490 --> 00:02:50.550 in the Corrientes province of Argentina, right 00:02:50.550 --> 00:02:53.229 on the border with Brazil. Okay. But back then, 00:02:53.250 --> 00:02:55.569 it wasn't a city. It was a former Jesuit mission 00:02:55.569 --> 00:02:58.729 area. It is the frontier. His father was a Spanish 00:02:58.729 --> 00:03:00.750 official, a lieutenant governor there. So he's 00:03:00.750 --> 00:03:03.250 a Criollo born in the Americas to Spanish parents. 00:03:03.509 --> 00:03:06.759 Exactly. But here is the first twist. San Martin 00:03:06.759 --> 00:03:09.379 doesn't stay there. The family moves back to 00:03:09.379 --> 00:03:11.900 Spain when he is just seven years old. Seven. 00:03:12.060 --> 00:03:14.719 So his formative years, his education, his accent, 00:03:14.840 --> 00:03:18.020 it's all European. Completely. They settle in 00:03:18.020 --> 00:03:20.919 Malaga. And this is crucial for understanding 00:03:20.919 --> 00:03:24.300 his later competence. He becomes a soldier at 00:03:24.300 --> 00:03:27.719 age 11. 11. 11 years old. He joins the regiment 00:03:27.719 --> 00:03:31.020 of Murcia. This isn't a ceremonial role. He's 00:03:31.020 --> 00:03:33.740 a cadet in a world that is about to catch fire. 00:03:33.879 --> 00:03:35.500 I mean, most kids that age are worried about 00:03:35.500 --> 00:03:37.259 math homework. He's learning to drill with a 00:03:37.259 --> 00:03:39.340 musket. It's a completely different world. And 00:03:39.340 --> 00:03:41.900 he sees combat almost immediately. He fights 00:03:41.900 --> 00:03:44.139 in North Africa, Milia, Iran fighting against 00:03:44.139 --> 00:03:46.340 the Moors. He fights against the British for 00:03:46.340 --> 00:03:48.960 a time when Spain is allied with France. But 00:03:48.960 --> 00:03:50.879 the crucible, the thing that really makes him 00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:53.719 San Martin, is the Peninsular War. Okay, so this 00:03:53.719 --> 00:03:56.120 is the era where Napoleon is just... Taking over 00:03:56.120 --> 00:03:59.280 everything. Precisely. In 1808, Napoleon turns 00:03:59.280 --> 00:04:02.039 on his Spanish allies and invades Spain. The 00:04:02.039 --> 00:04:05.099 Spanish people rise up in this brutal guerrilla 00:04:05.099 --> 00:04:07.840 war and San Martin is right in the thick of it. 00:04:07.960 --> 00:04:10.840 He fights at the Battle of Beilin in 1808. I 00:04:10.840 --> 00:04:13.319 see Beilin highlighted in the notes here as a 00:04:13.319 --> 00:04:16.079 major turning point. Why was that battle so significant? 00:04:16.420 --> 00:04:18.879 It was huge. It was the first time the Napoleonic 00:04:18.879 --> 00:04:21.680 Grand Army was defeated in open field combat. 00:04:22.079 --> 00:04:26.060 Up until then, Napoleon seemed well. Invincible. 00:04:26.199 --> 00:04:28.720 Right, the myth of invincibility. Balin shattered 00:04:28.720 --> 00:04:31.740 that myth. And San Martin was a hero there, a 00:04:31.740 --> 00:04:34.500 genuine hero. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel 00:04:34.500 --> 00:04:36.500 on the battlefield and awarded a gold medal. 00:04:36.660 --> 00:04:39.800 He is a rising star in the Spanish military establishment. 00:04:40.259 --> 00:04:43.339 Okay, so paint the picture for me. He is 30 -something 00:04:43.339 --> 00:04:46.399 years old. He has spent 20 years in the Spanish 00:04:46.399 --> 00:04:49.970 military. He has bled for Spain. He has fought 00:04:49.970 --> 00:04:52.129 for the king. He's a decorated career officer. 00:04:52.389 --> 00:04:55.649 And then in 1812, he abruptly resigns, boards 00:04:55.649 --> 00:04:58.089 a ship called the George Canning, and sails to 00:04:58.089 --> 00:05:00.209 Buenos Aires to fight against the flag he just 00:05:00.209 --> 00:05:02.370 spent two decades defending. It is the central 00:05:02.370 --> 00:05:04.829 paradox of his life. Why? That's the big question. 00:05:04.910 --> 00:05:07.829 Why the switch? On paper, that looks like treason. 00:05:07.970 --> 00:05:10.149 It does. And historians have debated this for 00:05:10.149 --> 00:05:12.689 two centuries. There are a few theories. The 00:05:12.689 --> 00:05:15.970 first one is simply nostalgia, the call of his 00:05:15.970 --> 00:05:18.069 native land. He was born there, after all. That 00:05:18.069 --> 00:05:20.990 feels a bit... Romantic, doesn't it? For a guy 00:05:20.990 --> 00:05:24.250 who left at seven? I miss the Métis. Doesn't 00:05:24.250 --> 00:05:26.149 seem like enough to upend your entire life and 00:05:26.149 --> 00:05:29.670 career. Agreed. It feels a bit thin for a hardened 00:05:29.670 --> 00:05:33.029 military strategist. So Theory 2 is more cynical. 00:05:33.660 --> 00:05:36.240 British influence. OK. We know he stopped in 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:38.420 London on his way back. He met with Francisco 00:05:38.420 --> 00:05:40.980 de Miranda and other independent supporters there. 00:05:41.339 --> 00:05:44.100 Britain had a lot to gain from South American 00:05:44.100 --> 00:05:46.160 independence because it opened up trade routes 00:05:46.160 --> 00:05:48.759 that Spain had kept closed for centuries. So 00:05:48.759 --> 00:05:51.459 the argument is he was an agent or at least nudged 00:05:51.459 --> 00:05:53.420 in that direction by the British. Right. Some 00:05:53.420 --> 00:05:56.420 argue San Martin was, if not an agent, at least 00:05:56.420 --> 00:05:59.329 encouraged by British interests. But looking 00:05:59.329 --> 00:06:01.810 at your notes, you seem to favor the third theory. 00:06:01.910 --> 00:06:05.389 I do. It's the conflict of ideas, or maybe better 00:06:05.389 --> 00:06:08.269 put, the ideological consistency theory. This 00:06:08.269 --> 00:06:10.250 one is the most compelling to me. Okay, unpack 00:06:10.250 --> 00:06:12.910 that for me. You have to remember the war in 00:06:12.910 --> 00:06:15.129 Spain against Napoleon wasn't just about territory. 00:06:15.490 --> 00:06:18.730 It was about ideas. San Martin was fighting for 00:06:18.730 --> 00:06:21.189 national sovereignty and against tyranny. He 00:06:21.189 --> 00:06:24.050 was exposed to the Enlightenment ideas of constitutional 00:06:24.050 --> 00:06:27.389 government, liberty, citizenship. He was part 00:06:27.389 --> 00:06:29.709 of these secret societies, these Masonic style 00:06:29.709 --> 00:06:32.029 lodges where they discussed these things. So 00:06:32.029 --> 00:06:34.810 he was a liberal in the classic 19th century 00:06:34.810 --> 00:06:37.620 sense. Precisely. But then. When the Spanish 00:06:37.620 --> 00:06:40.740 monarchy was restored, King Ferdinand VII basically 00:06:40.740 --> 00:06:43.300 tore up the liberal constitution they'd written 00:06:43.300 --> 00:06:46.379 and reinstated absolute rule. He crushed those 00:06:46.379 --> 00:06:48.819 values. So the very thing San Martin fought for 00:06:48.819 --> 00:06:51.800 in Spain was betrayed by the Spanish king himself. 00:06:52.160 --> 00:06:54.879 Exactly. So San Martin looks at Spain and sees 00:06:54.879 --> 00:06:57.279 a lost cause. Then he looks at South America, 00:06:57.399 --> 00:06:59.240 which is just starting to fight for independence, 00:06:59.620 --> 00:07:02.139 and he sees the continuation of the same fight. 00:07:02.279 --> 00:07:04.860 That is a fascinating way to frame it. He didn't 00:07:04.860 --> 00:07:07.730 switch sides ideologically. He switched battlefields 00:07:07.730 --> 00:07:09.649 to keep fighting for the same principles. He 00:07:09.649 --> 00:07:12.110 was fighting against absolutism, whether the 00:07:12.110 --> 00:07:15.509 tyrants spoke French or Spanish. Yes. He arrives 00:07:15.509 --> 00:07:19.110 in Buenos Aires in 1812, not as a traitor to 00:07:19.110 --> 00:07:21.790 his values, but as a man looking for a place 00:07:21.790 --> 00:07:24.230 to plant them. The location changed, but the 00:07:24.230 --> 00:07:27.110 enemy tyranny remained the same. So he arrives 00:07:27.110 --> 00:07:29.670 in Buenos Aires in 1812. Is he welcomed with 00:07:29.670 --> 00:07:33.089 open arms? Here comes the hero from Berlin. Not 00:07:33.089 --> 00:07:35.310 exactly. It's awkward. He has a thick Spanish 00:07:35.310 --> 00:07:40.189 accent. He looks and sounds like the enemy. The 00:07:40.189 --> 00:07:42.769 local government, the triumvirate, is a mess 00:07:42.769 --> 00:07:44.949 of competing factions. They don't trust him. 00:07:45.050 --> 00:07:47.470 But his resume must have stood out. It did. They 00:07:47.470 --> 00:07:49.329 were also desperate because their armies kept 00:07:49.329 --> 00:07:51.629 losing against the disciplined royalists. So 00:07:51.629 --> 00:07:53.649 they look at his resume, Battle of Balin, Lieutenant 00:07:53.649 --> 00:07:56.129 Colonel, and say, OK, prove it. And he notices 00:07:56.129 --> 00:07:58.420 a problem right away, doesn't he? A military 00:07:58.420 --> 00:08:01.079 problem. He does. He realizes Buenos Aires has 00:08:01.079 --> 00:08:04.060 plenty of enthusiasm and brave militiamen, but 00:08:04.060 --> 00:08:06.420 no professional cavalry. In European warfare, 00:08:06.639 --> 00:08:08.560 cavalry is the hammer. You need discipline. You 00:08:08.560 --> 00:08:10.920 need shock troops. So he says, let me fix this. 00:08:11.100 --> 00:08:14.339 He asks to form a new unit, the Regiment of Mounted 00:08:14.339 --> 00:08:17.959 Grenadiers. The famous grenadiers. Yes. And he 00:08:17.959 --> 00:08:20.639 builds this unit with obsessive detail. He selects 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:23.199 the officers personally. He trains them in modern 00:08:23.199 --> 00:08:25.779 European tactics. He eats in the mess hall with 00:08:25.779 --> 00:08:28.360 them. He creates a strict code of honor. He's 00:08:28.360 --> 00:08:30.779 building a professional war machine in a land 00:08:30.779 --> 00:08:33.200 of amateur militias. And he gets to test them 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:35.059 pretty quickly at the Battle of San Lorenzo. 00:08:35.659 --> 00:08:38.799 The notes describe this as cinematic. And they 00:08:38.799 --> 00:08:40.909 aren't kidding. It really is straight out of 00:08:40.909 --> 00:08:44.509 a movie. This is February 1813. The Spanish royalists 00:08:44.509 --> 00:08:46.529 have a stronghold in Montevideo, and they keep 00:08:46.529 --> 00:08:49.070 sending ships up the Parana River to pillage 00:08:49.070 --> 00:08:52.129 villages for supplies. San Martin takes his new 00:08:52.129 --> 00:08:54.149 regiment and tracks them from the shore, moving 00:08:54.149 --> 00:08:56.919 only at night to stay hidden. I love this image. 00:08:57.039 --> 00:08:59.460 The colonel on the convent rooftop watching the 00:08:59.460 --> 00:09:02.559 river at night with a spyglass. Exactly. He hides 00:09:02.559 --> 00:09:04.840 his men inside the San Carlos convent in Santa 00:09:04.840 --> 00:09:09.340 Fe. He waits. At dawn, about 250 royalists disembark. 00:09:09.340 --> 00:09:11.340 They think it's just another easy raid. They 00:09:11.340 --> 00:09:13.559 have no idea what's waiting for them. None. And 00:09:13.559 --> 00:09:16.559 San Martin launches a pincer movement. Two columns 00:09:16.559 --> 00:09:18.860 of cavalry sweeping in from different sides to 00:09:18.860 --> 00:09:21.399 trap the Spanish against the river. A perfect 00:09:21.399 --> 00:09:23.980 ambush. But it goes wrong for him personally, 00:09:24.159 --> 00:09:26.759 right? It almost ends right there. Almost catastrophically 00:09:26.759 --> 00:09:28.980 wrong. San Martin leads the charge himself, which 00:09:28.980 --> 00:09:31.259 is already rispy. His horse is shot out from 00:09:31.259 --> 00:09:33.740 under him. The horse falls on top of him, pinning 00:09:33.740 --> 00:09:37.340 his leg. He is trapped, helpless, in the middle 00:09:37.340 --> 00:09:40.740 of a melee. Talk about a sitting duck. A royalist 00:09:40.740 --> 00:09:43.299 soldier rushes in to finish him off with a bayonet. 00:09:43.500 --> 00:09:45.840 He actually injures San Martin's face with a 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:49.039 saber. He is seconds away from death. Wow. But 00:09:49.039 --> 00:09:51.750 then two of his soldiers intervene. Juan Bautista 00:09:51.750 --> 00:09:54.470 Cabral and Juan Bautista Begoria. Begoria kills 00:09:54.470 --> 00:09:57.070 the attacker and Cabral, a man of African descent, 00:09:57.330 --> 00:10:00.210 pulls the heavy horse off San Martin. And Cabral 00:10:00.210 --> 00:10:03.149 pays the ultimate price. He does. Cabral was 00:10:03.149 --> 00:10:06.009 mortally wounded in the rescue. Legend says his 00:10:06.009 --> 00:10:08.730 dying words were, I die happy for we have beaten 00:10:08.730 --> 00:10:11.309 the enemy. Whether that's verbatim or not, his 00:10:11.309 --> 00:10:13.909 sacrifice saved the liberator. It gives you chills. 00:10:14.429 --> 00:10:17.250 It also proves to the locals in blood that San 00:10:17.250 --> 00:10:19.309 Martin isn't just some desk general from Spain. 00:10:19.429 --> 00:10:21.870 He's in the dirt, bleeding with them. Exactly. 00:10:22.049 --> 00:10:25.389 It secured his reputation. But San Martin isn't 00:10:25.389 --> 00:10:28.509 just brave. He's strategic. After this, he is 00:10:28.509 --> 00:10:30.250 sent to take command of the Army of the North. 00:10:30.539 --> 00:10:32.580 This was the main front of the war at the time, 00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:35.340 right? Trying to push north into Upper Peru, 00:10:35.419 --> 00:10:38.100 what's now Bolivia, to defeat the Spanish power 00:10:38.100 --> 00:10:40.740 center. Right. The previous general, Manuel Belgrano, 00:10:40.860 --> 00:10:42.860 who is a brilliant patriot but not a trained 00:10:42.860 --> 00:10:44.960 soldier, had suffered some bad defeats there. 00:10:45.039 --> 00:10:46.899 So they send in the professional. And Sam Martin 00:10:46.899 --> 00:10:49.659 goes up there, looks at the terrain. looks at 00:10:49.659 --> 00:10:52.279 the royalist defenses and realizes something 00:10:52.279 --> 00:10:55.139 crucial. What's that? He realizes it's a trap. 00:10:55.200 --> 00:10:57.460 It's a trap. Attacking the royalist stronghold 00:10:57.460 --> 00:11:00.100 of Lima, Peru, by marching overland through the 00:11:00.100 --> 00:11:03.080 mountains of Upper Peru is suicide. The terrain 00:11:03.080 --> 00:11:05.340 is too harsh, the supply lines are too long, 00:11:05.500 --> 00:11:07.759 and the local population is not always friendly. 00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:10.559 The royalists have it completely fortified. So 00:11:10.559 --> 00:11:12.559 everyone has been banging their heads against 00:11:12.559 --> 00:11:15.379 this wall for years, and he realizes they need 00:11:15.379 --> 00:11:17.840 a totally different wall. He realizes they need 00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:21.559 a back door. This is the aha moment. He concocts 00:11:21.559 --> 00:11:25.299 a new radical plan. He decides, forget the north, 00:11:25.480 --> 00:11:28.940 we're going west. West, into the Andes, the highest 00:11:28.940 --> 00:11:31.539 part of the Andes. Yes. He decides to feign a 00:11:31.539 --> 00:11:33.620 defensive posture in the north, take a small 00:11:33.620 --> 00:11:36.039 army west, cross the Andes mountains into Chile, 00:11:36.220 --> 00:11:39.080 liberate Chile from the royalists. Which is already 00:11:39.080 --> 00:11:42.299 a huge task on its own. It is. And this is the 00:11:42.299 --> 00:11:45.320 kicker. build a navy in the Pacific, and sail 00:11:45.320 --> 00:11:47.860 up the coast to attack Lima from the sea where 00:11:47.860 --> 00:11:50.740 they least expect it. That is incredibly ambitious. 00:11:50.899 --> 00:11:53.720 It's a logistical nightmare. Let's just cross 00:11:53.720 --> 00:11:56.240 the second highest mountain range on Earth with 00:11:56.240 --> 00:11:58.899 cannons and then learn to be sailors. It's insane. 00:11:59.100 --> 00:12:01.460 And to make it happen, he resigns from the prestigious 00:12:01.460 --> 00:12:04.279 Army of the North and requests the governorship 00:12:04.279 --> 00:12:06.639 of the Cuyo province. That's the region around 00:12:06.639 --> 00:12:09.039 Mendoza, right at the foot of the Andes. He's 00:12:09.039 --> 00:12:11.080 basically picking his own staging ground. Right. 00:12:11.529 --> 00:12:14.370 So this brings us to part three, the mastermind 00:12:14.370 --> 00:12:17.250 of Cuyo. Because he doesn't just show up in March. 00:12:17.409 --> 00:12:20.850 He spends years preparing. From 1814 to 1817, 00:12:21.049 --> 00:12:23.049 Sin Martin essentially turns the province of 00:12:23.049 --> 00:12:25.830 Mendoza into a war machine. It's total mobilization. 00:12:26.190 --> 00:12:28.470 The sources describe it like he built an entire 00:12:28.470 --> 00:12:31.330 economy just for this campaign. What kind of 00:12:31.330 --> 00:12:32.850 infrastructure are we talking about here? This 00:12:32.850 --> 00:12:35.009 isn't an industrial region. No, it's an agricultural 00:12:35.009 --> 00:12:38.210 one. But he finds the talent. He had a friar. 00:12:38.559 --> 00:12:41.840 fray louis beltran who was a genius with mechanics 00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:45.159 a self -taught engineer a priest a priest running 00:12:45.159 --> 00:12:47.980 a cannon factory they built a foundry to cast 00:12:47.980 --> 00:12:50.820 cannons and cannonballs they mined the local 00:12:50.820 --> 00:12:53.539 mountains for lead and copper they collected 00:12:53.539 --> 00:12:57.240 sulfur for gunpowder He had the women of Mendoza 00:12:57.240 --> 00:12:59.740 weaving uniforms and stitching the flag for the 00:12:59.740 --> 00:13:01.360 new army. And he had to deal with the social 00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:04.200 structure, too. We see notes here about him drafting 00:13:04.200 --> 00:13:06.379 slaves. That must have been controversial. Very. 00:13:06.460 --> 00:13:08.940 This is a significant part of the social contract 00:13:08.940 --> 00:13:11.639 he established. He offered freedom to slaves 00:13:11.639 --> 00:13:14.039 who joined the Army of the Andes. He originally 00:13:14.039 --> 00:13:17.139 took men aged 16 to 30, but he eventually expanded 00:13:17.139 --> 00:13:20.659 that from 14 to 55. The local aristocracy, the 00:13:20.659 --> 00:13:23.840 landowners, must have been furious. That was 00:13:23.840 --> 00:13:26.940 their property. They were. But San Martin was 00:13:26.940 --> 00:13:28.740 the governor and the military commander. He was 00:13:28.740 --> 00:13:31.460 adamant. He said, the freedom of the country 00:13:31.460 --> 00:13:34.700 is the supreme law. He integrated these freedmen 00:13:34.700 --> 00:13:37.639 into the infantry battalions. A huge portion 00:13:37.639 --> 00:13:39.980 of the Army of the Andes was of African descent. 00:13:40.320 --> 00:13:42.620 While he's building this machine, he's also playing 00:13:42.620 --> 00:13:46.120 politics. The Congress of Tucumán is meeting 00:13:46.120 --> 00:13:49.919 in 1816. He is putting immense pressure on them 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:53.139 to declare independence. Why the rush? It's a 00:13:53.139 --> 00:13:56.429 legal necessity. And a moral one. He writes to 00:13:56.429 --> 00:13:58.549 the delegates basically saying, I cannot cross 00:13:58.549 --> 00:14:00.889 these mountains as a rebel chieftain. If I do 00:14:00.889 --> 00:14:04.009 and we are captured, we will be executed as insurgents. 00:14:04.470 --> 00:14:07.149 But if they are a nation. I need to cross as 00:14:07.149 --> 00:14:09.289 the general of a sovereign nation. That distinction 00:14:09.289 --> 00:14:11.350 matters for international law, for the treatment 00:14:11.350 --> 00:14:13.649 of prisoners, for everything. They finally declared 00:14:13.649 --> 00:14:17.070 independence on July 9th, 1816, largely due to 00:14:17.070 --> 00:14:19.309 his pressure. Now, here's a detail from the notes 00:14:19.309 --> 00:14:21.889 that surprised me. The expert notes is San Martin 00:14:21.889 --> 00:14:24.980 was actually a monarchist. That seems counterintuitive. 00:14:25.139 --> 00:14:28.139 He was. And this surprises a lot of people today. 00:14:28.200 --> 00:14:31.620 We assume revolutionary means Republican. But 00:14:31.620 --> 00:14:34.440 San Martin, along with Manuel Belgrano, actually 00:14:34.440 --> 00:14:37.279 supported the idea of a constitutional monarchy. 00:14:37.320 --> 00:14:39.120 That feels contradictory. Why would they want 00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:41.299 a king after fighting to get rid of one? They 00:14:41.299 --> 00:14:43.659 looked at the chaos in France after their revolution. 00:14:43.960 --> 00:14:46.919 They looked at the infighting and civil war already 00:14:46.919 --> 00:14:49.500 starting in Buenos Aires. They wanted stability. 00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:52.440 So it was a pragmatic choice. Entirely. They 00:14:52.440 --> 00:14:55.080 believed a constitutional monarchy was the best 00:14:55.080 --> 00:14:58.399 way to keep the peace and, crucially, to get 00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:01.580 recognition from Europe, which was entirely monarchist 00:15:01.580 --> 00:15:04.740 at the time. Belgrano even proposed crowning 00:15:04.740 --> 00:15:08.990 a descendant of the Incas. An Incan king. Yes, 00:15:09.370 --> 00:15:11.889 it was called the Inca Plan. It would have united 00:15:11.889 --> 00:15:14.070 the indigenous populations of the Andes with 00:15:14.070 --> 00:15:16.450 the revolutionary cause. It was a serious proposal. 00:15:16.809 --> 00:15:18.690 It didn't happen. The elites in Buenos Aires 00:15:18.690 --> 00:15:20.909 scoffed at it. But it shows that San Martin was 00:15:20.909 --> 00:15:22.789 a pragmatist. He didn't care about the form of 00:15:22.789 --> 00:15:24.970 government as much as the outcome. Independence 00:15:24.970 --> 00:15:27.429 and order. OK, so he has the army. He has the 00:15:27.429 --> 00:15:30.309 flag. He has the plan. Part four, the crossing 00:15:30.309 --> 00:15:32.889 of the Andes. Let's get into the details here. 00:15:33.009 --> 00:15:35.789 The logistics of this are, well, mind boggling. 00:15:35.850 --> 00:15:38.629 We are talking about 5 ,000 men. But it's not 00:15:38.629 --> 00:15:41.470 just the men. He also has 10 ,000 mules and 1 00:15:41.470 --> 00:15:45.129 ,600 horses. 10 ,000 mules. And he has to move 00:15:45.129 --> 00:15:48.090 heavy artillery over passes that sit at 4 ,000 00:15:48.090 --> 00:15:50.149 meters. That's 12 ,000 feet above sea level. 00:15:50.370 --> 00:15:53.009 You have to disassemble the cannons, load them 00:15:53.009 --> 00:15:55.009 onto mules, and reassemble them on the other 00:15:55.009 --> 00:15:58.149 side. The survival rates were... Not great. They 00:15:58.149 --> 00:16:00.190 were brutal. The conditions were freezing at 00:16:00.190 --> 00:16:03.710 night, scorching sun by day. The air is so thin. 00:16:03.889 --> 00:16:06.389 The soldiers suffered from Seroche altitude sickness, 00:16:06.690 --> 00:16:09.629 headaches, vomiting, exhaustion. And the animals. 00:16:09.809 --> 00:16:11.850 Of the 10 ,000 mules, less than half reached 00:16:11.850 --> 00:16:15.269 Chile. Of the 1 ,600 horses, only about 500 arrived 00:16:15.269 --> 00:16:17.610 in fighting condition. The rest just fell off 00:16:17.610 --> 00:16:19.730 cliffs or died from exhaustion. The source material 00:16:19.730 --> 00:16:22.289 mentions they ate a diet heavy in garlic and 00:16:22.289 --> 00:16:25.240 onions. Is that true? Yes, garlic and onions. 00:16:25.559 --> 00:16:28.480 It was part of a special ration called Valdiviano. 00:16:28.740 --> 00:16:31.600 San Martin believed raw garlic and onions helped 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:35.139 combat the altitude and the cold. The army practically 00:16:35.139 --> 00:16:37.799 smelled its way across the Andes. I hope the 00:16:37.799 --> 00:16:39.860 royalists didn't smell them coming. Well, San 00:16:39.860 --> 00:16:41.320 Martin made sure they didn't know where they 00:16:41.320 --> 00:16:44.120 were coming from. This is the other side of the 00:16:44.120 --> 00:16:47.100 crossing the intelligence warfare. He engaged 00:16:47.100 --> 00:16:49.779 in what they called the War of Zappa. or the 00:16:49.779 --> 00:16:52.259 War of Spies. So it wasn't just a brute force 00:16:52.259 --> 00:16:54.559 march. No, it was a masterpiece of deception. 00:16:55.289 --> 00:16:58.330 He used spies. He spread fake maps. He sent people 00:16:58.330 --> 00:17:00.629 to spread rumors in Chile that he was crossing 00:17:00.629 --> 00:17:03.210 in the south or maybe the north. He wanted to 00:17:03.210 --> 00:17:05.150 confuse them. And he split the army. He did. 00:17:05.230 --> 00:17:07.970 This was key. He divided his forces into six 00:17:07.970 --> 00:17:10.710 different columns using different passes, Los 00:17:10.710 --> 00:17:14.049 Patos, Uspalada, and four smaller ones. It forced 00:17:14.049 --> 00:17:16.529 the enemy to divide their forces. There's a story 00:17:16.529 --> 00:17:18.349 here about him meeting with indigenous leaders. 00:17:18.609 --> 00:17:21.640 Yes, the Pahuanchay leaders in the south. He 00:17:21.640 --> 00:17:23.539 held a big conference with them and asked for 00:17:23.539 --> 00:17:25.759 permission to cross through their land, knowing 00:17:25.759 --> 00:17:27.960 full well that they would immediately go tell 00:17:27.960 --> 00:17:30.839 the royalists. That is clever. He feeds them 00:17:30.839 --> 00:17:32.640 disinformation through a channel they trust. 00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:35.779 Exactly. The royalist governor in Chile, Marco 00:17:35.779 --> 00:17:38.779 del Ponte, panicked. He scattered his forces 00:17:38.779 --> 00:17:41.359 to defend every possible pass, which meant he 00:17:41.359 --> 00:17:44.160 was weak everywhere. When San Martin's main column 00:17:44.160 --> 00:17:46.440 came down the slopes, the royalists were scrambling 00:17:46.440 --> 00:17:49.099 to regroup. Which leads us to part five, the 00:17:49.099 --> 00:17:52.119 liberation of Chile. The army reunites on the 00:17:52.119 --> 00:17:54.500 slopes on the Chilean side and we get the Battle 00:17:54.500 --> 00:17:58.079 of Chacabuco in February 1817. They come down 00:17:58.079 --> 00:18:00.559 from the mountains, exhausted, half -starved, 00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:02.940 and have to fight immediately. And it almost 00:18:02.940 --> 00:18:05.839 goes wrong. How so? San Martin has a plan to 00:18:05.839 --> 00:18:08.019 wait for all the troops to be in position. But 00:18:08.019 --> 00:18:10.960 his ally, the Chilean Bernardo O 'Higgins, who 00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:13.720 is brave but, you know, incredibly impulsive, 00:18:13.779 --> 00:18:16.259 charges too early. The friction of war. It is. 00:18:16.400 --> 00:18:18.960 O 'Higgins gets his division pinned down. He 00:18:18.960 --> 00:18:21.200 risks getting wiped out. San Martin sees this, 00:18:21.259 --> 00:18:23.039 draws his saber, and has to commit the reserves 00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:25.619 earlier than planned. He risks everything to 00:18:25.619 --> 00:18:28.359 save O 'Higgins. And it works. The move works. 00:18:28.500 --> 00:18:31.180 The royalist line breaks. They march into Santiago 00:18:31.180 --> 00:18:34.339 as heroes. And here is a real character moment 00:18:34.339 --> 00:18:37.700 for San Martin. The people of Chile are ecstatic. 00:18:37.839 --> 00:18:40.099 They offer him the position of supreme director 00:18:40.099 --> 00:18:43.079 of Chile. Basically, you freed us, you rule us. 00:18:43.279 --> 00:18:46.579 And he says no. Flat out no. Why? That's immense 00:18:46.579 --> 00:18:49.099 power to turn down. Because his goal isn't Chile. 00:18:49.609 --> 00:18:51.930 Chile is a stepping stone. His goal is Peru. 00:18:52.329 --> 00:18:55.069 And he knows if he starts governing Chile, he'll 00:18:55.069 --> 00:18:57.849 get bogged down in local politics. He hands the 00:18:57.849 --> 00:19:00.230 job to O 'Higgins and says, let's get back to 00:19:00.230 --> 00:19:03.309 work. We need a fleet. But the war in Chile wasn't 00:19:03.309 --> 00:19:05.470 quite over. There's a twist in the script called 00:19:05.470 --> 00:19:10.049 Concha Rayada. Yes. In 1818, the royalists regrouped 00:19:10.049 --> 00:19:12.089 in the south and launched a surprise night attack 00:19:12.089 --> 00:19:15.490 at Concha Rayada. It was total chaos, friendly 00:19:15.490 --> 00:19:17.930 fire, panic in the dark. San Martin tried to 00:19:17.930 --> 00:19:20.109 organize a defense, but they were overrun. And 00:19:20.109 --> 00:19:22.509 the rumors start flying. Rumors spread instantly 00:19:22.509 --> 00:19:24.670 that San Martin was dead and O 'Higgins was dead. 00:19:24.809 --> 00:19:27.569 Imagine the morale blow. The liberator is dead. 00:19:27.650 --> 00:19:29.829 The army is scattered. It could have been the 00:19:29.829 --> 00:19:31.849 end of the revolution right there. It could have. 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:35.299 But a subordinate general, Los Harris, managed 00:19:35.299 --> 00:19:38.519 to keep about 3 ,500 men together and retreat 00:19:38.519 --> 00:19:42.039 in good order. San Martin survived, reunited 00:19:42.039 --> 00:19:44.359 with them, and had to rebuild the army's morale 00:19:44.359 --> 00:19:47.700 in record time. He famously rode into Santiago 00:19:47.700 --> 00:19:50.420 and told the people, the army is not defeated. 00:19:50.740 --> 00:19:52.819 And just a few weeks later, they face off again 00:19:52.819 --> 00:19:55.559 at the Battle of Maipú. This is the turning point. 00:19:55.740 --> 00:19:58.579 Maipu is the definitive battle for Chilean independence. 00:19:59.359 --> 00:20:02.160 San Martin watches the royalist formation, General 00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:04.720 Osorio is commanding them, and he spots a flaw. 00:20:04.980 --> 00:20:07.799 He sees Osorio moving his troops clumsily across 00:20:07.799 --> 00:20:10.779 the front, exposing a flank. The sources quote 00:20:10.779 --> 00:20:12.960 him saying something like, Osorio is clumsy, 00:20:13.180 --> 00:20:15.319 today's triumph is ours, the sun is witness. 00:20:16.019 --> 00:20:18.720 That is some serious confidence. It was a brutal 00:20:18.720 --> 00:20:21.349 fight, much bloodier than Chacabruco. The Reserve 00:20:21.349 --> 00:20:23.690 Grenadier San Martin's elite unit that he built 00:20:23.690 --> 00:20:26.609 from scratch had to break the elite Spanish Burgos 00:20:26.609 --> 00:20:28.589 regiment, but they did it. And the climax of 00:20:28.589 --> 00:20:31.670 that day is famous. The embrace of Maipú. O 'Higgins, 00:20:31.710 --> 00:20:33.150 who had been wounded at the previous battle, 00:20:33.269 --> 00:20:35.109 rides out to meet San Martin on the battlefield, 00:20:35.390 --> 00:20:38.670 his arm in a sling, and they embrace. Chile is 00:20:38.670 --> 00:20:42.190 free. So Chile is secured. Now, the final boss 00:20:42.190 --> 00:20:45.319 level. Peru. But now the math gets really bad. 00:20:45.460 --> 00:20:48.599 The Viceroy in Peru has something like 23 ,000 00:20:48.599 --> 00:20:51.759 soldiers. San Martin, after all the losses, has 00:20:51.759 --> 00:20:54.740 maybe 4 ,000 men. You can't win that fight. Not 00:20:54.740 --> 00:20:57.279 kinetically. Not head on. No, you can't just 00:20:57.279 --> 00:21:00.539 march in and shoot. So San Martin pivots to psychological 00:21:00.539 --> 00:21:04.319 warfare. First, he needs that Navy he imagined 00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:06.589 years ago. And where does that come from? Well, 00:21:06.650 --> 00:21:09.009 Buenos Aires is broke and distracted by civil 00:21:09.009 --> 00:21:11.910 wars, so they aren't sending money. He has to 00:21:11.910 --> 00:21:14.450 rely on Chilean funding, and he hires a fascinating 00:21:14.450 --> 00:21:17.549 character, Lord Thomas Cochran. Who was he? A 00:21:17.549 --> 00:21:20.910 disgraced British admiral. A brilliant naval 00:21:20.910 --> 00:21:23.289 commander, but a difficult, prickly mercenary. 00:21:23.569 --> 00:21:26.150 They build a fleet and sail north. And this is 00:21:26.150 --> 00:21:28.349 where San Martin gets really clever. He lands 00:21:28.349 --> 00:21:30.490 in Peru, but he doesn't attack Lima directly. 00:21:30.730 --> 00:21:33.670 No. He engages in what he called a war of opinion. 00:21:33.930 --> 00:21:36.009 He knows he can't defeat the army, so he has 00:21:36.009 --> 00:21:37.789 to defeat the mindset. He has to win the people 00:21:37.789 --> 00:21:40.349 over. So what does he do? He lands his small 00:21:40.349 --> 00:21:43.630 army and refuses to attack the city. Instead, 00:21:43.910 --> 00:21:46.210 he sends agents to the indigenous villages to 00:21:46.210 --> 00:21:49.970 incite rebellion. He spreads propaganda. He promises 00:21:49.970 --> 00:21:52.710 freedom to slaves who join him. He blockades 00:21:52.710 --> 00:21:55.130 the port to cut off food supplies to Lima. He's 00:21:55.130 --> 00:21:57.170 starving them out and waiting for them to crumble 00:21:57.170 --> 00:21:59.509 from the inside. He's laying siege to their will 00:21:59.509 --> 00:22:02.390 to fight. Exactly. He wants the viceroy to leave 00:22:02.390 --> 00:22:06.549 on his own. And it works. In July 1821, the viceroy 00:22:06.549 --> 00:22:08.910 abandons Lima because the city is turning against 00:22:08.910 --> 00:22:11.609 him and he's running out of food. San Martin 00:22:11.609 --> 00:22:14.390 marches in without firing a shot and declares 00:22:14.390 --> 00:22:18.529 independence on July 28, 1821. That is Sun Tzu 00:22:18.529 --> 00:22:21.130 -level strategy. The supreme art of war is to 00:22:21.130 --> 00:22:23.839 subdue the enemy without fighting. It is. He 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:26.700 is named protector of Peru. And he immediately 00:22:26.700 --> 00:22:28.680 starts implementing those liberal reforms we 00:22:28.680 --> 00:22:30.680 talked about. The freedom of wounds law. Can 00:22:30.680 --> 00:22:32.400 you explain that one again? It was a gradual 00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:35.000 abolition of slavery. It meant that while existing 00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:37.099 slaves weren't automatically freed, that would 00:22:37.099 --> 00:22:39.019 have caused immediate economic collapse and revolt 00:22:39.019 --> 00:22:41.839 by the landowners. Any child born to a slave 00:22:41.839 --> 00:22:44.599 mother was born free. It was a way to end slavery 00:22:44.599 --> 00:22:47.220 over a generation. And he also gets rid of the 00:22:47.220 --> 00:22:50.339 Inquisition. Abolish the Inquisition. Ban corporal 00:22:50.339 --> 00:22:52.900 punishment. He abolished the Mita, which was 00:22:52.900 --> 00:22:55.400 a system of forced indigenous labor. He was trying 00:22:55.400 --> 00:22:58.059 to build a modern liberal state. But governing 00:22:58.059 --> 00:23:00.640 is harder than conquering. Things start to get 00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:03.619 sticky here. He has friction with Cochran. Major 00:23:03.619 --> 00:23:06.400 friction. Cochran wants to attack, plunder, destroy 00:23:06.400 --> 00:23:09.319 the Spanish fleet aggressively. San Martin is 00:23:09.319 --> 00:23:12.059 cautious, patient. Cochran eventually gets fed 00:23:12.059 --> 00:23:14.339 up. basically takes the fleet and leaves, so 00:23:14.339 --> 00:23:17.440 San Martin loses his naval support. And there's 00:23:17.440 --> 00:23:19.519 a weird military moment mentioned in the outline, 00:23:19.720 --> 00:23:22.039 the controversial non -battle. What happened 00:23:22.039 --> 00:23:25.240 there? Yes, the Cantorac Affair. A royalist army 00:23:25.240 --> 00:23:27.779 led by General Cantorac marches right past Lima. 00:23:28.099 --> 00:23:30.480 San Martin has his troops ready. His officers 00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:32.779 are begging him, let us attack, we have them. 00:23:32.859 --> 00:23:36.420 And San Martin does nothing. He lets them pass. 00:23:36.640 --> 00:23:40.220 Why? That's baffling. His officers were baffled. 00:23:40.640 --> 00:23:42.720 Some historians think San Martinian believed 00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:44.880 attacking would cost too many lives and he could 00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:47.900 just maneuver them into surrendering later. Others 00:23:47.900 --> 00:23:50.039 think he lost his nerve or was suffering from 00:23:50.039 --> 00:23:52.880 health issues. He had chronic ulcers and rheumatism. 00:23:53.019 --> 00:23:55.599 He was physically breaking down by this point. 00:23:55.720 --> 00:23:57.740 But the effect on his own men must have been 00:23:57.740 --> 00:24:00.039 devastating. It severely damaged his standing 00:24:00.039 --> 00:24:02.259 with his own army. They thought he was weak or 00:24:02.259 --> 00:24:04.619 indecisive. And this leads us to the beginning 00:24:04.619 --> 00:24:08.119 of the end, the Guayaquil Conference. This is 00:24:08.119 --> 00:24:11.660 the moment. It's 1822. San Martin is in a tough 00:24:11.660 --> 00:24:14.079 spot. He's losing support from Buenos Aires. 00:24:14.779 --> 00:24:17.200 Cochran has left with the fleet. His army is 00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:19.740 tired and grumbling. And from the north comes 00:24:19.740 --> 00:24:23.200 Simon Bolivar. The other liberator. Bolivar has 00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:25.160 just swept down through Venezuela, Colombia, 00:24:25.420 --> 00:24:27.400 and Ecuador. He has momentum. He has a fresh 00:24:27.400 --> 00:24:29.859 army. And he has the full support of his government 00:24:29.859 --> 00:24:32.900 in Gran Colombia. He is at the height of his 00:24:32.900 --> 00:24:35.099 power. So they meet in Guayaquil, Ecuador. What 00:24:35.099 --> 00:24:37.160 happens in that room? That is the great mystery. 00:24:37.319 --> 00:24:40.359 It was a closed -door meeting. No aides, no witnesses, 00:24:40.559 --> 00:24:43.559 no minutes taken. They met for two days. To be 00:24:43.559 --> 00:24:46.579 a fly on that wall. We can infer what happened 00:24:46.579 --> 00:24:49.720 based on the outcome. San Martin likely asked 00:24:49.720 --> 00:24:51.819 for reinforcements to finish the war in Peru. 00:24:52.500 --> 00:24:54.519 Bolivar likely said he couldn't spare enough. 00:24:54.940 --> 00:24:57.819 San Martin may have offered to serve under Bolivar 00:24:57.819 --> 00:25:00.140 to be his second -in -command. The Liberator 00:25:00.140 --> 00:25:01.940 of the South serving under the Liberator of the 00:25:01.940 --> 00:25:05.579 North. That's a huge ego check. It is. But Bolivar 00:25:05.579 --> 00:25:08.519 likely refused. The consensus is that Bolivar 00:25:08.519 --> 00:25:10.660 felt that two suns could not shine in the same 00:25:10.660 --> 00:25:13.579 sky. He knew that as long as San Martin was there, 00:25:13.720 --> 00:25:16.200 there would be divided loyalties. So San Martin 00:25:16.200 --> 00:25:18.740 makes a choice. He realizes that for Peru to 00:25:18.740 --> 00:25:21.880 be fully liberated, one of them has to go. And 00:25:21.880 --> 00:25:23.960 since Bolivar has the momentum and the resources, 00:25:24.380 --> 00:25:27.609 San Martin decides it has to be him. He sacrifices 00:25:27.609 --> 00:25:30.670 his glory for the cause. He resigns as protector 00:25:30.670 --> 00:25:34.579 of Peru, leaves his army and sails away. He leaves 00:25:34.579 --> 00:25:37.140 the final victory and all the credit to Bolivar. 00:25:37.259 --> 00:25:40.059 That is heartbreaking, actually, to do all that 00:25:40.059 --> 00:25:42.619 work, cross the mountains, build the fleet, and 00:25:42.619 --> 00:25:44.299 then walk away right before the finish line because 00:25:44.299 --> 00:25:46.880 you know it's the only way the team wins. It's 00:25:46.880 --> 00:25:49.880 a rare moment of humility in history. Most conquerors 00:25:49.880 --> 00:25:53.000 cling to power until they are dragged out. San 00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:55.539 Martin walked away. So he goes into exile, part 00:25:55.539 --> 00:25:57.680 seven. He tries to go back to Argentina first, 00:25:57.759 --> 00:26:00.019 right? He does, but Argentina is a mess. It's 00:26:00.019 --> 00:26:03.140 torn apart by civil wars between... Federalists 00:26:03.140 --> 00:26:05.799 and Unitarians, they want him to lead a faction. 00:26:06.099 --> 00:26:08.539 Of course they do. He's the biggest military 00:26:08.539 --> 00:26:11.680 hero they have. San Martin is heartbroken. He 00:26:11.680 --> 00:26:14.240 refuses to draw his sword against his own countrymen. 00:26:14.500 --> 00:26:17.220 He says, my sword will never be drawn against 00:26:17.220 --> 00:26:19.460 my fellow countrymen. So he takes his daughter, 00:26:19.619 --> 00:26:22.880 Mercedes, and goes to Europe. And he lives a 00:26:22.880 --> 00:26:26.650 quiet life. Brussels, Paris. Bologna, sir, mayor. 00:26:26.789 --> 00:26:29.009 He's not living like a king. He's actually somewhat 00:26:29.009 --> 00:26:31.430 strapped for cash at times. He just watches South 00:26:31.430 --> 00:26:33.869 American politics from a distance. There is a 00:26:33.869 --> 00:26:36.490 story about him almost fighting a duel. Yes, 00:26:36.569 --> 00:26:39.150 with Bernardino Rivadavia, a political enemy 00:26:39.150 --> 00:26:41.529 from Buenos Aires who came to Europe and slandered 00:26:41.529 --> 00:26:43.890 him. Sam Martin was old and sick, but he was 00:26:43.890 --> 00:26:46.049 still a soldier. He challenged him. Friends had 00:26:46.049 --> 00:26:48.170 to talk him out of it, thankfully. And he developed 00:26:48.170 --> 00:26:50.529 a strange friendship with Juan Manuel de Rosa, 00:26:50.549 --> 00:26:52.549 the governor of Buenos Aires, right? He did. 00:26:52.960 --> 00:26:55.900 Rosas was a controversial figure, a federalist 00:26:55.900 --> 00:26:59.119 strongman, a dictator to some. But San Martin 00:26:59.119 --> 00:27:01.599 admired how Rosas defended Argentina against 00:27:01.599 --> 00:27:04.180 foreign interventions, specifically the French 00:27:04.180 --> 00:27:07.460 and British blockades in the 1830s and 40s. So 00:27:07.460 --> 00:27:10.220 he respected Rosas for protecting national sovereignty. 00:27:10.500 --> 00:27:13.819 Exactly. In his will, San Martin bequeathed his 00:27:13.819 --> 00:27:16.779 famous curved saber, the one he carried across 00:27:16.779 --> 00:27:19.440 the Andes to Rosas as a sign of respect for defending 00:27:19.440 --> 00:27:22.099 the homeland. And he finally passed away in 1850. 00:27:22.339 --> 00:27:25.059 In Boulogne -sur -Mer, France. He was blind by 00:27:25.059 --> 00:27:28.500 the end, age 72. He died quietly, far from the 00:27:28.500 --> 00:27:30.400 Andes. But he didn't stay in France forever. 00:27:30.700 --> 00:27:33.339 No. His final wish was to be buried in Buenos 00:27:33.339 --> 00:27:36.019 Aires. It took 30 years because of the endless 00:27:36.019 --> 00:27:39.599 civil wars, but in 1880, his remains were repatriated. 00:27:40.079 --> 00:27:42.680 He now rests in a massive mausoleum in the Metropolitan 00:27:42.680 --> 00:27:44.660 Cathedral in Buenos Aires. So what does this 00:27:44.660 --> 00:27:46.619 all mean? When we look at his legacy, what's 00:27:46.619 --> 00:27:48.559 the final takeaway? He's the Saint of the Sword. 00:27:48.740 --> 00:27:51.460 That's the nickname he earned. And it encapsulates 00:27:51.460 --> 00:27:53.759 his legacy perfectly. He was a soldier who fought 00:27:53.759 --> 00:27:56.079 for liberty, not for power. The evidence is there. 00:27:56.460 --> 00:27:58.720 He had the opportunity to be a dictator in Chile. 00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:01.960 He said no. He had the opportunity to cling to 00:28:01.960 --> 00:28:05.200 power in Peru. He walked away. He refused to 00:28:05.200 --> 00:28:07.640 fight in civil wars. It's the restraint that 00:28:07.640 --> 00:28:10.359 makes him special. Exactly. In a region that 00:28:10.359 --> 00:28:12.559 would later be plagued by cadillos and military 00:28:12.559 --> 00:28:15.480 dictatorships, San Martin set an example of military 00:28:15.480 --> 00:28:18.279 subordination to the greater good, and an example 00:28:18.279 --> 00:28:20.700 that wasn't always followed, unfortunately. It 00:28:20.700 --> 00:28:22.880 really makes you wonder. And here's a provocative 00:28:22.880 --> 00:28:25.819 thought to leave you with. How different would 00:28:25.819 --> 00:28:29.039 South America look today if San Martin had stayed? 00:28:29.680 --> 00:28:33.119 Or, even more intriguingly, what if his Inca 00:28:33.119 --> 00:28:36.460 plan had worked? What if South America had established 00:28:36.460 --> 00:28:39.319 constitutional monarchies instead of unstable 00:28:39.319 --> 00:28:42.339 republics? Would the last two centuries of history 00:28:42.339 --> 00:28:44.000 have been more stable? It's one of the great 00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:46.519 what -ifs of history. We'll never know. If you 00:28:46.519 --> 00:28:48.940 are ever in New York, go to Central Park South. 00:28:49.180 --> 00:28:52.680 If you are in D .C., check Virginia Avenue. Look 00:28:52.680 --> 00:28:55.180 up at the guy on the horse. It's not just a statue. 00:28:55.720 --> 00:28:57.779 It's a man who crossed the impossible and then 00:28:57.779 --> 00:29:00.460 walked away from the glory. A true deep dive. 00:29:00.680 --> 00:29:01.799 Thanks for listening. We'll catch you on the 00:29:01.799 --> 00:29:02.099 next one.