1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,920 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:10,879 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:13,480 Speaker 1: a show that gives a quick look at something that 4 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:18,720 Speaker 1: happened a long time ago. Today I'm Gay Blusier, and 5 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:21,799 Speaker 1: today we're talking about one of the many claims to 6 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:25,239 Speaker 1: fame of the leader of the independence movement in southern 7 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:30,600 Speaker 1: South America, three time national liberator, Jose de San Martin. 8 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:44,280 Speaker 1: The day was February twelfth, eighteen seventeen. Argentine General Jose 9 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:48,559 Speaker 1: Francisco de San Martin led his troops to victory at 10 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:52,519 Speaker 1: the Battle of Chacabuco, marking a pivotal moment in the 11 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:58,040 Speaker 1: fight for Chilean independence. Nine years earlier, the Spanish Empire 12 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:02,240 Speaker 1: began to contract for the first time in centuries. It 13 00:01:02,360 --> 00:01:06,040 Speaker 1: started with Napoleon's invasion of Spain in eighteen o eight. 14 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:10,640 Speaker 1: With the mother country distracted, its South American colonies were 15 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:15,240 Speaker 1: able to assert claims for independence. Armed revolts broke out 16 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:19,560 Speaker 1: all across the continent, with Simon Bolivar leading a liberation 17 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:23,560 Speaker 1: campaign in the north and Jose de Saint Martin leading 18 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:27,880 Speaker 1: a similar campaign in the south. Although the two campaigns 19 00:01:27,959 --> 00:01:31,959 Speaker 1: didn't coordinate with each other. By eighteen seventeen, much of 20 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:35,360 Speaker 1: South America was either independent or in a state of 21 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:39,840 Speaker 1: revolt against Spanish rule. San Martin had made a name 22 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:44,320 Speaker 1: for himself in the Argentine Revolution of eighteen sixteen and 23 00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:47,960 Speaker 1: was eager to press his advantage by helping another colony 24 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:52,400 Speaker 1: gain its independence from Spain. Initially, he set his sights 25 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:56,480 Speaker 1: on Upper Peru, but attacking uphill from the south seemed 26 00:01:56,520 --> 00:02:00,160 Speaker 1: like a bad idea. Instead, he decided to take the 27 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:03,600 Speaker 1: long way around. He would cross the Andes Mountains in 28 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:06,840 Speaker 1: the south, liberate Chile while he was there, and then 29 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:10,480 Speaker 1: sail north to attack Peru by sea. And so, in 30 00:02:10,639 --> 00:02:14,720 Speaker 1: January of eighteen seventeen, San Martin and his army of 31 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:18,040 Speaker 1: the Andes set out on a mission to liberate Chile. 32 00:02:18,880 --> 00:02:23,840 Speaker 1: Along the way, San Martin allied with Bernardo O'Higgins, a 33 00:02:23,919 --> 00:02:28,560 Speaker 1: wealthy Chilean patriot of Irish descent. They combined their separate 34 00:02:28,680 --> 00:02:32,520 Speaker 1: armies and planned to convene at a valley called Chacabuco, 35 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:37,360 Speaker 1: near the capital city of Santiago. There they would intercept 36 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:41,960 Speaker 1: the Royalist forces under the command of Raphael Murotu, but 37 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:45,320 Speaker 1: getting there was easier said than done. It was a 38 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:49,520 Speaker 1: harrowing twenty day march through the freezing mountains, and many 39 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:52,520 Speaker 1: of the recruits were not accustomed to cold weather in 40 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:57,520 Speaker 1: high altitudes. As a result, San Martin reportedly lost a 41 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:01,079 Speaker 1: third of the more than five thousand troops at his command, 42 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:04,880 Speaker 1: as well as over half of his horses. Despite those 43 00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:08,320 Speaker 1: heavy losses, when the army finally reached the other side 44 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:11,640 Speaker 1: of the Andes in mid February, they found they still 45 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:15,480 Speaker 1: outnumbered the Spanish forces in the region. But San Martin 46 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:19,679 Speaker 1: knew that advantage wouldn't last long, as his scouts had 47 00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:24,200 Speaker 1: spotted Spanish reinforcements nearby. He decided there was no time 48 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:27,400 Speaker 1: to waste and ordered his troops down the slopes in 49 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:31,040 Speaker 1: the early morning of February twelve. The plan had been 50 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:34,240 Speaker 1: to divide the troops into two contingents and then attack 51 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:38,720 Speaker 1: the Spanish from two sides at once. Unfortunately, oh Higgins 52 00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:41,600 Speaker 1: jumped the gun and led his half of the troops 53 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:44,680 Speaker 1: down the slopes of the Andes without waiting for the 54 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:48,080 Speaker 1: other contingent to reach its position. They still took the 55 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:51,920 Speaker 1: Spanish infantry by surprise, but with fewer troops on the field, 56 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:55,360 Speaker 1: it wasn't long before oh higgins troops started to be 57 00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 1: driven back. This forced San Martin to make us somewhat 58 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:05,600 Speaker 1: chelis grenadier charge against the Spanish cavalry. Thankfully, the desperate 59 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:09,080 Speaker 1: gambit paid off, giving O'Higgins a chance to recover and 60 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:13,280 Speaker 1: attack the Spanish flank as intended. By the afternoon, the 61 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:16,240 Speaker 1: army of the Andes had forced the Spanish to retreat 62 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:20,760 Speaker 1: to a local ranch, the Rancho Chacabuco. As O'Higgins led 63 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:26,320 Speaker 1: another head on charge, General Miguel as Stanislau Solare moved 64 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:29,560 Speaker 1: his troops to the opposite side of the ranch, blocking 65 00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:33,520 Speaker 1: the only way out for the Spanish. Murotu and his 66 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:38,480 Speaker 1: troops were completely routed. The Spanish suffered five hundred casualties 67 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:42,360 Speaker 1: that day, roughly a third of their forces. The rebels 68 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:46,080 Speaker 1: fared better with about a dozen casualties, although over a 69 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:49,359 Speaker 1: hundred more soldiers would later die from wounds sustained in 70 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:53,839 Speaker 1: the battle. The decisive victory caused the Spanish and nearby 71 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:58,680 Speaker 1: Santiago to flee. When San Martin rode triumphantly into the 72 00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:01,400 Speaker 1: capital city at the head of his army, the people 73 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:05,560 Speaker 1: of Santiago hailed him as the liberator of Chile. They 74 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:07,839 Speaker 1: tried to make him their new governor too, but San 75 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:11,920 Speaker 1: Martin refused the office. Oh Higgins, however, was more than 76 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:15,000 Speaker 1: happy to take on the job and quickly became the 77 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:20,520 Speaker 1: new supreme dictator of the newly independent country. The Andean 78 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:24,400 Speaker 1: mission was a major success, but the royalist forces still 79 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:27,599 Speaker 1: had control of the south of Chile. It took more 80 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:31,240 Speaker 1: than another year of fighting to take back the remaining territory, 81 00:05:31,600 --> 00:05:37,440 Speaker 1: but eventually the independence movement prevailed. On February twelfth, eighteen eighteen, 82 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:41,680 Speaker 1: the one year anniversary of the Battle of Chacabuco, the 83 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:46,640 Speaker 1: fledgling nation of Chile formally declared its independence from Spanish rule. 84 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:50,839 Speaker 1: With Chile finally free, San Martin once again set his 85 00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:54,000 Speaker 1: eyes on the powerful region of Peru. He raised a 86 00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:58,119 Speaker 1: navy and set sail for Lima in eighteen twenty. Within 87 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:01,640 Speaker 1: two years, the nation had won its independence and San 88 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:06,520 Speaker 1: Martin had added protector of Peru to his already glowing resume. 89 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:10,920 Speaker 1: Unlike in Chile, San Martin accepted the offer to rule 90 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:15,440 Speaker 1: in Peru, however, briefly. During his ten month reign, he 91 00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:20,479 Speaker 1: established a new government, stabilized the economy, freed the enslaved, 92 00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:25,800 Speaker 1: and abolished relics of colonial rule, including censorship and the inquisition. 93 00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:29,320 Speaker 1: He was a very busy guy, and would remain so 94 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:33,720 Speaker 1: almost all the way up to his death in eighteen fifty. Today, 95 00:06:33,880 --> 00:06:37,120 Speaker 1: San Martin is revered as a founding father and the 96 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:40,800 Speaker 1: greatest national hero of Argentina, and he's no slouch in 97 00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:44,080 Speaker 1: Chile or Peru either. He lived a life filled to 98 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:47,960 Speaker 1: the brim with courageous exploits, and the Battle of Chacabuco 99 00:06:48,279 --> 00:06:51,200 Speaker 1: was one of his finest hours, not only because of 100 00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:54,880 Speaker 1: what it accomplished, but because of what it represented. San 101 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:59,000 Speaker 1: Martin could have called it quits after liberating his native country, 102 00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:02,640 Speaker 1: but instead he made a perilous trek through the Andes 103 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:07,200 Speaker 1: Mountains in order to free Chile and Peru, two nations 104 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:11,200 Speaker 1: that he had never called home himself. That decision proved 105 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:14,160 Speaker 1: to be a turning point, not just in his own life, 106 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:17,239 Speaker 1: but in the history of a continent that would soon, 107 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:25,040 Speaker 1: at long last be free. I'm Gabe Lousier and hopefully 108 00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:28,400 Speaker 1: you now know a little more about history today than 109 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:31,360 Speaker 1: you did yesterday. If you have a second and you're 110 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:35,920 Speaker 1: so inclined, consider following us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram 111 00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:39,920 Speaker 1: at t d i HC show. He can also rate 112 00:07:39,960 --> 00:07:42,920 Speaker 1: and review the show on Apple podcasts, and if you 113 00:07:43,040 --> 00:07:45,880 Speaker 1: have any comments or suggestions, he can send them my 114 00:07:45,960 --> 00:07:49,800 Speaker 1: way at this day at i heart media dot com. 115 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:52,760 Speaker 1: Thanks as always to Chandler Mays for producing the show, 116 00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:56,320 Speaker 1: and a special thanks to Joey pat our guest editor 117 00:07:56,400 --> 00:07:59,840 Speaker 1: for this episode. Last, but not least, thanks to you 118 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:03,200 Speaker 1: for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow for 119 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:15,680 Speaker 1: another day in History class. For more podcasts from my 120 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:18,400 Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 121 00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:20,200 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.