Chilean Independence
Chile declared independence on 12 February 1818 and secured it at Maipú two months later. The first attempt had failed. A governing junta formed in Santiago in 1810 during the Spanish crisis, and the period called the Patria Vieja ended in October 1814 at Rancagua, where a royalist army from Peru destroyed the patriot force after José Miguel Carrera failed to relieve Bernardo O'Higgins in the town. The survivors crossed the Andes to Mendoza, where José de San Martín was governor and was assembling an army. San Martín's reasoning was strategic. Peru was the centre of Spanish power in South America and could not be taken overland from Buenos Aires; it had to be reached by sea, and the sea route required Chile. He spent two years raising, equipping and drilling the Army of the Andes — about 5,000 men, financed largely by the province of Cuyo, with cannon cast locally and a deliberate campaign of false information to persuade the royalists which passes he would use. The crossing in January 1817 took twenty-one days over passes above 4,000 metres, losing a third of the horses and mules. He won at Chacabuco on 12 February 1817, and O'Higgins entered Santiago as Supreme Director. The declaration came a year later, on the anniversary. A royalist counter-offensive nearly ended it at Cancha Rayada in March 1818, where San Martín's army was surprised at night, and the campaign was decided at Maipú on 5 April. San Martín rallied the army in twelve days and destroyed the royalists completely, and Chile was secure. He then built the fleet under Lord Cochrane that carried the war to Peru.
- Year: 1817 CE
- Category: Military
