The Crossing of the Andes (Spanish: Cruce de los Andes) was one of the most important feats in the Argentine and Chilean wars of independence. A combined army of Argentine soldiers and Chilean exiles crossed the Andes mountains, which separate Argentina from Chile, to invade Chile, leading to its liberation from Spanish rule.
The crossing of the Andes was a key part of the strategy devised by General José de San Martín to defeat the royalist forces at their stronghold in Lima, Viceroyalty of Peru, and to secure the Spanish American independence movements.[citation needed] The idea of crossing the Andes had been developed earlier by secret lodges advocating for South American independence and was part of the Maitland Plan, designed by Thomas Maitland. San Martín became aware of this plan during his brief stay in Britain before sailing to South America. After realizing the difficulties of attacking the royalist stronghold of Lima through Upper Peru, he decided to implement this plan.
The Captaincy General of Chile had removed its governor in 1810 and replaced him with the First Government Junta, marking the beginning of a period in Chilean history known as Patria Vieja. However, they were defeated in 1814 at the Battle of Rancagua, and during the subsequent Reconquista, Chile once again became a royalist stronghold. Bernardo O'Higgins and other Chilean leaders fled to Mendoza during the new royalist regime, and O'Higgins later became a key figure in the Army of the Andes alongside the Argentine soldiers.
Troops and equipment
During this period, the city of Mendoza became a crucial headquarters for the preparations before the crossing. The citizens of Mendoza supported the troops by manufacturing gunpowder and ammunition, and they even learned to make cannons.[citation needed]
The main food supply for the army was a regional dish called valdiviano, prepared with dried meat or charqui, sliced raw onion, potatoes, and boiling water. The army had designated soldiers responsible for transporting food. These soldiers carried forty tons of charqui, maize cakes, meat, brandy to combat the nighttime cold, garlic and onion to stimulate appetite, over 4,000 cattle for the remainder of the campaign, as well as cheese and rum.[8]
The crossing
On the morning of January 19, 1817, San Martín and his army set out from their base camp, El Plumerillo, and began their journey across the Andes mountain range. San Martín crossed with 4,000 men, though he ultimately lost one-third of them during the trek. The number of auxiliaries reached 1,200.
To manage the crossing, San Martín divided his army into two groups. The main division, which traveled through the Pass of Los Patos, was led by San Martín, Miguel Estanislao Soler, and Bernardo O'Higgins. The secondary division, which took the more southerly Uspallata pass, was led by Juan Gregorio de Las Heras.[8]
On February 13, 1817, San Martín, O'Higgins, and their army successfully entered Santiago, Chile, after crossing 500 kilometers of mountain range.[9] By this time, the royalist forces had advanced north to avoid San Martín's army, but one royalist leader remained behind with 1,500 men at a valley called Chacabuco, near Santiago.[10] This led to the Battle of Chacabuco.
Legacy
In 2010, the Argentine and Chilean armies recreated the crossing during the bicentennial celebrations of the Revolution.[11]
↑ Mitre, Bartolomé (1887). Historia de San Martín y de la emancipación sudamericana (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Ediciones Peuser (published 1950). p.366.
↑ Gral. José de San Martín, padre de la patria: 150 años (in Spanish). Círculo Militar. 2000. p.99.
↑ Campos, Omar (2006). El cruce los Andes. Tras las huellas de San Martín (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Dunken.
↑ Galasso, Norberto (2007). Seamos libres y lo demás no importa nada: vida de San Martín (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Ed. Colihue. p.207.
Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme was a Chilean independence leader who freed Chile from Spanish rule in the Chilean War of Independence. He was a wealthy landowner of Basque-Spanish and Irish ancestry. Although he was the second Supreme Director of Chile (1817–1823), he is considered one of Chile's founding fathers, as he was the first holder of this title to head a fully independent Chilean state.
José Francisco de San Martín y Matorras, nicknamed "the Liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru", was an Argentine general and the primary leader of the southern and central parts of South America's successful struggle for independence from the Spanish Empire who served as the Protector of Peru. Born in Yapeyú, Corrientes, in modern-day Argentina, he left the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata at the early age of seven to study in Málaga, Spain.
José Miguel Carrera Verdugo was a Chilean general, formerly Spanish military, member of the prominent Carrera family, and considered one of the founders of independent Chile. Carrera was the most important leader of the Chilean War of Independence during the period of the Patria Vieja. After the Spanish "Reconquista de Chile" ("Reconquest"), he continued campaigning from exile after defeat. His opposition to the leaders of independent Argentina and Chile, San Martín and O'Higgins respectively, made him live in exile in Montevideo. From Montevideo Carrera traveled to Argentina where he joined the struggle against the unitarians. Carreras' small army was eventually left isolated in the Province of Buenos Aires from the other federalist forces. In this difficult situation Carrera decided to cross to native-controlled lands all the way to Chile to once and for all overthrow Chilean Supreme Director O'Higgins. His passage to Chile, which was his ultimate goal, was opposed by Argentine politicians and he engaged together with indigenous tribes, among them the Ranquel, in a campaign against the southern provinces of Argentina. After the downfall of Carrera's ally, the Republic of Entre Ríos, and several victories against the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, Carrera's men were finally defeated by numerically superior forces near Mendoza. Carrera was then betrayed by one of his Argentine helpers, leading to his capture and execution in that city.
The Argentine War of Independence was a secessionist civil war fought from 1810 to 1818 by Argentine patriotic forces under Manuel Belgrano, Juan José Castelli, Martin Miguel de Guemes and José de San Martín against royalist forces loyal to the Spanish crown. On July 9, 1816, an assembly met in San Miguel de Tucumán, declaring independence with provisions for a national constitution.
The Battle of Maipú was fought near Santiago, Chile on 5 April 1818, between South American rebels and Spanish royalists, during the Chilean War of Independence. The Patriot rebels led by Argentine general José de San Martín effectively destroyed the Spanish forces commanded by General Mariano Osorio, and completed the independence of the core area of Chile from Spanish domination.
The Battle of Chacabuco, fought during the Chilean War of Independence, took place on February 12, 1817. The Army of the Andes, from the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata and led by Captain–General José de San Martín, defeated a Spanish force commanded by Rafael Maroto. This victory was a significant defeat for the Captaincy General of Chile, the royalist government established after the division of the Viceroyalty of Peru.
Manuel Xavier Rodríguez Erdoíza was a Chilean lawyer and guerrilla leader, considered one of the founders of independent Chile. Rodríguez was of Basque descent.
The Chilean War of Independence was a military and political event that allowed the emancipation of Chile from the Spanish Monarchy, ending the colonial period and initiating the formation of an independent republic.
Francisco Casimiro Marcó del Pont y Ángel was a Spanish soldier and the last Governor of Chile. He was one of the main figures of the Chilean independence process, being the final Spaniard to rule as Royal Governor of Chile from 1815 to 1817, when he was deposed and captured by the patriot forces after the Battle of Chacabuco.
The Army of the Andes was a military force created by the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (Argentina) and assembled by General José de San Martín as part of his campaign to liberate Chile from the Spanish Empire. In 1817, it crossed the Andes Mountains from the Argentine province of Cuyo and succeeded in its objective by driving the Spanish out of Chile.
Grand Marshal Juan Gregorio de las Heras was an Argentine soldier who took part in the Spanish American wars of independence and was also a governor of the province of Buenos Aires.
Antonio Luis Beruti was an Argentine revolutionary who participated in the May Revolution that started the Argentine War of Independence, and later fought in the Argentine civil wars.
Spanish Reconquest or just Reconquest is the name of a period of Chilean history that started in 1814 with the royalist victory at the Battle of Rancagua and ended in 1817 with the patriot victory at the Battle of Chacabuco. During this period, the defenders of the Spanish Empire reestablished their dominion in Chile after said country had separated itself from the Spanish Crown, installed its First National Government Board in 1810—the first institution of self-government in Chile, created its First Congress National in 1811 and subsequently elected its first supreme director, Francisco de la Lastra, in 1814.
Revolución: el cruce de los Andes is a 2010 Argentine historical epic film directed by Leandro Ipiña and starring Rodrigo de la Serna. It premiered during the bicentennial of Argentina. It was initially named San Martín: el cruce de los Andes.
New Fatherland was a period in the history of Chile that began with the victory of Ejército de los Andes in the Battle of Chacabuco on 12 February 1817 and ended with the resignation of Bernardo O'Higgins as Supreme Director in 1823.
Estanislao José Antonio Lynch y Roo (1793–1849), was an Argentine army officer and businessman, who took part of the Argentina War of Independence. Estanislao was the grandson of an Irish immigrant, Patrick Lynch, and the third son of Justo Pastor Lynch (1755–1830) and Ana Bernardo Roo.
The First Chilean Navy Squadron was the heterogeneous naval force that terminated Spanish colonial rule in the Pacific and protagonized the most important naval actions of in the Latin American wars of independence. The Chilean revolutionary government organized the squadron in order to carry the war to the Viceroyalty of Perú, then the center of Spanish power in South America, and thus secure the independence of Chile and Argentina.
The Yatasto relay was the handover of the command of the Army of the North by Manuel Belgrano to José de San Martín, in January 1814, during the Argentine War of Independence. It is named after the Yatasto relay, a horse relay at the modern Salta Province, but modern historians consider it could have taken place elsewhere.
The Argentine War of Independence was fought from 1810 to 1818 by Argentine patriotic forces under Manuel Belgrano, Juan José Castelli and José de San Martín against royalist forces loyal to the Spanish crown. On July 9, 1816, an assembly met in San Miguel de Tucumán, declared full independence with provisions for a national constitution.
José de San Martín is the national hero of Argentina, Chile and Peru, and along with Simón Bolívar, the most important Libertador of the Spanish American Wars of Independence. For this reason, he is paid homage and depicted in several cultural works of those countries, and even internationally. He led the Campaign across the Andes from Argentina to Chile which has been studied around the world for its complexity.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Army of the Andes 
Spanish Royalists 
José de San Martín 
Bernardo O'Higgins 
