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Simon Bolivar the Liberator, Venezuelans could no longer remain undecided…
Simon Bolivar the Liberator
1. In about 1803, his wife was dying with them only being married for a few months.
Fun Fact: She died because of YF (yellow fever)
Because of this, Simon in a certain way blamed himself for her death, since he brought her to Venezuela. (Since this illness is conveyed by a certain type of mosquito)
But, her death was a crucial event in history. If they didn't go to Venezuela the history of South America would've gone differently.
If such thing didn't happen he wouldn't have become the
most famous and successful liberator of South America.
He actually later admitted that his wife's death
led him early in his career onto the road of politics.
He was only 20 years old and became restless. He then left Venezuela to travel in Europe.
There, he lived in France. (Where Napoleon ruled at the moment)
His experiences there left him conviced that Venezuela must become independent.
"I swear, by the God of my fathers and the honor of my country, I will not rest, not in body or soul, till I have broken the chains of Spain."
In 1807, he finally returned to Venezuela
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<-Tiger mosquito
4. The earth shakes
March 26, 1812
It was an EXTREMELY hot day
But suddenly, the earth began to shake violently.
Houses and buildings cracked and collapsed..
A HUGE earthquake struck Venezuela
The archbishop (high-ranking official in the Catholic Church) who by the way was a royalist, prayed that the earthquake was a message that God was on the side of the Spaniards.
After that chaos, the revolutionaries were defeated.
Miranda TRIED to negotiate to let the rebels leave the country, but Bolivar and the others claimed he was disloyal, so they turned him over to the Spaniards.
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Nearly 20,000 (20 thousand) people died, including most of the rebel soldiers in Caracas.
2. Failed rebellion
When he was in Venezuela (1807) his quiet life there would not last long. Revolution was in the air, and he would be at the center of it.
Francisco de Miranda,
another Venezuelan (1806) also tried to start a revolution against Spain. He had served in the armies of Spain and France.
In February 1806 with 150 men and a fleet of
three ships.
The Spanish authorities were alerted and stopped him before he could even lay feet on Venezuela.
He refused to accept defeat, so he went to Barbados (an island in the Caribbean) where the British gave him more ships and men.
This time he actually did get to land on Venezuela but..
The locals surprisingly did NOT support him. Particularly the Creoles didn't.
It wrecked him because Miranda had spent a lifetime talking about independence, yet he failed not because he lacked support.
The problem was that he talked too much about equality, and even suggested freeing the enslaved. I guess it makes sense since the enslaved did all of the Creoles' tasks.
And just like that, the Creoles were obviously the ones who didn't want equality because they enjoyed all the power they had, and didn't want their relationship with the lower classes to change.
But, there was an exception. The only people the Creoles wanted to get rid of were the people of the upper class. (Spaniards)
He lost 2 of his ships and 60 men.
3. The first Venezuelan republic
After 3 years, on 1810, a group of Creoles began to think that Miranda was actually right about independence.
These people firstly threw out the highest-ranking Spanish officer in the colony.
As a result of that, these conspirators could declare that they were unloyal to Ferdinand VII (the king). Obviously the intention was to make Venezuela Independence.
On July 5, 1811 the Independence was declared.
Many Spanish forces in Venezuela were still organizing
And in addition some Creoles still opposed.
Together, the Spanish troops and the Royalists fought back against the rebels.
The revolutionary army gained important victories but no important support for the new government.
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Bolivar was sent to great Britain to get help.
He failed to get any money, but...
He did convince Miranda to come back to Venezuela and lead the revolution
By this time, Miranda was 60 years old.
Depite his age, he was a very able and experienced military leader.
Simon being one of the leaders of the conspirators
7. On to Bogota!
Bolivar decided a bold move. He would attack Bogota (the capital of New Granada).
The Spanish leaders thought no rebel army would be able to cross the hundreds of miles of trackless country and climb the mountains to attack such isolated place, that is why Bolivar did it.
But crossing the Llanos was worse than facing the Spaniards. The army went through rain, floods and winds. Many soldiers died.
5. War to the death
After Bolivar fled Venezuela he went to New Granada, the colony next to Venezuela.
Rebels in the capital, Bogota, had declared independence in 1811 and Bolivar joined them.
After lots of fighting Simon earned a promotion to general in the rebel army.
This event went from a little resistance to a bloody fight. Both sides commited acts of terror and cruelty.
Ferdinand VII returned to the throne.
Determined to restore his empire, he sent an army off 11,000 men to regain control.
It was the largest army Spain had ever sent to Latin America, and the rebels were overwhelmed.
The Spanish commander was ruthless in destroying the rebels and their leaders.
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After that Bolivar convinced the leaders of New Granada to let him lead an army to liberate Venezuela.
Finally, Bolivar proclaimed:
“Those executioners who call themselves our enemies have broken international law... But the victims will be avenged [and] these executioners exterminated. . . . Our hatred knows no bounds, and the war shall be to the death!”
6. Bolivar's daring plan
He might have been defeated, but he would never give up.
He immediately started assembling a new army in
Haiti
where he had the support of the president.
The president asked for 2 things.
First, Bolívar must recognize Haiti’s government once he established his own government in South America.
After agreeing he made a plan to go back to Venezuela and in addition more than 4,000 British volunteers joined the revolution.
Second, Bolívar must free all enslaved people.
Venezuelans
could no longer remain undecided about the war around them.
So, they had to make up their minds.
‘’Am I for independence, or am I for Spain?”
Those who didn't choose a side could be mistaken for the enemy.
Bolivar won major battles and reached Caracas in 3 months.
The pro-independence people regarded Bolivar as a hero. That is when people started calling him "The Liberator"
And so, unable to inspire the Venezuelans Miranda was driven away once more.
Conspirator:
A person who plans or participates with others in a crime.
Royalists were the people who supported the king and opposed independence.
