Leaders

Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military leader who was instrumental in the revolutions against the Spanish Empire. Born into wealth, Bolívar was sent to Spain for his education and quickly got involved in political life in Europe. After France, led by Napoleon Bonaparte, invaded Spain in 1808, he became involved in the resistance movement and played a key role in the Spanish American fight for independence. When Napoleon named Joseph Bonaparte King of Spain and its colonies, which included Venezuela, Bolívar joined the resistance movement. The resistance group based in Caracas gained independence in 1810, and Bolívar traveled to Britain on a diplomatic mission. 

Finally, Bolívar returned to Venezuela and began a campaign to take control of that country from the Spanish. He and his followers invaded Venezuela on May 14, 1813. Bolívar was hailed as El Libertador (The Liberator), though civil war soon erupted in the republic, forcing him to flee to Jamaica and seek foreign aid. There he wrote his famous "Letter From Jamaica," detailing his vision of a South American republic with a parliamentary setup modeled after England and a life-long president.  In 1825, the "Republic of Bolivia" was created in honor of the inspirational leader, hailed by many as El Libertador.    

José de San Martín was a South American soldier and statesman who played an important role in winning the independence of several South American countries from Spain. José de San Martín was born at Yapeyú, a village on the northern frontier of Argentina, where his father was an official of the Spanish colonial government. At the age of 7, San Martín returned to Spain with his parents. He entered the Royal Academy as a cadet and was educated there with sons of the nobility of Spain. As a member of the Spanish army, he fought in some of the campaigns against French forces in the Peninsular War (a part of the Napoleonic Wars) and by 1811 had acquired the rank of lieutenant colonel. 

Hearing of the revolt against Spain in his native Argentina, San Martín resigned from the Spanish army in 1812 and sailed for Buenos Aires to join the patriot forces. He took a prominent part in organizing Argentine troops and soon became military governor of the north to organize defense against Spanish troops in Upper Peru. In 1814, he secured the governorship of the province of Cuyo at the foot of the Andes. Here for 3 years he recruited and trained his Army of the Andes, since he believed that Argentina could not be safely independent unless Spanish forces were dislodged from Chile, Peru, and Bolivia. 

In January 1817, San Martín led his army of Argentines and fugitives from Chile over the Andes and surprised the Spanish army in Chile. He made Chile completely free of Spanish troops by May 15, 1818, and began planning for an invasion of Peru. Within a year San Martín was able to occupy the capital, and on July 28, 1821, he proclaimed the independence of Peru from Spain. On August 3rd, he accepted the position of supreme protector of Peru. 

On September 16, 1810, Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a Roman Catholic priest from the small town of Dolores, Mexico delivered a speech known as the Grito de Dolores ("Cry of/from Dolores") at his church. The event became the start of the Mexican War of Independence (1810-1822) and the Grito de Delores became the battle cry of the Mexican War of Independence. 

“My Children, a new dispensation [system of government] comes to us today…Will you free yourselves? Will you recover the lands stolen 300 years ago from your forefathers by the hated Spaniards? We must act at once.” - Father Hidalgo, Sept 16, 1810

Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla who led the Mexican independence movement against Spanish rule in 1810 was a part of one of these rebel groups. Born in May 1753 in Guanajuato, Hidalgo entered the priesthood in 1779. For the next quarter of a century, he performed his duties as a spiritual shepherd, but also read texts on political theory including the works of Enlightenment Thinkers. Hidalgo’s underground independence group read books and discussed emerging ideas on nationalism and political liberty.

When authorities moved to arrest him, he gathered together his followers and his parishioners and issued the “Grito de Dolores” on September 16, 1810. He quickly gathered an insurgent army that rampaged through central Mexico. His army, made up of almost 90,000 poor farmers and civilians was defeated by well trained Spanish troops and Hidalgo was taken prisoner by the Spanish and executed, but others continued the fight for Mexican Independence. 

Inspired by Hidalgo and other revolutionaries like José María Morelos and Vicente Guerrero, and the ideals of the Enlightenment and French Revolution, upper class Creoles who once supported Spain, started to support Mexican Independence. In 1821, an alliance of the Creole upper class, rebel leaders, and the clergy came together led by the General Augustin de Iturbide to drive the Spanish out of Mexico and declared independence on September 27, 1821.