How did San Martín's army cross the Andes into Chile?
San Martín crosses the Andes
El cruce de los Andes y la independencia de Chile
January 1817–5 April 1818. After the patriots' defeat at Rancagua in 1814 and the Spanish reconquest of Santiago, Chilean exiles led by Bernardo O'Higgins joined José de San Martín in…
Where: Río de la Plata, Chile, Argentina
What happened
After the patriots' defeat at Rancagua in 1814 and the Spanish reconquest of Santiago, Chilean exiles led by Bernardo O'Higgins joined José de San Martín in Mendoza, where he spent two years building the Army of the Andes: more than 5,000 people in all, about 4,000 of them soldiers, with mules, cannon carried in pieces and a plan to cross by several passes at once. In January and February 1817 the columns climbed over the cordillera and came down into Chile, and on 12 February 1817 they defeated the royalists at Chacabuco and entered Santiago. O'Higgins signed Chile's declaration of independence a year later, on 12 February 1818, and the royalist army was finally beaten at Maipú on 5 April 1818. San Martín then turned to Peru.
Say it
En 1817 San Martín cruzó los Andes con más de cinco mil personas.
In 1817 San Martín crossed the Andes with more than five thousand people.
Why it matters
The crossing is the great shared epic of Argentina and Chile, taught in both countries and painted on both sides of the mountains. It made independence a continental campaign rather than a series of local risings.
Read about it
- San Martín cruza los Andes — San Martín crosses the Andes
- O'Higgins y la independencia de Chile — O'Higgins and Chilean independence
Connected
- The independence of Spanish America (1808–1826)
- Independence declared at Tucumán (9 July 1816)
- Independence declared at Tucumán (9 July 1816)
- San Martín proclaims Peru's independence (28 July 1821)
- San Martín proclaims Peru's independence (28 July 1821)
Sources
- El Ejército Libertador — Memoria Chilena, Biblioteca Nacional de Chile