San Martín: Argentine Soldier, American Hero
2012; Liverpool University Press; Volume: 89; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1478-3398
Autores Tópico(s)Argentine historical studies
ResumoJohn Lynch, San Martin: Argentine Soldier, American Hero. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. 2009. 259 pp. ISBN 978-0-300-12643-3.No less than 51 years after the publication of his first major monograph (on the intendant system in the viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata), John Lynch (b. 1927) again turns his attention to the future Argentina in this outstanding biography of Jose de San Martin (1778-1850). It comes hard upon the heels of his biography of the other great hero of the revolutionary period, Simon Bolivar, published in 2006, also by Yale University Press. For once the publisher's blurb is accurate. This is, indeed, 'the first full English-language biography of San Martin in more than half a century', which 'turns the spotlight on one of the most contradictory and complex characters' of the period. A man very different from the flamboyant, self-confident, arrogant Bolivar, who at the one and only encounter between them - at Guayaquil in July 1822 - allegedly toasted San Martin with 'to the two greatest men in America, General San Martin and myself'.The opening chapter covers San Martin's life in Spain, where he was taken as an infant by his peninsular-born parents from his birthplace, the remote settlement of Yapeyu in the province of Corrientes; eventually, in 1789, he embarked upon a 22-year-long career in the peninsular army, which included active service in North Africa, against France in 1793-1795 and 1808-1811, and against Portugal in 1801 and 1807. In 1811 he was allowed to resign his commission, prior to leaving Cadiz for London, where, during a stay of four months he met prominent supporters of Spanish American Independence, including Andres Bello and the brother and secretary of Mariano Moreno, one of the principal architects of the May 1810 Revolution in Buenos Aires. What motivated him to abandon Spain and offer his support to the revolutionary cause in the Rio de la Plata is not entirely clear; Lynch suggests a combination of disillusionment with Spain's prospects, a quest for his own identity, and some resentment of the reality that American-born Spaniards who made their careers in Spain suffered a subtle form of discrimination, grounded in the possibility of racial impurity, from their peninsular counterparts.Having sailed for Buenos Aires in January 1812, San Martin quickly established himself in porteno society, thanks in part to his marriage to the daughter of a wealthy merchant, but particularly to the influence of Carlos de Alvear, whom he had first met in Cadiz; he returned the favour by using his newly formed cavalry regiment - the Regimiento de Granaderos a Caballo - to support Alvear's successful bid for political power in October 1812. …
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