BOLIVAR, SIMON (1783-183o), soldier and statesman, leader of the revolutions which resulted in the independence from Spain of what are now Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and Bolivia, was born in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 24, 1783, and died, at the age of 47, near Santa Marta, in the republic of Colombia. Officially invested with the title of Libertador by the congresses of all of the above countries, founder of Greater Colombia, which he created out of the revolted colonies, hero of over 200 bloody battles, dictator president of the nation whose name (Bolivia) was adopted during his lifetime, Bolivar's life presents one of history's most colossal personal canvases of ad venture and tragedy, glory and defeat. His activities covered an immense area of untracked wilderness, whose mere crossing with his armies entailed problems that would give pause to the ablest modern general with every facility at his command. Boli var's written records, in his various addresses, proclamations and letters present the clearest picture of the conditions of the Spanish colonies at the time of the revolution that are to be found in any historical record ; his analyses of the conditions of the colonials and of their political needs and destiny mark him as the wisest of the observers of his time, and a prophet who foresaw with rare precision the trend of the struggle for democracy in every political unit of the old Spanish empire in America. His plans of govern ment were far in advance of his time and to this day offer some of the clearest solutions of the needs and difficulties of government in the countries he freed. While violently criticized both during his life and since his death, Bolivar is recognized as one of the world geniuses of the revolutionary era of the late 18th and early 19th centuries; although perhaps not a military commander of the first order, his political acumen decided the time and manner of the attacks which other military leaders of the revolutions in northern South America carried through to ultimate success. His use of the limited facilities in officers, men and materials which were available to him in the thinly populated wilderness of northern South America make his achievements, both in war and state craft, the marvel of those who read his history.
Bolivar was born to aristocracy and wealth, on July 24, 1783, in Caracas, Venezuela, his father being Juan Vicente Bolivar y Ponte, and his mother Maria de la Concepcion Palacios y Blanco. His father, who was of the nobility of Spain and owner of large tracts of land and many slaves in Venezuela, died when Simon Bolivar was very young; his mother died when he was 15. His uncle and guardian, Carlos Palacios, then sent him to study in Madrid, Spain, where, in 1801, he was married to Maria Teresa Toro, niece of the marquis of Toro, a resident of Caracas and a friend of the Bolivar family. Ten months after their return to Venezuela his wife died of yellow fever, in Jan. 1803.
After her death Bolivar returned again to Europe, where, in 18o5, on Mount Aventin at Rome, he pledged himself to his old friend and tutor, Simon Rodriguez, to devote his life to the freeing of Venezuela from Spain. He returned to Venezuela by way of the United States, visiting the eastern cities and meeting many Americans. He arrived in Caracas at the end of 1806. The Venezuelan revolution against Spain, like many of the revolutions in the Spanish colonies, had its genesis in the bitter quarrel be tween King Charles IV. and his son, Ferdinand VII., out of which Napoleon profited so largely. Bolivar and friends of his social group were the members of the Caracas junta favouring the res toration of Ferdinand after the crowning of Joseph Bonaparte as King of Spain. This junta, on April 19, 181o, forced the captain general, Vicente Emparan, to abdicate and thereupon formed the first locally chosen government in Spanish America.
Bolivar was sent to England as the diplomatic representative of the new Government. On his return he brought with him Fran cisco Miranda, the Venezuelan soldier of fortune who had fought under Washington and in the campaigns of Napoleon, and who held the rank of general in the emperor's armies. Miranda took an active part in the early campaigns of the Venezuelan revolution, while Bolivar entered at once into the political arena, and in one of his earliest recorded addresses advocated the change in objec tive which resulted in the declaration of Venezuelan independence (July 5, 1811). The adoption of a federal (or decentralized) type of republic, although opposed by Bolivar, took place within a few months, and the name of Colombia was chosen for the federation of freed colonies that was yet to be.
On Aug. 6, 1813, Bolivar marched into Caracas, after covering 1,2onkm., fighting six pitched battles, destroying five royalist military units, and capturing 5o cannon and three ammunition depots in a period of 90 days. In Caracas he announced for the first time the personal position which he repeated many times afterward—that he sought no office and would accept none except ing "the post of danger at the head of the soldiers." Bolivar was given the official title of "Liberator" and himself established the "Military Order of the Liberators of Venezuela," in honour of his fellow revolutionaries.
The months following the successful campaign into Venezuela were filled with bloody and heroic battles. Ghastly reprisals, on both sides, took place, the bitterest opponents of the revolution aries being the llaneros or plainsmen from the Orinoco led by a former pirate who called himself Boves. The battle of Araure, on Dec. 5, 1813, closed a year of notable successes for Bolivar with the virtual destruction of the royalist army of 3,500 men. The dispersed royalist units faded away, but the army of the plains, led by Boves, was an element which brought on the disasters of the year 1814. Boves was defeated in his first attack against an entrenched force of revolutionaries, at La Victoria, Feb. 52, 1814, but the discovery, after the repulse, of the horrors which his men had committed in defenceless villages apparently caused the order issued by Bolivar for the execution of 886 Spanish prisoners at La Guaira, an act which has been the subject of severest criticism, although defended by Bolivar's admirers as a justified reprisal.
The two battles of San Mateo came in March of 1814, and re sulted in victories for Bolivar. Bolivar returned to the coast, where he met the Spaniards and royalists in the first battle of Carabobo, fought on May 28, 1814. It was a notable, but not a decisive, victory for Bolivar for the victory was followed quickly by a defeat at the first battle of La Puerta, on June 15, 1814, when Boves obtained his revenge for San Mateo in a victory which scattered the revolutionaries and led finally to Boves entering Caracas. He followed his atrocities there with the massacre of 3,500 of the refugees from the capital at Aragua after defeating Bolivar and his army of 3,00o with a force estimated to have num bered 8,000 to 1 o,000. Bolivar, in disgrace and amidst the insults of his officers, left Venezuela for Cartagena, leaving, however, a proclamation analyzing the basis of the failure, that is, the opposi tion of the very native-born to whom he sought to give independ ence. Meanwhile, Venezuela was again completely in the hands of the Spaniards.
Bolivar arrived in Cartagena on Sept. 25, 1814. He proceeded to Tunja, the seat of the revolutionary Government of Nueva Granada, to report the success, and later failure, of his campaign in Venezuela. He was received with honours everywhere.
Congress entrusted Bolivar with the task of liberating Santa Fe de Bogota, which he carried by assault and turned over to the congress, which moved from Tunja to the beautiful city that is still the capital of modern Colombia. Bolivar was then ordered to proceed again to the coast and to capture Santa Marta, the last stronghold of the Spaniards in Nueva Granada. Delays and in trigues interfered, and the attack was not made until Spanish re inforcements had arrived, and Bolivar was defeated with the loss of i.000 men and ioo guns.
Disgusted and disappointed, Bolivar resigned his command and sailed for Jamaica, again issuing a proclamation in which he warned against the disunion of the revolutionaries, pointing out that "No tyrant has been destroyed by your arms; they have been stained with the blood of brothers in two struggles that have pro duced in us an equal sorrow." While in exile in Jamaica, Bolivar wrote, on Sept. 6, 1815, the famous "Jamaica letter," which ana lyzes the causes of failure, and sets down the reasons for his hope for final success.
The following months were crowded with intrigue in the revolu tionary ranks. Bolivar retired to Venezuelan Guiana, where a few loyal followers (including Antonio Jose Sucre, one day to be his ablest officer and most loyal friend and hero of the great decisive battle of Ayacucho) surrounded him. The fall of Angostura, on the Orinoco, placed Bolivar in a favourable position, and, more important, he found the tables turned, with the llaneros (Boves was now dead) following Jose Antonio Paez to the support of the revolutionary cause. Angostura now became the capital of the revolutionary Government, and Bolivar, as its head, organized a skeleton of civil administration. Small engagements and heroic and colourful skirmishes took place, with Bolivar living the life of the llaneros and finally penetrating into La Victoria, between Valencia and Caracas, where he called all able-bodied men to his colours. The Spanish commander, Pablo Morillo (whose arrival in Nueva Granada over three years before had brought about Bolivar's defeat and his exile to Jamaica) forced Bolivar to battle at La Puerta, on March 15, 1818, and in this second battle there defeated the revolutionary army and routed it, Bolivar himself be ing wounded. This was the darkest hour of the revolution in Ven ezuela, but Bolivar took the occasion to write to the revolution aries of Argentina his hope and expectation that Venezuela would yet invite them to join her in the "Unity of South America," and to send a message to Nueva Granada, promising the revolution aries there the aid of the Venezuelans in expelling the Spaniards, who were again in control in the viceroyalty.
On May 25, 1819, Bolivar set out on another of the exploits which mark his career. With the newly formed but well-disciplined "foreign legion" composed largely of British and Irish veterans of the European wars, and with a reduced army of Venezuelans (in all about 2,5oo men) Bolivar started across the Andes towards Nueva Granada, to fulfil his promise of aid and rescue. Leaving the tropic plains along a route now covered by an automobile road but then passable on foot and hardly at all with animals, the "Army of Liberation" climbed to the freezing Andean passes where the icy "paramo" blows beneath the burning sun. The sol diers, their clothing worn or torn from them in crossing the flooded plains of the rainy season of the Orinoco basin, passed through the tortures of this march and arrived, worn and wasted, in the sunny savannas of Nueva Granada, only to learn that a royalist army of 5,000 men was on its way to meet them. With three days to prepare, Bolivar found arms and horses, met and routed the advance guards of the enemy and finally, at Boyaca, on Aug. 7, 1819, defeated decisively the main Spanish force. Boyaca proved the blow that broke the hold of Spain on Nueva Granada.
In Bogota, Bolivar was received with tumultuous acclaim, money and men were put at his disposal for the relief of Vene zuela, and he was officially invested with the title of Liberator of Nueva Granada. The whole of the former viceroyalty was cleared of royalist control in a relatively rapid succession of victories and surrenders. Francisco de Paula Santander, the great Colombian hero, was appointed vice-president of Nueva Granada under Bolivar. Meanwhile, Bolivar, learning of dissensions and disloyal ties in Angostura, returned over the same difficult road to the Venezuelan revolutionary capital, appeared before the Venezuelan congress on Dec. 14, to report formally the results of the expedi tion to Nueva Granada and to urge the proclamation of the new republic of Colombia, including Nueva Granada and Venezuela. On Dec. 17, 1819, the republic was proclaimed, with Venezuela, Nueva Granada and Quito (now Ecuador) as its constituent parts, and Bolivar as its president.
At this juncture Maracaibo, long the stronghold of the royalists, openly declared its adherence to the revolution, and Manuel de Latorre, the Spanish commander who had succeeded Morillo on the latter's voluntary retirement, believed that Bolivar had broken the armistice by working to bring about the defection of Mara caibo. This was denied by Bolivar, and arbitration was offered, but refused by the Spanish commander. Events then led rapidly to the decisive battle of the Venezuelan revolution. Bolivar sum moned his forces and moved against Caracas. The two armies met on the plains of Carabobo for the second time, Bolivar attack ing at A.M. on June 24, 182i. In one hour's battle the Span iards were defeated, the foreign legion and the llaneros playing decisive roles in the final result. The second battle of Carabobo was recognized, even then, as the turning point of the struggle for Venezuelan independence, as Boyaca was in the war in Nueva Granada.
Meanwhile, a new Colombian congress had convened at Cucuta and again Bolivar offered his resignation as president and again was refused, although he declared at that time he feared peace more than war (owing to looming discords and the necessity of finding employment for the active leaders of war). He also pro posed treaties to the other Latin-American republics, recognizing the former lines of the colonial divisions as the national bound aries, maintaining the sovereignty of the new States but uniting them in "perpetual confederation" and establishing an assembly of plenipotentiaries which should serve as a council, a point of contact, and as an "arbitral judge and conciliator of their disputes and differences." During this time the tide of battle turned southward. Bolivar had sent Sucre by sea to Guayaquil, which was not included in the armistice, and now he himself planned to march overland to Quito, to complete the liberation of what is now Ecuador. En route south for this purpose he received word of the liberation of Panama, the last province of Nueva Granada to overthrow the Spanish rule. Bolivar began his march southward from Cali on March 8, 1822, with 2,000 men. The Spaniards, from the fortified town of Pasto, met the revolutionary army with a force slightly superior, at Bombona, on April 7, 1822. The revolutionaries were victorious in a battle which lasted into the night, and Pasto was occupied on June 8. On May 24, 1822, Sucre had fought the de cisive battle of Pichincha and had entered Quito the following day. Bolivar joined Sucre in Quito, but on July departed for Guaya quil, where some unrest was manifest in the revolutionary groups, as the issue was already joined as to whether Quito and Guaya quil should join Colombia, remain independent or join Peru.
Jose de San Martin (q.v.), the hero of the independence of Argentine and Chile and "Protector" of Peru, on July 26, arrived at Guayaquil to meet and confer with Bolivar. What transpired at that conference was never known, but when San Martin re turned to Peru, he resigned his post as "Protector" of Peru, with drew from Lima, sailed for Chile and thence proceeded to Argen tina, never again to appear in revolutionary annals. San Martin's withdrawal from Peru as well as Guayaquil was apparently a sur prise to Bolivar, and on the repeated invitations of the local revo lutionaries Bolivar finally sailed southward, arriving at Callao on Sept. 1, 1823. There he was again invested with the title of "Liberator," and called upon to lead the struggle against the Spanish viceroy, who was said to have 36,00o European troops at his command. Bolivar waited for his Colombians to cross the Andes and took time to train, partially, an army of some 4,000 Peruvians, giving him a total of between 8,000 and 1 o,000 men. The Spaniards were about 9,00o in number, 2,000 being cavalry. The battle of Junin was joined at 4 o'clock in the afternoon of Aug. 6, 1824, and was fought entirely by cavalry with sabres, not a shot being fired. The result was a bloody victory for the revolutionaries, Junin being regarded as the turning point of the struggle for the control of Peru.
In Jan. 1826 Bolivar returned to Peru, reported to the congress on his work in the south, and after a short stay, started on his re turn to Colombia. There, in the defection of the commanders he had left in Venezuela, had already begun the long series of civil wars which were to mar the first half century of Latin Ameri can independence. He arrived in Bogota in the middle of Novem ber. He remained only two days, and continued on his way to Venezuela. En route he called a Venezuelan constitutional congress to meet in Valencia on Jan. 15, 1827. Paez, the leader of the revolt against the union and Bolivar, accepted the offer of amnesty and friendship from Bolivar, the clouds passed, and the Liberator again entered Caracas in triumph. His leniency toward Paez ir ritated Nueva Granada, and the movement to break up Colombia into its original parts gained headway in Nueva Granada as well as in Venezuela. Finally, in 1828, after 14 years as supreme chief and president of Nueva Granada, Bolivar's resignation was ac cepted by congress, at his request and in the face of criticism and intrigue by his enemies and others ambitious for power.
Bolivar's resignation did not quiet the opposition, and threats from many quarters, including Santander himself, caused Bolivar to return to Bogota at the head of an army and again assume the supreme power, a step which has given weight to the assertions of his enemies that he clung to his power for personal reasons. He arrived in Bogota on Sept. io, 1828, and called a general con vention to meet in Ocala. This assembled on April 9, and despite Bolivar's appeals and efforts for unity, his own followers with drew leaving the convention without a quorum. Bogota remained loyal to the Liberator and various cities of Nueva Granada, Guayaquil and Venezuela sent memorials asking that he retain his office in order to maintain the union. On Sept. 25, 1828, a plot against Bolivar's life was hatched in Bogota, the Liberator escaping but some of his guards falling in his defence. Santander and others were arrested and sentenced to death as leaders of the conspiracy, but were banished instead, through the mediation of Bolivar.
The year 1829 opened with plans for an expedition into Peru, which had turned on Colombia, after ousting Sucre from Bolivia. Marching southward once more, Bolivar met Sucre at Quito, and at Guayaquil recovered the territory taken by Peru without fight ing, owing to changes in the attitude of the revolutionaries in Lima, and the recall of La Mar, the leader of the expedition against Colombia. Meanwhile, however, trouble was brewing again in Nueva Granada and Venezuela, and Bolivar, who had been critically ill in Guayaquil, turned back northward for the last time. He reached Bogota on Jan. 183o, and there turned over the presidency to Sucre. Paez, in Venezuela, had in the meantime begun a new agitation for separation from Colombia, and war was urged against Bolivar as the proposer and creator of the Colombian union. A peace commission, headed by Sucre, was not allowed to pass the Venezuelan border and Paez prepared for a campaign to "free" Nueva Granada from the grasp of the "tyrant" Bolivar. On April 27, 183o, Bolivar resigned, again, the supreme power which he had temporarily assumed in the hope of pacifying the Venezuelans. His resignation was accepted and on May 8, 183o, he left Bogota for Cartagena, intending to take ship there for Jamaica or Europe.
He passed from town to town, honoured and feted, but was forced to wait in Cartagena, because of lack of funds to pay his passage on shipboard, his great personal fortune having been finally dissipated in the cause of the revolution. At Cartagena he heard of the murder of Sucre on June 4, this information being probably the last blow to the rapidly failing chieftain. Tubercu losis, which had long been developing, was given new impetus by a severe cold. Still, calls came for him to assume leadership once more against the elements that were breaking up the union for which he had fought and planned. Finally, seeking a change of climate, he went to a country place, San Pedro Alejandrino, three miles outside Santa Marta, where he died—after issuing one more proclamation from his deathbed—on Dec. 17, 183o.
Twelve years after his death, Bolivar's remains were carried to Caracas, where they lie in the national pantheon, on one side the empty tomb commemorating Francisco Miranda, and on the other that in which the remains of Sucre are to rest when they are re turned by Ecuador to Venezuela.