SAN MARTIN, JOSE DE (1778-185o), South American soldier and statesman, was born at Yapeyll, on the river Uru guay, on Feb. 25, 1778. He was educated in Madrid for a military career and served against the Moors and in the struggle against Napoleon. In 1812 he offered his services to the Government of Buenos Aires in its war for independence. Early in 1814 he was placed in command of the revolutionary army operating against the Spaniards in upper Peru, but soon resigned his command, realizing that the permanent success of the revolutionary move ment depended upon the expulsion of the Spaniards from Chile, and also from their stronghold in Peru. To carry out this purpose, he enlisted the co-operation of the Government of Buenos Aires, and, assisted by Bernardo O'Higgins, raised and equipped at Mendoza, a well-trained army of Argentines and Chileans for the invasion of Chile. In Jan. 1817, he suddenly carried his army (3,00o infantry, ',coo cavalry and baggage) across the Andes through the Uspallata pass, outgeneraled the Spanish commanders, and routed a large part of their forces at Chacabuco, on Feb. 12, 1817. Northern Chile, including Santiago, the capital of the country, being now freed of the Spanish, he turned the govern ment over to O'Higgins, and set about the reconquest of the south, which he effected in the decisive victory of Maipa (April 5, 1818), thus completely establishing the independence of Chile.
With half of his programme accomplished, he laid his plans for the attack upon Peru. He not only reorganized the army, but with the aid of Lord Cochrane constructed a fleet to operate simultaneously with it. In July 1821, the Spaniards evacuated
Lima before the combined forces of the army and navy, and retired to the mountains. San Martin entered the city, pro claimed the independence of Peru, and assumed the reins of government under the title of protector. His position, however, was not yet secure. He was threatened by royalist operations in the interior, by jealousy among the patriots, and by the rivalry of Bolivar, whose victories in Colombia and Ecuador had carried him southward to the northern borders of Peru. The great Colombian's ambition could brook no rival, and on Sept. 20, 1822, San Martin, having paved the way for the conclusive victories of Junin (1823) and Ayacucho (1824), resigned his authority and retired from the country. Finding it impossible to live a peaceful private life in South America, he withdrew as an exile to Europe. There he lived in poverty until his death at Boulogne on Aug. 17, 185o, from time to time vainly offering his services to the dis tracted nations he had helped to found.
San Martin did more than any other man for the cause of inde pendence in the Argentine, Chile and Peru. He was an able soldier, and a clear-sighted and vigorous statesman.
See W. S. Robertson, Rise of the Spanish Republics (1918) ; Anna Schoelkopf, Don Jose de San Martin, 1778-185o, A Study of His Career (1924) ; and B. Moses, The Intellectual Background of the Revolution in South America, .T810-1824 (1926). (W. B. P.)