He led the independence war of five countries: Who is Simon Bolivar?

(1783–1830) Venezuelan soldier and politician. He led the independence war of five countries in South and Central America. He was born in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 1783, and died on December 17, 1830, in Santa Marta, Colombia. He was the son of a very wealthy noble family of Basque origin settled in Venezuela. He lost his father when he was three years old, and his mother 6 years later. He was raised by his uncle and took lessons from private teachers. He was greatly influenced by one of his teachers, Simon Rodriguez, and with his help, he got to know Jcan-Jacques Rousseau and 18th-century liberal thought.

In 1799, at the age of 16, he went to Spain with his uncle to complete his education. He married the daughter of a Spanish nobleman in 1801. Together they returned to Caracas. He went back to Europe in 1804 when his wife died a year after their marriage. He was under the influence of the ideas that spread with the French Revolution. He watched Napoleon I's coronation as emperor and admired Napoleon's power.

In Paris, he met his teacher, Simon Rodriguez. With his suggestions, he read the writings of thinkers such as Locke, Hobbes, Buffon, L'Ambert, and Helvetius. Montesquieu and Rousseau shed light on their political views, while Voltaire shed light on their philosophy of life.

He also met the German scientist and traveler Humboldt in Paris. Humboldt, who had just returned from the Spanish colonial region in South and Central America, told Bolivar that the colonial peoples were ready for independence. Significantly impressed by this statement, Bolívar swore to save the American countries before returning to Venezuela in 1807.

In 1808, Napoleon I invaded the Iberian Peninsula. He declared his brother Joseph king of Spain, ending the Bourbon dynasty. The political turmoil in Spain helped to accelerate the independence movements in the Spanish colonies. Bolivar joined groups fighting for independence in Venezuela.

In April 1810, the Spanish viceroy in Caracas was overthrown. A junta of Creoles (second-generation Spaniards born in the colonies) took over. Three months later, Bolivar was sent to England by the junta. Although he tried to get Britain to recognize the new Venezuelan state and to get financial aid at the same time, he couldn't get any results. During his stay in England, he studied the political institutions of the country and saw them as effective tools for ensuring political stability.

He met with the Venezuelan general Francisco de Miranda, who is in exile in England. He persuaded him to return to Caracas to take the lead in the independence movement. Together they returned to Venezuela.

The National Congress convened in Caracas in March 1811 and began work on drafting a constitution. Bolivar was not a delegate at the congress but was heavily involved in political discussions. In a speech he made to the public, he said that for America's independence, it is necessary to decide without fear, that hesitation means extinction.

In July 1811, the independence of Venezuela was declared. Miranda became the commander-in-chief and Bolívar became a colonel in the army. After a while, Miranda and Bolivar fell apart. Miranda saw Bolivar as a dangerous youth, while Bolivar was skeptical of the general's abilities.

Recovering three years after the French occupation, Spain sent an army to America to maintain control over the colonies. Bolivar was tasked with the defense of the port of Puerto Cabello, which is vital to Venezuela. When one of the soldiers betrayed and opened the walls of the port to the Spaniards, Miranda, who was certain of defeat, decided to compromise with Spain without any military intervention.

With the armistice agreement signed in July 1812, Venezuela came under Spanish rule again.

Bolivar went from New Granada (today Colombia) to Cartagena. From here, he published his first important political declaration called “El Manifiesto de Cartagena” and announced that the struggle for independence would continue. He said that their defeat was due to the fact that they could not achieve unity among themselves and that their most important mistake was that they had established a weak and ineffective political system.

With a small army he set up in New Granada, he took action again to save Venezuela. He entered Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, on August 6, 1813, after 6 conflicts with the Spaniards in a row. He received the title "Savior" in a ceremony.

But the royalist forces, with the support of Spain, rebelled against Bolívar's rule. A bloody civil war began. Bolivar called for "fight to the death". The Spaniards provoked the half-wild Ilanero tribe and sent them against the independence fighters. Bolívar was unable to suppress the uprising. In 1814, the Ilaneros entered Caracas and brutally murdered the population.

Bolivar managed to escape to Cartagena. He attacked the Spanish forces in Santa Marta with a small force but was unsuccessful. He went to Jamaica and tried to gain the support of England again. He wrote his famous political article "La Carta de Jamaica" (Letter from Jamaica) in Jamaica. He said that their ties with Spain were broken, they were a world unto themselves, and they could not be considered as Indians or Europeans. people would eventually reach him.

Bolívar argued that to get rid of the colonialists, it was necessary to rise up together, emphasizing the impossibility of any one region gaining and maintaining its independence alone. In “LaCarta de Jamaica”, he expressed his longing for the representatives of the independent states to be established by the Spanish colonies to come together in a congress to be held in Panama and discuss various problems with other countries in the world.

In 1815, Spain sent a large-scale military force against the rebellious colonial peoples. In these circumstances, neither the United States nor Britain responded to Bolivar's request for help. Bolivar went to Haiti, which had gained its independence from the French colony and established a republic.

Bolivar, who received money and weapons from Haiti, started to fight again. For a time no concrete results were achieved, but towards the end of 1817, the capture of the plains south of the Orinoco valley gave him significant gains. He established headquarters in Angostura and began publishing a newspaper. He had a small fleet at his command; Many professional soldiers and officers from Europe, especially England, and Ireland, had joined the army. He had the support of Jose Antonio Paez and Francisco de Paula Santander, who had close relations with the Uaneros living in the region. Through Paez, the Ilaneros joined Bolívar's army.

New Granada was to be liberated first, according to Bolívar's plan of attack in the autumn of 1819 to achieve a definitive result against the Spaniards. The unit under Santander's command combined with Bolívar's army to form a force of 3,400 men. Bolivar had specifically chosen the rainy season to reach Bogota, the capital of New Granada. They crossed overflowing rivers, crossed the snow-capped Andes.

1,000 people died during this grueling march. They made a sudden raid on the Spanish army near Bogotá. After several clashes, on August 7, 1819, the Spanish army and Bolívar's army met in Boyaca. Three days later, the defeated Spanish army and royalist forces left Bogotá, while Bolívar entered the city.

While Bolivar's attack on New Granada went down in history as an important military success, it also marked a turning point in South American history. The congress convened in Angostura in December 1819 and elected Bolivar as head of state and commander-in-chief. Sucre became vice president. Bolivar dreamed of establishing the Great Republic of Colombia, which would include New Granada, Venezuela, and Quito (today Ecuador). Although Venezuela and Quito were under Spanish colonial rule, the congress proclaimed the establishment of the Great Colombian Republic.

In 1820, with the uprising of the Liberals in Spain, Ferdinand VII was removed from the throne and a constitutional republic was returned. The adopted constitution recognized the colonies as part of Spain and gave them representation in the Cortes.

Upon these developments, Bolivar forced Pablo Morillo, the Spanish general in Venezuela, to meet. An armistice was signed in Santa Ana in November 1820.

Six months later the war began again. In June 1821, with the battle of Carabobo, Venezuela's capital Caracas fell into the hands of independent forces. A few months later, a congress convened in Cucuta and began preparations for a constitution for Colombia. Although Bolivar, the president of the congress, did not see the draft constitution as protecting independence, he left Santander in Venezuela before he could prevent the completion of the constitution due to the military reasons that imposed it, and took over the army.

A year later Quito was liberated. Sucre, sailing by sea, entered the capital, winning the battle of Pichincha in May 1822. Thus, the Republic of Greater Colombia gained its full independence, and the new state was recognized by the United States.

On July 28, 1821, the liberator of Chile, Argentine General Jose de San Martin, entered Peru's capital Lima, declared Peru's independence, and was elected vice king. But San Martin's position was not secure enough, as the Spaniards had not fully left Peru by retreating to the highlands. Bolivar and San Martin met in Guayaquil on July 26, 1822, to discuss the future of Peru. What was discussed at this meeting was never conclusive. However, on his return from San Martin Guayaquil, he renounced his viceroy and left Lima, and spent the rest of his life in exile.

Bolivar entered Lima in September 1823. In the summer of 1824, he won the battle of Junin by attacking the Spaniards in Sierra, east of Lima. On December 9, 1824, the troops under the command of Sucre defeated the Spaniards decisively and surrounded the Spanish viceroy with his army.

Bolivar was now the ruler of both Greater Colombia and Peru. Only Upper Peru was under the control of the royalist powers. In April 1825, Sucre liberated this area as well, and the country was named Bolivia in honor of Bolivar.

Bolivar began drafting a constitution for Bolivia. Since he did not find the Cucuta constitution sufficient, he wanted the new constitution to be an example to all countries. This constitution, which remained in force for two years, introduced a lifetime presidency, a powerless legislature, and limited voting rights.

The area now controlled by Bolívar stretched from the Caribbean to the Argentine-Bolivian border. After this stage, Bolivar accelerated his efforts to ensure the alliance of all American countries, which he had dreamed of for a long time. In 1824, treaties of alliance were signed in Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Central America, and the Río de la Plata vehicle, in 1826 a conference was held in Panama to which all American republics were invited. But only Colombia, Peru, Central America, and Mexico sent representatives to the Congress. The US delegation could not reach Panama because it was delayed.

At the Panama Conference, it was decided to establish a joint army and navy by making a confederation agreement, to form a parliament to meet twice a year to represent the federated states, and to resolve interstate disputes through arbitration. Other countries were invited to participate in the resolutions signed by the four countries. None of the decisions taken at the Panama Conference were implemented; countries' tendencies to act independently became widespread. Paez, one of Bolívar's commanders, rebelled against the sovereignty of Greater Colombia in Venezuela. For this reason, a civil war broke out with Santander, who was the vice president of New Granada of the Republic of Great Colombia and had primary authority in the absence of Bolivar. Bolivar, who was in Lima, went to Bogota, the capital of Colombia. Santander favored punishing Paez. Bolivar, on the other hand, felt that it was necessary to appease Paez so as not to undermine Colombian unity. In 1827, a temporary reconciliation was reached between them. While trying to quell unrest in Venezuela, Bolivar was also advocating for a new constitution. He convened a national congress in Ocana in April 1828. The majority of Congress delegates were Liberals, headed by Santander. While Bolívar awaited Congress to remake the Cucuta Constitution into a more conservative one, the Liberals blocked any trend in this direction. Considering that the old constitution was invalid and the new one had not yet been adopted, Bolivar tried to use his authority to restore order. On the night of September 25, 1828, a group that entered the presidential palace wanted to kill Bolívar. Bolivar, who managed to save his life, accused Santander of organizing the assassination and took him out of the country.

In 1829, Peru came to Sucre's aid when it attacked Ecuador. Sucre defeated the Peruvians at Tarqui. A few months later, the uprising of Jose Maria Cordoba, one of Bolívar's famous generals, was suppressed. Opposition to Bolívar was growing, both in the countries he liberated and abroad. France, Britain, and the USA turned down Bolivar's requests for help. Those who adopted liberal views were united in the opinion that Bolivar would establish a dictatorship with the powers he gathered in his hands.

At the end of 1829, Venezuela declared its secession from the Republic of Colombia.

Stating that in May 1830, Spanish America had "fallen into an unmanageable state," Bolivar left Bogota to immigrate to Europe. Arriving on the Atlantic coast, he learned that his greatest aide and best friend, Sucre, had been assassinated. Soon after, there was a military uprising in Bogotá and Bolivar was summoned to the country. Having given up on going to Europe, Bolivar died of tuberculosis in Santa Marta on the way back to Bogota, while he was at the home of a Spaniard on invitation.

The political views of Bolivar, whose name became legendary shortly after his death and who was awarded an award by UNESCO in 1983, are clearly revealed in the declarations he wrote in Cartagena and Jamaica and in the constitution he prepared for Bolivia.

For Bolivar, gaining independence was not enough. It was necessary to establish a strong political system in order to prevent the local colonists from settling in the place vacated by the Spanish rulers after independence. Every Republican wanted unlimited freedom and absolute democracy. But those to be led were not angels but humans.

The Constitution of Bolivia, which he drafted in 1826, gave the head of state the power to serve for life and elect his deputy. Bolivar envisioned a "Moral Power" alongside legislative, executive, and judicial powers. “Moral Strength,” traced in Greek and Roman law, was necessary to create an honest and virtuous society. Alongside the People's Assembly and the Senate, a Censorship Assembly would hold the "Moral Power". Members of the Censor Council would also serve for life, overseeing education, the press, and public servants, and working to advance the arts, sciences, and public morals. The Bolivian Constitution imposes certain limitations on elections, denying the right to vote for the disabled and the illiterate.

Bolivar aimed to unite the 5 countries he liberated under the name of the Republic of the Southern United States and wanted to establish a strong political system in these countries. As his views did not find enough support, his friends, with whom he fought for independence, later opposed him.

In the face of these developments, Bolivar, shortly before his death, said, "There is no faith left in America between people or countries", "the treaties are a piece of paper; the constitution is only a book; choices, fighting; freedom, anarchy; life is a torture”.