Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from house
Speaker 1: stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm Katie Lambert and I'm Sarah Downey. And for our
Speaker 1: subject today, we're gonna be talking about Simone Boulevard. And
Speaker 1: I have a kind of unusual connection to the man.
Speaker 1: I took a stage makeup glass in college and one
Speaker 1: of our units was on facial hair. And for I
Speaker 1: guess the final project for the facial hair unit, we
Speaker 1: had to design our own facial hair. And I didn't
Speaker 1: just want to do a beard or a mustache or
Speaker 1: an ironic. An ironic that's the worst. So I googled
Speaker 1: mutton chops and came up with a big picture of
Speaker 1: Simone Boulevard. It's like, this is my guy. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: replicate this facial hair. I think I did a pretty
Speaker 1: good job of it. It was a little harder to
Speaker 1: make my nose look like this, uh Venezuela in man's nose,
Speaker 1: but you know, I did my best. And she keeps
Speaker 1: saying she'll bring in pictures, but I have yet to
Speaker 1: see any such Now they're they're terrifying. I'm wearing a
Speaker 1: very feminine shirt which does not go with the mutton chop.
Speaker 1: Look beyond his predilection for odd facial hair and lying
Speaker 1: in hammocks, Bolivar was a lot more than that. A
Speaker 1: lot of people call him the George Washington of South America,
Speaker 1: and we're going to start with pretty fantastic quote from him.
Speaker 1: I have been chosen by fate to break your chains,
Speaker 1: and today we'll be talking about independence. So Simolan Bolivar
Speaker 1: was born in in Caracas, and Katie has her own
Speaker 1: personal story about Caracas. To the only reason I know
Speaker 1: so many South American and Central American capitals is because
Speaker 1: my sister, who's a Spanish major, learned some sort of
Speaker 1: sing songy version of all of them. So whenever I
Speaker 1: hear Caracas, it's automatically Caracas, Venezuela and goes into the
Speaker 1: whole Lima, Peru, Bogota, Colombia, until you know, my whole
Speaker 1: family wanted to strangle her. But because of her, I
Speaker 1: know all of these things. It's a useful ear at least,
Speaker 1: thank you to my sister. But back to Bolivart. He
Speaker 1: comes from a rich family, but his parents die when
Speaker 1: he's really young, and like a lot of our subjects recently,
Speaker 1: actually in our our sad childhood series. Um, but he
Speaker 1: also marries a woman who dies young, so he has
Speaker 1: a a tragic youth, I guess, he'd say, but it
Speaker 1: also has a lot of good points. He's very well educated,
Speaker 1: both at home and in Europe, and he had the
Speaker 1: opportunity to acquaint himself with the work of very influential
Speaker 1: Enlightenment writers. So we're kind of setting a foundation here
Speaker 1: for some of his future adventures, and we want to
Speaker 1: give you some background to some social contact for what's
Speaker 1: going on. So to set this scene, we need to
Speaker 1: start with Napoleon. And Napoleon made a lot of European
Speaker 1: powers pretty comfortable. Obviously, he keeps invading the countries, but
Speaker 1: as we mentioned in our episode that we did on
Speaker 1: the Haitian Revolution, Napoleon's effect goes far beyond Europe, and
Speaker 1: it in fact goes all the way to Latin America
Speaker 1: and Bolivar is even at his coronation. Before this, of course,
Speaker 1: we had the American Revolution kicking everything off, and then
Speaker 1: the French Revolution shortly after this. It's all these ideals
Speaker 1: influencing other countries. So it's a period of ideas of
Speaker 1: freedom taking root and turning into bloody revolutions. Now one
Speaker 1: revolution inspiring another. We've got a chain going on here.
Speaker 1: And Spain, of course had colonized large swaps of the
Speaker 1: America's but now Spain has something else on its mind
Speaker 1: besides governing there. They're trying to deal with Napoleon invading
Speaker 1: their country, so you know, after they'd helped him, especially
Speaker 1: ungrateful Napoleon. But if you're in a Spanish colony in
Speaker 1: Spain isn't paying as much attention, It is the perfect
Speaker 1: time to fight for independence, get from under their thumb.
Speaker 1: And that's exactly what Bolivar is thinking in eighteen ten
Speaker 1: when the Spanish governor is kicked out of Venezuela, so
Speaker 1: Bolivar goes to England. He's hoping he can get help,
Speaker 1: because obviously the English don't like the Spanish very much either.
Speaker 1: He doesn't get English help, but he does get Francisco
Speaker 1: de Miranda, who is recruited from England, and he's a
Speaker 1: pretty fascinating revolutionary himself. He'd already been in jail for
Speaker 1: treason and he was generally scheming against Spain, so he
Speaker 1: seems like the perfect guy to be in charge of
Speaker 1: a Venezuelan revolution. Right. So when Venezuela declared independence in
Speaker 1: eighteen eleven, with Bolivar giving lots of good speeches, My
Speaker 1: favorite quote is, let us lay the cornerstone of American
Speaker 1: freedom without fear. To hesitate is to perish. So basically,
Speaker 1: let's go for it. The time is now. But the
Speaker 1: public opinion of Miranda quickly soured, as did Bolivar's opinion
Speaker 1: of him. Bolivar was a lot more extreme. He thought,
Speaker 1: for example, that counter revolutionary should be killed. Well, Miranda
Speaker 1: was a bit more moderate. And then Miranda signed an
Speaker 1: armistice with Spain that basically gave them almost even more
Speaker 1: power than they had to begin with. So that was
Speaker 1: seen as traitorous by the revolutionaries of Bolivar, especially, so
Speaker 1: he and his colleagues made sure Miranda didn't leave the
Speaker 1: country and then handed him over to Spain, and Miranda
Speaker 1: spent the rest of his life in prison. He died there.
Speaker 1: But just because Miranda has blown things, Bolivar is not
Speaker 1: about to get out of the game, and there's still
Speaker 1: a strong push for Venezuelan independence and the fight for
Speaker 1: independence is now Bolivar's personal calling, so he sets off
Speaker 1: for New Granada to sort of plan, his approach, mull
Speaker 1: over the whole thing, and this is where he starts
Speaker 1: writing the pieces that really make his name, in their
Speaker 1: grand political statements, and they speak of his dreams for
Speaker 1: the continent and the need for a strong government, really
Speaker 1: inspirational writing. Especially, he thought maybe the reason that it
Speaker 1: fell to begin with was because they didn't have a
Speaker 1: strong government. So this will be something that he maintains
Speaker 1: throughout his his quest, a revision in his in his
Speaker 1: way of thinking. But he thinks it's time at this
Speaker 1: point to get back to Venezuela um and get back
Speaker 1: again against the Spanish and the loyalists. And he won
Speaker 1: in eighteen thirteen, and the whole country called him the
Speaker 1: liberator and he became their dictator. But again this this
Speaker 1: doesn't last. And if you remember our podcast on Tusson
Speaker 1: Liverature and the Haitian Revolution, that's just kind of the
Speaker 1: way it goes. You win, some lose, some couple steps forward,
Speaker 1: a couple of steps changed his hands every every few months, practically,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of turmoil and a revolution, and Spain
Speaker 1: takes back Venezuela and they've got cowboys on their side
Speaker 1: this time, and they're very vicious cowboys. Don't think of
Speaker 1: some romantic western movie. They're actually called the Legion of Hell,
Speaker 1: and for very good reason. And Bolivar is forced to
Speaker 1: leave the country in in the face of these new
Speaker 1: cowboy arrivals, and he starts writing again, setting down what
Speaker 1: he thinks will be the best government, you know, making
Speaker 1: more revisions, and he's thinking something along the line of
Speaker 1: Great Britain's government with the different houses. Yeah, with the
Speaker 1: houses and all that. But a different and rather unusual twist,
Speaker 1: and that's that he thinks Venezuela should have a president
Speaker 1: for life. Yeah, that's his idea of a strong government.
Speaker 1: And of course, you know the president's got to be him, right, Well,
Speaker 1: it only makes sense. But at this point Spain starts
Speaker 1: upping the antie. Their Legion of Hell is not enough,
Speaker 1: and they send a guy named Pablo Mario across the
Speaker 1: seas to go and fight Bolivar. And he'd fought in
Speaker 1: the Napoleonic Wars and distinguished himself there, so he's a
Speaker 1: pretty powerful enemy to have. Yeah, and he's gonna hopefully
Speaker 1: show Venezuela that Spain is the boss of them. Bolivar
Speaker 1: is still an exile at this point. He's in Haiti,
Speaker 1: ironically by this point, and he decides it's time to
Speaker 1: head back toward the action. He hears the call of battle,
Speaker 1: and this time he thinks, you know, maybe he's worked
Speaker 1: it all out, Maybe things are going to be different.
Speaker 1: So he heads to New Granada, which now is Colombia,
Speaker 1: and stakes out a spot, sets up shop, and develops
Speaker 1: his plan to liberate this country. So he recruits soldiers,
Speaker 1: he selects a capital, and once he's organized, he starts
Speaker 1: talking to other revolutionary groups and spreading propaganda about his
Speaker 1: own successes. And never underestimate the power of propaganda when
Speaker 1: you're telling people about all these victories and making sure
Speaker 1: it spreads throughout the country, whether those victories are real
Speaker 1: or not, they inspire a certain sentiment in the people.
Speaker 1: And if you're going to set yourself up as president
Speaker 1: for life eventually, you better be good at propaganda. So
Speaker 1: this is it, This is his moment, and this leads
Speaker 1: us to what a lot of historians call the boldest
Speaker 1: military campaign ever, or at least one of the boldest.
Speaker 1: So he has a small army and they've got impossible
Speaker 1: odds in front of them. The place they want to
Speaker 1: get to or the place they think they can succeed
Speaker 1: as the most lightly guarded by the Spanish. But to
Speaker 1: get there they have to cross basically impassable terrain. They're
Speaker 1: going through the andies, which you know, freezing to death,
Speaker 1: not bringing a lot of food. They're going through floods,
Speaker 1: they're going through swampland they just have a few of them.
Speaker 1: Their horses are drowning, they're freezing, they're starving, and they
Speaker 1: make it somehow. They beat the Spanish there, and they
Speaker 1: beat the entire Spanish army there in nineteen It's so
Speaker 1: surprising that they made it. And of course they're they're
Speaker 1: going to the most lightly guarded part, but but the
Speaker 1: Spanish are so surprised to see them. They never thought
Speaker 1: they'd make it there. And after this, South America will
Speaker 1: never be the same. And that's not hyperbole, it's true.
Speaker 1: So now that Bolivard has arrived and he's amid all
Speaker 1: this chaos, it's time to establish some structure. They don't
Speaker 1: want things to fall apart again like they did last time.
Speaker 1: And with Bolivar in charge, he tries to set up
Speaker 1: a republic, tries to bring order to just this this
Speaker 1: chaotic land. But while all of this is happening, we're
Speaker 1: still fighting. You have to remember that through all of this,
Speaker 1: as cities and countries are changing hands back and forth,
Speaker 1: the battles don't end. It's supposed that during this there's
Speaker 1: something like seven hundred battles in this fight for independence. Um.
Speaker 1: But Bolivard met with Mario in eighteen twenty for a treaty.
Speaker 1: Both sides decided there should be six months of peace,
Speaker 1: you know, and after that all bets are off. But
Speaker 1: during those six months, that's the way it's going to be.
Speaker 1: When it's over, Bolivard battles again and manages to free Venezuela,
Speaker 1: which of course had been his dream. That's that's his home.
Speaker 1: So it was a big deal for him. And in
Speaker 1: the midst of all this fighting, as a side note,
Speaker 1: he met a woman named Manuelis Ends who was pretty
Speaker 1: much the love of his life. And you know, well,
Speaker 1: Bolivard apparently comes back pretty strong from the six months
Speaker 1: of peace because in addition to liberating Venezuela, as you
Speaker 1: just mentioned, by the end of it all, we have Columbia, Ecuador,
Speaker 1: and Panama all free. In a series of battles which
Speaker 1: there's so many, we're not going to go into details
Speaker 1: about all of them. It would be a lot of
Speaker 1: back and forth. But but that's the end score and
Speaker 1: still missing as Peru. But that enormous amount of territory,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's a large part of South America
Speaker 1: is not enough for Boulevard. He wants more and he
Speaker 1: has bigger dreams, but there is a possible obstacle to
Speaker 1: freeing Peru. There's another revolutionary, Jose de Saint Martin, who's
Speaker 1: from Argentina, and he's been just as awesome as Boulivard
Speaker 1: at fighting, but he's been doing it in the south.
Speaker 1: So he's basically doing the same thing that Boulevard was doing,
Speaker 1: just in the southern part of the continent. And that
Speaker 1: puts the two a bit at odds because they're both
Speaker 1: such strong, charismatic, powerful people, but they have slightly different
Speaker 1: ideas of how this all should go. So they have
Speaker 1: a meeting that we don't have any records from. But
Speaker 1: after this, Saint Martin stepped aside, perhaps because he thought
Speaker 1: Bolivar was the better man for the job, by which
Speaker 1: we mean ruling an entire continent president for life, but
Speaker 1: leaving Bolivar to go it alone and Bolivar goes on
Speaker 1: to win Peru's independence in eighteen four, or at least
Speaker 1: part of it. We still had Upper Peru left, but
Speaker 1: his army ended up conquering that as well, and now
Speaker 1: it's the country of Bolivia named after our dear Bolivar.
Speaker 1: But again, the government that he sets up, which is,
Speaker 1: you know, with him as lifetime president, has nothing to
Speaker 1: do with the ideals that he's espoused in all of
Speaker 1: his writings, which is kind of weird, don't you think.
Speaker 1: I was wondering if it had something to do with
Speaker 1: the whole Napoleon thing, you know, the man Napoleon was,
Speaker 1: as in the man Napoleon became and his his ideas
Speaker 1: versus who he actually was exactly that That's that's my
Speaker 1: current theory. But as far as political power goes, at
Speaker 1: this point, saman Bolivar was on top of the world.
Speaker 1: And another cool thing that he wanted to do was
Speaker 1: bring all of South America together, like as a continent,
Speaker 1: you know, not as as separate countries. Think of kind
Speaker 1: of a league of nations, like there would be strength
Speaker 1: in unity. Well, that idea obviously didn't gell but it
Speaker 1: was pretty revolutionary. I mean started to say revolutionary and
Speaker 1: everything he did as a revolutionary, but I mean it
Speaker 1: is it's way before before his time, so he set
Speaker 1: a standard there After this, his influence declined as well
Speaker 1: as his health, and Civil War and various other fights
Speaker 1: took something out of him. An assassination attempt was made,
Speaker 1: but it was tuberculosis that killed him in eighteen thirty.
Speaker 1: And another interesting thing we were reading about we should
Speaker 1: mention that he was an abolitionists who freed his own
Speaker 1: slaves but didn't pass any sort of abolition loss. We
Speaker 1: were wondering what you all thought about that, if you'd
Speaker 1: like to email us at History Podcast at how stuff
Speaker 1: works dot com. Because of course, he had the idea
Speaker 1: that South Americans were slaves to Spain, so maybe he
Speaker 1: thought that was far enough. I'm not sure, so as
Speaker 1: und us your thoughts. Yeah, we'd also like to emphasize
Speaker 1: just how daring he is, I mean facial hair choices aside,
Speaker 1: in some of these fights, he is so outnumbered, ridiculously outnumbered,
Speaker 1: and his armies, you know, ragtag bands, old weaponry, bad equipment,
Speaker 1: and they're fighting bloody battles on several fronts. So he
Speaker 1: himself has to deal with all the internal fighting that's
Speaker 1: always going on with rebellions. Uh, I mean you remember
Speaker 1: the Taiping rebellion, that kind of thing, in addition to
Speaker 1: to fighting the cowboys and and the Spanish. So it's
Speaker 1: pretty amazing that he's able to prevail through all of
Speaker 1: this when it must have seen completely impossible. Well, but
Speaker 1: even when they lost over and over again, they just
Speaker 1: came back because the fight for independence was that important.
Speaker 1: And I don't want to romanticize war, but there's something
Speaker 1: about this story that's just very stirring to me. And
Speaker 1: we'd like to end with a great quote from Bolivar.
Speaker 1: People that love freedom will in the end be free.
Speaker 1: And that wraps up our story and brings us to
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