Episode 17: José de San Martín: the Hannibal of Latin America?

José de San Martín gained his military experience serving Spain and fighting the French, sometimes with the British, meeting Wellington, Beresford, and Napoleon. Having served for 22 years in the Spanish Army, Jose de San Martin brilliantly led the armies that overthrew the Spanish to liberate the southern countries of South America.

With naval experience, in coordination with former British naval officer Thomas, Lord Cochrane, he worked out how maritime and land forces could support each other, catching the Spanish colonial forces between simulated naval attacks on the one hand and land attacks on the other, forcing them to divide their forces. With technology no different from that available to Hannibal, San Martín crossed the Andes, a mountain range far higher than the Alps (admittedly with horses and mules, not elephants!).

Joining us to talk about this national hero of Argentina, Chile and Peru is Lt Gen Diego Luis Suñer, Chief of the Argentine Army from 2016-2018.

General Suñer joined the Army in 1979 and retired after 40 years' service in which he commanded multinational troops in Ecuador and Peru, attended the United States Army Command and Staff Course and was a professor at the Argentine Army’s Higher School of War.

The views or statements expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the podcast does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. Views and opinions expressed by RUSI employees are those of the employees and do not necessarily reflect the view of RUSI.

Robert Harvey, Liberators: Latin America’s Struggle for Independence 1810-1830, Overlook Press, 2000. Available here.

Manrique Zago, (ed.) José de San Martín: libertado de America. Buenos Aires: Instituto Nacional Sanmartiniano, 1995 (in Spanish)

William H. Gray, ‘The Social Reforms of San Martin’, The Americas, (1950). Vol.7(1), pp.3–11.

John Lynch, San Martín: Argentine Soldier, American Hero, Yale University Press, 2009