Jorge Montt Álvarez

Jorge Montt Álvarez

Jorge Montt Álvarez (born April 26, 1845 in Casablanca , † October 9, 1922 in Santiago de Chile ) was a Chilean officer and politician . From 1891 to 1896 he was President of his country.

Life

Montt entered the newly established Chilean Naval School in 1858. In 1861, at the age of 15, he was accepted into the regular naval service and took part in the war against Spain on the island of Chiloé in 1865/1866 . He then served in the Ministry of the Navy.

He married Leonor Frederick, with whom he had three daughters. When the Saltpeter War broke out , he commanded his own ship. In this war, the Chilean superiority at sea was the decisive advantage over the war opponents Peru and Bolivia . Montt took part in two victorious naval battles and the sieges of Iquique and Arica and was promoted to fleet commander.

Between 1884 and 1887 he toured Europe and on his return took over the office of Naval Governor of Valparaíso .

In the Chilean civil war at the end of the presidency of José Manuel Balmaceda in 1891, Montt played a decisive role: The uprising against the Balmacedists started in January from an uprising of the fleet that Montt commanded. By April 1891, the northern provinces were occupied by the insurgents and a junta of Jorge Montt, Ramón Barros Luco and Waldo Silva formed in Iquique , a provisional government, the rebel army units had to themselves until at the Battle of Placilla on August 28, 1891 had achieved victory.

Montt led the victorious rebels to Santiago de Chile and temporarily took over the presidency there. Political life quickly calmed down and parliament was working again. The Alianza Liberal had a two-thirds majority in Congress, while the opposition third fell to the Conservatives.

The Liberals made Jorge Montt their presidential candidate. Montt had hesitated at first, fearing that his country would be portrayed badly abroad if he of all people, the victorious revolutionary by force of arms, were to offer himself as a democratic candidate. In the end he ran anyway and won the elections on December 26, 1891.

Not belonging to any party himself, Montt made quick efforts to reconcile the country after the civil war. He exercised great restraint in relation to the parliamentary majority and submitted to the predominance of the people's representatives in a parliamentary system of government. When the Balmacedists organized themselves again two years after the civil war, Montt spoke out in favor of tolerating them.

In 1893 the Chilean electoral law was fundamentally reformed. The weight of the urban population compared to the rich landowners increased significantly and the dominant role of the "oligarchs", the handful of long-established families who had until then determined the fate of the country, was significantly reduced.

A constitutional reform strengthened the role of parliament: from now on the Senate had to approve the appointment of high-ranking diplomats.

In terms of economic policy, Montt opened Chile to foreign investors - especially from Germany and the USA - who soon took over the majority of the saltpeter companies. Despite his efforts to preserve the precious metal content of the coin currency and thereby limit inflation , the budget deficit and foreign debt rose significantly by the end of Montt's reign.

In the fall of 1896 he handed over the presidency to his elected successor, Federico Errázuriz Echaurren , and resumed his service in the Navy, this time with the rank of Vice-Admiral.

In 1897 he traveled again to Europe, in 1898 he was appointed Commander in Chief of the Navy. In 1913 Jorge Montt retired due to old age. From 1915 to 1918 he was elected Mayor of Valparaíso . Jorge Montt died in 1922.

Web links

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