José Rondeau

José Rondeau (around 1820)

José Casimiro Rondeau Pereyra (born March 4, 1773 in Buenos Aires , † November 18, 1844 in Montevideo ) was a general and politician in Argentina and Uruguay in the early 19th century and as Director Supremo from June 1819 to February 1820 head of state of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata . He was also elected in December 1828 by the Uruguayan Constituent Assembly as the first governor of Uruguay after the international recognition of independence. In April 1930, shortly before the constitution came into force, he resigned in favor of Juan Antonio Lavalleja .

Life

Rondeau was born in Buenos Aires, but his family moved to Montevideo soon after he was born, where he grew up and went to school. At the age of 20, he joined the army in Buenos Aires, but was soon transferred to a regiment in Montevideo. During the British invasion in 1806 he was captured and sent to England . After the defeat of the British, he was released and went to Spain , where he fought in the Napoleonic Wars . When he returned to Montevideo in 1810, he joined the independence fighters and became their military leader. Through his success in various battles, he finally got the post of military leader in the campaign against the Spanish in Peru, where he replaced José de San Martín , who resigned for health reasons.

In 1815 he was elected Director Supremo de las Provincias Unidas (today's Argentina), but could not exercise this office due to absenteeism and was represented by Ignacio Álvarez Thomas . In 1816 he was relieved of his command after two defeats in Peru against the Spanish in the battles of Venta y Media and Sipe-Sipe . He returned to Buenos Aires, where he served as interim governor from July 5 to July 30, 1818. In 1819 he succeeded Juan Martín de Pueyrredón as Director Supremo de las Provincias Unidas (this time he was able to exercise the office), but had to resign the following year on February 11th after the battle of Cepeda , in which the federalists won the civil war for themselves decided and brought about the dissolution of the centralized directorate in favor of sovereign provincial governments.

In the following years Rondeau withdrew more and more to Montevideo and tried to stay out of the conflicts of the competing generals of the independence movement. Nevertheless, he led some military campaigns against the indigenous people of the Banda Oriental and against Brazil in the wars of independence. On December 1, 1828, after the Treaty of Montevideo, he was appointed by the constituent assembly as the first governor of the Provincia Oriental del Río de la Plata (equivalent to Uruguay). The meeting was divided over the willing and polarizing candidates Fructuoso Rivera and Juan Antonio Lavalleja , so that the politically neutral Rondeau was chosen instead. Until he took office on December 22nd, he was represented by Joaquín Suárez . Rondeau remained in this office from December 22, 1828 to April 17, 1830, until he was persuaded by Lavalleja, who now had the majority in parliament behind him, to resign and recommended him as his successor.

Rondeau, who belonged to the Colorado Partido , continued to serve as a general in the Army on the Colorado side, served as Secretary of War from February 6, 1839 to January 5, 1840, and was killed during the siege of Montevideo in 1844.

See also

• History of Uruguay
• History of Argentina
• List of Presidents of Uruguay
• List of presidents of Argentina

literature

• Jorge Ferrer: Brigadier General Don Jose Casimiro Rondeau , Publisher: Ediciones Ciudad Argentina, o. O. August 1998, ISBN 950-9385-91-3 (in Spanish)

Web links

• short biography (in Spanish)
• longer biography (also in Spanish)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Comandantes FFAA at www.fcs.edu.uy, accessed on February 5, 2014 (XLS)