Manuel Bulnes Prieto

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Manuel Bulnes Prieto (born December 25, 1799 in Concepción , † October 18, 1866 in Santiago de Chile ) was a Chilean politician and general . From 1841 to 1851 he was President of his country.

Life

Manuel Bulnes Prieto, Chilean President from 1841 to 1851

Bulnes was born in Chile to a Spanish officer and raised at home until he was twelve. He then joined the Spanish colonial army as a cadet , in the battalion that his father commanded. Until 1814 he was sent to Santiago de Chile for further training, but left the military school when the Spaniards moved there in the course of Chile's aspirations for independence.

Manuel Bulnes joined the National Guard of the Home Army in Concepción and fought in the Chilean War of Independence against the Spaniards, in whose ranks his father was also. For this he received in 1822 from later national hero Bernardo O'Higgins the admission into the newly founded Chilean Legion of Honor.

In the same year Bulnes' political career began: as an officer he already worked in the provincial administration of Talca and was elected to the Constituent Congress ( Congreso Constituyente ) of 1823. However, he was unable to fulfill his mandate as bandit uprisings in Talca made him indispensable. The hunt for the Pincheira brothers, whom he commanded, did not end until 1831, when Bulnes was already brigadier general.

In 1829 his uncle José Joaquín Prieto Vial convinced him to take part in the uprising against the government of Francisco Ramón Vicuña Larraín . His tactically skilful intervention in the Battle of Ochagavía on December 14, 1829 and in the Battle of Lircay in April 1830 decided the fortunes of war in favor of the rebels.

In the war against the Peruvian - Bolivian Confederation , Bulnes replaced the failed General Manuel Blanco Encalada as commander of the expeditionary army on the orders of José Prieto - the uncle who was now President of Chile. On January 20, 1839, Manuel Bulnes achieved the decisive victory in the siege of Yungay . At home, he was enthusiastically received and appointed to the Council of State, the first step towards the presidential candidacy.

In 1841 he married Enriqueta Pinto Garmendia, the daughter of General Francisco Antonio Pinto . He obtained a majority in the elections, and on September 18, 1841 he took over the presidency of Chile. One of his first official acts included an amnesty and rehabilitation for the domestic political opponents from 1830. The chased revolutionary hero O'Higgins also owed his rehabilitation in Chile to President Bulnes - but only a few days before his death.

Bulnes took the opportunity that Chile's borders were very vaguely defined at the time, and without further ado claimed all inhabited areas south of the Mejillones for Chile and sent Juan Williams to substantiate Chile's claim to the strategically important Strait of Magellan against a French expedition fleet. The result was the founding of Fuerte Bulnes in 1843 . Although the settlement was moved to Punta Arenas a few years later , this was the starting point for the successive occupation of the Strait of Magellan through Chile.

In 1842 the government passed a greatly simplified customs and import law, a first census took place, and the country's statistical office was established the following year.

In the government of Manuel Bulnes, his education minister (and later successor) Manuel Montt Torres improved teacher training and laid the foundation for a systematic education system. Bulnes' tenure also included the founding of the Universidad de Chile on September 17, 1843 and that of the Naval Academy Escuela Naval in 1844. The country's infrastructure was expanded, above all the important road connection and a first telegraph line between the capital Santiago and the port of Valparaíso .

In 1849 Chile decided to use the metric system . In 1850 the government commissioned the construction of the first Chilean railway between Copiapó and Caldera.

The last few years of Bulnes' term in office were overshadowed by massive protests from two sides: The liberal opposition, above all the Society for Equal Rights ( Sociedad de la Igualdad ), called for civil rights and freedoms as well as a stronger separation of state and church. At the same time, federal elements opposed the central government gaining ever more power and influence over the provinces and municipalities. The protests were directed against the military-conservative centralist Bulnes as well as against his designated successor Manuel Montt Torres. Conversely, the liberal protests led the country's conservative forces to gather even more behind Montt.

In this tense situation, the government acted with remarkable severity: it banned all political meetings. It imposed a state of siege in the provinces of Santiago and Aconcagua, banned the opposition press, dissolved the Sociedad de la Igualdad and unceremoniously banished the opposition leaders abroad. But the hoped-for calm did not materialize, on the contrary: on April 20, 1851, young liberals rose violently in Santiago. They were shot down by the army - the old warrior Bulnes insisted on personally commanding the government troops.

Half a year later the regular presidential elections were scheduled, which despite all protests won by the conservative Manuel Montt, who took office on September 18, 1851. Manuel Bulnes, however, did not want to retreat into private life even after the transfer of power: In view of several revolts that were smoldering in the Chilean border areas in the north and south against the central power, his successor Montt immediately appointed him chief of the army , and on September 21 - So only three days after the handover - he traveled south to fight the federal insurgents on the spot.

General Bulnes retained supreme command of the army in the south until October 1863, when he retired to civilian life, which gave him a short time as a senator and councilor before he died on October 18, 1866.

See also: History of Chile .