Santiago de Liniers
Jacques de Liniers (Spanish Santiago Antonio María de Liniers y Bremont ; born July 25, 1753 in Niort , France , † August 26, 1810 in Cabeza de Tigre near Córdoba (Argentina) ) was a French officer in the service of the Spanish military and a Viceroy of the Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata .
Military career in Europe and Africa
Jacques de Liniers came from a family of the French nobility. His father held the title of count ( comte ), which his eldest brother was to inherit. Jacques began his marine career at a young age as a page to the Grand Master of the Order of Malta . After three years of service, he returned to France, but then decided to join the Spanish Crown. He fought under Alejandro O'Reilly in North Africa and then entered the Naval Academy of Cadiz .
First campaign in South America in 1776
In 1776 he went to South America for the first time and successfully fought against the Portuguese in the Spanish-Portuguese War under Pedro de Cevallos in what is now Uruguay . The following year he initially returned to Spain. In the course of the American War of Independence , the French and Spanish supported the Americans from 1779 in the fight against the British. In Maó on Menorca Liniers distinguished himself in the fight against the British Navy and was promoted to frigate captain. In the following years he served in various posts in the Spanish Navy.
Use on the Río de la Plata
In 1788 Liniers was again ordered to South America and served as port commander of Buenos Aires. After the death of his first wife, he married a second time on La Plata and took the daughter of the merchant Martín de Sarratea as his wife.
In 1802 he was transferred to Misiones , where he served as governor and commander in chief of the local troops. In 1804 he returned to Buenos Aires as chief of the naval station.
Liberation of Buenos Aires in August 1806
In June 1806 a British expeditionary army under William Carr Beresford captured Buenos Aires. The viceroy Rafael de Sobremonte had fled to Cordoba with his family and entrusted Liniers with the (hopeless) defense.
Liniers looked for allies in Buenos Aires and organized the resistance against the British with Martín de Álzaga ; then he went to Montevideo , where he managed, with the help of the local governor Ruiz Huidobro, to set up a troop of volunteers.
Benefiting from his knowledge of winds and currents, the Spaniards came back to Buenos Aires via La Plata from Montevideo. The combined force under Liniers and Álzaga was able to force the British to surrender in a street fight.
On August 12, 1806, Buenos Aires was again in the hands of the Spanish. A council meeting ( cabildo abierto ) demonstratively urged the viceroy to transfer the military command to Liniers.
Defense of Montevideo, term of office as interim viceroy
The Spaniards feared a second British invasion soon. Liniers went back to Montevideo to organize the defense there. In February 1807, the English under John Whitelocke attacked with a much larger force and captured Montevideo. In an outrageous act, the Real Audiencia of Buenos Aires declared Viceroy Sobremonte to be deposed. In his place, Santiago Liniers was to temporarily assume the supreme command and the office of viceroy.
Liberation of Buenos Aires
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After taking Montevideo and what is now Uruguay ( Banda Oriental ), the British turned to the south bank of the Río de la Plata. Liniers withdrew from Buenos Aires and rearranged his troops. He initially left the street fighting in Buenos Aires to Álzaga, whom he then surprisingly supported with his units and artillery. Thanks to this element of surprise, the British had to admit defeat on July 7, 1807.
Term of office as recognized viceroy
After the victory against the English, Liniers was considered a hero of the people. The Spanish crown approved the decision of the Real Audiencia in May 1808, confirmed Liniers in office and made him Count of Buenos Aires. At the same time, the victory of the locals, which took place without the support of the mother country, formed the first nucleus of an independence movement in what is now Argentina.
Over time, it turned out that while Liniers was a gifted military tactician, he had less talent in political matters. When Spain became a theater of war in the course of the Napoleonic Wars , Liniers came under criticism because of his origin, although he always declared himself loyal to King Ferdinand VII and refused to allow Joseph Bonaparte to take over .
Deposition, counter-revolution and death
While the struggle between the supporters of Napoleon and the Spanish royalists was taking place on the Spanish peninsula in the course of the Napoleonic Wars , the Junta Suprema Central ordered the replacement of Liniers in 1809, who was replaced by Baltasar de Cisneros . Santiago de Liniers handed over his office and withdrew to the province of Cordoba. After the May Revolution of 1810, he tried to organize the royalist resistance against the new government. On the orders of Mariano Moreno , Liniers was shot dead in August 1810 for high treason . The headland of Punta Liniers on the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, better known internationally as Gaudin Point , bears his name.
literature
- Daniel Courant (ed.): Une vie entre deux mondes - Jacques de Liniers, Vice-Roi de La Plata, et la naissance de l'Argentine, 1788–1810 (Textes des conférences, Niort 28 août 2010: Bicentenaire de la mort de Jacques de Liniers, 1810-2010) . Société Historique et Scientifique des Deux-Sèvres, Niort 2011, OCLC 854620150 .
- Gonzalo Demaría, Diego Molina de Castro: Historia Genealógica de los Virreyes del Río de la Plata . Junta Sabatina de Especialidades Históricas, Buenos Aires 2001, ISBN 987-1042-01-9 ( (online) ).
- Biography (spanish)
- Biography (spanish)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Demaría, Molina de Castro: Historia Genealógica de los Virreyes del Río de la Plata. 2001, pp. 322-325.
- ↑ Trofeos de la Reconquista de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires en el año 1806 . Litografía, Imprenta y Encuadernación de Guillermo Kraft, Buenos Aires 1882 ( = Trofeos + De + La + Reconquista + De + La + Ciudad + De + Buenos + Aires & dq = Trofeos + De + La + Reconquista + De + La + Ciudad + De + Buenos + Aires & hl = en & sa = X & ei = X_GJU4nsJ-PQsQSP8YCgDw & ved = 0CEoQ6AEwAg online - official publication).
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Rafael de Sobremonte |
Viceroy of the Río de la Plata 1807–1809 |
Baltasar de Cisneros |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Liniers, Santiago de |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Liniers, Jacques de; Liniers y Bremont, Santiago Antonio María de |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French officer and viceroy of the viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 25, 1753 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Niort , France |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 26, 1810 |
| Place of death | Cabeza de Tigre near Cordoba (Argentina) , Argentina |