his radical inclinations. Revolution was inevitable, however, and he
became involved in an early attempt to establish a Venezuelan state
that became known as the First Republic. Bolivar’s performance
was not impressive—he suffered a bad military defeat and betrayed
one of the leaders of the movement to the Spanish.x His next attempt was a new uprising accompanied by several
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again, success was short-lived, and after a counterrevolution,
Bolivar departed for a period of exile in Haiti and Jamaica. Upon
his return in 1816, the revolutionary movement began to gather
greater momentum.
x An early turning point was the Battle of Boyaca in 1819, at
which Bolivar’s forces defeated a royalist army, leading to the
independence of the region occupied by modern Colombia. This
was followed in 1821 by another important victory at the Battle
of Carabobo, which enabled the creation of a Gran Colombia
encompassing the northern quarter of South America. Bolivar
himself became president of this new state.
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Antonio Jose de Sucre; in 1822, he led an army into Ecuador. After a
dramatic battle on the slopes of a volcano, Sucre was victorious and
soon after captured Quito. As a result of Sucre’s actions, Ecuador
now joined the list of independent South American countries.
x Meanwhile, revolutionary movements were breaking out across
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was Jose de San Martin. Although he was born in the New World,
his family moved to Spain when San Martin was just a child. His
father was a soldier, and San Martin followed him into the army,
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x San Martin resigned his commission and returned to South
America, where he became involved in the war for Argentine
independence. He began to rise to prominence after he organized