Simon Bolivar essays

Simon Bolivar essays The Generals Disunited States of South America Let us hasten to break the chains of those who groan in the dungeons waiting for salvation from you. Do not betray their trust. Do not be deaf to the cries of your brothers. Avenge the dead, save the dying, relieve the oppressed, and bring freedom to all! Those were the powerful words written by Simon Bolivar, which persuaded the people of Colombia to support him with the liberation of foreign states. Never before has South America seen a leader as determined as Bolivar, a man willing to sacrifice his life for the rights and freedom of the people by any means necessary. He was an excellent horseback rider, a man who killed a monk with his sword, an excellent strategist in the battleground, a general who enlisted the help of cannibals in his army, a man who escaped several assassination attempts, and a boy who played badminton with a young Spanish prince Ferdinand in his palace. They fit the description of Simon Bolivar; a man who accomplished more during his forty-seven years of lifetime, than forty seven men could hope to achieve in a hundred years. The Latin American Wars of Independence do not form an easy to tell narrative; there were different levels of violence, different revolutionary ideals and levels of popular participation throughout the Spanish colonies. Simon Bolivar was a man of integrity living among corruption, whose ideals and philosophies were seldom appreciated before his death, but they continue to be a basis of influence in modern South American society. The young and relentless general, Simon Jose Antonio de la Santisima Trinidad Bolivar became publicly known as the Liberator when he rid the South American colonies of three hundred years of Spanish rule. He was born into an aristocratic family on Caracas, Venezuela in 1783. During his early life, he was taught the non-conformists ways of Jean Jacques...