Independence, politics, and power in Chile and Argentina:

attitudes of Napoleonic officers in the liberation armies (1817–1830)

FR>EN translation for Cairn Info (online academic journal)

Abstract: 

Apart from in the works of Jean Descola, Inès Murat, and Frédéric Masson, the presence and actions of many Napoleonic officers in South America have received little attention from French historians. However, Éric Saugera, Walter Bruyère-Ostells, Christophe Belaubre, Emilio Ocampo, Rafe Blaufarb, Fernando Berguño, and Felipe Angulo have recently relaunched the subject on an international level. Now that the military side of things has been usefully described, the most pressing issue today would seem to be a study of their social, cultural, and political influence. Recent prosopographical studies have revealed the precise levels of social integration of these figures, making it possible to understand their political ideals and the reasons why they went so far as to lose their lives for their cause. This article is an attempt to discuss the political roles of the 200 or so Napoleonic soldiers (officers and NCOs) in Chile and Argentina at the crucial juncture of the end of the colonial period and the creation of the modern state.