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Transcript Provided by YouTube:
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his nickname is still known across the
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globe Simon Bolivar
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el Libertador The Liberator the man who
00:07
almost single-handedly arrested South
00:09
America from Spanish control he was
00:11
without a doubt one of the most
00:12
important men who ever lived a Latino
00:15
George Washington a general who could
00:18
stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Napoleon
00:20
in his short life he United all of
00:23
modern Colombia Venezuela Panama and
00:26
Ecuador into a single super state and
00:29
then lived long enough to see all his
00:31
dreams turned to dust in the harsh
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daylight of Independence soul gem hero X
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our radical general dictator man of the
00:39
people Simon Bolivar he was many things
00:42
yet outside of Latin America knowledge
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of his life is something most of us are
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sorely lacking well today we’re taking
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you on a sweeping ride through the epic
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life of the man known to history as the
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Liberator
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[Music]
01:07
if you were putting bets on which
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newborn baby might grow up to be a
01:10
revolutionary in 1783 caracas simon
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bolivar would have been far down your
01:16
list born into a wealthy spanish
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descended family young Bolivar was one
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of the richest boys in the whole of
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Venezuela but even in these early days
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there were signs that the Prince of
01:27
Caracas didn’t lead the easy life his
01:29
position would suggest why live art was
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barely 3 when his wealthy father died
01:34
and not yet 10 when his mother followed
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her husband into the grave left in the
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charge of a disinterested uncle vova was
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soon dumped upon a succession of tutors
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that he did his best to ignore with one
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exception
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Simon Rodriguez shared more than just a
01:50
first name with Bolivar he shared the
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works of jean-jacques rousseau and other
01:54
icons of liberal thought boulevard often
01:57
feigned disinterest rodriguez must have
01:59
gone on something right though when he
02:01
began his revolutionary career it would
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be these lessons that vallah Farr would
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use as the raw ingredients of his own
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political philosophy anything as
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coherent as a political philosophy was
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on bolivars mind at the time the 16 year
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olds rich kid would soon leave heading
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off to Europe wham like all of
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Venezuela’s aristocracy he would take in
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the court in Spain choir in education
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maybe find a bride and return to Caracas
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ready to join the elite anyway that’s
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kind of what happens Boulevard he
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arrived in Madrid just as the 18th
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century was drawing to a close he spent
02:34
time at court and married his great love
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this was Maria Teresa rodríguez del Toro
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II ELISA in the parallel universe the
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rest of his biography would probably now
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read and then he returned to Caracas and
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settle into a life of privilege so I
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really hope you liked that video but
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that’s not what happens once again what
02:53
looked like an easy existence for
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Bolivar quickly gave way to pain less
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than a year after their marriage he and
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Maria Teresa returned to Caracas to
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settle down
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barely where they off the boat went
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Maria Teresa contracted yellow fever and
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died if you’re looking for the moment
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Simon Bolivar the Prince of Caracas
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became Simon Bolivar the revolutionary
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this this is it wall of art was so
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distraught by his wife’s death that he
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made a sworn vow
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to never marry again a vowel that he
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kept for the rest of his life although
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he certainly did his fair share of
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sleeping around see he threw himself
03:27
into politics as a means of escaping the
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heartache it was this decision that
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really set him on the path to greatness
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there was one other side effect of maria
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theresa’s death in 1804 Bolivar decided
03:40
to return to Europe it was while back on
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the old continents that he would make
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another solemn vow one which would have
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repercussions for centuries to come
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[Music]
03:55
in 1804 France was in the grip of a
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national awakening following the extreme
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bloodshed of the Revolution a new
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general had risen up to set the nation
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back on track he was seen by liberal
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radicals across the world as almost a
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secular second coming an enlightened man
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whose destruction of the older order was
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ushering in a new and greater age as
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you’ve probably already guessed that
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generals name well there was Napoleon
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Bonaparte and Bolivar was in thrall as
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to what had achieved with France rather
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than return to the suffocating order of
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Madrid Bolivar decided to set sail to
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France to see this enlightened upheaval
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firsthand if Bulevar had hopes of being
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inspired by Napoleon though it was
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quickly disappointed Boulevard now a
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young man reached Paris just as Napoleon
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was crowning himself Emperor and
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transforming from an enlightened despot
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into a straight-up despot outraged at
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this naked power grab Boulevard closed
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the windows of his Paris apartment in
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protest on the day of the coronation
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refusing to join in the revelry
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disgusted by Spain disappointed by
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Napoleonic France Bolivar spent the next
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few years aimlessly drifting around
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Europe trudging the well-trodden route
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of the Grand Tour it was while on this
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trip that he bumped into his old tutor
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Simon Rodriguez Rodriguez had long since
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been exiled from Venezuela for his
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radicalism but they went to Italy
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together at some point
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Rodriguez seems to have lit the flame of
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Independence in bolivars soul because
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when they reached Rome Bolivar to the
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top of the aventine hill one of the
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Seven Hills upon which the great Roman
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Republic was founded there
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he swore a solemn vow to never rest
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until South America was free from
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Spanish control it was the second great
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vow that Bolivar would succeed in
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keeping
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[Music]
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around the time that Bulevar was
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traipsing around italy two major things
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happens that would make bolivars Val
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look laughably naive and then just as
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quickly make it look very prescient the
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first came in 1806 when a liberal
06:02
radical known as Francisco de Miranda
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rationally decided now was the time for
06:07
South American independence a Venezuelan
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patriot miranda is today known as the
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precursor the man who priests aged the
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Liberator
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but what our bolivars name would become
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synonymous with success Miranda’s became
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rather associated with catastrophe in
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the summer of 1806 Miranda tried to
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launch a general uprising in Venezuela
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landing a partially us-funded small
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force on the country’s coast but rather
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than flocking to his side ordinary
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Venezuelans kept out of the way as a
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Spanish forced to send it capturing
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nearly the entire expedition Miranda he
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barely escaped with his life at the time
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it looked like the end of the
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independent stream Venezuelans had been
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given a chance to rise up and they’re
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decided to lie low but then the second
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major thing happens that blew the
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question open once again in 1808 a
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Napoleon deposed the king of Spain and
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installed his brother Joseph on the
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Spanish throne for Venezuelans already
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uncomfortable with Spanish rule this Co
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is just far too much South America it
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exploded in revolt newly arrived back in
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his hometown bolivar quickly decided
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these anti french uprisings were the
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perfect vehicle for his patriotic dreams
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initially on the sidelines of the action
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in caracas voila Vaart soon staged to
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take over of a group known as the
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patriotic Society for the development of
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agriculture and livestock turning it
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into a hospital ushion reactivity while
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many of his contemporaries felt he was
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too radical Bolivar nonetheless made his
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influence felt it was following a
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stirring speech of his to Congress that
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Venezuela declared independence on April
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the 19th 1810 non the Bolivar was
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anywhere close to the true levers of
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power kept on a short leash it was only
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his personal wealth that got him an
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official position in the new government
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as an ambassador to Britain while their
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boulevard managed to convince the exiled
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Francisco de Miranda to return to lead
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Venezuela
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decision that he would later regret when
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Miranda brought his flair for
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catastrophe with him now whole books
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could be written on why Miranda was the
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wrong man for the job here he was a poor
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general who allowed royalist forces to
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maintain footholds in the young country
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he was also a poor judge of talents
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inside lines tactician ‘he’s like
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Bolivar in favor of weaker leaders on
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top all that he was poor in a crisis
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when an earthquake flattened Caracas in
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1812 Miranda failed to control the
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narrative that God was punishing the
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upstart Venezuelans for defying the
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Spanish crown although Bulevar acquitted
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himself well digging through the rubble
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of Caracas with his bare hands to rescue
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survivors public feeling the gams are
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turning against the Republicans by
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summer of 1812 Venezuela was in revolt
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again this time against Miranda Bolivar
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and their failed Republic Miranda tried
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to staunch the tide by setting himself
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up as a dictator but now the writing who
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was on the wall in August Miranda
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snapped and bolted but he was coerced by
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Bolivar and other Republican soldiers
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trying to board a British ship with the
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contents of the Venezuelan Treasury and
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incensed Bolivar handed his erstwhile
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friends over to the Spaniards before
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fleeing into exile himself as he sailed
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away from Venezuela Bulevar left behind
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the ruins of a republic that had
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collapsed after only a year burying his
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dreams just as the great earthquake had
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buried Caracas just as with the
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earthquake if Bolivar once it to salvage
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anything from this catastrophe he was
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going to have to roll up his sleeves and
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personally start digging
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[Music]
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it was while in exile in Cartagena which
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is today in Colombia that Boulevard did
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his metaphorical digging for months he
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analyzed the failures of the first
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Venezuelan Republic determined to rescue
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some lessons from the rubble the result
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was his el manifesto dick Carter haina
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the Cartagena manifesto which today
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reads like a cheat sheet for
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understanding Bolivarian thought
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boulevard decided the main thing wrong
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with Venezuela was its lack of a strong
10:03
government although he pinpointed the
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failure of Miranda to root out all
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royalist forces and the creation of a
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federalist rather than a centralist
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Republic he also made vague noises about
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invading Venezuela and restoring
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independence but nobody in Cartagena
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thought he’d really do it how wrong they
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were in winter of 1812 Bolivar went
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seriously off script commissioned into
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the new Grenada Army and given a small
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garrison he suddenly abandoned his post
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and took his men on a suicidal charge up
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the Magdalena River the charge being
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aimed at the royalist forces that still
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controlled most of the country it should
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have been the end of Bolivar but instead
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it was his making bolivars blitzkrieg
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annihilated the Spanish royal forces
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stationed along the river overwhelmed
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and terrified they simply abandoned town
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after town as Bolivar came roaring
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through by the end of January the entire
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river was in Patriot hands it was a
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resounding victory for the independence
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movement yet Bolivar wasn’t even close
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to being done like a man possessed he
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ended the Magdalena campaign not with a
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well observed rest but with the invasion
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of Venezuela the invasion today is known
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as the admirable campaign but make no
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mistake the admirable part certainly
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doesn’t refer to bolivars conduct
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desperate to be the one to liberate
11:20
Venezuela and restore the Republic
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Bolivar resorted to some very dirty
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tricks chief among them was the decree
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of war to the death which stated that
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any native Spaniards who did not
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actively help them liberate Venezuela
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would be executed on the spot whatever
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the legalities of bolivars semi genocide
11:38
or decree it certainly worked as a
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second uprising gripped Venezuela’s East
11:44
Bolivar rampaged across its West
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liberating City after City just as he
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had done on the man
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in a campaign by July royalist forces
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were collapsing under the on sort by
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August resistance had simply melted away
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on August the 6th 1893 Simon Bolivar
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marched into Caracas and declared a new
12:04
republic barely a year before he had
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fled the city as his dreams collapsed
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now here he was resurrecting them from
12:13
the ashes the admirable campaign remains
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one of the greatest military victories
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in all of history in about half a year
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bolivars single-handedly destroyed the
12:22
royalist upper hand in Gran Colombia and
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freed Venezuela from Spanish rule it’s
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one of the main reasons his name still
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carries a significant way today
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unfortunately it also sowed the seeds of
12:34
the second Republic’s destruction out on
12:38
the plains of Venezuela news of
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boulevards war crimes reached the
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bandits and the Cowboys under the
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leadership Pro Spanish psychopath Jose
12:46
Thomas bothers these disparate groups
12:48
United into a force of anti Bolivar
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vengeance they were called the legions
12:54
of hell the ISIS of their day the
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legions of hell glorified in the rape
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mutilation torture and massacring of
13:02
anyone who stood in their way
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after bolivars victory they swept across
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Venezuela with such ferocity even The
13:09
Liberator stood no chance Caracas
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fell in an orgy of blood in July 18 14
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and bolivars LED back to New Granada
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only to find royalist forces in the
13:19
ascent although he would launch a
13:21
successful campaign against separatist
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Bogota bolivars time was over by maybe
13:26
1815 even Carter haina had turned
13:28
against the hero of Magdalena and
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Bolivar he was forced to flee to Jamaica
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once again watching from the ship as the
13:35
Venezuelan Republican burns and his
13:38
victories collapsed into dust most men
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would have given up at this point but
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most men and not Simon Bolivar
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[Music]
13:51
it was while recalibrating in his exile
13:54
in British Jamaica that The Liberator
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wrote the second great Bolivarian text
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the letter from Jamaica a long cry for
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liberty and freedom the letter is today
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notable for one very important passage
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saying American natives lacks the virtue
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for democracy due to centuries of
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Spanish oppression Boulevard declared a
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free South America would need a strong
14:13
hand at the wheel a president for life
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there was the first inkling that the
14:18
world had of the liberators hidden
14:20
dictatorial tendencies but that letter
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was only seemed ominous in hindsight for
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now Bolivar was an outcast watching his
14:28
country plunge into a vicious Civil War
14:30
he needed to get back to Venezuela and
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he needed to do it fast
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but luckily helped us on a hand from a
14:37
surprising source a decade earlier Haiti
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had thrown off its French shackles and
14:41
declared itself free the only successful
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slave rebellion in modern history as a
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plantation owner Bolivar was himself a
14:48
slaver something that should have put
14:49
him at odds with Haiti’s new governments
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it might’ve were it not for Haitian
14:54
president Alexander petit on in 1815
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Bulevar met with petit on to discuss
14:59
South American independence petit on
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promised the revolutionary guns money
15:02
ships and support for freeing Venezuela
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but there was a condition
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Bolivar would have to swear to free all
15:08
of the slaves
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in South America starting with his own
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the real is controversial today because
15:14
while Bulevar did give up his own slaves
15:17
he never forced any of his fellow rich
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Venezuelans to follow suit
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regardless bolivars word was enough and
15:23
the Haitian president equips the
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Liberator for war for the third time in
15:28
a decade
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Bolivar returned to Venezuela to free it
15:32
from rileys hands but first there would
15:34
be a grinding war of attrition for three
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years Bolivar made as many losses as he
15:39
did gains while Haitian money kept his
15:41
army a flow to the Royalists were simply
15:44
too strong to dislodge in this long
15:46
period perhaps the only real victory
15:48
Boulevard was convincing Jose Antonio
15:50
payors to join him a cowboy in the
15:52
grasslands payors had raised his own
15:54
anti royalist army from the remnants of
15:56
the legions of hell it would be his men
15:58
that would help ensure bolivars victory
16:00
but only after Bulevar had proved
16:02
himself worthy of them the
16:03
he deferred to the Liberator Paz
16:05
challenged him to a series of physical
16:07
feats culminating in a non-stop
16:09
all-night ride that depends as amazement
16:12
went on so long he christened Bolivar
16:15
iron arse in 1819 the war was in
16:18
stalemate then in spring iron ass had a
16:20
brain wave with Royalists focused on
16:22
defending Caracas why not attack the
16:24
vice-regal capital of Bogota no one had
16:27
attacked before because it was separated
16:28
by an impassable line of mountains no
16:31
one had even bothered to defend these
16:32
only Bolivar he didn’t think that those
16:35
mountains were as impossible as everyone
16:37
seemed to think and in May he set out to
16:39
prove it the going was beyond tough
16:42
roaring rivers miles of flooded plains
16:44
and torrential storms had to be braved
16:46
before bolivars army even reached the
16:48
Andes then the soldiers had to endure a
16:50
grueling 13,000 foot climb and a march
16:53
through the snow and the ice
16:54
by the time Bolivar reached New Granada
16:56
two thousands of his men were dead but
16:59
it had been worth it with the Spanish
17:01
assuming no army would be insane enough
17:03
to try and cross the Andes the road to
17:05
Bogota was wide open the moment
17:07
Boulevard descended from the mountains
17:09
it was game over one Spanish general a
17:12
guy called Barry arrow stood in his way
17:14
and Bolivar made absolute mincemeat of
17:17
him at the battle of Oaxaca Bolivar
17:19
annihilated the Royalists troops in
17:21
under two hours suffering only 66
17:24
casualties to bury arrows nearly 2,000
17:27
then he marched straight to vote guitar
17:29
just four days earlier New Granada had
17:32
been under Spanish control and now it
17:35
was in the hands of Bolivar bolivars
17:37
March across the Andes changed the
17:39
course of history he installed himself
17:41
as dictator of New Granada now renamed
17:43
Gran Colombia and set about rebuilding
17:46
his army with momentum on bolivars side
17:48
there was nothing that the remaining
17:50
Spanish forces could do after an awkward
17:52
six-month ceasefire Bolivar marched back
17:55
into Venezuela On June the 24th 1821 the
17:58
Royalists were annihilated with the
18:01
revolution in Spain meaning no new
18:02
troops would be coming to help the
18:04
remaining Royalists they simply gave up
18:06
by August Bolivar had done it the thing
18:09
he’d sworn to do in Rome all those years
18:12
ago after its third liberation Venezuela
18:15
would now
18:15
Regained be under Spanish control as of
18:18
joyas Bolivar folded his homeland into
18:20
his new gran Colombian super state he
18:22
must have thought his story had finally
18:25
ended unfortunately though history it
18:27
still had one final depressing chapter
18:30
[Music]
18:36
over the next few years the remaining
18:38
provinces of Spanish South America were
18:40
liberated in 1822 bolivars protege
18:43
Antonio Jose de Sucre liberated Ecuador
18:45
in 1824 Boulevard Sucre together
18:48
liberated Peru half a year later they
18:50
liberated Upper Peru which was so
18:51
grateful that it immediately renamed
18:53
itself Bolivia Ecuador was folded into
18:55
Gran Colombia while Peru named Bolivar
18:58
dictator for life
18:59
the Spanish were gone and Bolivar ruled
19:01
half of South America and it was that
19:03
last part it was about to become a
19:05
serious problem if Bolivar was a great
19:07
general he was not such a great dictator
19:10
he wasted money constantly on military
19:12
expeditions and every time one of his
19:14
underlings tried to press through
19:15
necessary structural reforms Bolivar
19:18
would Nix them leaving the economy a
19:20
heaving mess on top of that he kept
19:22
trying to force all of the countries had
19:24
liberated to accept being a part of Gran
19:27
Colombia when it was plainly obvious
19:29
that New Granada Ecuador Venezuela and
19:31
Peru all wanted to go their separate
19:33
ways back in Venezuela Pires was even
19:35
threatening to secede fearing a civil
19:38
war Bolivar of and ins Peru and rode
19:40
back to Bogota only for Peru to invade
19:42
Ecuador in his absence as Bolivar tried
19:44
to hold Gran Colombia together he began
19:47
assuming more and more powers until just
19:49
like Napoleon he – fully transitioned
19:51
from enlightened despot to just plain
19:54
old despot effigies were burns of him in
19:57
the streets when he tried to have a new
19:59
constitution written it wound up being
20:00
so liberal that Bolivar instead ignored
20:03
it and held on to his powers by 1828 he
20:06
was so unpopular that he was very nearly
20:09
assassinated in Bogota and had to spend
20:11
hours hiding in a ditch in order to
20:13
evade capture despised in his new home
20:16
his health beginning to fail in 1829
20:18
Bulevar was forced to watch as pyres
20:20
seceded from Gran Colombia creating the
20:23
state of Venezuela as he did so he
20:26
issued a decree that Bulevar should be
20:28
executed
20:29
if he ever set foot in the country again
20:31
now also cut off from his homeland The
20:34
Liberator fell into a deep depression
20:35
his caracas estates were confiscated by
20:38
pyres new government leaving him
20:40
penniless a revolutionary ghost haunting
20:43
the streets of Bogota finally Bolivia
20:45
accepted the inevitable and went into
20:47
exile as he tracked from Bogota to the
20:50
coast he received news that Ecuador had
20:52
seceded and that his protege Sucre had
20:54
been assassinated broken miserable
20:56
despised and dying from tuberculosis
20:59
Bolivar finally wound up in the house of
21:01
a spanish admirer in the coastal city of
21:04
santa marta although his host sent for
21:06
the best doctors in latin america it was
21:09
useless at the end of 1830 Bolivar
21:11
boarded
21:12
his final boat into the long exile of
21:14
death as he slipped away from the shores
21:17
of the living it’s possible he looked
21:19
back and felt familiar sadness once
21:21
again Gran Colombia there in ashes his
21:24
dreams were ruins only this time
21:27
there’d be no coming back no more
21:29
chances as Bolivar
21:30
sailed away into endless night he did so
21:33
a sad and a broken man although
21:36
Boulevard died a hated tyrants today he
21:39
is regarded as one of the greatest men
21:41
Latin America ever produced while
21:43
Venezuela is now a basket case Colombia
21:46
Ecuador and Peru are functioning
21:48
democratic states imperfect the
21:50
liberator may have been but there’s no
21:52
doubting simón bolívar’s military genius
21:54
or the strength of his vision few people
21:57
can ever be said to have truly changed
21:59
history
22:00
but Bolivar is one of them so I really
22:03
hope you found that video interesting if
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you did please do hit that thumbs up
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but it does make us feel good let us
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subscribe doesn’t really do what it used
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to do so hit the bell and as always
22:32
thank you for watching
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Photo credit: Screenshot from video.