Patria Nueva (Chile)

Patria Nueva (New Fatherland) was a period in the history of Chile that began with the victory of Ejército de los Andes in the Battle of Chacabuco on 12 February 1817 and ended with the resignation of Bernardo O'Higgins as Supreme Director in 1823.

Not long after becoming the Supreme Director of Chile, O'Higgins sent the Aguila, a ship captured in the port of Valparaiso, to rescue Chile and patriots stranded on the Juan Fernández Islands. O'Higgins formed an army to face the Spanish Empire forces hidden in the port of Talcahuano and the montoneras (traitor patriots, natives and bandits), who were on the shore of the Bio-Bio River.

He created the Vindication Tribunal, a legal apparatus that granted patriots the right to reclaim goods taken by the Spanish during the Reconquest. He also ordered the exile of priests advocating for continued fealty to the Spanish throne.

The independent people waited in Talca for the royalists, but the royalists took another path. San Martin and O'Higgins were caught by surprise.

In Santiago fear had spread with the defeat of the Ejército de los Andes and the Chilean army. Many people in Santiago were already going into self-imposed exile again in Mendoza. Rumors of the deaths of O'Higgins and San Martin spread rapidly.

In these circumstances, in the cabild of the March 23, Manuel Rodríguez yelled "We still have our homeland, citizens!" and proclaimed himself the supreme director. He created a squadron called Húsares de la Muerte. It attracted many "carreristas", swearing to die before seeing the homeland in the hands of Spain again. Knowing this, O'Higgins went back to Santiago against medical advice and accompanied by San Martin. Both were welcomed with cannon shots on the sunrise of March 24.

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Wikipedia