Simon Bolivar: Revolutionary Successes & Failures - Essay Sample

Introduction

Simon Bolivar was a soldier in South America who served as an iconic leader in the revolution of Venezuela against Spain. Simon organized campaigns that advocated for the independence of several states in South America like Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru (Bolivar, 2003). Through these campaigns, Simon Bolivar succeeded in his revolutionary mission against Spain. This study aims at examining some of the successes and failures that Simon Bolivar made during his tenure as a leader.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Bolivar managed to create the second republic of Venezuela. After Simon had succeeded in the campaign of Magdalena, he convinced the united provinces, which helped him in a battle to set Venezuela free from the Spanish control in 1813 (Bolivar, 2003). This gave birth to the second republic of Venezuela after he had defeated the royalist army and forces of Spain through numerous battles. After establishing the second republic, Simon got acclamation as the liberator of Latin America. Before the establishment of the second state in Venezuela, Simon had succeeded in leading a successful campaign of Magdalena (Sherwell, 2005). This was in 1812 when the Spanish rule made a block on traffic through the Magdalena River, which was significant as Cartagena received its supplies through the traffic of river Magdalena. He succeeded in his efforts on this campaign as the united provinces finally took control of Magdalena River after his revolutionary forces overthrew the Spanish troops.

It is under Simon Bolivar's time that the famous document of Carta de Jamaica was written (Bolivar, 2003). This was a document that he wrote while in Jamaica after Venezuela had come under control from the Spanish. Simon fled to Jamaica, and there he wrote a document that detailed his career. In the document, Simon wrote about how the second republic of Venezuela had fallen and further detailed points about the Spanish decision on independence (Bolivar, 2003). Additionally, Bolivar, through the Carta de Jamaica document, called for the joint operation of Europe in liberating Latin American people. After its release, Carta de Jamaica was considered one of the most important documents as it had detailed facts of Latin America's history.

In as much as Simon made some remarkable successes in the war of freedom against Spain, he also made some mistakes. This led to his failures as a leader. Among them was; he became an authoritative leader who sought for respectful deference and therefore named an entire state after himself. This was the state of Bolivia (Sherwell, 2005). He equally made his image receive a symbolic meaning in Venezuela, and it became heavily used. A further critique of his personality shows that Bolivar did not have affection for the indigenous population. This is a trait that bred racism in his rule. Majorly his hatred for the population acted as a foundation for the racial discrimination that was experienced in Peru.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this study reveals that Simon Bolivar made several remarkable accomplishments in the liberation of several states in South America from Spanish rule. The successes he made, however, outweighed his failures as he was more in pursuit of freedom than leadership. His struggles to make the states free made him a prominent leader, and thus he received honors not only in America but all through the world.

References

Bolivar, S. (2003). El Libertador: Writings of Simon Bolivar. Oxford University Press, USA.

Sherwell, G. A. (2005). Simon Bolivar. 1st World Publishing.