Carlos María de Alvear

He was born Santo Ángel in the northern part of the Viceroyalty of the River Plate (now in Rio Grande do Sul) to a Spanish nobleman father, Diego de Alvear y Ponce de León, and a criollo mother, María Balbastro and baptised Carlos Antonio del Santo Ángel Guardián. His birthplace Santo Ángel was, at that time, part of Misiones Province, but currently belongs to the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.

While travelling in Spain, Alvear's brothers and mother died in an incident that took place on October 5, 1804, when English frigates opened fire on the Spanish ship that was transporting them. This incident was a preamble to the Battle of Trafalgar and the consequent war between both countries. The English took Alvear and his father, together with other survivors, as prisoners to England, where Diego de Alvear would later marry an Irish woman.

Honouring his mother, Carlos de Alvear adopted the name of Carlos María de Alvear. Notwithstanding the fate of his mother and brothers at the hands of the English, 15-year-old Carlos was partially educated in the English culture, adopting, in his adult age, what some would later see as a position partial to English interests.

Like many other nineteenth century Argentines prominent in public life, he was a freemason.[2]

Alvear was one of the few professional military officers to participate of the Argentine War of Independence on the side of the revolutionaries, having served in the Spanish Army during the Napoleonic Wars. He became an active Freemason.[3] While in Cadiz, he founded the Sociedad de los Caballeros Racionales, a masonic secret society, made up of South Americans. José de San Martín, with whom Alvear would always have a conflictive and contradictory relationship, would later also become a member of this secret society.

He returned to Buenos Aires on board the English frigate George Canning, in which were also travelling San Martín, Juan Matías Zapiola, Francisco Chilavert and other soldiers. Upon his arrival, Alvear was named Lieutenant Coronel of the young Argentine army. He led the action against the Royal army under Gaspar Vigodet in Montevideo, replacing José Rondeau and making the Oriental leader José Gervasio Artigas an enemy.

Alvear was a leader of the constituent Assembly of the year 1813 and, goaded by political ambition, succeeded in establishing a Unitarian (centralizing) form of government, having his uncle Gervasio Antonio de Posadas named Supreme Director (chief executive).

In early 1814, Alvear was appointed commander in chief of the forces defending the capital. A few months later, he replaced General José Rondeau as commander in chief of the army besieging Montevideo, the last bastion of Spanish power in the River Plate, which was defended by 5,000 troops. In late June 1814, as news that Ferdinand VII had recovered the crown of Spain, Alvear managed to force the surrender of the Spanish troops in Montevideo. It was the biggest victory for the cause of independence since 1810. He was only 25 and the most successful general of the revolution. He returned to Buenos Aires to claim his laurels but a revolt forced him back to the Banda Oriental. After a quick and decisive campaign, his forces defeated the caudillos that opposed the government.

At the end of 1814 Alvear was named commander of the Army of the North, but he lacked of support from Posadas, and his unpopularity among the troops, and other disagreements—including a project for a constitutional monarchy that he sent to Europe to be negotiated by Manuel Belgrano, that was fiercely opposed by the League of Free Peoples—made him return to Buenos Aires. On January 9, 1815, at 25 years of age, he was chosen to replace his uncle Posadas as Supreme Director.

Having neither the support of the troops nor sufficient influence on the people of the hinterland provinces, Director Alvear then attempted to come to an alliance with Artigas, to whom he offered the independence of the Banda Oriental (current Uruguay). In exchange, Artigas would withdraw his army from the Argentine Littoral. But Artigas declined the offer, and Alvear sent troops to occupy the area.

At this time he was in correspondence with the British ambassador in Rio de Janeiro, in order to ask for a British intervention. Following a mutiny among his troops, and under pressure from the Cabildo, Alvear resigned on April 15, and left the country. He was in exile in Rio de Janeiro until 1818. In May of that year, he moved to Montevideo where he joined his friend, the Chilean Jose Miguel Carrera, also exiled due to political differences with San Martin and Bernardo O'Higgins.

Bartolomé Mitre, author of the biography of San Martín Historia de San Martín y de la emancipación sudamericana, was very critical of Alvear, describing him as an ambitious and dictatorial. Most later historians reject Alvear as well, albeit for different reasons. Leftist authors support Monteagudo but reject Alvear, despite their political relation. Revisionist authors, supporters of anti-imperialism, condemn Alvear for the attempt to turn the United Provinces into a British protectorate and relate him with the party of Bernardino Rivadavia, despite them being enemies.[4]

• Galasso, Norberto (2009). Seamos Libres y lo demás no importa nada. Buenos Aires: Colihue. ISBN 978-950-581-779-5.
• Alvear, Carlos Maria de, El general Alvear a propósito de las memorias del general Iriarte, Emece Editores, Buenos Aires, 1986.
• Carranza, Ángel J., Biografía del General don Carlos María de Alvear, Documento manuscrito, Colección Alvear, AGN, Buenos Aires.
• Comisión del Segundo Centenario del General Carlos María de Alvear, Emece Editores, Buenos Aires, 1989.
• Davis, Thomas B.: Carlos de Alvear, Man of Revolution. The Diplomatic Career of Argentina's First Minister to the United States. Durham, NC, Duke University Press, 1955
• Fernandez Lalanne, Pedro, Los Alvear, Emecé Editores, Buenos Aires, 1980.
• Ocampo, Emilio, Alvear en la Guerra con el Imperio de Brasil, Editorial Claridad, Buenos Aires, 2003.
• Rodríguez, Gregorio F., Historia de Alvear, Cía. Sudamericana de Billetes de Banco, 2 tomos, Buenos Aires, 1909
• Rodríguez, Gregorio F., Contribución Histórica y Documental, Buenos Aires, 3 tomos, Talleres “Casa Jacobo Peuser”, 1921.
• (in Spanish) Biography.
• (in Spanish) Alvear's letter to San Martín while in exile