Qualla: Battle of Chacabuco https://qualla.com/battle-of-chacabuco en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:39:57 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/6/6/j/s/battle-of-chacabuco-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battle of Chacabuco https://qualla.com/battle-of-chacabuco Battle of Chacabuco: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-chacabuco/ Photo credit Pedro Subercaseaux, Public domain. To attack Chile, José de San Martín first had to climb out of his own century. In January 1817 he marched roughly 5,000 men, more than a thousand horses, and twenty-two cannons straight up into the Andes - some of the highest mountains on Earth - in a crossing that took about three weeks and killed soldiers and animals by the hundreds as the cold and thin air thinned his ranks. By the time the survivors stumbled down the western slopes into Chile, they had already paid a terrible price. The battle that justified it would be over by the afternoon of February 12.

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Image: Pedro Subercaseaux | Public domain

]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/6/j/s/battle-of-chacabuco-wp/66js-battle-of-chacabuco-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Chacabuco: The Idea Before the Army https://qualla.com/battle-of-chacabuco/ Photo credit Internet Archive Book Images, Public domain. San Martín had spent years thinking past the obvious. After helping establish a popularly elected congress in Argentina, he concluded that Spanish power in South America could not be broken piecemeal - it had to be driven out entirely, and the first step was Chile. So he built an...

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Image: Internet Archive Book Images | Public domain

]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/6/j/s/battle-of-chacabuco-wp/66js-battle-of-chacabuco-the-idea-before-the-army.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Chacabuco: Pride on the Royalist Side https://qualla.com/battle-of-chacabuco/ Photo credit Regimientosdeamerica, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Spanish governor in Santiago dithered. His field commander, Brigadier Rafael Maroto, first proposed abandoning the capital and retreating south to regroup - a plan the war council adopted on February 8, only for the governor to reverse it the next morning and order a stand at...

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Image: Regimientosdeamerica | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/6/j/s/battle-of-chacabuco-wp/66js-battle-of-chacabuco-pride-on-the-royalist-side.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Chacabuco: A Plan, and a Man Who Could Not Wait https://qualla.com/battle-of-chacabuco/ Photo credit Lucero20, CC BY-SA 3.0. San Martín's design was elegant: split his roughly 3,600 troops into two columns and send them down separate roads on either side of the high ground, the right under Miguel Estanislao Soler, the left under O'Higgins. Soler would swing wide to cut off the royalist rear while O'Hig...

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Image: Lucero20 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/6/j/s/battle-of-chacabuco-wp/66js-battle-of-chacabuco-a-plan-and-a-man-who-could-not-wait.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Chacabuco: The Turning of the Morning https://qualla.com/battle-of-chacabuco/ Photo credit Manuel Tapia, Public domain. Seeing O'Higgins exposed, San Martín ordered Soler to throw his weight against the royalist flank, relieving the pressure. The firefight ground on into the afternoon until Soler seized a key Spanish artillery position and the momentum swung. The royalists formed a defensive squar...

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Image: Manuel Tapia | Public domain

]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/6/j/s/battle-of-chacabuco-wp/66js-battle-of-chacabuco-the-turning-of-the-morning.mp3 0:06 5 full