Argentine historians continue to devote considerable attention to the origin of the movement for independence in the Río de la Plata area. The author of this interesting volume has chosen to challenge recent revisionist writings which interpret the revolution of May 25, 1810 at Buenos Aires as something less than a “true” movement for independence. There is little that is new in Álzaga’s assertion that the leaders who drove Viceroy Cisneros from office were not merely swearing loyalty to the captive Ferdinand VII but were aiming at the complete independence from Spain which they had plotted from 1806 or even earlier. What is impressive in this study is the depth and variety of documentation presented to support the traditional interpretation of this epoch.
Much more controversial, however, is the author’s version of the role of his ancestor, Martín de Álzaga, in the struggle for independence. He credits that wealthy Spanish-born resident of Buenos Aires with an early desire to create an independent republic for the Río de la Plata—an idea born not out of dislike for his native land but out of disdain for the incapacities of Charles IV and Godoy. Although a dominant political figure throughout the period of the abortive English invasions of the Río de la Plata in 1806 and 1807, it was not until January 1, 1809 that Álzaga and his Spanish-born supporters (with a few creole adherents) made a serious effort to create an independent republic by overthrowing the allegedly pro-French viceroy, Santiago de Liniers. The failure of Álzaga to win the support of Cornelio de Saavedra and his creole-dominated militia regiments doomed that venture to an inglorious defeat. Yet in author Álzaga’s view the attempt to oust Liniers was neither a mere “tumult” nor a domestic quarrel between resident Spaniards and creoles as some Argentine historians have asserted. It was a “true” attempt to move toward independence as was the successful May revolution of 1810.
Well-documented but somewhat less convincing is the thesis that Martín de Álzaga was a significant influence in the creole-led overthrow of Viceroy Cisneros in 1810. The author attributes the subsequent break between Álzaga and the junta created on May 25. 1810 to the triumph of Saavedra in the junta and to the estrangement of Álzaga and his former creole friend, Mariano Moreno. Martín de Álzaga wanted independence for his adopted land, according to this volume, but not at the expense of a major compromise with the creoles of that region. A self-governing republic had to be governed by the Spanish-born residents of that region and not by the “sons of the country.”
Enrique Williams Álzaga has consulted a wide range of public documents as well as the private papers of many of the contemporaries of his ancestor. However, one can only wonder if the papers of Martín de Álzaga, were they extant, would have supported the author’s theses. Without them much concerning his role in this epoch of Argentine history will remain obscure.
