1. Cornelio Judas Tadeo de Saavedra y Rodriguez was an Argentine military officer and statesman.
65 Facts About Cornelio Saavedra
1. 2.
Cornelio Saavedra's intervention was decisive to thwart the Mutiny of Alzaga and allow viceroy Santiago de Liniers to stay in power.
3.
Cornelio Saavedra advised against rushed actions as well, and as his regiment was crucial in any action against the viceroy, he denied his help until it was a good strategic moment to do so.
4.
Cornelio Saavedra was appointed president of the Primera Junta, which took government after it.
5.
Cornelio Saavedra wanted gradual changes, while Moreno promoted more radical ones.
6.
Cornelio Saavedra encouraged the expansion of the Junta with deputies from the other provinces; this left Moreno in a minority, and he resigned.
7.
Cornelio Saavedra left the presidency after the defeat of the first Upper Peru campaign, and headed to lead the Army of the North.
8.
Cornelio Saavedra's absence was exploited by political opponents, who established the First Triumvirate and issued an arrest warrant against Saavedra.
9.
Cornelio Saavedra stayed in exile until 1818, when all the charges against him were dropped.
10.
Cornelio Saavedra was born at the hacienda "La Fombera", located in the town of Otuyo, near the former Imperial City of Potosi.
11.
Cornelio Saavedra's father was Santiago Felipe de Saavedra y Palma, a native of Buenos Aires, whose ancestry reached to Hernando Arias de Saavedra.
12.
Cornelio Saavedra's mother was Maria Teresa Rodriguez Michel, a native of the Villa Imperial de Potosi.
13.
The school was only for the elite, and to attend it was required to be allowed by the viceroy, know reading and writing, be at least ten years old, be a legitimate son and have certified limpieza de sangre; Cornelio Saavedra met all the requirements.
14.
Cornelio Saavedra began his political career in 1797, working at the Buenos Aires Cabildo, assuming various administrative roles.
15.
Santiago de Liniers organized a force in Montevideo to re-capture Buenos Aires, and Cornelio Saavedra was among the civilians that joined Liniers, despite the lack of military instruction.
16.
Cornelio Saavedra's role in this battle was a minor one.
17.
Cornelio Saavedra resented the weak support from the Spanish monarchy to the war effort, compared with the strong one received from the cabildos of other cities in the Americas.
18.
Cornelio Saavedra accused Liniers of trying to appoint loyal members to the Cabildo, and gathered a small demonstration to request his resignation.
19.
Cornelio Saavedra, who was aware of the conspiracy, considered it a plot by peninsulars to secure political power over the criollo peoples.
20.
The only peninsular militias remaining were those of Andaluces and Montaneses, who did not join the mutiny; criollos obtained the military command, and the political power of Cornelio Saavedra increased even more.
21.
The chance expected by Cornelio Saavedra came in May 1810, when two British ships arrived with the latest news of the Peninsular War.
22.
Colonel Viamonte called Cornelio Saavedra and informed him of the news, requesting his military support.
23.
Cornelio Saavedra addressed the crowd and assured them that the Regiment of Patricians supported their claims.
24.
Cornelio Saavedra stayed silent for the most part, awaiting his turn to speak.
25.
Cornelio Saavedra was the last one to speak, and suggested that the political control should be delegated to the Cabildo until the formation of a governing Junta, in the manner and form that the Cabildo deemed appropriate.
26.
Castelli aligned his position with Cornelio Saavedra's, becoming the common position which was eventually passed with 87 votes.
27.
Cornelio Saavedra was appointed to this Junta, as well as Castelli and two peninsulars.
28.
Cornelio Saavedra said in his memoirs that it was "the people", without being more precise.
29.
Cornelio Saavedra was aware that the Junta would be resisted by factions still loyal to the old authorities.
30.
Cornelio Saavedra prevailed, and the plotting members of the Cabildo were exiled instead of executed.
31.
Cornelio Saavedra thought that the victory at the battle of Suipacha strengthened his perspective, as the Junta would have defeated its enemies.
32.
Cornelio Saavedra considered that Moreno's animosity was rooted in the aforementioned mutiny of Alzaga, as Moreno took part in it.
33.
The Regiment of Patricians resented Moreno because of this, but Cornelio Saavedra considered that it was a disproportionated response to a trivial issue.
34.
Funes, who was close to Cornelio Saavedra, argued that Buenos Aires had no right to appoint national authorities by itself and expect obedience from the provinces.
35.
Cornelio Saavedra declared that the incorporation was not fully legal, but that he supported it for public convenience.
36.
Cornelio Saavedra was appointed to a diplomatic mission in Europe, but died in high seas, in unclear circumstances.
37.
Some historians consider that Cornelio Saavedra plotted to murder Moreno, others that it was a negligence of the captain, and others that it was because of Moreno's frail health.
38.
Cornelio Saavedra, who continued being president, had a clear control of it, together with Gregorio Funes.
39.
However, although the revolution was done in support of Cornelio Saavedra, Cornelio Saavedra denied having any involvement in it, and condemned it in his autobiography.
40.
Cornelio Saavedra left Buenos Aires at this point, and headed to the Upper Peru, to take command of the Army of the North.
41.
Cornelio Saavedra thought that he could be of greater help as a military leader than facing the political struggles of Buenos Aires.
42.
Cornelio Saavedra was warned by fellow members of the Junta, military leaders and even the Cabildo that if he left Buenos Aires, the government would be prone to fall into a political crisis.
43.
Cornelio Saavedra left anyway, convinced that he would be able to reorganize the Army of the North.
44.
Cornelio Saavedra received the news eight days after arriving in Salta.
45.
Cornelio Saavedra was informed that he was deposed as president of the Junta, and that he should hand the command of the Army of the North to Juan Martin de Pueyrredon.
46.
Cornelio Saavedra was allowed to stay at the later city, rejoining his wife and children.
47.
The press of Buenos Aires was very harsh about him, so the Triumvirate asked the governor to capture Cornelio Saavedra and send him to Lujan, near Buenos Aires.
48.
Cornelio Saavedra, defended by Juan de la Rosa Alba, was accused of organizing the 1811 revolution, along with Campana.
49.
The sentence ruled that Cornelio Saavedra should be exiled, but he avoided it by crossing the Andes with his son and seeking political asylum at Chile.
50.
Cornelio Saavedra did not stay in Chile for long; a huge royalist attack to Chile made him cross the Andes again and seek refuge at Mendoza, along with Chilean expatriates.
51.
Cornelio Saavedra awaited the final decision of Posadas, but the supreme director had a political crisis at the time.
52.
Alvear ordered Cornelio Saavedra to move immediately to Buenos Aires, to close the case.
53.
Cornelio Saavedra arrived to the city in time, and Alvear was sympathetic to his situation.
54.
Cornelio Saavedra moved then to the countryside, to live with his brother Luis.
55.
Cornelio Saavedra kept requesting to the government the restoration of his rank.
56.
Cornelio Saavedra was appointed then to help with the protection of the frontier with the natives at Lujan.
57.
Cornelio Saavedra fled to Montevideo, fearing that Buenos Aires would be obliterated if defeated.
58.
Cornelio Saavedra retired in 1822, and lived with his family in the countryside.
59.
Cornelio Saavedra offered his services at the beginning of the War of Brazil, despite being 65 years old, but Balcarce declined the offer.
60.
Cornelio Saavedra was taken to the cemetery by his sons.
61.
However, as the Spanish juntas were not a presidential system, Cornelio Saavedra was not the first President of Argentina; that office would be created a decade afterwards.
62.
The historiography of Cornelio Saavedra is closely related to that of Mariano Moreno.
63.
The first liberal historians praised Moreno as the leader of the Revolution and a great historical man; Cornelio Saavedra was treated either as a weak man overwhelmed by Moreno, or as a counter-revolutionary.
64.
Cornelio Saavedra is depicted instead as a popular caudillo, a predecessor of Jose de San Martin and Juan Manuel de Rosas.
65.
The Cornelio Saavedra neighbourhood was founded in honor of his nephew Luis Maria Cornelio Saavedra, a prominent businessman of the late nineteenth-century.