By the middle of 1816, the forces sent by Fernando VII had been successful in establishing Spanish Royal rule in most parts of the Americas. The exception was the R\u00edo de la Plata region. In the Viceroyalty of Peru, Viceroy Abascal was an able ruler and he quickly quelled the development of juntas in the region. Lima was a stronghold for Spanish colonial power for many years and Abascal sent expeditions from Peru to re-establish Royal rule in the Chile. The revolutionary forces of O\u2019Higgins and Carrera tried to work to overcome the royalists but were unable to do so and the viceroyalty of Peru secured Chile in 1815.<\/p>\n
The R\u00edo de la Plata region proved more difficult for the Royalists to re-conquer and, in fact, San Mart\u00edn used Mendoza in the R\u00edo de la Plata region as a base from which to develop his Army of the Andes. San Mart\u00edn was determined to develop a professional army with uniforms and artillery. The people of Mendoza helped him in this pursuit and he recruited people who had been slaves as soldiers as well as the soldiers who were fleeing from Chile. San Mart\u00edn worked in collaboration with Bernardo O\u2019Higgins and spent years devising a complex strategy of attack for overthrowing the royalists in Chile. San Mart\u00edn then led his army over the Andes splitting the troops at one point to create different columns that would cross the mountains using different routes creating a pincer formation. This assault led to the famous Battle of Chacabuco, which helped to seal the liberation of Chile. The battle\u00a0itself\u00a0is described in the podcast below\u00a0by Dr Alejandro Rabinovich.<\/p>\n