Simon Bolivar and Latin American Revolutions

Simon Bolivar is a famous military leader. It was because of him that many South American countries were set free from Spain. Simon Bolivar was born in Venezuela. He received a decent education after the death of his parents. He was also schooled in Spain, and traveled through Italy and France. There he became inspired by enlightenment thinkers, such as John Locke. He also traveled to the US. The United States convinced him that his nation needed changes as well.

On July 5th, 1811, Simon started a revolution that led to Venezuela's independence. After Venezuela was freed from Spain's ruling, Simon continued to reinforce his army and military power. He controlled more and more countries over time. Then, he established the Republic of Colombia, where he was president. He then continued to free more country's in South America, and by the end freed Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia. Simon Bolivar is considered a great revolutionary hero for South America. He liberated almost all of South America from Spain's control. However, he was not as good a political leader than he was a military leader. His Government rule was unbalanced, and there were many civil wars in his own countries. A civil war is a war where both sides are part of the sam country. Simon Bolivar was considered the 'George Washington' of South America.

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy.

Nationalism is a huge part of our lives. In modern times, everyone is so familiar with nationalism, that they take it for granted. If an American gets lost in a completely different place like China, then that person would be clueless. If that person was me, i would be desperate to come into contact with another American. In America, we share a common language, currency, history, religion, and culture. Nationalism is everywhere around us, but once we surpass a certain border-line, everything changes! However, that not how things were about a century ago...

Even though nationalism destroyed nations, it also built new ones. Italy was one of the first nations formed this way. Italians were tired of having foreign rulers, and they wanted a change in their nation. In 1832, Giuseppe Mazzini organized a nationalist group called 'Young Italy'. By 1848, he was droven to exile. Italy used to be made up of city states that were ruled by Austria. Eventually, Italians no longer wanted to live under foreign rulers. They came together and fought for what they wanted and won. This is early evidence of nationalism.