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Buenos Aires, the biggest and richest city in the South, immediately declared itself the leader of the whole region. They wanted every nearby territory to join their new government. Paraguay, the smaller territory, right next door, took one look at that and said "Absolutely not!" Buenos Aires didn't handle rejection well. In 1811, they sent an entire army marching into Paraguay to force them to join them. Imagine that. They hadn't even finished fighting Spain yet and they were already invading their neighbors. Paraguay's army defeated them in battle and sent them running back home. Hold on, Buenos Aires attacked Paraguay? Yep, sent a whole army! But, aren't we supposed to be on the same side? Apparently not. So, what if fighting Spain and each other now? Welcome to South American Independence. This is the worst group project I've ever seen. And the teacher hasn't even come back yet. Up north, things went even worse. Venezuela proudly declared independence in 1811, but in March 1812, a massive earthquake ripped through Caracas and killed thousands of people. In a wrecked church outside the city, a priest who still supported Spain climbed onto a pile of broken stones and pointed at the sky. "God is angry!" he shouted at a crowd of terrified survivors. "You turned against your king, and this is what happens!" Enough people were already scared and desperate. They believed the priest abandoned the revolution and went back to supporting Spain. Soldiers deserted, whole towns, switch sides, and Venezuela's revolution collapsed almost overnight. Then, in 1814, Napoleon was finally defeated back in Europe and the Spanish king was set free from his French prison. He came home, grabbed his crown, and sent warships to crush every single rebellion in the Americas. By 1815, Spain had retaken Venezuela, Colombia, and Chile. Buenos Aires and Paraguay were the only ones still free from Spanish control, and Paraguay refused to cooperate with anyone, including Buenos Aires. The whole revolution looked dead and buried, but on opposite ends of the continent, two guys were quietly cooking up the most ridiculous military plan anyone had ever heard. Those two guys couldn't have been more different. From the south came Jose de San Martín, a quiet Argentine general who had actually spent years fighting in Spain's own army before switching sides. From the north came Simone Bolivar, a wealthy Venezuelan who talked big, dressed flashy, and had already tried to lead two revolutions in Venezuela. Both times, he'd been beaten back by Spanish forces and chased into exile. They didn't know each other. They were thousands of miles apart, but somehow they came up with the exact same crazy idea. Drag an entire army over the Andes Mountains. Those are the massive wall of mountains running down the entire west side of South America, taller than any mountains in Europe, freezing at the top, and deadly to cross even on a good day. But the Spanish armies were camped on the other side, and they'd never expect anyone to come over the top. The Spanish controlled Chile. How exactly do we get there? Over the Andes. The mountains taller than the clouds? With cannons and thousands of mules through Karios appliance. Sir, people die just walking across the Andes, which is exactly why the Spanish won't expect an enemy to do it. Because it's impossible? Because it's unexpected. The difference. Is there though? Somewhere high in the Andes, one of San Martín's mules carrying two cannons decided it had seen an it sat down and refused to move. Three soldiers pushed from behind, two pulled from the front, and one tried reasoning with it. The mule just stared at them. Eventually, they unloaded one cannon and carried it themselves. The mule casually stood up and kept walking. In January, 1817, San Martín crossed the Andes with around 5,000 soldiers, hauling cannons through frozen passes above 10,000 feet. When they came crashing down into Chile, the Spanish were completely stunned. San Martín defeated them in battle and freed the whole country. Believe our pulled off a similar trick from the north, marching his army through flooded jungle plains, where soldiers waited chest deep in water for days, then up frozen mountain passes into Colombia. He surprised the Spanish there too, and won a massive victory. After that, he convinced the leaders of Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador that they'd be stronger together than apart, and merged them into one massive nation called Grand Colombia. Two men had freed half a continent, but they had very different ideas about what they wanted to do with it. And when they finally met, things would go very, very badly.