Gaspar Polanco: Difference between revisions
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He was proclaimed Commander in Chief of the restorative forces, by all the revolutionary leaders of the region. He was accepted for his conditions as a courageous and competent warrior, for having been the only general of the Independence campaigns who had taken part in the movement up to that moment, for his social weight, his prestige and his authority. |
He was proclaimed Commander in Chief of the restorative forces, by all the revolutionary leaders of the region. He was accepted for his conditions as a courageous and competent warrior, for having been the only general of the Independence campaigns who had taken part in the movement up to that moment, for his social weight, his prestige and his authority. |
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==Personality== |
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==Character and personality== |
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This prestige in the regional order was not hindered by its cultural limitations. He compensated for his illiterate condition with a strong personality that was channeled into warrior skills, the gift of command and the display of personal courage, the latter quality indispensable for all those who promoted themselves through the war profession. As part of this combination, he added a toughness of rare precedent to his competence in the military leadership, which would become one of his hero attributes. |
This prestige in the regional order was not hindered by its cultural limitations. He compensated for his illiterate condition with a strong personality that was channeled into warrior skills, the gift of command and the display of personal courage, the latter quality indispensable for all those who promoted themselves through the war profession. As part of this combination, he added a toughness of rare precedent to his competence in the military leadership, which would become one of his hero attributes.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cassá |first=Roberto |title=Personajes Dominicanos |year=2014 |isbn=9789945586046 |edition=2nd |location=Santo Domingo |pages=352-353 |language=Spanish |trans-title=Personajes Dominicanos}}</ref> |
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Around this, some historians such as Archambault have judged him as a bloodthirsty subject, while others reduce him to the condition of a crude elemental. Without a doubt, Polanco showed a predisposition to use violence, but he did so as part of a vision of the war and its patriotic objectives. He was inflexible in the face of traitors, and was often infuriated when critical situations arose in combat. But he was in no way a criminal, since he acted at all times in accordance with an ideal of national self-determination that he embraced like almost no other military leader during the war. It was this conception of the national and civil nature of the Restoration that led him to be implacable against the Spaniards. [[Manuel Rodríguez Objío]], who treated him closely during the feat, is correct when comparing him to [[Maximilien Robespierre]]: |
Around this, some historians such as Archambault have judged him as a bloodthirsty subject, while others reduce him to the condition of a crude elemental. Without a doubt, Polanco showed a predisposition to use violence, but he did so as part of a vision of the war and its patriotic objectives. He was inflexible in the face of traitors, and was often infuriated when critical situations arose in combat. But he was in no way a criminal, since he acted at all times in accordance with an ideal of national self-determination that he embraced like almost no other military leader during the war. It was this conception of the national and civil nature of the Restoration that led him to be implacable against the Spaniards. [[Manuel Rodríguez Objío]], who treated him closely during the feat, is correct when comparing him to [[Maximilien Robespierre]]:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cassá |first=Roberto |title=Personajes Dominicanos |year=2014 |isbn=9789945586046 |edition=2nd |location=Santo Domingo |pages=353 |language=Spanish |trans-title=Personajes Dominicanos}}</ref> |
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{{cquote|In those days the revolution did not forgive the slightest infidelity, and Gaspar Polanco, its first representative, was the living embodiment of that tremendous justice; Robespierre of a new kind, he would have wanted to redeem and strengthen the Republic on the bones of his opponents.}} |
{{cquote|In those days the revolution did not forgive the slightest infidelity, and Gaspar Polanco, its first representative, was the living embodiment of that tremendous justice; Robespierre of a new kind, he would have wanted to redeem and strengthen the Republic on the bones of his opponents.}} |
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This indicates that the use of violence was part of a patriotic vision, a conception that was shared in that impetuous scenario that was the Dominican Restoration War, when new actors of national resistance emerged. Polanco was the most complete expression of the sociological phenomenon; but, as a hero, he directed it to a patriotic and revolutionary sense. He did not at all obey the elemental instincts of the leaders: on the contrary, in his performance as president of the Dominican Republic in arms he would show his willingness to leave public affairs in the hands of educated civilians, endowed with a democratic and national conception that he shared. without any reservation |
This indicates that the use of violence was part of a patriotic vision, a conception that was shared in that impetuous scenario that was the Dominican Restoration War, when new actors of national resistance emerged. Polanco was the most complete expression of the sociological phenomenon; but, as a hero, he directed it to a patriotic and revolutionary sense. He did not at all obey the elemental instincts of the leaders: on the contrary, in his performance as president of the Dominican Republic in arms he would show his willingness to leave public affairs in the hands of educated civilians, endowed with a democratic and national conception that he shared. without any reservation<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cassá |first=Roberto |title=Personajes Dominicanos |year=2014 |isbn=9789945586046 |edition=2nd |location=Santo Domingo |pages=353 |language=Spanish |trans-title=Personajes Dominicanos}}</ref> |
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==Death== |
==Death== |
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Revision as of 13:24, 10 March 2024
 | This article may be a rough translation from Spanish. It may have been generated, in whole or in part, by a computer or by a translator without dual proficiency. (December 2020) |
Gaspar Polanco | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 20th President of the Dominican Republic | |
| In office 10 October 1864 – 24 January 1865 | |
| Preceded by | José Antonio Salcedo |
| Succeeded by | Benigno Filomeno de Rojas |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1816 Monte Cristi Province, Dominican Republic |
| Died | November 28, 1867 (aged 52) La Vega Province, Dominican Republic |
| Nationality | Dominican |
| Profession | Military General |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Dominican Republic |
| Branch/service |  Dominican Army
|
| Rank |  General |
| Battles/wars | Dominican War of Independence Cibaeño Revolution Dominican Restoration War Six Years' War |
Gaspar Polanco Borbón (1816 – 28 November 1867) was a Dominican military general and politician. He has been one of the most notable military figures in the history of the Dominican Republic and served as the country's president.[1]
In August 1863 he already held the rank of general, and assumed as Commander-in-Chief.
Early life
Little is known so far about his personal background. Not even his exact year and place of birth are known, although it is presumed that it occurred in Guayubín or in the Corral Viejo area of that municipality, in 1816. His father, Valentín Polanco, was a resident cattle breeder and tobacco grower in Guayubín, from where it was easy to export to neighboring Haiti. Border trade had resumed at a certain point after Dominican independence, although there was no armistice between the two countries. Gaspar, the most capable of the three brothers, maintained the family patrimony, managing to combine his activities as a regional military leader with the administration of his livestock herd.[2]
As was normal after Independence, Gaspar Polanco joined military tasks late. It is likely that he participated in Dominican War of Independence, but he only began to stand out as a cavalry colonel in the Battle of Sabana Larga, the latter the epilogue of the Haitian aggressions, in January 1856. The warrior skills exhibited in These battles and his adhesion to Pedro Santana after the civil war of 1857 facilitated his promotion to general in 1859. From his position as head of the La Peñuela section, he made himself felt as one of the preponderant figures in the northern border area. and stood out for its ability to recruit contingents of peasants for war campaigns, a key function of local representatives of the public administration.[3]
Military career
In 1844, he participated in the Dominican War of Independence, with the rank of colonel, standing out in the Battle of Talanquera and the Battle of March 30. He excelled in the Northwest Line military campaigns with troops from rural areas. In 1848, he was promoted to captain and assigned to the Northwest Line Cavalry units, participating during that year and 1849, in actions of siege, harassment and attacks by the Haitian forces stationed in the region along the Maguaca River.
By then, Polanco had gained fame as a vanguard soldier, an expert connoisseur of the terrain of the region and would always be the leader of scouts and vanguard. With the rank of lieutenant colonel and vanguard chief, he stood out in the Battles of Sabana Larga and Jácuba, for which at the same time he was promoted to brigadier general. In 1858, he occupied the military headquarters of the La Peñuela Section.
Revolution of 1857
Buenaventura Báez was considered by Polanco and his men as an enemy of the interests of since he caused the ruin of the cigar makers and a serious economic crisis. In July 1857, General Polanco led a revolution together with Generals Domingo Mallol and Juan Luis Franco Bido that established a parallel government with José Desiderio Valverde as president, based in Santiago. The capital, Santo Domingo, was besieged from July 31, 1857, to June 13, 1858.
Period of annexation of Spain
As Brigadier General of the Cavalry and the Military Reserves in the Northwest Line, Polanco was initially at the service of Spain when the Annexation was consummated, which he supported, convinced by Pedro Santana. In these functions, under the orders of General José Antonio Hungary, Lieutenant Governor in the northern region, he led the Spanish forces that persecuted the patriots' restaurateurs, among whom was his older brother Juan Antonio Polanco, who in February 1863, tried to start the war against Spain.
Restoration War
As of August 16, the Spanish brigadier Manuel Buceta and the Spaniards are pursued from Capotillo through the entire Northwest Line by Pedro Pimentel, his brother Juan Antonio Polanco, and Benito Monción. The audacious and experienced warrior stands by their side and arrives with them on the outskirts of the city of Santiago, which has begun to be besieged by thousands of men.
He was proclaimed Commander in Chief of the restorative forces, by all the revolutionary leaders of the region. He was accepted for his conditions as a courageous and competent warrior, for having been the only general of the Independence campaigns who had taken part in the movement up to that moment, for his social weight, his prestige and his authority.
Personality
This prestige in the regional order was not hindered by its cultural limitations. He compensated for his illiterate condition with a strong personality that was channeled into warrior skills, the gift of command and the display of personal courage, the latter quality indispensable for all those who promoted themselves through the war profession. As part of this combination, he added a toughness of rare precedent to his competence in the military leadership, which would become one of his hero attributes.[4]
Around this, some historians such as Archambault have judged him as a bloodthirsty subject, while others reduce him to the condition of a crude elemental. Without a doubt, Polanco showed a predisposition to use violence, but he did so as part of a vision of the war and its patriotic objectives. He was inflexible in the face of traitors, and was often infuriated when critical situations arose in combat. But he was in no way a criminal, since he acted at all times in accordance with an ideal of national self-determination that he embraced like almost no other military leader during the war. It was this conception of the national and civil nature of the Restoration that led him to be implacable against the Spaniards. Manuel Rodríguez Objío, who treated him closely during the feat, is correct when comparing him to Maximilien Robespierre:[5]
In those days the revolution did not forgive the slightest infidelity, and Gaspar Polanco, its first representative, was the living embodiment of that tremendous justice; Robespierre of a new kind, he would have wanted to redeem and strengthen the Republic on the bones of his opponents.
This indicates that the use of violence was part of a patriotic vision, a conception that was shared in that impetuous scenario that was the Dominican Restoration War, when new actors of national resistance emerged. Polanco was the most complete expression of the sociological phenomenon; but, as a hero, he directed it to a patriotic and revolutionary sense. He did not at all obey the elemental instincts of the leaders: on the contrary, in his performance as president of the Dominican Republic in arms he would show his willingness to leave public affairs in the hands of educated civilians, endowed with a democratic and national conception that he shared. without any reservation[6]
Death
He was overthrown from the presidency by a movement that his brother Juan Antonio supported led by Pimentel, Monción and García, who considered his attempt to monopolize tobacco with his friends and associates as an arbitrary and dictatorial decision, and he went on to dedicate himself to their herds and agricultural activities where he lived in Esperanza, Valverde.
After the Republic was restored, Polanco participated in various revolutionary movements, like all those of his time, for a simple replacement of the Government. In an armed action in 1867 in defense of the government of Gral. José María Cabral, the first president elected by universal suffrage, was wounded in the foot. He was taken to receive medical attention in Santiago and then transferred to the city of La Vega, where he died of tetanus, as a result of the wound received. His older brother Juan Antonio continued the anti-annexation struggle against Buenaventura Baez, leading at the end of 1873 a military rebellion in Monte Cristi together with Ulises Heureaux which, although it was put down, marked the beginning of the end of his six-year rule10.
His remains rest in the National Pantheon of the Dominican Republic in Santo Domingo.
References
- ^ "El séptimo presidente dominicano: Gaspar Polanco y Borbón".
- ^ Cassá, Roberto (2014). Personajes Dominicanos [Personajes Dominicanos] (in Spanish) (2nd ed.). Santo Domingo. p. 352. ISBN 9789945586046.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Cassá, Roberto (2014). Personajes Dominicanos [Personajes Dominicanos] (in Spanish) (2nd ed.). Santo Domingo. p. 352. ISBN 9789945586046.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Cassá, Roberto (2014). Personajes Dominicanos [Personajes Dominicanos] (in Spanish) (2nd ed.). Santo Domingo. pp. 352–353. ISBN 9789945586046.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Cassá, Roberto (2014). Personajes Dominicanos [Personajes Dominicanos] (in Spanish) (2nd ed.). Santo Domingo. p. 353. ISBN 9789945586046.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Cassá, Roberto (2014). Personajes Dominicanos [Personajes Dominicanos] (in Spanish) (2nd ed.). Santo Domingo. p. 353. ISBN 9789945586046.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
| 1844–1865 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Restoration War (1863–1865) | ||
| 1865–1924 |
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| 1924–1966 | ||
| After 1966 | ||
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| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
- 1816 births
- 1867 deaths
- 19th-century Dominican Republic people
- Presidents of the Dominican Republic
- People of the Dominican War of Independence
- People of the Dominican Restoration War
- People of the Six Years' War
- 19th-century military personnel
- 19th-century politicians
- People from Monte Cristi Province
- Dominican Republic revolutionaries
- Dominican Republic independence activists
- Generals
- Dominican Republic people of Spanish descent