Cornelio Saavedra Rodriguez ( 1821 , Santiago , Chile - April 7, 1891 , Santiago , Chile ) - Chilean politician and military leader, commander of the Chilean army during the Occupation of Araucania .
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His parents were Manuel Saavedra Cabrera, the son of the first chairman of the government of Buenos Aires in 1810 and the Argentine general Cornelio Saavedra (he received his name Cornelio Saavedra Jr. in honor of his grandfather), and Josephine Rodriguez Salcedo. He was married to Dorothea Rivera Serrano, daughter of the Chilean general Juan de Diaz Rivere i Freire de Andrade and Galeazzo Maria del Rosario Alfaro Serrano. At the age of 15, he entered the military academy, where he graduated with the rank of junior infantry lieutenant of the Chilean army the following year. In 1837 he was assigned to the Chilian battalion, where he rose to the rank of lieutenant by the age of 17. In 1847, he was promoted to senior major and was sent to the reserve with active military service for health reasons in 1849. Two years later, he was called up again to participate in the 1851 revolution, as a result of which Manuel Montt, officially losing the presidential election, came to power and the 1833 constitution was repealed. In 1857, he was appointed mayor and “arms commander” in Arauco: he was tasked with crushing the uprising in the southern provinces of the country during the 1859 revolution. In the same year he was reinstated in active military service with the rank of senior major. Cornelio Saavedra Rodriguez assumed the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Navy in 1860, but left the post that same year. In 1862, he received the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Cornelio Saavedra Rodriguez presented to President Manuel Mont his project to expand Chilean territory south of La Frontera (that is, from the Biobio River), but his plan was rejected at first. After an incident involving the French adventurer Oreilly-Antoine de Tunan , the self-proclaimed king of Araucania and Patagonia , who declared Araucania his "state" under the auspices of France, President Jose Joaquin Pérez Maskuano decided to begin the annexation of the territory of Araucania according to the immediately approved plan of Rodriguez, which meant the beginning of the first stage Araucania.
Cornelio Saavedra Rodriguez was commander in chief of Chilean forces during the campaign to conquer Araucania, populated by Mapuche Indians. Its first phase was the creation of forts and small villages along the River Maleko, located on the territory of the Indians (the foundation of the city of Angola in 1862 refers to the same period). The second phase (1867-1869) was a decisive offensive on the Mapuche, but the third phase in 1870 was not so successful and ended with the start of negotiations.
After completing the second phase of the campaign in Araucania, Cornelio Saavedra Rodriguez participated in the Second Pacific War . After that, he left the army and was a deputy and senator, that is, he did not participate in the final conquest of Araucania.