A long time ago. the South American country of Chile belonged to Spain. Many of the Chileans, however, did not want to be ruled by Spain.
Led by Bernardo O'Higgins, some of them formed a small army. They attacked the Spanish soldiers at different times and in different places.
This made the King of Spain very angry. He sent more soldiers to Chile to deal with them.
Although there were far more Spanish soldiers than freedom-fighters, they refused to surrender and fought bravely.
At last, however, in 1814, they were forced to retreat to the town of Rancagua near Spantiago. There, O'Higgins and his men were surrounded dy the Spanish army and O'Higgins was wounded by an enemy bullet.
It seemed as if their fight for freedom was over.
But O'Higgins refused to surrender. Even though he was wounded, he ordered his men to collect as many mules, cows, sheep and dogs as possible.
As soon as the animals were in position in front of his men, O'Higgins was lifted onto his horse.
Shouting at the top of his voice, he rode into the animals.
Frightened, they began to run. They ran straight at the Spanish soldiers.
Now it was the Spaniards' turn to be frightened. They turned and ran away form the animals as fast as they could, allowing O'Higgins and his men to escape to the mountains.
There he built up his army, and in 1818 he defeated the Spanish.
He then became the first president of the new, free nation. |
