Bernardo de Gálvez: Spanish Hero of the American Revolution

by Gonzalo María Quintero Saravia

Although Spain was never a formal ally of the United States during the American Revolution, its entry into the war definitively tipped the balance against Britain. Led by Bernardo de Gálvez, supreme commander of the Spanish forces in North America, their military campaigns against British settlements on the Mississippi River--and later against Mobile and Pensacola--were crucial in preventing Britain from concentrating all its North American military and naval forces on the fight against George Washington's Continental army. In this first comprehensive biography of Gálvez (1746-86), Gonzalo M. Quintero Saravia assesses the commander's considerable historical impact and expands our understanding of Spain's contribution to the war.

A man of both empire and the Enlightenment, as viceroy of New Spain (1785-86), Gálvez was also pivotal in the design and implementation of Spanish colonial reforms, which included the reorganization of Spain's Northern Frontier that brought peace to the region for the duration of the Spanish presence in North America. Extensively researched through Spanish, Mexican, and U.S. archives, Quintero Saravia's portrait of Gálvez reveals him as central to the histories of the Revolution and late eighteenth-century America and offers a reinterpretation of the international factors involved in the American War for Independence.

Genres: History, Biography, American Revolution, American Revolutionary War, Nonfiction

602 pages, Hardcover

First published May 7, 2018

About the author

Gonzalo María Quintero Saravia es un diplomático español, desde 2008, embajador de España en Pakistán. Doctor en Derecho y Licenciado en Geografía e Historia, ingresó en 1992 en la Carrera Diplomática.

Reviews

[Andrés CM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nos encontramos a mi entender ante uno de los grandes personajes olvidados de nuestra historia y es motivo de vergüenza que este insigne malagueño sea más conocido en Estados Unidos que en España, aunque últimamente y gracias a libros como este se le está haciendo justicia. Por último, decir que la obra ganó el Distinguished Book Award a la mejor biografía publicada en Estados Unidos en 2018 y es que pocas veces se puede decir en historia que un estudio sea definitivo pero esta biografía sino lo es se le acerca mucho.
Reseña completa: https://atrapadaenunashojasdepapel.bl...

[Madison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Been making my way through this biography slowly but I definitely learned a lot