The 1809 Decembrist Uprising: Buenos Aires' First Cry for Independence

In this episode, Lucas and Luna step back from the well-known May Revolution of 1810 to uncover the failed 1809 Decembrist uprising in Buenos Aires — a conspiracy that nearly toppled Spanish colonial rule a full eight months early. Meet the ringleaders: Martín de Álzaga, the Spanish-born merchant who championed free trade; the criollo officers like Juan Antonio Fernández; and the French agent Saturnino Rodríguez Peña, who dreamed of a British protectorate. Discover how their plots unraveled when the viceroy, Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros, got wind of the conspiracy, unleashing arrests and executions. Lucas recounts the swift justice, the exiles to Patagonia, and the political fallout that radicalized the criollo elite, setting the stage for the May Revolution. Drawing on recent scholarship, he separates the myth of a clean patriotic plot from the messy, factional reality — where Spanish merchants, landowners, and the British Empire all had competing interests. This is a tale of intrigue, betrayal, and the fragility of colonial power in the Río de la Plata.

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