Jorge Beauchef

Jorge Beauchef (1787 in Le Puy-en-Velay, France – June 10, 1840 in Santiago, Chile) was a French military officer who participated in the Napoleonic Wars. He is best known in Latin America for his participation in the Chilean War of Independence, where he won many battles (Battle of Maipú, capture of Valdivia etc). This first battle, one of the most famous, ensured Chile's independence, putting an end to the continuous Spanish domination since 1536.

A pioneer of the Chilean Navy, he distinguished himself under the orders of the famous British mercenary Lord Cochrane. He won the battle of Valdivia with him, for which they were both decorated. He was governor of Lima (to a lesser extent, he participated in the Peruvian War of Independence by commanding an expedition to help José de San Martín, a national hero of Argentina and Peru).

In his honour, a street in downtown Santiago has been renamed "Beauchef Street". The main buildings of the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of the University of Chile are located there and are called "Campus Beauchef". A series entitled "La huella de Beauchef" (in English: "The Beauchef footprint") of 6 one-hour episodes was released about him in 20061. His war memoirs have been reprinted several times in the 20th and 21st centuries, mainly in Spanish and English but also a little in French.

Napoleonic Wars At the age of nineteen, he participated with the French forces in the Battle of Austerlitz against the Third Coalition. In 1808, as part of Napoleon's forces that invaded Spain, he was taken prisoner but managed to escape. After the defeat at Waterloo in 1815, Beauchef was discharged for refusing to take the oath to the Bourbon monarchy, leaving for New York.