Background
Manuel Bulnes Prieto was born in Concepción on 25 December 1799.
government official military politician president
Manuel Bulnes Prieto was born in Concepción on 25 December 1799.
In 1811, when only 12 years old, Bulnes enrolled as a cadet in the Royal Veteran Battalion of Infantry of Concepción.
He was deported to an island in the Pacific Ocean for political reasons in 1816, returning to the mainland only after the Battle of Chacabuco in February 1817, which definitely assured the independence of Chile. Subsequently, Bulnes took part in many of the later battles of the independence war. By 1831 he was a brigadier general, and by 1833 a major general. He led the Chilean troops in the 1838-1839 war with the Peru-Bolivian Confederation.
In 1841 Bulnes was elected president with the support of the so-called pelu- cones (wigged ones), the more conservative current in Chilean politics at that time. In 1846 he was reelected without opposition.
The election at the end of Bulnes’ second term of Manuel Montt Torres as his successor, provoked strong opposition and a short civil war. After duly turning over the presidency to his elected successor, General Bulnes took the field once again, successfully commanding the government troops. This was the last serious attempt to overthrow the Chilean government by force until the Civil War of 1891.
In 1852 ex-President Bulnes was elected to the Senate, and he remained a senator until his death.