Manuel José Joaquín del Corazón de Jesús Belgrano, usually referred to as Manuel Belgrano (3 June 1770 – 20 June 1820) was an Argentine economist, lawyer, politician, and military leader. He took part in the Argentine Wars of Independence and created the Flag of Argentina. He is regarded as one of the main Libertadores of the country.

Belgrano was born in Buenos Aires, the fourth child of the Italian businessman Domingo Belgrano y Peri and Josefa Casero. He came into contact with the ideas of the Age of Enlightenment when studying at the University in Spain by the time the French Revolution took place. Upon his return to the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, where he became a notable member of the criollo population of Buenos Aires, he tried to promote some of the new political and economic ideals, but found severe resistance from local peninsulars. This refusal led him to work towards a greater autonomy for his country from the colonial metropolis. At first, he unsuccessfully promoted the aspirations of Carlota Joaquina to become a regent ruler for the Viceroyalty, at the time the Spanish King Ferdinand VII was imprisoned during the Peninsular War. He later favoured the May Revolution, which removed the viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros from power on 25 May 1810. He was elected as a voting member of the Primera Junta that took power then.

As a delegate for the Junta he led the ill-fated Paraguay campaign, his troops defeated by Bernardo Velazco at the battles of Campichuelo and Paraguarí. Even if defeated, his campaign provoked the events that would lead to the Independence of Paraguay in May 1811. He then retreated to the vicinity of Rosario, to fortify it against a possible royalist attack from the Eastern Band of the Uruguay River. While being there, he created the flag of Argentina. The First Triumvirate did not approve the flag, but because of the slow communications, Belgrano would only learn about it many weeks later, while reinforcing the Army of the North at Jujuy. There, knowing of his strategic disadvantage against the Royalist armies coming from the Upper Peru, Belgrano ordered the Jujuy Exodus, moving the whole population to San Miguel de Tucumán. His counter offensive at the Battle of Tucumán resulted in a key strategic victory, and it was soon followed by the complete victory over the royalist army of Pío Tristán at the Battle of Salta. However, deeper incursions into the Upper Perú would meet with defeat at Vilcapugio and Ayohuma, results that made the Second Triumvirate order his replacement as Commander of the Army of the North for the newly arrived José de San Martín. By then, the Asamblea del Año XIII approved the use of Belgrano's flag as the national war flag.

Belgrano then went on a diplomatic mission to Europe along with Bernardino Rivadavia, seeking support for the revolutionary government. He returned in time to take part in the Congress of Tucumán that would declare the Argentine Independence. There, he promoted the Inca plan to create a constitutional monarchy counting on an Incadescendant as Head of State. This proposal had the support of San Martín, Güemes and many provincial delegates, but was strongly rejected by Buenos Aires. The Congress of Tucumán approved the use of his flag as the national flag. After this, Belgrano took once more command of the Army of the North, but his mission was limited to protect Tucumán from Royalist advances while San Martín prepared the Army of the Andes for an alternate offensive across the Andes. When Buenos Aires entered war with José Gervasio Artigas and Estanislao López, he moved the Army southwards, but the troops mutinied on January 1820. Soon after, Belgrano died of dropsy on 20 June 1820. His last words reportedly were: "¡Ay, Patria mía!" (English:"Alas, motherland of mine!").

Manuel José Joaquín del Corazón de Jesús Belgrano was born in Buenos Aires on 3 June 1770, at his father's house. This was near the Santo Domingo convent, at the Santo Domingo street, between the streets Martín de Tours and Santísima Trinidad (the modern names of those streets are Belgrano, Defensa and Bolívar respectively). This location was, by that time, one of the wealthiest neighbourhoods in the city, albeit the city was rather small by that time. Manuel Belgrano was baptized at the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral the following day. By being born in America he was considered a criollo, a social class below the Peninsulars.

His father Domenico was Ligurian, from the town of Imperia, his last name was Peri, which he translated to the Spanish form Pérez, but later changed it to Belgrano (literally "Fairwheat") as being a name that denoted good cereal production. He was a European merchant authorized by the King of Spain to move to America, and with contacts among at Spain, Río de Janeiro and Britain. He was one of the promoters of the creation of the Consulate, that his son Manuel would lead years later. Belgrano's mother was María Josefa González Islas y Casero, born in the city of Santiago del Estero. The family of the Belgranos was the second richest one in Buenos Aires, after the Escalada. They had 16 children, but four of them died. Domingo Belgrano Pérez managed a family business, and arranged his four daughters to be married with merchants that would become his trusted agents at the Banda Oriental, Misiones and Spain. The eight sons followed different paths. Domingo José Estanislao became canon at the local Cathedral, while Carlos José and José Gregorio joined the military. Manuel Belgrano was meant to follow his father's work, but when he took other interests, it was his brother Francisco José María de Indias who kept working with his father.

He made his first studies at the San Carlos school, where he learned latin, philosophy, logic, physics, metaphysics and literature, and graduated in 1786. Domingo had a success as merchant that allowed him to send his two sons Francisco and Manuel to study in Europe. He expected them to study commerce, but Manuel decided to study as lawyer instead. Belgrano developed such a high success and prestige that pope Pius VI allowed him to study all kinds of forbidden literature, even books deemed as heretic, with the only exception of astrological and obscene books. This way he came into contact with authors like Montesquieu, Rousseau and Filangieri, which were forbidden in Spain.

Belgrano studied near the intellectual elite of Spain, and by that time there were heated discussions about the ongoing French Revolution. Critics of the divine right of kings, the principles of equality and freedom and the universal scope of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen were constant topics of debate. Among these people it was thought that Spain should be remade under similar principles, and critics of such ideas were rejected as tyrants or proponents of outdated ideas. However, the Spanish Enlightenment was slightly different from the French one, as it still respected religion and monarchy. Thus, despite the new influences received, Belgrano remained a strong Catholic and monarchist.

Belgrano studied as well living languages, political economy and public rights. The authors that most influenced him were Pedro Rodríguez de Campomanes, Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, Adam Smith and François Quesnay. Belgrano also translated Quesnay's book Maximes générales de gouvernement economique d'un royaume agricole to Spanish. His main topics of interest in the works of such authors were those referred to the public good and popular prosperity. As many other South American students, he became interested in physiocracy, which stated that new wealth came from the nature and that agriculture was an economic activity that generated more income than the one needed to work; and that the state should not interfere at all with it. By that time, South America had plenty of natural resources and a very strict state interventionism in the economy. Belgrano developed the idea that the principles of physiocracy and those stated by Adam Smith could be complemented and applied in the viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata; for developing this approach he was influenced by Fernando Galliani, who promoted the study of particular cases over theoretic generalizations, and Antonio Genovesi, who thought that the absolute freedom promoted by physiocrats should be tempered by a moderate intervention of the state, such as by granting some free education. During his time in Europe he became president of the forensic practice and political economy Academy of Salamanca, as well as member of the Santa Bárbara Academy of the same genre.

A short time before his return to Buenos Aires on 3 June 1794, Belgrano was elected by Don Diego de Gardoqui as perpetual secretary of the Commerce Consulate of Buenos Aires, a new born local institution which dealt with commercial and industrial issues in the name of the crown. This date would be later known in Argentina as the economist day. He would stay in this office up to 1810. Here, he would deal with commercial disputes and promote agriculture, industry and commerce. Not having enough freedom to make big changes in the economic system, he made big efforts in improving education. Being influenced by Campomanes, he believed that the true wealth of countries was in their formation, and that the best way to promote industrialisation was through education.

Belgrano maintained frequent discussions with the vocals of the Consulate, who were all merchants with strong interests involved in the monopolic commerce with Cadiz. He made many proposals, influenced by free trade ideas. By this time, Belgrano thought that "The merchant must have freedom to buy where he can be better accommodated, and it's natural that he does where he is supplied with the cheapest gender to be able to earn the best profit". Those proposals were rejected by the vocals, his only supporters were Juan José Castelli, Juan Larrea and Domingo Matheu. However, he could manage to get some success, such as creating the Nautical school, the Commerce school or the Geometry and Drawing Academy. He created the Commerce School to influence future merchants into working towards the best interests of the nation, and the nautical and drawing ones to provide the youth with prestigious and lucrative works. Those last ones worked under the same institution, next to the Consulate, so that Belgrano could easily supervise their development. Those schools functioned for three years and were closed by a ruling of Manuel Godoy, from the Spanish monarchy, who considered them an unnecessary luxury for a colony, and that Buenos Aires may not be able to maintain them.

He tried to promote the diversification of agriculture producing linen and hemp, following the experiences with his friend Martín de Altolaguirre. He proposed to keep reserves of wheat in order to have control over its price. He tried to make leather be recognized as a product of the country, in order to promote its commercial potential. None of those proposals was accepted. He also designed a system to give prizes to achievements that would boost the local economy, diversify the agriculture or deforest the pampas. The system did not work as expected, and no such prize was ever given.

He helped to create the first newspaper of the city, the Telégrafo Mercantil, directed by Francisco Cabello y Mesa. He worked with Manuel José de Lavardén, and edited nearly two hundred issues. The newspaper was closed in 1802 because of conflicts with the authorities of the viceroyalty, who did not like the soft critics made in it or the jokes and parodies. He also worked in the Semanario de Agricultura, Comercio e Industria, directed by Hipólito Vieytes. He used this newspaper to explain his economic ideas: manufacturing and exporting finished goods, import raw materials to manufacture, avoid importing luxury goods or raw materials that could be produced or extracted locally, import only vital products, and own a merchant navy. The newspaper was specialized on "Philosophy of History, Geography and Statistics". Many of the revolutionary principles were concocted by these readings.

Belgrano had symptoms of syphilis, which he had caught during his time in Europe. This sickness forced him to take long leaves from his work in the Consulate, and to suggest his cousin Juan José Castelli, with similar ideas, as a possible replacement. The rejection of the vocals delayed the approval of Castelli up to 1796.

Belgrano was designated as captain of the urban militias in 1797 by viceroy Pedro de Melo, instructed by Spain to prepare defenses against a possible British or Portuguese attack. Belgrano worked by then in the consulate, and had no interest in the pursuit of a military career. Viceroy Rafael de Sobremonte requested him later to create a militia to counter a possible British attack, but he didn't take interest in it. His first intervention in a military conflict took place when the British William Carr Beresford arrived with 1,600 men and took Buenos Aires, starting the British invasions of the Río de la Plata. Belgrano moved to the fortress as soon as he heard the warning, and gathered many men to try a resistance. But without knowledge on the field, his men marched in disorder and Belgrano was ordered to disband after a single British cannon shot. Belgrano would write later in his autobiography that he regreted not having by then even the most basic knowledge of militia.

After taking the city, all Spanish authorities were requested to pledge allegiance to the British crown. Belgrano thought that the members of the Consulate should leave the city and join the viceroy, but the others did not share his idea. They obeyed the British request, and Belgrano refused to do so. He said that "we want the old master, or no one". To avoid being forced to pledge allegiance, he escaped from Buenos Aires and sought asylum at the chapel of Mercedes, in the Banda Oriental.

The British army was defeated by an army under the direction of Santiago de Liniers, and the Spanish authority was restored. It was expected that the British would return, and the whole city started to prepare against the possibility. Belgrano returned to Buenos Aires after the reconquest, and put himself under the command of Liniers. He was designated as sergeant of the Patricians Regiment, under the command of Cornelio Saavedra, and he started to study military strategy. After some conflicts with other officials, he resigned as sergeant and served again under the command of Liniers. During the battle he served as field assistance of a division commanded by Balbiani. After the successful resistance, Belgrano resumed his work in the Consulate and left again his military studies. Because of his knowledge of French he had a brief interview with the defeated Robert Craufurd, who proposed to him British support for an independentist movement. Belgrano rejected it, considering that Britain would easily remove their support if they had a more lucrative option in Europe, and in such case they would be helpless against a Spanish counter attack.

Manuel Belgrano was the main proponent of the Carlotist political movement in the Rio de la Plata. It was a response to recent developments in Europe, where Spain was at war with France and, through the abdications of Bayonne, the Spanish king Ferdinand VII was deposed and imprisoned, and the French Joseph Bonaparte was designated king of Spain by the French victors. This led to a partial power vacuum in the viceroyalty, as the legitimacy of the new king was rejected by all parties. The purpose of the carlotist movement was to replace the authority of the deposed king with that of Carlota Joaquina, sister of Ferdinand, living in Rio de Janeiro by then. The project was supported as a means to achieve more autonomy, and perhaps independence. Belgrano kept a fluent mail talking with Carlota, and convinced many independentists to join him in the project, such as Castelli, Vieytes, Nicolás Rodríguez Peña or Juan José Paso. The support of Cornelio Saavedra for Carlota is disputed.

The project, however, found strong resistance. Being married with John VI, a prince of Portugal, many people though that carlotism was a trick to conceal Portuguese expansionism. Carlota herself had different political ideas than those of her supporters: Belgrano and the other people mentioned shared the ideas of enlightenment, but Carlota aspired to keep the full power of an absolutist monarchy. By 1810, the project was forgotten.

A new viceroy, Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros, arrived from Europe to replace Liniers. Failing to convince Liniers of the benefits of the Carlotist plan, Belgrano aimed instead to convince him of refusing to give up the role, as Liniers had been confirmed as viceroy by a Spanish king, but Cisneros, designated by the Junta of Seville, lacked such legitimacy. However, Liniers refused this other proposal as well, and handed command to Cisneros without offering resistance. Belgrano convinced later the new viceroy to edit a new newspaper, the "Correo de Comercio". This allowed him to make gatherings with other revolutionary leaders, with the excuse of discussing the newspaper development. He also supported the opening of the port to foreign trade, ruled by Cisneros, but under strong rejection from Spanish merchants. Some historians like Miguel Ángel Scenna suggest that "The Representation of the Hacendados", commonly attributed to Mariano Moreno, was actually Belgrano's work, or a work by Moreno over a draft written by Belgrano. Belgrano may have not been able to present such work himself, because of holding a political office and because his past opposition to Cisneros may have put it under risk of being rejected.

He resigned from his work in the Consulate in April 1810 and moved to the countryside. However, a short time later he received a letter from his friends, requesting him to return to Buenos Aires and join the revolutionary movements.

The Peninsular War wasn't developing favorably for Spain, and by May 1810 a ship arrived with the news of the defeat of Seville and the disband of the Junta of Seville. Without either a recognized Spanish king or the Junta that designated Cisneros, many people thought that the viceroy had no longer any authority. He tried to conceal the news by gathering all the newspapers brought on the ship, but Belgrano and Castelli managed to get one. Failing to keep the news secret, Cisneros explained the European developments to the public. Belgrano and the members of the carlotist party, despite having given up their original idea, plotted to remove the viceroy and replace him with a Junta, and by advice of Cornelio Saavedra they waited for the mentioned news to take action.

Belgrano and Saavedra, in representation of the military and the intellectuals, got an interview with Cisneros to request an open cabildo, but without getting an answer. Cisneros called the military leaders and requested their support, but they denied it, on the grounds of the lack of legitimacy described. Castelli and other patriots insisted in the request, and Cisneros finally accepted. A massive demonstration the following day ensured that Cisneros would keep his word. The open cabildo was celebrated on 22 May, with all political leaders present, and armed men filling the Plaza and ready to invade the Cabildo in case the peninsulars attempted something to disrupt it, which would be indicated by a signal from Belgrano. He supported the posture of his cousin Castelli, who made a speech explaining the concept of the retroversion of the sovereignty of the people and that Spanish America was subject to the king of Spain but not to Spain itself. At the time of voting, Castelli's proposal was coupled with the one of Cornelio Saavedra, with Belgrano among its supporters. Such joint proposal, for the removal of Cisneros and the creation of a government Junta, prevailed over the others. However, the Cabildo attempted to keep Cisneros in power despite such result, by making a Junta that kept Cisneros as president. This was rejected by the revolutionary leaders and the population. A great state of turmoil ended when this Junta was disbanded on 25 May and replaced by the Primera Junta. Belgrano was included, among many other local politicians.

In his autobiography Belgrano declared that he did not have any previous knowledge of being included in it, and that his designation took him by surprise. Nevertheless, he accepted the role. As a member of the Junta he was part of the political line of Mariano Moreno, expecting to use the government to make big changes in the social order. One of his first rulings was the making of a Maths Academy, located in the building of the Consulate and with the purpose of instructing the military. Belgrano was designed protector of it. He supported the banishment of Cisneros and the members of the Real Audience, and the execution of Liniers and other counter revolutionaries defeated in Córdoba. Some historians suggest that he would have promoted the creation of the Operations plan, a secret document written by Moreno and designated to set harsh ways for the Junta to achieve its goals, while others consider the whole document a literary forgery done by royalists to discredit the Junta; and a few others suspect that the whole or some paragraphs may be the resut of a collaborative writing between Moreno, Belgrano and Hipólito Vieytes.

Three months after the creation of the Primera Junta, Manuel Belgrano was appointed Chief Commander of an army destined to gather support at Corrientes, Santa Fe, Paraguay and the Banda Oriental. Few days later his goal was made more specific: he should aim for Paraguay. The Junta had been informed that the patriotic party was strong, and a small army would suffice to take control. Trusting such information, Belgrano was destined to Paraguay with two possible goals, get recognition for the Junta in Paraguay or promote a new government that would stay in friendly terms with Buenos Aires. Belgrano ignored by then that on 24 July a general assembly discussed about the Junta of Buenos Aires, and decided to reject it and pledge allegiance to the Regency Council of Spain.

Belgrano headed to the north with nearly two hundred men, expecting to gather more people by the end of the Paraná river. Soldiers from the Blandengues regiments of San Nicolás and Santa Fe joined them in route, and later the Junta sent reinforcements of another two hundred soldiers. The army was welcomed by most of the population met in their way, receiving donations and new recruits. Finally, the army gathered was composed of nearly 950 men, infantry and cavalry, divided in four divisions with one piece of artillery each.

By the end of October the army stopped at Curuzú Cuatiá, where Belgrano resolved an old border conflict between Corrientes and Yapeyu. He set the territories that would belong to Curuzu Cuatiá and Mandisoví, and organized their urban layout around the chapel and the school. By November the army reached the coast of Paraná near the Apipé island, and there Belgrano took measures to benefit the natives that were living in missions. With his authority as vowel of the Junta he gave them full civil and political rights, granted lands, authorized commerce with the United Provinces, and lifted the inability to take public or religious office. However, the Junta later requested him to seek authorization for such changes in the future.

From that point the army moved to Candelaria, which was to be used as stronghold for the attack to Paraguay. The terrain of the territory gave a clear advantage to Velazco against Belgrano: the Paraná River, nearly 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) wide, was an effective natural barrier, and once it was crossed the patriotic army would have to move through a long distance across a land without supplies. Swamps, hills, rivers and lakes would also force the army to march slowly, making a possible retreat very difficult. The Parana was crossed with several boats on 19 December, and a task force of 54 paraguayan soldiers was forced to flee during the battle of Campichuelo. Belgrano saw Velazco's army from the Mbaé hill, and despite being greatly outnumbered he ordered the attack anyway, trusting in the moral strength of his soldiers. When the battle of Paraguarí started patriots had briefly an upper hand, but eventually Velazco made his numeric superiority prevail. Even with 10 deaths and 120 soldiers took prisoners Belgrano wanted to keep on the fight, but his officials convinced him to retreat.

The army left to Tacuarí, being closely watched by the combined armies of Yegros and Cabañas. Those two armies had nearly three thousand soldiers, while Belgrano was kept with barely four hundred. They were attacked from many sides during the battle of Tacuarí, in 9 March. Greatly outnumbered and losing an unequal fight, Belgrano was asked to surrender, but refused to do so. He reorganized the remaining 235 men and ordered his secretary to burn all his documents and personal papers, to prevent them from falling into enemy hands. Belgrano arranged the troops and artillery to fire for many minutes, making the paraguayan soldiers disperse. When this stopped, he requested an armistice, telling Cabañas that he had arrived to Paraguay to aid and not to conquer, but considering the open hostility found, he would leave the province. Cabañas accepted, on condition that the province was left within a day.

The campaign to Paraguay was a complete defeat for the Primera Junta, but it wasn't a complete political failure: after it, Paraguay started to consider independence and by 14 May they declared independence from Spain. However, for doing so they also broke up with Buenos Aires: they maintained good relations, but were no longer part of the same political entity.

After the defeat in Tacuarí, the government of Buenos Aires (which by then was the First Triumvirate) made a series of conflicting orders. First they requested him to fight the royalists in the Banda Oriental, then to return to the city and be judged for the defeats. However, no charges were formulated against him. He was designated as the head of the Regiment of Patricians, replacing the banished Cornelio Saavedra, but the troops did not accept him and started the Braids Mutiny. After it, the Triumvirate requested him to fortify Rosario against possible royalist attacks from the Banda Oriental. He created two batteries, "Independencia" ("Independence") and "Libertad" ("Freedom"). After realizing that both patriots and royalists were fighting under the same colours, he created the cockade of Argentina, of light blue and white colours, whose use was approved by the Triumvirate. The reasons for the colours are usually considered to be either the loyalty to the House of Bourbon or his esteem of the Virgin Mary. The approval led Belgrano to create a flag with the same colours, which was hoisted at Rosario, near the Paraná River. On that same day he was designated for replacing Pueyrredon in the Army of the North, so he traveled to Yatasto to replace him. He found demoralized officials, nearly 1,500 soldiers and the forth part of them hospitalized, minimal artillery and no money. Some of the officials were Manuel Dorrego, Gregorio Aráoz de Lamadrid, Cornelio Zelaya, José María Paz, Diego Balcarce and Eustaquio Díaz Vélez. The cities were much more hostile to the Army than those that Belgrano encountered in his way to Paraguay. Salta was menaced by Goyeneche and Belgrano had orders to take command and retreat without fighting, but he decided to disobey them. He prepared a base at Campo Santo, in Salta, where he improved the hospital and created a military tribunal. He later moved to Jujuy, even when knowing that he didn't had the resources to launch an attack to the Upper Perú.

The First Triumvirate did not approve the use of the flag created in Rosario, but Belgrano ignored that until later. Not knowing about this rejection, he made the flag be blessed by the priest Juan Ignacio de Gorriti at Salta, at the second anniversary of the May Revolution. When he learned about it, he unmade the Flag, and in case of being asked, he would tell that he was keeping it for a great victory.

Three months later the royalist general Pío Tristán advanced in the north, with more than three thousand men, prepared to invade the United Provinces. Once again outnumbered by bigger armies, Belgrano made the city of Jujuy prepare a giant exodus: the complete population of the city would have to retreat with the army and not leave behind anything that may be valuable for the royalists (such as animals, crops or housing). By September, a proper formation of columns provided them with a victory against a royalist task force of 500 men during the battle of Las Piedras. The First Triumvirate commanded Belgrano to retreat to Cordoba without fighting, but he thought that doing so would ensure the loss of the North provinces. Thus, instead of continuing to that city, he was convinced by the people of San Miguel de Tucumán to make a stand there. His forces had increased by then to nearly 1,800 soldiers, still much less than the 3,000 at Tristan's command. Even so, he gained a victory in the Battle of Tucumán. By that time, the First Triumvirate was replaced by the Second Trumvirate, which provided a greater support for Belgrano. The Second Triumvirate called the Assembly of Year XIII soon after taking power, which was meant to declare independence and enact a national constitution, but failed to do so because of political disputes between the members. It did not take measures regarding the national flag, but allowed Belgrano to use the blue and white flag as the flag of the Army of the North.

After the defeat in Tucumán, Tristán garrisoned with 2,500 men at the city of Salta. Belgrano, with reinforcements from the government, intended to gather 4,000 men and march to the Upper Peru, up to the limit of the Viceroyalty of Lima. The Battle of Salta, the first battle with the new approved banner, was a decisive victory, ending with the capitulation of Pío Tristán and all of his army.

These victories ensured Argentine authority in the northwest and stopped Royalist advance into central territory. Although there were a number of colonialist 'invasions' from Upper Peru until 1821, Belgrano's campaign is widely considered the decisive one.
By June 1813 Belgrano set a base in Potosí with an army of 2,500 men, to prepare the attack of the Upper Peru. Goyeneche moved to Oruro and resigned, being replaced by Joaquín de la Pezuela. Belgrano administrated the zone and tried to revert the bad image left by the previous campaign by Juan José Castelli. Belgrano created good relations with the natives as well. Belgrano's plan was to attack the royalists from the front and the sides, with the aid of the armies of Cárdenas and Zelaya. Both armies were near 3,500 men. However, the royalists got an important advantage by defeating Cárdenas and getting his papers, which gave them insight into the patriotic plans. Belgrano was taken by surprise at Vilcapugio, on 1 October, and initially gained the upper hand against the royalist troops, that started to flee. However, when Pezuela saw that the patriotic armies did not follow, he reorganized his forces, returned to the battle, and won. There were barely 400 survivors. Belgrano said: "Soldiers: we have lost the battle after so much fighting. Victory has betrayed us by going to the enemy files during our triumph. It does not matter! The flag of the nation still swings in our hands!". After gathering his army at Macha, where he received reinforcements from Cochabamba, Belgrano was ready for another engagement with Pezuela, whose troops were not in a better situation. On 14 November, however, Belgrano was vanquished again by the royalists at Ayohuma, and was forced to withdraw the remains of his army towards Potosí and from there to Jujuy.

The Second Triumvirate reacted by sending José de San Martín to take the command of the Army of the North, with Belgrano as his second in command. San Martín would reinforce the battle weary Army of the North with his own soldiers. Urged by Belgrano's illness, San Martín went to his meeting as quickly as possible and they met at the Posta de Yatasto, in Salta. Belgrano gave San Martin full freedom to implement changes, and took the command of the Regiment 1º. The Second Triumvirate, and later the Supreme Director Gervasio Posadas, requested Belgrano to return to Buenos Aires and be judged for the defeats at Vilcapugio and Ayohuma, but San Martín refused to send him because of his delicate health state. San Martín finally accepted to send Belgrano to Córdoba by March 1814. He temporarily settled in Luján to wait for the ending of the trial, and during this time he wrote his autobiography. Soon afterwards, all charges against Belgrano were dismissed, as no definite accusation was formulated against him. The new government, with a better esteem for Belgrano, sent him in a diplomatic mission to Europe, to negotiate support for the independence of the United Provinces.

By 1814 the Spanish King Ferdinand VII had returned to the throne and started the absolutist Restoration, which created grave consequences for the governments in the Americas. Belgrano and Bernardino Rivadavia were sent to Europe to seek support for the United Provinces, both at Spain and Britain. They sought to promote the crowning of Francisco de Paula, son of Charles IV of Spain, as regent of the United Provinces, but in the end he refused to act against the interests of the King of Spain at the time. The diplomatic mission failed, but Belgrano learned during it the changes of thought that took place in Europe after his previous stay. By then, with the influence of the French Revolution, there was great consensus for setting up republican governments, but after the government of Napoleon I monarchies were preferred again, but in the form of Constitutional monarchies, regulated by a Constitution, just as the one in Britain. He also noticed that the European powers approved the South American revolutions, but such approval started to be compromised when they started to fall into anarchy.

When they returned to Buenos Aires, the government was worried by the defeats of Rondeau at Sipe Sipe and the political stir generated by the caudillos José Gervasio Artigas and Estanislao López. Alvarez Thomas designated Belgrano for the army at Rosario, but shortly afterwards Thomas resigned, with Pueyrredón being the new Supreme Director. With the signature of the Santo Tomé pact, the aforementioned army was retired from Rosario. Belgrano was then sent back to take command of the Army of the North, with strong support from San Martín. "In the case of designating who must replace Rondeau, I am decided for Belgrano; he is the most methodical man of all whom I know in America; he is full of integrity and natural talent. He may not have the military knowledge of a Moreau or a Bonaparte as far as the army is concerned, but I think he is the best we have in South America".

Belgrano joined the Congress of Tucuman at 6 July 1816, to explain the results of his diplomatic mission in Europe. He thought that enacting a local monarchy would help to prevent anarchy, which wouldn't end simply with the independence from Spain, and that such a declaration of independence would be more easily accepted by the European powers if it created a monarchic system. For this end he formulated the Inca Plan: a monarchy ruled by a noble of the Inca civilization. He thought that this would generate support from the indigenous populations as well, and repair the actions taken against the Inca by the Spanish colonization. This proposal was supported by San Martín, Güemes, the deputies from the Upper Peru and other provinces; but found a strong rejection from Buenos Aires, that wouldn't accept Cuzco to become the capital city. On 9 July the Congress finally signed the Declaration of Independence from Spain. The flag created by Belgrano, which was being used even without a law regulating so, was also accepted as the National flag. The Inca Plan was still under discussion, but the Congress delayed it due to several states of emergency at many provinces.

In August he took once more the command of the Army of the North, but with very limited soldiers and resources. He was ordered to avoid trying to advance against the Royalists in the north, and stay in a defensive state at Tucumán. With Güemes in Salta, his task was to prevent the Royalists from moving to the south. The Supreme Director Pueyrredón was supporting instead the alternative plan designed by José de San Martín: create the Army of the Andes at Cuyo and, after making the Crossing of the Andes, defeat the Royalists in Chile, get control of the Chilean navy, and attack the Royalist stronghold of Lima with it.

In 1819 Buenos Aires was at war with José Gervasio Artigas and Estanislao López, and requested San Martín and Belgrano to return with their armies to take part in the conflict. San Martín refused to do so, but Belgrano accepted. However, before his arrival the governors Estanislao López and Juan José Viamonte signed a truce for eight days, starting negotiations for peace. His health was in a very bad state by this point, but he refused to resign, considering that the morale of the Army would suffer without his presence. He moved to the frontier between Santa Fe and Córdoba, from where he would be able to move to either the litoral or the north if needed. His health continued getting worse, and he was given an unlimited leave from work by the Supreme Director. He handed command to Fernández de la Cruz and moved to Tucumán, where he met his daughter Manuela Mónica, just one year old. The governor of Tucuman, Feliciano de la Motta, was deposed during his stay, and he was taken prisoner. Abraham González led the uprising and attempted to put Belgrano into a Shrew's fiddle, but his doctor Josef Redhead objected, because of his delicate health, and his sentence was changed to simple imprisonment. When Bernabé Araoz took the government of Tucumán, Belgrano was released immediately.

He returned to Buenos Aires, to his parental house. By that time, the Battle of Cepeda had ended the authority of the Supreme Directors, starting the period known as Anarchy of the year 20. On 20 June 1820, at the age of 50, he died of dropsy. Due to his poverty, he paid his doctor with his clock and his carriage, some of the few possessions he still had. As requested, he was shrouded into the robes of the Dominican Order, and buried in the Santo Domingo convent. Before dying, Belgrano said "Ay, Patria mía" (in Spanish, "oh, my motherland").

Due to the state of anarchy being experimented by the city, Belgrano's death was largely unnoticed. The only newspaper of the time to notice his death was "El Despertador Teofilantrópico", written by Francisco de Paula Castañeda, and there wasn't any government representation at his funeral. Former students of his educative institutions would arrive in the following days with obsequies, when the news started to be known. The following year the political context was less chaotic and Bernardino Rivadavia, who was minister by then, organized a massive state funeral.

In 1902, during the Julio Argentino Roca presidency, his body was exhumed from the atrium of Santo Domingo and was moved into a mausoleum. This was done on 4 September, by a government commission which included Dr. Joaquín V. González (ministry of interior), Pablo Riccheri (ministry of war), Gabriel L. Souto (president of the commission), Fray Modesto Becco (from the convent), Carlos Vega Belgrano and colonel Manuel Belgrano (descendants of Belgrano), Dr. Armando Claros (subsecretary of Interior), Dr. Marcial Quiroga (Health Inspector of the Army), Dr. Carlos Malbrán (president of the National Department of Health), Colonel Justo Domínguez, and doctors Luis Peluffo and C. Massot (Arsenal of War). The exhumation revealed a number of preserved bones, pieces of wood and nails. The bones were placed at a silver plate, and the following day there was a great controversy in the press: the newspaper La Prensa denounced that Joaquín V. González and Riccheri had stolen a pair of teeth. Both were returned the following day. Gonzalez declared that he intended to show the tooth to his friends, and Riccheri that he took it to Belgrano's biographer, Bartolomé Mitre.

Manuel Belgrano met María Josefa Ezcurra, sister of Encarnación Ezcurra, at the age of 22. Her father, Juan Ignacio Ezcurra, did not approve their relation, because of the bankruptcy of Domingo Belgrano, Manuel's father. Juan Ignacio arranged the wedding of his daughter with Juan Esteban Ezcurra, a distant relative from Pamplona that worked selling clothes. Juan Ignacio opposed the May Revolution and returned to Spain, leaving his wife in Buenos Aires, which allowed her to return to her former relation with Belgrano. When Belgrano was dispatched to the Upper Peru, María Josefa followed him to Jujuy. She took part in the Jujuy Exodus and saw the battle of Tucumán. It is thought that she got pregnant by this time. Her son, Pedro Pablo, was born on 30 July 1813. Pedro Pablo was adopted by Encarnación Ezcurra and her husband, Juan Manuel de Rosas, who had married shortly before.

Belgrano also met María Dolores Helguero in Tucumán, and considered briefly getting married, but the war forced to postpone this. María got married with another man, and the relation ended, but was briefly restarted in 1818. While he was near the frontiers of Córdoba, Santa Fe and Buenos Aires, and with a delicate state of health, he knew that María Dolores had given birth to his daughter, Manuela Mónica del Sagrado Corazón, who was born on 4 May 1819.

None of either sons were recognized by Belgrano at his will, where he said he had no sons. However, it is thought that he didn't mention them in order to protect their mothers, as both would be the result of relations that the moral standards of the current society wouldn't have accepted. Nevertheless, he requested his brother, Joaquín Eulogio Estanislao Belgrano, who was designated as his heir, to look after his newborn daughter.

There are no records of diseases experienced by Belgrano during his youth or adolescence. His first illness date from the time when he returned to Buenos Aires and worked in the Consulate, experienced symptoms of syphilis caught during his stay in Spain. He was treated by the most prestigious physician of the city, Miguel Gorman from the Protomedicato of Buenos Aires, Miguel García de Rojas and José Ignacio de Arocha. This disease forced him to take long leaves from his work at the Consulate and take repose stays at Maldonado and San Isidro. He was treated with salts and iodines, and his condition eventually improved. It is also suspected that he may have had rheumatism. By the year 1800 he got a growing lacrimal fistula in one of his eyes and was invited by the King to move to Spain to cure it, including a one year leave with paid wages, but he rejected it, giving priority to his work for the nation than to his own personal health. The fistula would later stabilize at a safe and unnoticeable size.

During his military career he had blood vomits, such as before the Battle of Salta, which it was thought he could not be part of. It is thought that those vomits were originated in the digestive system and caused by stress, and not in the respiratory system, because the vomits were sporadic, the condition did not became chronic, and it eventually cured itself and wasn't revealed in the autopsy.

Belgrano also experimented paludism during the second campaign to the Upper Peru. On 3 May 1815, he informed the government of his disease, which made it difficult for him to work or even talk. He was treated by the doctor Joseph Readhead, who employed a local species of the Cinchona medicinal plant. The disease lasted up to his stay in Britain, and he got healed because of the mentioned treatment and by having left the endemic zone.

He also experimented stomach disease, having a low production of gastric acids. This was worsened by the harsh military conditions, including long periods with little food. The first references to the disease that would lead to his death, a case of edema, are found a year before, in a letter directed to Álvarez Thomas. He declared having problems in the chest, a lung and his right leg. A following letter directed to Sarratea confirmed his situation, and specified that it started on 23 April 1819. The gravity of his condition made the doctor Francisco de Paula Rivero to diagnose an advanced dropsy, but Belgrano refused to move to the city of Córdoba to be healed. He argued that the morale of the army depended of his presence, and that in the case of his death he may be buried at a nearby chapel. Finally, he resigned and gave the command to Fernández de la Cruz, and moved to Tucuman, where he was jailed for a short time. Once free, he returned to his house in Buenos Aires, where he died in 20 June. He was embalmed by Joseph Redhead and Juan Sullivan, and buried at the Santo Domingo chapel. Sullivan made the autopsy, and it revealed high levels of fluid in multiple edemas, a tumor in the right epigastrium, the liver and spleen having grown beyond normal levels, disorganized kidneys, and problems with the lungs and hearth.

Manuel Belgrano had a vast intellectual awareness of most important topics of his age. He made his studies in Europe during the Atlantic Revolutions, and was a versatile polyglot, capable to understand Spanish, English, French, Italian and some indigenous languages. This allowed him to read many influential books of the Age of Enlightenment, and understand the social, economic, technical, educative, political, cultural and religious changes that were being prompted by the new ideas. He helped to promote those ideas by the press, and with his work in the Consulate. He rejected localist perspectives, favoring a latin americanist one. He was driven by the concept of the common good, which he regarded as an ethical value. He considered public health, education and work as part of the common good, as well as religion. He didn't share completely the ideas of the French Revolution, but instead the tempered ones of the Spanish Enlightenment: most notably, he remained a monarchist and with strong religious beliefs, being Roman Catholic and devotee of the Marian theology. His monarchism was not a conservative one, as he agreed that the existing state of things should be modified, but not towards a republic as in France or the United States, but towards a Constitutional monarchy, like in Britain.

In the economic fields, he was influenced by the principles of Physiocracy, an economic doctrine that considered that nature was the source of wealth. As a result, much of his works and reform proposals at the Consulate were oriented towards improving agriculture, livestock, manufacturing and free trade. He maintained a fluent contact with the consulates of other cities, developing a view of the viceroyalty as a whole. This also led to an increased work in cartography of the largely unpopulated areas of it; the maps designed during this period would become later a great help for José de San Martín to perform the Crossing of the Andes. He introduced new crops, boosted the livestock production of local fauna, and protected weaving manufacturing.

Manuel Belgrano was one of the first politicians to advocate the development of an important educative system. He did so at the first report made as head of the Consulate of Commerce, suggesting the creating of schools of agriculture and commerce. A school of agriculture would teach about important topics related to it, such as crop rotation, the specific ways to work with each crop, methods of seeding and croping, preservation of seeds and identification of pests. So far, the only previous attempt to teach agriculture was done by the Jesuits, who were banished in 1767. He wasn't concerned only about Higher education but also about primary education, and promoted the creation of free schools for poor children. In those school they would learn to read, basic maths and catechism. He thought that this would help to raise people willing to work, and reduce laziness. He also promoted the creation of schools for women, where they would learn about weaving, as well as reading. However, he did not aim to generate intellectual women, but just to prevent ignorance and laziness, and have them learn things of everyday usage. Being a strong Catholic himself, he was aligned with the Catholic perspective that rejected mixed sex education by that time, in conflict with Protestantism.

His concern with public education was not interrupted by his military campaigns. In 1813 he was rewarded with 40,000 pesos for his victories at Salta and Tucumán, an amount that would equal almost 80 gold kilograms. Belgrano declined to take such money for himself, considering that a patriot should not seek money or wealth. He gave it back to the XIII year Assembly, with instructions to build primary schools at Tarija, Jujuy, San Miguel de Tucumán and Santiago del Estero. He also laid out a series of instructions about the methods and requirements to select the teachers. However, the schools were not built, and by 1823 Bernardino Rivadavia declared that the money was lost, and Juan Ramón Balcarce included it in the debt of the Buenos Aires province a decade later.

The historian Bartolomé Mitre stated that Manuel Belgrano held a deep admiration for George Washington, leader of the American Revolution and first President of the United States. Because of it, he worked in the translation of George Washington's Farewell Address into the Spanish language. He started working on it during the Paraguay Campaign, but before the battle of Tacuarí he destroyed all his papers, to prevent them from falling into enemy hands, which included the unfinished translation. However, Belgrano started again his work afterwards, and finished it before the Battle of Salta, sending it to Buenos Aires for its publication. George Washington's Farewell Address is considered, along with the Gettysburg Address, one of the most important texts in the history of the United States. It talks about the importance of keeping national unity as the key to maintain independence, prosperity and freedom; ideas that were shared by Belgrano regarding the populations of the Hispanic America.

Belgrano is considered one of the greatest heroes in Argentina's History. A monument complex (Monumento Nacional a la Bandera, National Flag Memorial) was built in 1957 in honor of the flag, in Rosario. The Flag Memorial and the park that surrounds it are the location of national celebrations every Flag Day, on 20 June, the anniversary of Belgrano's death. The Jujuy Province is declared honorific capital of Argentina each 23 August since 2002, in reference to the Jujuy Exodus.

The cruiser ARA General Belgrano, which was sunk during the Falklands War, was named after him. A small town in the province of Córdoba, Argentina, Villa General Belgrano, also bears his name, as well as a lot of other small towns, departments and places, like Avenida Belgrano in the City of Buenos Aires, and part of the avenue that leads to the Flag Memorial in Rosario (Avenida Belgrano). Additionally, there is a northern neighborhood within Buenos Aires city that carries the name Belgrano.

In the museum Casa de la Libertad at Sucre, Bolivia, there is an Argentine flag, protected by a glass case and in a deteriorated condition, which they claim to be the original one, raised by Belgrano for first time in 1812. The ensign was one of two abandoned and hidden inside a small church near Macha, after the battle of Ayohuma, during the retreat from Upper Peru in 1813. The other flag was given back to Argentina by the Bolivian authorities in 1896.

In Genoa, Italy, there is a commemorative statue of Belgrano, at the end of the Corso Buenos Aires.

The first biography of Manuel Belgrano was his autobiography, which he wrote by the time he was stationed in Lujan. However, it remained unpublished for a long time. His first biography written by someone else was "Bosquejo histórico del General Don Manuel Belgrano" (English: Historical stub on General Don Manuel Belgrano), authored by José Ignacio Álvarez Thomas. Álvarez Thomas wrote it during his exile at Colonia del Sacramento, and his work had a high political bias. The historian Bartolomé Mitre wrote Historia de Belgrano y de la Independencia Argentina (English: History of Belgrano and of the Independence of Argentina), whose scope expanded from the simple biography of Belgrano himself, and detailed instead the Argentine War of Independence as a whole. This book included as well the autobiography of Belgrano, which was discovered by Mitre. The book was criticized by other contemporary Argentine authors, such as Dalmacio Vélez Sarsfield, Vicente Fidel López or Juan Bautista Alberdi, with whom Mitre had important discussions. Vélez Sarsfield criticised the work of Mitre at "Rectificaciones históricas: General Belgrano, General Güemes" (English: Historical rectifications: General Belgrano, General Güemes) which dealt with Martín Miguel de Güemes as well, and Mitre would answer at "Estudios históricos sobre la Revolución de Mayo: Belgrano y Güemes" (English: Historical studies about the May Revolution: Belgrano and Güemes). Both books were written in 1864. Viente López provided a biography of Belgrano from a different angle, placing the focus over a small group of specific peoples rather than in the nation as a whole. His book was "Debate histórico, refutaciones a las comprobaciones históricas sobre la Historia de Belgrano" (English: Historical debate, rebuttals to the historical checkings about the history of Belgrano), and Mitre replied with "Nuevas comprobaciones sobre historia argentina" (English: New checkings about the history of Argentina). Those disputes about Belgrano are considered the starting point of the Historiography of Argentina. Historiographical studies of Manuel Belgrano are currently held by the Belgranian National Institute.

Belgrano appears in an important number of currencies in the numismatic history of Argentina. He had appeared for the first time in the Peso Ley 18.188, in the banknotes of 1, 5 and 10 pesos. He was later included in the 10,000 pesos banknotes of the pesos argentinos, the highest banknote value in circulation. The Australes had chosen a number of political and military figures that did not include Belgrano, but later the 10,000 pesos argentinos banknotes were allowed to be used as australes. The Peso, modern currency of Argentina, includes Belgrano in the banknotes of 10 pesos. The 1997 and 2002 series only modified small details.