Costante Ferrari: A Bolivarian Philhellene in the Age of Revolutions

Embedding his global life into the tumultuous context of the post-Napoleonic era, Costante Ferrari’s biography illustrates the inter-oceanic dimension of the 1820s crisis. From the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, the patriotic cause mobilized an assorted cast of actors who participated in the same international networks and shared similar ideals, values, and visions of national sovereignty. For many Bonapartist veterans, fighting in the New World for glory, honour, and liberty from Spanish rule was compatible with fighting for Christianity over Islam, civilization over barbarity, and self-government over despotism. In the age of revolutions, anti-Bourbonism and philhellenism were specular ideals for imagining an alternative world to that of the Restoration