User blog:Sidekickman/General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna vs José de San Martin

General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna: The Mexican general, hero of the Mexican Revolution, the War against the USA and responsible for the Mexican victory at the Alamo...

VS

José de San Martín, the hero of South America's wars of independence, responsible for liberating Argentina, Chile and Peru, and crossing the Andes with his entire army...

Who... is... DEADLIEST!?

The Weapons:

Weapon Characteristics:

General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna:

Flintlock Pistol:

Flintlock pistols were used as self-defense weapons and as a military arm. Their effective range was short, and they were frequently used as an adjunct to a sword or cutlass. Pistols were usually smoothbore although some rifled pistols were produced.

Musket:

Flintlock muskets were the mainstay of European armies between 1660 and 1840. A musket was a muzzle-loading smoothbore long gun that was loaded with a round lead ball, but it could also be loaded with shot for hunting. For military purposes, the weapon was loaded with ball, or a mixture of ball with several large shot (called buck and ball), and had an effective range of about 75 to 100 meters. Smoothbore weapons that were designed for hunting birds were called "fowlers." Flintlock muskets tended to be of large caliber and usually had no choke, so they could also be used to fire a ball.

Military flintlock muskets tended to weigh approximately ten pounds, as heavier weapons were found to be too cumbersome, and lighter weapons were not rugged or heavy enough to be used in hand to hand combat. They were usually designed to be fitted with a bayonet. On modern weapons, bayonets are a last ditch weapon that rarely plays a significant role on the battlefield. On flintlocks, the bayonet played a much more significant role, often accounting for a third or more of all battlefield casualties. Flintlock weapons were not used like modern rifles. They tended to be fired in mass volleys, followed by bayonet charges in which the weapons were used much like the pikes that they replaced. Because they were used as pikes, military flintlocks tended to be approximately five or six feet in length (without the bayonet attached), and used bayonets that were approximately 18 to 22 inches in length.

8-pound cannon:

Western cannons during the 19th century became larger, more destructive, more accurate, and could fire at longer range. One example is the American 3 in (76 mm) wrought-iron, muzzle-loading rifle, or Griffen gun, used during the American Civil War, which had an effective range of over 1.1 mi (1.8 km). Another is the smoothbore 12 pounder Napoleon, which was renowned for its sturdiness, reliability, firepower, flexibility, relatively light weight, and range of 1,700 m (5,600 ft). An 8-pound cannon could fire 8-pound projectiles from its barrel, as well as grapeshot, chainshot, shrapnel, and later shells and canister shot.

José de San Martín:

Curved saber:

The sabre or saber (see spelling differences) is a kind of backsword that usually has a curved, single-edged blade and a rather large hand guard, covering the knuckles of the hand as well as the thumb and forefinger. Although sabres are typically thought of as curved-bladed slashing weapons, those used by the world's heavy cavalry often had straight and even double-edged blades more suitable for thrusting. The length of sabres varied, and most were carried in a scabbard hanging from a shoulder belt known as a baldric or from a waist-mounted sword belt. The Granaderos a Caballo regiment, founded by San Martin were exceptional in its use on horseback, having trained especially to use it on a cavalry charge.

Tacuara Iron Spear:

Adopted from the Native American tribes of South America, who used stone to make the tips, the Tacuara Iron Spear was made from the Tacuara tree, a long, hard but flexible tree that grows in the region. Usually, this spears were almost twice the size of a grown man, and deadly when used on horseback. Their flexible nature proved to be the most effective of its advantages, since it could strike and kill an enemy, again and again, without it breaking or making the horse rider loose speed. This weapon was one of the reasons that made the the Argentinean cavalry considered to be by many the best cavalry in the world during the better part of the 19th century.

Criollo War Horse:

The Criollo (in Spanish), or Crioulo (in Portuguese), is the native horse of Uruguay (1910), Argentina (1918), Brazil (1932) and Paraguay. It may have the best endurance of any horse breed in the world next to the Arabian. In fact, due to the criollo's low basal metabolism, it may be a better long-distance horse than the Arabian in prolonged races over a week in duration with no supplemental feed. The breed, known for its hardiness and stamina, is most popular in its home countries. It was, and is, the horse used by the Granaderos a Caballo regiment of Argentina.

The criollo is a hardy horse with a brawny and strong body with broad chest and well-sprung ribs. They have sloping strong shoulders with muscular necks, short and strong legs with good bone structure and resistant joints, low-set hocks and sound hard feet. The medium to large size long-muzzled head has a straight or slightly convex profile with wide-set eyes. The croup is sloping, the haunches well-muscled, and the back, short with a strong loin.

They are tractable, intelligent, willing and sensible horses. They average 14.3 hands high, being the maximum height for stallions and geldings of 14 to 15 hands high. The difference between the maximum and minimum height for mares is approximately 2 cm (1 inch).

The breed is famous for their endurance capabilities and ability to live in harsh conditions, as their homeland has both extreme heat and cold weather. They are frugal eaters, thriving on little grass. They have good resistance to disease and are long-lived horses.

(Source of some of this were from Wikipedia articles, others from personal research in history books)

The Battle: This will be a group battle, 5 men on each side, counting their leaders. Santa Anna will be with 4 infantry soldiers of the Mexican Army, while San Martin will be with four horsemen of the Granaderos a Caballo regiment. The battle will take place on an open prairie, mostly flat but with some minor hills here and there.

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