Conquer or Die!

The true ‘Boy’s Own’ adventure of the British volunteers who survived shipwreck, duels, mutinies, wild animals and malaria to fight with Simon Bolivar, 1815–21.

In the aftermath of Waterloo, over 6,000 British volunteers sailed across the Atlantic to aid Simon Bolivar in his liberation of Gran Columbia from her oppressors in Madrid. The expeditions were plagued with disaster from the start, one ship sank shortly after leaving Portsmouth with the loss of almost 200 lives. Those who reached the New World faced disease, wild animals, mutiny and desertion.

Conditions on campaign were appalling, massacres were commonplace, rations crude, pay infrequent and supplies insufficient. Nevertheless, those who endured made key contributions to Bolivar’s success.