Daaaaamn. Hell of an AAR. Congrats to everyone, not the least of which to TH!
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General Sebastian Hidalgo (1847 - 1913, 66 years) - Hidalgo fought as a Colonel in the Army of the South during the 1876 coup, notably on the opposing side of his rebelling father, Manuel Hidalgo, who would perish along with the coup. Afterwards, he joined the rapidly rising Nacionales party and became commander of the Army of the South in 1881. It was in 1886, right before the Civil War launched and backed by President Andonie, that he would ascend to General of the Army of Patagonia, a position he would hold for decades to come. In the following years, he would put down coup after coup, becoming one of Chile's most celebrated and skilled field commanders. It was in the 1898 double-revolution, however, that he was to distinguish himself. In a series of battles he almost lost, with support from General de Porto, he captured Santiago from the Communist revolutionaries and seized mainland Chile for the Fascists. He would then become a major player in Chile following this point, unsuccessfully running for Caudillo in 1907 (having come short by a miscount). During the Republican Uprising in 1913, he commanded Fascist forces and defeated the Republicans in battle after battle, until, against his own power, too many men deserted, and in a series of battles against superior numbers, he was killed in action. He left behind a son, Juan, and his wife, Constanza. His grandson, Francisco, would eventually become a prominent artist and Liberal.
President Daniel Palomino (1881 - 1963, 82 years) - Palomino was born into a middle-class military family. At the age of just 17, when his father was called to serve the Republic during the three-way Civil War, he was left to care for two sisters and his mother. When his father never returned - likely from yellow fever or malaria in the jungles of Panama - he found good work and eventually joined the resistance against the Fascist regime. He was a key proponent to the 1911 Civil War, working logistics with the armies of General Rivera. He was immediately elected to Congress following the reinstatement of the Republic. He quickly became a forefront proponent of laissez-faire and anti-military policies, despite being instated as commander of the Chilean Navy. He quickly adopted this role, and became a skilled leader, organizer, and naval commander. By the Election of 1926, Palomino was a highly respected politician with "true Liberal ideals", and easily won the election following the launching of another Communist revolution. Pro-government forces quickly joined Palomino in the war effort, and by 1928 the Communists were put down, thanks in no small part to President-Elect (as he was never officially inaugurated until after the war) Palomino's leadership skills. However, his Presidency was plagued with many problems - a massive spending spree on the navy, a reduction of the army and the loss of thousands of jobs, the beginning of the Great Depression, and alleged massive corruption in the Treasury. He would lose the election by a surprisingly slim margin in 1931, but would retain the title of Commander of the Chilean Navy for almost 16 more years. By the beginning of the war effort against Hitler, Palomino had at his disposal the second largest navy in the world. His skill at naval warfare brought him numerous victories against the Japanese (in conjunction with the American Navy), and his presence at Normandy in 1943 facilitated the rapid fall of Hitler's Reich. Retiring in 1947, he would go on to write two memoirs, about both his Presidency and the War. He would die peacefully in his sleep, in 1963, at the age of 82.