Undeterred by the disastrous results of the first Army of the North at Huaquí, the provisional government decided upon a second expedition to Alto Perú. In addition to the strategic difficulties of this plan, new obstacles arose from the jealousies and ill-feeling caused by the ambition of General Alvear. He has truly been called the Alcibiades of Argentina. Handsome, young, accomplished, and erratically brilliant in the conception of his military plans, he was consumed by a disproportionate ambition to be the leading military hero of the Revolution. It was in order to satisfy this inordinate craving for glory that he had himself appointed general-in-chief of the besieging forces of Montevideo, at a moment when that city was doomed to fall, thus depriving Rondeau of a victory which in reality was his. As in the case of the campaign of Montevideo, Rondeau was first selected to command the second Army of the North, but Alvear intended to keep him in command only until the time should come for decisive action, when he himself, aided by the ascendancy he had gained with the provisional government, would assume command and reap the fruits of victory. In accordance with this plan, he attempted to supplant Rondeau towards the end of the year 1814. This time, however, Rondeau refused to deliver his command to Alvear, and, as his troops supported him, Alvear was forced to return to Buenos Aires. The great popularity that he enjoyed in the capital raised him to the supreme honor of Director of the United Provinces, but his harshness in dealing with opposing political parties, and his weakness in meeting the rebellion of Artigas, combined with the opposition of both the Army of the North and the army that San Martín was quietly getting together in Mendoza for the invasion of Chile, made his tenure of office very short-lived, and he was forced to surrender the reins of government and flee to Río Janeiro. This was the first serious defection among the makers of the Revolution, if we except the work of the Uruguayan leader, Artigas, who by his constant opposition to the provisional government of Buenos Aires delayed and prevented the unification of forces necessary to bring about the fall of Spanish power, but who at least worked for the independence of Uruguay, whereas Alvear sought primarily to aggrandize himself. It was not surprising therefore that the Army of the North, its discipline shaken by the recent rebellion caused by Alvear's ambition, and confronted, as it was, by the naturally difficult task of attacking Peru by a road which had been marked by the previous defeat of Huaquí, met a second disastrous defeat at Sipe-Sipe. So complete was this defeat that the Army of the North ceased to exist entirely, never to be reorganized again as it had been after Huaquí. What Belgrano did for the defense of the provinces after the defeat of the first Army of the North, the _caudillo_ Güemes accomplished after Sipe-Sipe. With his swift band of _gauchos_ he