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 In 1868, Batolome Mitre (1821-1906) lost the Argentine presidency to Domingo
Faustino Sarmiento (1811-88), who had the backing of the military and whose
administration carried on educational reform and economic development. Mitre
remained a strong political figure in Buenos Aires, whose financial superiority
over other Argentine provinces dominated national life. In 1874, Mitre, leader
of the liberal faction, failed to regain the presidency in the election;
claiming his defeat was fraudulent, he led a rebellion, but federal troops under
Sarmiento defeated the rebels at Buenos Aires (November 6, 1874) and forced
Mitre to capitulate. The victorious presidential candidate Nicolas Avellaneda
(1836-85), a minister in Sarmiento's government, then took office and governed
until 1880, when he was succeeded by General Julio Argentino Roca (1843-1914),
who had gained national fame in a successful war (1878-79) against the Indians
of Patagonia, who had been pushed south of the Rio Negro, thus opening up the
pampas to colonization.
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