Political Beginnings
In 1878, during Avellaneda's presidency, he became Minister of War and it was his task to prepare a campaign that would bring and end to the "frontier problem" after the failure of the plan of Adolfo Alsina (his predecessor). The Indians frequently assaulted frontier settlements and stole horses and cattle, and the captured women and children were enslaved or offered as brides to the warriors. Roca's approach to dealing with the Indian communities of the Pampas, however, was completely different from Alsina's, who had ordered the construction of a ditch and a defensive line of small fortresses across the Province of Buenos Aires. Roca saw no way to end native attacks (malones) but by putting under effective government control all land up to the Río Negro in a campaign (known as the Conquest of the Desert) that would "extinguish, subdue or expel" the Indians who inhabited there. This land conquest would also strengthen Argentina's strategic position against Chile.
He devised a "tentacle" move, with waves of 6,000 men cavalry units stemming coordinately from Mendoza, Córdoba, Santa Fé and Buenos Aires on July 1878 and April 1879 respectively, with an official toll of nearly 1,313 Native Americans killed and 15,000 taken as prisoners, and is credited with the liberation of several hundred European hostages.
Due to his military successes and the massive territorial gains linked with them, Roca was put forward as a successor to President Avellaneda. In October 1879 he gave up his military career to get ready for the election campaign. When Carlos Tejedor instigated a revolution in 1880 Roca was one of the key figures in the federalization of the country and the naming of Buenos Aires as the capital of Argentina, settling the question of central rule.
Read more about this topic: Julio Argentino Roca
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