The Battle of Ayacucho

The Battle of Ayacucho, fought on December 9, 1824, was a decisive military engagement in the Peruvian War of Independence and a turning point in Latin America’s struggle for independence from Spanish rule. It took place near Ayacucho, in the Peruvian highlands, and saw the united forces of South American independence fighters, led by Antonio José de Sucre, defeat the Spanish royalist army. This victory effectively ended Spanish control in South America, securing independence for Peru and marking the decline of Spanish influence in the region.

Ayacucho: South American Independence

Introduction

In June of 1806, a British admiral named Popham, having fulfilled his orders to capture Cape Town in Dutch South Africa, decided to cross over to South America and capture the Spanish viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata. At first, the locals were glad to see the Spanish evicted, but resistance movements soon appeared. After a year of campaigns, the British were expelled, and Spanish rule was restored. From this conflict, the locals learned two important facts: Spain was too weak to effectively defend them, and they could defeat European troops. When coupled with ideas of freedom and self-rule derived from the recent American, French, and Haitian revolutions, these insights would lead to the emergence of independence movements in South and Central America.

The Liberators

• (1) Among the many leaders who played roles in the Latin American independence movements, Simon Bolivar is prominent for his involvement in the independence struggles of several regions. He grew up in Caracas, where his family represented the extreme upper class. By 1800, his family had already been in the New World for more than 250 years; they were aristocrats whose great wealth derived from, among other things, mines operated using slave labor.
• (2) Bolivar attended a military academy, then went to Europe, where he spent several years in Paris. In Europe, he at first appears to have led the rather typically debauched life of a young, rich, aristocratic playboy, but he was also exposed to the ideas of the Enlightenment and experienced a political awakening. He began to apply the ideals of freedom and self-government that he was hearing and reading about to his home continent.
• (3) When he returned to Venezuela in 1807, Bolivar brought a conviction that his homeland must achieve independence from Spain. Initially, not many agreed, and for some years, he suppressed his radical inclinations. Revolution was inevitable, however, and he became involved in an early attempt to establish a Venezuelan state that became known as the First Republic. Bolivar’s performance was not impressive—he suffered a bad military defeat and betrayed one of the leaders of the movement to the Spanish.
• (4) His next attempt was a new uprising accompanied by several written manifestos that reflected Enlightenment ideals. But once again, success was short-lived, and after a counterrevolution, Bolivar departed for a period of exile in Haiti and Jamaica. Upon his return in 1816, the revolutionary movement began to gather greater momentum.
• (5) An early turning point was the Battle of Boyaca in 1819, at which Bolivar’s forces defeated a royalist army, leading to the independence of the region occupied by modern Colombia. This was followed in 1821 by another important victory at the Battle of Carabobo, which enabled the creation of a Gran Colombia encompassing the northern quarter of South America. Bolivar himself became president of this new state.
• (6) One of Bolivar’s subordinates was a promising officer named Antonio Jose de Sucre; in 1822, he led an army into Ecuador. After a dramatic battle on the slopes of a volcano, Sucre was victorious and soon after captured Quito. As a result of Sucre’s actions, Ecuador now joins the list of independent South American countries.
• (7) Meanwhile, revolutionary movements were breaking out across South America. The most important figure in the Southern rebellions was Jose de San Martin. Although he was born in the New World, his family moved to Spain when San Martin was just a child. His father was a soldier, and San Martin followed him into the army, serving in the fighting in Spain during the Napoleonic wars.
• (8) San Martin resigned his commission and returned to South America, where he became involved in the war for Argentine independence. He began to rise to prominence after he organized a unit called the Army of the Andes and, with it, crossed the supposedly impassable mountains and invaded Chile. After a series of battles, Chilean independence was achieved in 1818, winning San Martin considerable renown. Having helped Argentina and Chile gain freedom, San Martin now focused his efforts on attempting to extend the liberation movement to Peru.
• (9) The two great liberators of the north and the south met at Guayaquil in July 1822 to plan a joint assault against Peru, but they clashed in terms of personality, preferred methods of operation, and, most significantly, long-term goals. Realizing that cooperation between them would be nearly impossible and fearing that even to attempt it might destroy what they had accomplished, the aging San Martin decided to remove himself from the scene. He retired permanently to Europe, where he died in 1850, leaving Bolivar effectively in charge of the South American revolutionary movement.

The Battle

• (1) By 1824, with Columbia, Venezuela, Argentina, Ecuador, and Chile liberated, the primary bastion of colonial Spanish rule in South America was Peru. The conquest of Peru would not be easy because it still contained a strong army of 12,000 royalist troops loyal to the Spanish king, and the highland area of the country was a natural fortress surrounded by the Andes.
• (2) Bolivar and his chief lieutenant, Sucre, began to plan their campaign against Peru. The time was ripe for an attack: internal turmoil in Spain ensured that the royalist forces in South America would not be receiving reinforcements.
• (3) In May 1824, the revolutionary army embarked on an epic march through the mountains. The soldiers suffered severely from altitude sickness and from nighttime temperatures well below freezing. By August, Bolivar had made his way onto the high Peruvian plateau with an army of nearly 9,000 men.
• (4) On August 6, there was a sharp clash between Bolivar’s cavalry and that of the royalists at Lake Junin, at an altitude of 12,000 feet. The royalist cavalry initially had success, but Bolivar’s horsemen rallied and drove them off. From a military perspective, this battle was unusual because it was fought solely by the mounted forces using only swords and lances. Although a relatively minor victory, the Battle of Junin greatly elevated the morale of the revolutionary army, and it cleared the way for Bolivar to march into Peru proper, setting the stage for the decisive Battle of Ayacucho.
• (5) Bolivar departed to deal with some urgent political issues, leaving Sucre in charge of the army. The commander of the royalist army opposing Sucre was Jose de la Serna. For several months, Sucre and La Serna shadowed each other. Finally, the two forces drew together on December 8 near the plain of Ayacucho and encamped for the night.
• (6) That evening, Sucre cleverly ordered his musicians forward toward the Spanish, together with some skirmishers. Throughout the night, the band’s playing, coupled with the skirmishers firing random shots in the direction of the Spanish campfires, kept the royalist army awake, ensuring that they would be ill-rested for the coming battle.
• (7) The plain of Ayacucho itself was a patch of flat land measuring only 1,300 by 800 yards. Sucre’s army of about 6,000 men and one cannon deployed along the western edge. He arranged his infantry battalions in a line, with his cavalry behind them as a reserve.
• (8) On the eastern edge, La Serna deployed his approximately 7,000 men and seven cannons into a similar line of infantry, with some cavalry on each side. As a reserve, he had a large group of cavalry and an elite battalion of halberdiers. He planned to attack and pin down Sucre’s army with his right and left flanks, then use his strong center to move in and crush the liberators.
• (9) The battle proper began with the royalist left attacking first and having some success. The rest of the Spanish line also advanced, with Sucre’s army coming forward to meet them, and the fighting spread across the length of the lines. The heavier artillery of the royalists gave their attack extra momentum, but Sucre countered with some of his reserves. On the embattled right flank, the commander in charge of stemming the royalist attack firmed up his line and fought them off.
• (10) By afternoon, the battle was turning in favor of the liberators, and the remaining organized royalist forces were falling back into a last-ditch defensive stand on the high ground. La Serna was wounded, and soon after, he and his remaining men surrendered to Sucre.

Outcomes

• (1) With the victory at Ayacucho, the last Spanish resistance crumbled. Ayacucho can be considered a decisive battle in global history because it was the event that clearly ended Spanish rule in Latin America, and it secured and ensured the continued existence of the newly independent South American nations.
• (2) Within a year of Ayacucho, all the territories in the New World had thrown off their colonial overseers and created independent nations. Spain, which had once controlled the greater part of two vast continents, had its New World possessions reduced to Cuba and Puerto Rico. The loss of these territories and of the incomes that came with them caused Spain to plummet from international power and importance.
• (3) Desiring to decrease European influence in the hemisphere, the United States was quick to give diplomatic recognition to the newly formed states and issued the Monroe Doctrine, which declared that any attempt by European powers to reestablish colonial rule in the hemisphere would be considered a hostile act.

Conclusion

The Battle of Ayacucho stands as a pivotal moment in the history of Latin America, symbolizing the triumph of the independence movements over centuries of Spanish colonial rule. Fought on December 9, 1824, this decisive victory by the united forces of South American patriots under Antonio José de Sucre not only secured the independence of Peru but also marked the effective end of Spanish dominance in South America. The battle’s outcome reshaped the continent, leading to the emergence of independent nations and the decline of colonial empires, thus setting the stage for the modern history of the region.

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