Schematic plan · Latin American Wars of Independence

Battle of Ayacucho

9 December 1824
Peru
Victory for Independentalists

All battles The event in the chronicle Wikipedia

A schematic plan, generated from the statistics of the CAA Database of Battles: the armies' size and width, the hours of fighting, the plan of attack and the outcome are as recorded; the ground and the positions are not.

Spain (Sp Army, 9,310 men under La Serna) attacked Independentalists (Patriot Army, 5,780 men under Sucre) in Peru. The CAA Database of Battles records 10 hours of fighting on a front of 4.5 km, a frontal attack against hasty defense, and that Independentalists held. Losses: Spain 2,500 (27%), Independentalists 919 (16%).

This plan is generated from those figures. It shows the shape of the battle the database describes: the size and width of the armies, the plan of attack and the outcome. It does not show where the units actually stood.

The armies

Spain

La Serna

Unit	Arm	Men
Spain left wing	Infantry	2,195
Spain centre	Infantry	2,926
Spain right wing	Infantry	2,195
Spain reserve	Infantry	1,829
Spain artillery (11 guns)	Artillery	165
La Serna	Commander	—
In this plan		9,310

Independentalists

Sucre

Unit	Arm	Men
Independentalists left wing	Infantry	1,384
Independentalists centre	Infantry	1,845
Independentalists right wing	Infantry	1,384
Independentalists reserve	Infantry	1,153
Independentalists artillery (1 guns)	Artillery	15
Sucre	Commander	—
In this plan		5,781

What the sources report

	Spain	Independentalists
Strength, this plan	9,310	5,780
Losses, this plan	2,500	919

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 155, “Ayacucho”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting: 10 hours
Winner: the defender
Terrain: Rolling, Mixed
Weather: Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture: Hasty defense
Front width: 4.5 km (attacker), 4.5 km (defender)

Force	Strength	Losses	Horse	Guns	Plan and outcome
Spainattacker	9,310	2,500	—	11	Frontal attack; Repulse; Withdrew with heavy losses
Independentalistsdefender	5,780	919	—	1	Defensive/offensive plan; Single envelopment; Left flank; Pursued

Attacker’s advantages none recorded

CDB90 (US Army Concepts Analysis Agency, 1990), tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold; data under ODC-BY 1.0.

Notes

On this reconstruction

Generated automatically from the statistics in CDB90. Frontages, depths, distances, the order of events and the terrain are schematic: they follow the recorded strengths, front widths, hours of fighting, tactical plan and outcome, not maps or accounts of the battle. The sources give no hours; the timing is conjectural.

Sources

US Army Concepts Analysis Agency; tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold, CAA Database of Battles (CDB90), no. 155 · ODC-BY-1.0Strengths, losses, front widths, hours of fighting, tactics and outcome.
Wikipedia contributors, Battle of Ayacucho · CC-BY-SA-4.0

Facts gathered from Wikidata (CC0), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikimedia Commons (licence per file); the plan and its text are timeastra’s own.