The Battle of Ayacucho (Spanish: Batalla de Ayacucho, IPA: [baˈtaʎa ðe aʝaˈkutʃo]) was a decisive military encounter during the Peruvian War of Independence. This battle secured the independence of Peru and ensured independence for the rest of belligerent South American states. In Peru, it is considered the end of the Spanish American wars of independence. However, the campaign of Antonio José de Sucre continued through 1825 in Upper Peru, and the siege of the fortresses Chiloé and Callao eventually ended in 1826.
By the end of 1824, Royalists still had control of most of southern Peru, as well as the Real Felipe Fortress in the port of Callao. On 9 December 1824, the Battle of Ayacucho (Battle of La Quinua) took place between Royalist and Independentist forces at Pampa de Ayacucho (or Quinua), a few kilometers from Ayacucho near the town of Quinua. The Independentist forces were led by Simón Bolívar's lieutenant Antonio José de Sucre. Viceroy José de la Serna was wounded, and after the battle second commander-in-chief José de Canterac signed the final capitulation of the Royalist army.
The modern Peruvian Army celebrates the anniversary of this battle.
Background
In January 1820, Spain underwent a political upheaval, beginning with a revolt against the king, Ferdinand VII. An expedition of 20,000 soldiers was to be sent to Río de la Plata (roughly the present-day territories of Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay) to help the royalists of America, but instead, they revolted with the encouragement of General Rafael Riego. In the subsequent weeks the revolt spread, and King Ferdinand was forced to restore the liberal Spanish Constitution of 1812, which he had suppressed six years earlier. The revolt meant Spain no longer had reinforcements to send to America, which in turn eventually forced the royalist armies of the viceroyalties of Peru and New Spain (today's Mexico), which had held back the Spanish-American revolution until then, to deal with the patriot forces on their own. The royalists in each viceroyalty, however, took different paths.
In New Spain, after the royalists defeated the insurgents, they proclaimed a negotiated separation from Liberal Spain to create a new monarchical state. This was done through the Plan of Iguala, which they negotiated with the remaining patriots, and the Treaty of Córdoba, which they negotiated with the new head of government, Juan O'Donojú. Further south, however, the absence of reinforcements due to Riego's revolt allowed Patriot forces to make progress. The defeat of the royalist expedition into Chile under Mariano Osorio and advances into Peru made by José de San Martín left Viceroy Joaquín de la Pezuela politically discredited. The viceroy was overthrown on 29 January 1821, in Aznapuquio, in a coup by General José de la Serna against Viceroy Pezuela; the royalist general proclaimed his adherence to the restored Spanish Constitution in the "Proclamation of Aznapuquio" (Spanish: Intimación de Aznapuquio).
The Patriots started the new year with a promising victory. At Cerro de Pasco they defeated a Peruvian royalist army commanded by Diego O'Reilly. However, the royalists had received solid military training. Their first victory came against the patriot army commanded by Domingo Tristán and Agustín Gamarra in campaigns in the Ica Region. A year later, San Martín had withdrawn from the scene after the Guayaquil conference, and Royalist forces had smashed Rudecindo Alvarado's Liberating Expedition in the Battles of Torata and Moquegua. The year 1823 ended with De La Serna destroying another patriot army commanded by Andrés de Santa Cruz and Agustín Gamarra in yet another open campaign in Puno, which started with the Battle of Zepita and resulted in the occupation of La Paz on 8 August. After scattering Santa Cruz's isolated troops, De La Serna recaptured Arequipa after beating Antonio José de Sucre's Gran Colombian force on 10 October. Sucre decided to evacuate the Gran Colombian troops, setting sail on 10 October 1823, saving himself and his troops, although losing the best of his cavalry. Viceroy De La Serna ended the campaign after reaching Oruro in Upper Peru.
On the political front, the last remnants of optimism among patriots faded away with accusations of treason against Peruvian presidents José de la Riva Agüero and José Bernardo de Tagle. Riva Agüero deported deputies of the Peruvian Congress and organized another congress in Trujillo. After being found guilty of high treason by the Peruvian Congress he was banished to Chile. Simón Bolívar in turn considered this treasonous. Tagle, who had earlier ordered all armies under his command to support Bolívar against the royalist enemy, was now pursued by Bolívar, who was looking to capture and execute him. Tagle took shelter with the royalists in the besieged fortress of Callao.
Nevertheless, by the end of 1823, the situation had also become critical for those who defended the king's cause. In spite of the impressive military triumphs, Bolívar's request for reinforcements from Colombia made him a threat to the royalist army. Both sides prepared for the confrontation they knew was coming:
"Viceroy la Serna for his part, without direct communications with the Peninsula, with the most sad news of the state of the Metropolis [Spain] […] and reduced to its own and exclusive resources, but nobly trusting in his subordinates' decision, union, loyalty and fortune, hurried the reorganization of his troops and prepared for the fight with the giant of Costafirme [Venezuela] that he saw coming soon. Another triumph for Spanish armies in that situation would make the Castilian flag wave again with unmatchable glory even to Ecuador; but another fate was already irrevocably written in the books of destiny."
Buenos Aires truce and Callao revolt
Historian Rufino Blanco Fombona says that "By 1824, Bernardino Rivadavia had made a pact with the Spanish, obstructing the Ayacucho Campaign": on 4 July 1823 Buenos Aires made a truce with Spanish commissionaires (Preliminary Peace Convention (1823)) that required it to send negotiators to other South American governments before it would take effect. It stipulated that hostilities would cease 60 days after its ratification and that the truce would last a year and a half; meanwhile, a definitive peace and friendship would be negotiated. Juan Gregorio de Las Heras met in Salta with Brigadier Baldomero Espartero, but did not reach an agreement. Among other measures taken by the viceroy to contain the imminent rebellion, on 10 January 1824 Casimiro Olañeta was ordered:
"I warn Your Excellency that you should not arrange any expedition in any direction over down provinces without my express order because, besides, they are having a meeting in Salta trying to negotiate, General Las Heras on Government of Buenos Aires' side and Brigadier Espartero on this superior Government's side (...)"
Rivadavia – who believed that the project would establish peace – paralyzed the authorities of Upper Peru (today's Bolivia), refused assistance, and withdrew the garrisons of advance posts near the border, to the detriment of the cause of the Peruvian patriots. The Irish military historian Daniel Florencio O'Leary was of the opinion that with the truce "Buenos Aires (had) implicitly withdrawn from the struggle", and that "the Buenos Aires Government's pacts with the Spanish, were to the detriment of the American cause".
On 1 January 1824, Bolívar fell terribly ill in Pativilca. Félix de Álzaga, plenipotentiary minister of Río de la Plata arrived in Lima, asked Peru to adhere to the truce, but the Peruvian Congress rejected it. Nevertheless, beginning on 4 February 1824, various quarters of Callao mutinied, leading to the whole Argentine infantry of the Expedición Libertadora, together with some Chileans, Peruvians and Colombians (nearly two thousand men) going over to the royalists, raising the Spanish flag and handing over the fortresses of Callao. The mounted grenadier regiment of the Andes also revolted in Lurin on 14 February: two squadrons went over to the Callao to join the mutiny, but when they noticed that they had joined the royalists, a hundred of them, with their regiment commanders, went to Lima to join the independentists. The unit was then reorganized by General Mariano Necochea. In the midst of these events, the minister of Colombia, Joaquín Mosquera "fearing the ruin of our army" asked Bolivar "and what do you plan to do now?". Bolívar, in a decided manner, answered: "Triumph!".
The events at El Callao extended the war until 1826, and had the immediate result that Lima was occupied by José de Canterac. It is said that had there been military action against Bolívar on 26 May, it "would have given the final blow to independence in this part of America".
Olañeta's rebellion
At the beginning of 1824, the entire royalist army of Upper Peru revolted, led by royalist Pedro Antonio Olañeta, against the liberal Viceroy of Peru, after receiving the news that the constitutional government had fallen in Spain. King Ferdinand VII of Spain and his absolutist followers recovered control of the government, supported by 132,000 French soldiers from the Holy Alliance army, and they would control Spain until 1830. Rafael del Riego was hanged on 7 November 1823, and the other leaders of the liberal movement were executed, outlawed, or exiled from Spain. On 1 October 1823, Ferdinand decreed the abolition of everything approved during the prior three years of constitutional government, which included annulling the appointment of La Serna as viceroy of Peru. The purge of the constitutionalists of Peru seemed absolute.
Olañeta then ordered an attack of the Upper Peruvian royalists on the constitutionalists in the Peruvian viceroyalty. La Serna changed his plans and went to the coast to fight Bolívar. He sent Jerónimo Valdés with 5,000 men across the Desaguadero River, which he did on 22 January 1824, in order to drive them to Potosí against his former subordinate "because there are indications of a meditated treason, joining the dissidents of Buenos Aires". Memorias para la historia de las armas españolas en el Perú ("Memories of the history of the Spanish armies in Peru") by peninsular official Andrés García Camba (1846) detailed the radical change that the events in Upper Peru produced in the viceroy's defensive plans. After the battles of Tarabuquillo, Sala, Cotagaita, and finally La Lava on 17 August 1824, the royalist forces of both the Viceroyalty of Peru (liberals) and of the provinces of Upper Peru (absolutists) were decimated.
Bolivar, hearing of Olañeta's actions, took advantage of the dismantling of the royalist defences and "moved the whole month of May to Jauja", to face José de Canterac, who was isolated in Junín on 6 August 1824. Unrelenting prosecution of the war began, and 2700 royalists deserted and went over to the independentists. On 7 October 1824, with his troops before the gates of Cusco, Bolívar gave General Sucre command of the new battlefront, which followed the course of the Apurímac River, and withdrew to Lima to negotiate more loans to keep the war going in Peru, and to receive a Colombian division of 4000 men from José Antonio Páez, which would arrive after Ayacucho.
Ayacucho campaign
The defeat of Canterac forced La Serna to bring Jerónimo Valdés in from Potosí on a forced march with his troops. The royalist generals debated their plans. In spite of the signs of support from within the besieged Cusco, the viceroy rejected a direct assault because of his army's lack of training, having been enlarged by the massive return of peasants a few weeks earlier. Instead, he intended to cut Sucre's rearguard through march and countermarch maneuvers, which led to the encounter in Ayacucho along the Andean range. The royalists planned a quick strike which they made on 3 December in the Battle of Corpahuaico or Matará, where they cost the liberator army more than 500 casualties and much of its ammunition and artillery, vs their own losses of only 30 men. However, Sucre and his adjutant managed to keep his troops organized and prevented the viceroy from exploiting this success. Although he had suffered great losses of men and materiel, Sucre kept the United Army in an orderly retreat, and always situated it in secure positions that were difficult to access, such as quinoa fields.