Sucre Wins Ayacucho: Spain's Empire Crumbles in Peru

General Antonio Jose de Sucre's patriot army crushed the last major Royalist force in South America at the Battle of Ayacucho on December 9, 1824, ending three centuries of Spanish colonial rule on the continent. The battle, fought at an altitude of over 3,000 meters in the Peruvian highlands, lasted barely an hour. Sucre's 5,780 troops routed a Spanish force of 9,310, killing or capturing virtually the entire Royalist army and its commander, Viceroy Jose de la Serna. The South American wars of independence had been raging since 1810, with campaigns waged across a continent spanning thousands of miles of mountain, jungle, and desert. Simon Bolivar had liberated Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador from the north. Jose de San Martin had freed Argentina and Chile from the south. Peru, the seat of Spanish colonial power, remained the final stronghold. Bolivar entered Peru in 1823 and entrusted the decisive campaign to Sucre, his most capable general. Sucre chose his ground carefully. The patriot army occupied the Pampa de Ayacucho, a high plain surrounded by ridges that limited the Royalists' numerical advantage. Spanish cavalry, their strongest arm, could not maneuver effectively on the broken terrain. Sucre ordered a concentrated attack on the Spanish left flank that collapsed their line within minutes. The Royalist center and right, seeing the left crumble, broke and fled. La Serna was wounded and captured, along with 14 generals and over 2,000 soldiers. The capitulation signed the following day required Spanish forces to withdraw from Peru entirely. Bolivar declared the independence of Upper Peru, which was renamed Bolivia in his honor, with Sucre as its first president. Ayacucho was the last major battle of the Spanish American wars of independence. Scattered Royalist garrisons held out until 1826, but Sucre's victory at that windswept highland plateau ended an empire that had dominated half a hemisphere since the age of Columbus.