Junín, Battle of
Junín, Battle of
Battle of Junín, the decisive engagement of the Peruvian struggle for independence. Apatriot army led by General Simón Bolívar defeated the Spanish royalist forces under General José Canterac at the battle of Junín on 6 August 1824. The battle was fought on the 9,000-foot-high Plains of Junín, near the central highland city of Jauja. Bolívar's 9,000-man force was outnumbered by almost 7,000, but in a short, decisive cavalry engagement, the patriots carried the day. Even though casualties were low on both sides, Bolívar gained the critical initiative. Shortly thereafter, after returning in triumph to Lima, Bolívar was recalled to Colombia. However, his lieutenant, General Antonio José de Sucre, went on to defeat the royalist army at the battle of Ayacucho on 9 December 1824, effectively ending three hundred years of Spanish rule in America.
See alsoBolívar, Simon .
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Timothy E. Anna, The Fall of Royal Government in Peru (1979).
Additional Bibliography
Archer, Christon I., ed. The Wars of Independence in Spanish America. Wilmington: Scholarly Resources, 2000.
Vargas Ugarte, Rubén, Juan Basilio Cortegana, and Lorenzo Aza. Historia de las batallas de Junín y Ayacucho. Lima: Editorial Milla Batres, 1974.
Peter F. KlarÉn