Jose de la Serna

Jose de la Serna was the last viceroy of Peru and lost the Spanish empire in South America at Ayacucho. He was an artillery officer from Jerez, trained at Segovia, and fought the French in the Peninsular War, including the sieges of Zaragoza, before being sent to Upper Peru in 1816 to command the royalist army against the revolution. He fell out badly with the viceroy Pezuela over strategy - de la Serna wanted to abandon Lima and hold the mountains, where the royalist cause was genuinely strong among the indigenous and creole highlanders - and in 1821 the army officers deposed Pezuela in the mutiny of Aznapuquio and made de la Serna viceroy in his place. He then did what he had argued for, evacuating Lima to San Martin and withdrawing the government to Cusco. For three years he held the sierra effectively, and the royalist position might have lasted longer had it not been undermined from within: the general Olaneta revolted against him in 1824 in the name of absolutism, taking troops away at the moment Sucre was advancing. On 9 December 1824 at Ayacucho, on the plain below Condorcunca, Sucre's smaller army broke the royalist force in an afternoon. De la Serna was wounded and captured. The capitulation he signed surrendered not only the army but the whole viceroyalty, and effectively ended three centuries of Spanish rule on the continent. He was exchanged, returned to Spain, was created Count of the Andes, and died at Seville in 1832 without ever being blamed at home for the loss. The capitulation of Ayacucho was signed by his subordinate Canterac while he was being treated for his wound. Its terms were generous and were largely ignored by the new Peruvian government afterwards. Spain did not formally recognise Peruvian independence until 1879.

• Lived: 1770 CE – 1832 CE
• Nationality: Spanish
• Roles: military, politician