After the decisive defeat of the main royalist armies in the
Battle of Ayacucho in
Peru, on 9 December 1824, and the capture of Spanish Viceroy
José de la Serna e Hinojosa, the only remain royalist army on the continent was that of
Pedro Antonio Olañeta in
Upper Peru (today's Bolivia). Hopelessly outnumbered and low on moral, this army was unable to oppose the
1825 advance of the patriot army under command of
Antonio José de Sucre. When his second in command, Carlos Medinaceli Lizarazu, defected with half the troops to the patriots, the furious Pedro Antonio Olañeta ordered an attack on his own ex-troops led by Colonel Medinaceli Lizarazu. On 2 April 1825, the two forces met at the village of Tumusla, south of
Potosi. Olañeta was mortally wounded and died the following day. All remaining royalist soldiers surrendered or defected. Controversies remain today over the development of this battle. In some versions, there was no real battle and Olañeta was killed by his own men or committed suicide. Other versions claim that the importance of the battle was later diminished by Sucre, because he actually failed to defeat and capture Olañeta. == Consequences ==