From Europe to the Americas and Back: Becoming Los Ayacuchos

This article studies the trajectories of the officers defeated at the battle of Ayacucho

who upon their return to Spain had prominent political careers. It follows them before,

during and after the Wars of Independence in the Andes in an attempt to discern a

certain pattern of relationship between Europe and America during the crucial decade

of the 1820s, and beyond. It enquires on the far-reaching consequences of prolonged

mobilization on both sides of the Atlantic, and the degree to which the histories of

Europe and America were intertwined during this period. The disintegration of empire

and the reactions to the Ca´diz Constitution led to similar situations with confrontations

between liberals, radicals and conservatives as well as the military irrupting onto the

political world. It became possible, both in Spain and America, for capable and ambitious

men of humble origins to reach the highest echelons of power.