First Alto Perú campaign

First Upper Peru campaign
Part of Argentine War of Independence
Path of the Military campaign. The blue mark is for patriot victories (Suipacha), the red mark for royalist victories (Cotagaita, Huaqui and Amiraya)
Date 1810-1811 Location Upper Peru Result Royalist victory
Belligerents
Patriots	Royalists
Commanders and leaders
Juan José Castelli Francisco Ortiz de Ocampo Antonio González Balcarce Juan José Viamonte	José Manuel de Goyeneche Vicente Nieto

The first Upper Peru campaign was a military campaign of the Argentine War of Independence, which took place in 1810. It was headed by Juan José Castelli, and attempted to expand the influence of the Buenos Aires May Revolution in Upper Peru (modern Bolivia). There were initial victories, such as in the Battle of Suipacha and the revolt of Cochabamba, but it was finally defeated during the Battle of Huaqui that returned Upper Peru to Royalist influence. Manuel Belgrano and José Rondeau would attempt other similarly ill-fated campaigns; the Royalists in the Upper Peru would be finally defeated by Sucre, whose military campaign came from the North supporting Simón Bolívar.

The Spanish king Ferdinand VII was captured and imprisoned during the Peninsular War, and the Junta of Seville took over government, claiming to govern on the absent king's behalf. There was concern about this in many Spanish overseas colonies, who thought that in the absence of the king they had the same right for self-determination as Seville. This caused the Chuquisaca Revolution and the La Paz revolution, which tried to create their own government Juntas. However, both revolutions were short-lived, and swiftly defeated by the Spanish authorities. The May Revolution, in Buenos Aires, was more successful, and ousted the viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros. The Primera Junta, which replaced him, prepared a military expedition to Upper Peru to secure the control of the area, while another expedition headed to Paraguay.

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