Peruvian Border War 1827-1829

Under the presidency of José Lamar, Peru pursued a policy of expansionism. In 1927, Peruvian forces under the command of General Agustín Gamarra invaded Bolivia. The invasion was one of the reasons the Bolivian president, Antonio de Sucre, resigned in 1828 and left the country for voluntary exile in the District of the South (present-day Ecuador) within the Confederation of Greater Colombia. Meanwhile, the District of the South was invaded by the Peruvian military, under General Gamarra, in 1928, as a result of a border dispute between Peru and Greater Colombia. In January 1829, a Peruvian naval squadron captured Guayaquil. The president of Greater Colombia, Simon Bolívar, gave Sucre a troop command who then, with General Juan José Flores, led an army which defeated General Gamarra's much larger force (8,000) in a decisive Battle at Tarqui on February 27, 1829. Nearly destroyed in the fighting, Guayaquil was recaptured the next day. Lamar's plans for expansion now crumbled. The Treaty of Piquisa (1829) fixed the border in the north on the line that had divided the Quito audiencia (present-day Ecuador) and the Viceroyalty of Peru before independence from Spain. General Gamarra was promoted to the rank of grand marshal for his role in the peace and shortly afterward took over the presidency of Peru from Lamar (1829).

References

Military History, 895-6; Bolivia - A Country Study; Ecuador - A Country Study; Peru - A Country Study; Agustin Gamarra.

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