Qualla: Battle of Iruya https://qualla.com/battle-of-iruya en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:39:58 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/6/e/c/w/battle-of-iruya-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battle of Iruya https://qualla.com/battle-of-iruya Battle of Iruya: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-iruya/ Photo credit Kevin Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0. Iruya is hard to reach even now. The village clings to a fold in the mountains east of the Quebrada de Humahuaca, at the end of a road so steep and switchbacked it is famous in its own right. In June of 1838, that same difficult ground decided a battle. An Argentine column marched on the village expecting to flank an enemy army from behind. Instead the terrain slowed them, the defenders dug in, and after four hours of repeated, exhausting assaults, the attackers had spent their ammunition and their strength and could do nothing but withdraw. The Battle of Iruya was small, remote, and brief. For the men who fought it, it was four hours that felt like a lifetime.

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]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/e/c/w/battle-of-iruya-wp/6ecw-battle-of-iruya-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Iruya: A War Over a Border https://qualla.com/battle-of-iruya/ Photo credit Kevin Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0. The fight at Iruya belonged to a larger conflict, the Tarija War. It had begun in 1837 when Juan Manuel de Rosas, handling the Argentine Confederation's foreign affairs, declared war on Marshal Andrés de Santa Cruz, the ruler of the Peru-Bolivian Confederation, over disputed terr...

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]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/e/c/w/battle-of-iruya-wp/6ecw-battle-of-iruya-a-war-over-a-border.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Iruya: The Long March In https://qualla.com/battle-of-iruya/ Photo credit Kevin Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0. Colonel Manuel Virto drew the task of leading the flanking column. He gathered his force - the Libertad Battalion, the Restauradores under Colonel Esteban Iriarte, fifty infantrymen of Jujuy under Captain Bernardo Lagos, and a company of Voltígeros - and set out from San Andrés o...

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]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/e/c/w/battle-of-iruya-wp/6ecw-battle-of-iruya-the-long-march-in.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Iruya: Four Hours Against the Trenches https://qualla.com/battle-of-iruya/ Photo credit Kevin Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0. At dawn on June 11 the column halted about 1,200 meters from Iruya, held by Colonel Timoteo Raña's garrison. After a failed parley, Virto ordered the attack, and at 7:30 in the morning the firing began. The opening rush went well - his infantry overran the defenders posted on the...

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]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/e/c/w/battle-of-iruya-wp/6ecw-battle-of-iruya-four-hours-against-the-trenches.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Iruya: When Courage Is Not Enough https://qualla.com/battle-of-iruya/ Photo credit Kevin Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0. After four hours, Virto faced the arithmetic of exhaustion. His soldiers had charged the entrenchments repeatedly, and their ammunition was nearly gone. The risks of each new assault now plainly outweighed any ground it might win. He ordered the firing to stop and pulled his men ...

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]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/e/c/w/battle-of-iruya-wp/6ecw-battle-of-iruya-when-courage-is-not-enough.mp3 0:06 5 full Battle of Iruya: The Cost and the Consequence https://qualla.com/battle-of-iruya/ Photo credit Kevin Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0. The failure at Iruya had a long shadow. Days later, the other Argentine division under Colonel Gregorio Paz met disaster at Tarija, and the broader campaign defeat came at the Battle of Montenegro on June 24, 1838, which effectively settled the location of Bolivia's southwestern ...

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]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/e/c/w/battle-of-iruya-wp/6ecw-battle-of-iruya-the-cost-and-the-consequence.mp3 0:06 6 full