Battle of La Victoria | |||||||
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Part of the Venezuelan War of Independence | |||||||
![]() Monument to the Youth, in commemoration of the battle of La Victoria. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
José Félix Ribas Vicente Campo Elías Luis María Rivas-Dávila † Mariano Montilla | José Tomás Boves Francisco Tomás Morales | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
The battle of La Victoria took place during the Venezuelan War of Independence when Royalist forces under José Tomás Boves tried to take the city of La Victoria, held by General José Félix Ribas.
The battle was fought on 12 February 1814. Given the shortage of regular troops, Ribas had to arm a thousand students from colleges and seminaries in the city and other neighboring towns, including 85 students of the Seminary of Santa Rosa de Lima, Caracas. [3] Before going into battle, General Ribas addressed the youths who accompanied him, ending with these words:
Soldiers: What we have desired will be held today: behold Boves. Five times larger is the army he brings to fight us, but it seems to me still insufficient to dispute our victory. You defend the lives of your children, the honor of your wives, the soil of your homeland from the fury of tyrants; show them your omnipotence. On this day that will be memorable, we cannot even choose between winning or dying: it is necessary to win! Long live the Republic ! [4]
The battle began at seven in the morning and lasted all day on the streets of the city. Republican troops built an impressive resistance to withstand the Royalist troops, led at that time by Francisco Tomás Morales. By late afternoon, victory had not yet gone to either side. While the fighting raged, the Patriots received a reinforcement of 220 infantry under Vicente Campo Elías, from San Mateo, that effectively broke the siege.
Hours later, Morales and his men withdrew through the mountains towards Pao de Zárate, pursued by the Republican cavalry. As a result of this Battle, the Royalist attempt to cut communications between Caracas and Valencia had failed.[ citation needed ]
Bolivar, informed about the victory of Ribas, granted him the title of "Defeater of Tyrants".[ citation needed ]
On 12 February 1947, the Constituent Assembly decreed that Venezuela would celebrate each anniversary of the battle as Youth Day, in honor of the young people who achieved this important victory. In Victoria's main square there is a sculptural group made by Eloy Palacios, erected in 1895, representing Ribas showing a youth how to use a rifle. [5]
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La Victoria is a city in the state of Aragua in Venezuela.
Manuel Carlos María Francisco Piar Gómez was General-in-Chief of the army fighting Spain during the Venezuelan War of Independence.
José Félix Ribas was a Venezuelan independence leader and hero of the Venezuelan War of Independence.
José Tomás Boves, was a royalist caudillo of the Llanos during the Venezuelan War of Independence, particularly remembered for his brutality and atrocities against those who supported Venezuelan independence. Though nominally pro-Spanish, Boves showed little deference to any superior authority and independently carried out his own military campaign and political agenda, even challenging Royalist norms by arguing for land ownership to pass into the hands of the pardos, mestizos, and Indigenous rather than the landowning elite.
Antonio Clemente José María Bernabé Ricaurte Lozano was a patriot of the Independence of Colombia and Venezuela and captain of Bolívar's army. He is remembered as the martyr of the Battle of San Mateo, where, in a heroic action, he blasted an enemy stronghold by immolating himself.
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Boves no pudo dirigir la Batalla de La Victoria por encontrarse en Villa de Cura, postrado en cama, a raíz de haber sido herido en la Primera Batalla de la Puerta (3 de febrero del año 1814). El ejército patriota republicano contaba sólo 1,500 hombres, incluyendo el Batallón La Guaira que comandaba el señor coronel Ramón Ayala. Los efectivos realistas sumaban 4.000 hombres, a saber: 2,200 lanceros y 1,800 fusileros.