Battle of Quipaipan

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Atahualpa-Huascar conflict
partof=Inca Civil War
campaign=Atahualpa's counteroffensive


caption=
date=April 1532
place=Quipaipan, in present-day Peru, close to Cuzco
casus=
territory=Cuzco captured by Atahualpans, Atahualpa wins the civil war
result=Destruction of Huáscars army and reign, reunification of the Inca Empire under Atahualpa
combatant1=Atahualpans
combatant2=Huáscarans
commander1=Generals Chalkuchimac and Quizquiz
commander2=HuáscarPOW
strength1=Unknown
strength2=Unknown
casualties1= Probably low
casualties2= Entire army killed or disbanded, Cuzco seized

After the victory at Chimborazo, Atahualpa stopped in Cajamarca as his generals followed Huascar to the south. The second confrontation took place at Quipaipan, where Huascar was again defeated, his army disbanded, Huáscar himself captured and - save for the intervention of Pizarro - the entire Inca empire nearly fallen to Atahualpa.

Historians today know today that the battle took place a couple of miles west of the Inca capital Cusco in April 1532. According to the number of soldiers that Atahualpa kept in Cajamarca, after the battle of Chimborazo (some 80,000 men), his generals Chalicuchima and Quizquiz should have led between 50,000 and 100,000 men. Huáscar's force was probably slightly smaller and shocked, as they had been utterly beaten earlier in Ecuador.

Little of the battle is known. Atahualpa's generals won a decisive victory. They shattered Huáscar's army once again, captured Huáscar himself, and shortly thereafter conquered his capital Cusco for Atahualpa. The civil war was thereafter decided, and Atahualpa should have become sole ruler of the mighty Inca empire had he not been captured himself by Francisco Pizarro in Cajamarca.

Bibliography

*Cevallos, Pedro Fermin (1870). "Resúmen de la historia del Ecuador, desde su orijen hasta 1845". Lima.