Military history of Ecuador - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Gran-Colombian era

Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

's military history dates back to its first attempt to secure freedom from Spain in 1811. The rebel forces of the newly declared independent state of Quito

Quito

San Francisco de Quito, most often called Quito , is the capital city of Ecuador in northwestern South America. It is located in north-central Ecuador in the Guayllabamba river basin, on the eastern slopes of Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains...

attempted to extend their control to other parts of the territory but proved little match against the royalist army

Army

An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...

dispatched by the Viceroy of Peru

José Fernando de Abascal y Sousa

José Fernando de Abascal y Sousa, 1st Marquis of La Concordia , was a Spanish military officer and colonial administrator in America...

. In December 1812, during the Battle of Ibarra, Spanish forces easily reasserted control over the contested areas. A new independence movement

Ecuadorian War of Independence

The Ecuadorian War of Independence was fought from 1820 to 1822 between several South American armies and Spain over control of the lands of the Royal Audience of Quito, a Spanish colonial administrative jurisdiction from which would eventually emerge the modern Republic of Ecuador...

began in 1820, Ecuadorian forces assembled in Guayaquil

Guayaquil

Guayaquil , officially Santiago de Guayaquil , is the largest and the most populous city in Ecuador,with about 2.3 million inhabitants in the city and nearly 3.1 million in the metropolitan area, as well as that nation's main port...

, forming contingents with revolutionary soldiers from Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

commanded by Antonio José de Sucre

Antonio José de Sucre

Antonio José de Sucre y Alcalá , known as the "Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho" , was a Venezuelan independence leader. Sucre was one of Simón Bolívar's closest friends, generals and statesmen.-Ancestry:...

, a close collaborator of the Venezuelan liberator

Antonio José de Sucre

, Simón Bolívar Palacios

Simón Bolívar

Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Yeiter, commonly known as Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military and political leader...

. In 1822 after a successful invasion in the Andean highlands

Andes

The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...

, the rebels scored a decisive victory

Decisive victory

A decisive victory is an indisputable military victory of a battle that determines or significantly influences the ultimate result of a conflict. It does not always coincide with the end of combat...

over the royalist army at the Battle of Pichincha

Battle of Pichincha

The Battle of Pichincha took place on 24 May 1822, on the slopes of the Pichincha volcano, 3,500 meters above sea-level, right next to the city of Quito, in modern Ecuador....

. In 1828, as a member of the Confederation of Gran Colombia

Gran Colombia

Gran Colombia is a name used today for the state that encompassed much of northern South America and part of southern Central America from 1819 to 1831. This short-lived republic included the territories of present-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama, northern Peru and northwest Brazil. The...

, Ecuador fought along with Colombia and Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

against Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

to block the latter's attempt at annexation. Confederation forces, fewer than half of which were Ecuadorians, defeated the much larger Peruvian invasion force near Cuenca

Cuenca, Ecuador

Cuenca is the capital of the Azuay Province. It is located in the highlands of Ecuador at about 2500 m above sea level...

, at the Battle of Tarqui

Battle of Tarqui

The Battle of Tarqui, also known as the Battle of Portete de Tarqui, took place on February 27, 1829 at Portete de Tarqui, near Cuenca, Ecuador. It was fought between troops from Gran Colombia, commanded by Antonio José de Sucre, and Peruvian troops under José de La Mar...

on 26 February and 27 February 1829. The Gual-Larrea Treaty was signed on September 22, 1829 ending the war. This treaty, better known as the Treaty of Guayaquil, specified that the Gran Colombian-Peruvian border was to be the same border that had existed between the Spanish colonial viceroyalties of Nueva Granada and Lima.

Separation and early republic

At the dissolution of Gran Colombia

Gran Colombia

in 1830, most of Ecuador's senior army officers

Officer (armed forces)

An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, hold a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position...

and many of its troops were Venezuelans, as was the country's first president, Juan José Flores

Juan José Flores

Juan José Flores y Aramburu was a Venezuelan military general who became Supreme Chief, and later the first President of the new Republic of Ecuador. He later served two more terms from 1839 to 1843 and from 1843 to 1845, and is often referred to as "The founder of the Republic".-Biography:Flores...

. The army of 2,000 men consisted of three infantry

Infantry

Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...

battalion

Battalion

A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...

s and one cavalry

Cavalry

Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...

regiment

Regiment

A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...

. Even as late as 1845, when Juan José Flores was forced from his second term of office, only four of fifteen general officers were Ecuadorian. Non-Ecuadorians comprised most of the officers and non-commissioned officer

Non-commissioned officer

A non-commissioned officer , called a sub-officer in some countries, is a military officer who has not been given a commission...

s (NCOs) in the elite cavalry units as well. Upon taking office as president in 1851, General José María Urbina freed the black slaves

Atlantic slave trade

The Atlantic slave trade, also known as the trans-atlantic slave trade, refers to the trade in slaves that took place across the Atlantic ocean from the sixteenth through to the nineteenth centuries...

and recruited many of them into the military; Gen. Azarye was the first African-Ecuadorian senior General

General

A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....

Civil war

By 1859 the nation was on the brink of anarchy and was marked by the Ecuadorian–Peruvian territorial dispute of 1857–1860
Guayaquil's Guillermo Franco

Guillermo Franco

Guillermo Luis Franco Farquarson is an Argentine-born Mexican football striker who plays for Vélez Sársfield. He also played for the Mexico national team, until his international retirement in September 2010.-Early life:...

, had declared several regions autonomous and signed the Treaty of Mapasingue, ceding the southern provinces of Ecuador to an occupying Peruvian army

Peruvian Army

The Peruvian Army is the branch of the Peruvian Armed Forces tasked with safeguarding the independence, sovereignty and integrity of national territory on land through military force. Additional missions include assistance in safeguarding internal security, conducting disaster relief operations...

led by General Ramón Castilla

Ramón Castilla

Ramón Castilla y Marquesado was a Peruvian caudillo and President of Peru four times. His earliest prominent appearance in Peruvian history began with his participation in a commanding role of the army of the Libertadores that helped Peru become an independent nation...

. This action was outrageous enough to unite some previously disparate elements. Gabriel García Moreno

Gabriel García Moreno

Gabriel Gregorio Fernando José María García y Moreno y Morán de Buitrón was an Ecuadorian statesman who twice served as President of Ecuador and was assassinated during his second term, after being elected to a third term...

, putting aside his differences with General Juan Jose Flores

Juan José Flores

, got together with the former dictator to put down the various local rebellions and force out the Peruvians. The final push of this effort was the defeat of Franco's Peruvian-backed forces at the Battle of Guayaquil

Battle of Guayaquil

The Battle of Guayaquil was the final and pivotal armed confrontation of the Ecuadorian Civil War. The battle was fought on the outskirts of the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador on September 22 – 24, 1860 among several factions claiming control of the country's territory in the wake of the abdication of...

, which led to the overturning of the Treaty of Mapasingue. This opened the last chapter of Flores's long career and marked the entrance to power of Gabriel García Moreno

Gabriel García Moreno

Struggle and emancipation

In the 1860s, successive governments attempted to professionalize the Ecuadorian Armed Forces. Gabriel García Moreno

Gabriel García Moreno

, who dominated the political scene from 1860 until 1875, reduced the army in size and depoliticized it. Further improvements occurred during the relatively prosperous period of the 1880s and 1890s under the military dictator

Dictatorship

A dictatorship is defined as an autocratic form of government in which the government is ruled by an individual, the dictator. It has three possible meanings:...

Gen. Ignacio de Veintemilla

Ignacio de Veintemilla

Mario Ignacio Francisco Tomás Antonio de Veintimilla y Villacís was President of Ecuador 8 September 1876 to 26 January 1878 and 25 March 1882 to 9 July 1883 and de facto ruler from 8 September 1876 to 9 July 1883....

, and successor civilian governments. French officers arrived to provide training on a newly acquired arsenal of weapons. By 1900 the army was able to repel an attack from Colombia which was organised by Ecuadorian political opponents of the government in power.

In 1905 the government established military education and training institutions and divided the country into four defense zones. Immediately preceding World War I, the army

Ecuadorian Army

The Ecuadorian Army is the land component of the Ecuadorian Armed Forces. Its 24,135 soldiers are sensibly deployed in relation to its military doctrine...

had nine infantry battalions, three cavalry regiments, three artillery

Artillery

Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...

regiments, and three engineering

Military engineer

In military science, engineering refers to the practice of designing, building, maintaining and dismantling military works, including offensive, defensive and logistical structures, to shape the physical operating environment in war...

battalions. It was in the years of 1913 to 1916 that all the work done since the beginning of the century was tested. Following the assassination

Assassination

To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...

of Gen. Eloy Alfaro

Eloy Alfaro

José Eloy Alfaro Delgado was the President of Ecuador from 1895 to 1901 and from 1906 to 1911. He became one the strongest opponents of pro-Catholic conservative President Gabriel Garcia Moreno...

, Crnl. Carlos Concha, a famed and revered field commander

Commander

Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...

started a revolution

Revolution

A revolution is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.Aristotle described two types of political revolution:...

in the northern province of Esmeraldas. The civil war had started and the army was slowly destroyed by the insurgency forces

Insurgency

An insurgency is an armed rebellion against a constituted authority when those taking part in the rebellion are not recognized as belligerents...

. By the year of 1914 Gen. Leonidas Plaza

Leónidas Plaza

Leónidas Plaza Gutiérrez was an Ecuadorian political figure. He served as the President of Ecuador between 1901 and 1905 and again from 1912 until 1916. He was the father of Galo Plaza Lasso.-External links:*...

who was the Commander-in-Chief

Commander-in-Chief

A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...

of the Armed Forces and acting President had to take personal control of operations and it would take another two years to end the conflict. In these times both, the army and Navy

Ecuadorian Navy

The Ecuadorian Navy is responsible for the surveillance and protection of national maritime territory and has a personnel of 7,258 men to protect a coastline of 2,237 km which reaches far into the Pacific Ocean...

started the development of joined tasks such as amphibious landing operations

Amphibious warfare

Amphibious warfare is the use of naval firepower, logistics and strategy to project military power ashore. In previous eras it stood as the primary method of delivering troops to non-contiguous enemy-held terrain...

, earning lots of experience in this field. By the mid-1920s, it had expanded to fifteen infantry battalions. Later, under the influence of an Italian military mission, the infantry was reduced to ten battalions, although each battalion now consisted of four rather than the previous two or three rifle companies

Company (military unit)

A company is a military unit, typically consisting of 80–225 soldiers and usually commanded by a Captain, Major or Commandant. Most companies are formed of three to five platoons although the exact number may vary by country, unit type, and structure...

. In 1930 the army had a total strength of about 5,500 men of all ranks.

Politics, war and defeat

Continual political unrest made the forces become more deliberant regarding constitutional issues. Rebellions, uprisings and lack of loyalty of both senior Generals and medium ranking officers made the Ecuadorian forces weak and disorganized. A long territorial dispute between Ecuador and Peru, which traces its roots back to the Gran Colombia–Peru War, escalated on January 11, 1941. Peru, alleging that the Ecuadorian troops had been staging incursions and even occupations of Peruvian territory, began to mobilize its troops to the disputed zone in Zarumilla

Zarumilla

Zarumilla is a town in the Tumbes Region, in northwestern Peru. It has a population of 17,587 and is the capital of the Zarumilla Province...

. This escalated into a major conflict, called Ecuadorian–Peruvian War of 1941. The accounts as to which side fired the first shot vary considerably to this day. Regardless, the much larger and better equipped Peruvian force of 13,000 men quickly overwhelmed the approximately 1,800 Ecuadorian forces, driving them back from Zarumilla

Zarumilla

Zarumilla is a town in the Tumbes Region, in northwestern Peru. It has a population of 17,587 and is the capital of the Zarumilla Province...

and invading the Ecuadorian province of El Oro

El Oro

El Oro may refer to:*El Oro Province, a province in Ecuador*El Oro Municipality, Mexico State, a municipality of Mexico State, Mexico*El Oro Municipality, Durango*El Oro District, a district of Antabamba, Peru...

. As a result, the government of Ecuador, saw itself forced to accept Perus territorial claims and signed the Rio Protocol

Rio Protocol

The Protocol of Peace, Friendship, and Boundaries between Peru and Ecuador, or Rio Protocol for short, was an international agreement signed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on January 29, 1942, by the foreign ministers of Peru and Ecuador, with the participation of the United States, Brazil, Chile, and...

on 29 January 1942. Subsequently Peruvian troops withdrew from the invaded El Oro

El Oro

province.

Regaining strength

Ecuador declared war on Japan late during World War II and began to receive military aid from the United States in 1942. This aid consisted at first of light weapons, mortars

Mortar (weapon)

A mortar is an indirect fire weapon that fires explosive projectiles known as bombs at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It is typically muzzle-loading and has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....

, light tank

Tank

A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...

s, and armored scout cars. Under a military assistance agreement with the United States in 1952, the Ecuadorian Armed Forces, which now totaled approximately 15,000 troops, received additional equipment, including howitzer

Howitzer

A howitzer is a type of artillery piece characterized by a relatively short barrel and the use of comparatively small propellant charges to propel projectiles at relatively high trajectories, with a steep angle of descent...

s, tanks, and armoured personnel carrier

Armoured personnel carrier

An armoured personnel carrier is an armoured fighting vehicle designed to transport infantry to the battlefield.APCs are usually armed with only a machine gun although variants carry recoilless rifles, anti-tank guided missiles , or mortars...

s. Revenue coming from the oil discovered in the late 1960s financed the purchase of considerable additional ground forces weaponry as well as fighters for the small Air Force

Ecuadorian Air Force

The Ecuadorian Air Force is the Air arm of the Military of Ecuador and responsible for the protection of the Ecuadorian airspace.-Mission:To develop the military air wing, in order to execute institutional objectives which guarantee sovereignty and contribute towards the nation's security and...

Paquisha War

The Rio Protocol

Rio Protocol

of 1942 failed to settle the border dispute with Peru and occasional clashes occurred in a then still non-demarcated border area between both nations. These clashes flared into another outbreak of serious fighting in January 1981 called the Paquisha War

Paquisha War

The Paquisha War was a brief military clash that took place between January and February 1981 between Ecuador and Peru over the control of three watchposts. While Peru felt that the matter was already decided in the Ecuadorian-Peruvian War of 1941, Ecuador did not agree with the Rio de Janeiro...

, for the control of three watchposts which the Ecuadorian Army setup inside the disputed border area. The Fuerza Aérea del Peru (FAP) flew many sorties with modern aircraft such as the A-37B

A-37 Dragonfly

The Cessna A-37 Dragonfly, or Super Tweet, is a United States light attack aircraft developed from the T-37 Tweet basic trainer in the 1960s and 1970s...

, Mirage 5P and Su-22 to support these operations. The FAE flew a total of 179 combat missions with A-37B

A-37 Dragonfly

The Cessna A-37 Dragonfly, or Super Tweet, is a United States light attack aircraft developed from the T-37 Tweet basic trainer in the 1960s and 1970s...

and Mirage F-1 aircraft to counter these attacks. The conflict ceased with the Ecuadorians being driven back to the summit of the Cordillera del Cóndor

Cordillera del Cóndor

The Cordillera del Condor is a range in Ecuador and Peru....

. In 1983 and again in 1984, shooting incidents occurred when patrols of both countries met yet again on disputed land. It would eventually become the longest-running source of armed international conflict in the Western Hemisphere.

Cenepa War

The final major military operation involving Ecuadorian forces was the Cenepa War

Cenepa War

The Cenepa War , also known as the Alto Cenepa War, was a brief and localized military conflict between Ecuador and Peru, fought over control of a disputed area on the border between the two countries...

in which both sides, yet again, claimed to be fighting inside their own territory. One of the outposts causing the dispute, called Tiwintza by the Ecuadorians and Tiwinza or Tihuintsa by the Peruvians, came to symbolize the war because of the bitter clashes that took place around it and the emotional importance that both sides attached to its possession. In contrast to a similar but shorter clash that had occurred in 1981, also within the undemarcated border area, the Ecuadorian Army and the Ecuadorian Air Force

Ecuadorian Air Force

managed to come out of the conflict with what Ecuador considered a limited but emotionally significant tactical success. Retaining control of the embattled outpost of Tiwintza and wrestling local air superiority from the hands of the Peruvian Air Force

Peruvian Air Force

The Peruvian Air Force is the branch of the Peruvian Armed Forces tasked with defending the nation and its interests through the use of air power...

, until the signing of a ceasefire and the eventual separation of forces. This was supervised by a multinational mission of military observers from the "guarantor" countries of the 1942 Rio Protocol

Rio Protocol

: Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

, and the USA. Finally, the Ecuadorian government signed a Peace Treaty which was based upon the previous Rio Protocol

Rio Protocol

on 26 October 1998. As a result Ecuador had to renounce the territories Tumbes

Tumbes Region

Tumbes is a coastal region in northwestern Peru and southwestern Ecuador. Due to the region's location near the Equator it has a warm climate, with beaches that are considered among the finest in Peru...

, Jaén

Jaén Province, Peru

The Jaén Province is one of the thirteen provinces in the Cajamarca Region of Peru. Geographically, the province has a mountainous terrain crisscrossed by the rivers of the Huancabamba-Chamaya Basin, which drain towards the Marañón River. Its weather is characterized by high temperatures all year...

and Maynas

Maynas Province

Maynas is a province in the Loreto Region in northeastern Peru. Its capital, Iquitos, is also Loreto's regional capital and the largest city in the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest.-Boundaries:...

Past and present

Until recently the Ecuadorian Army was a reflection of its past conflicts with Peru. Its troop deployment with emphasis on the southern area and personnel strength, reflected a large scale force ready to fend off an invasion. Today the Ecuadorian forces maintain a smaller but more efficient force, the focus is on defending its sovereignty, by controlling its borders and executing anti-guerilla and anti-narcotic operations.

The Gran-Colombian era

Separation and early republic

Civil war

Struggle and emancipation

Politics, war and defeat

Regaining strength

Paquisha War

Cenepa War

Past and present

See also