Pizarro Besieged in Cuzco

1536

Manco Inca's army of perhaps a hundred thousand warriors besieged the Spaniards trapped in Cuzco for ten months. The Spanish, starving and outnumbered, held the central plaza through desperate cavalry sorties. When the siege finally broke, Spanish reinforcements poured into Peru and Inca sovereignty was finished for good. Manco's burning slingshots nearly drove the Spanish from their stronghold, and only a desperate cavalry charge retook the fortress of Sacsayhuaman.