1824
Battle of Ayacucho
At twelve thousand feet on an Andean plateau, Sucre's army of patriots routed the last royalist field army in South America in less than an hour. Viceroy La Serna surrendered. Three centuries of Spanish rule over the Americas ended that afternoon. Bolivia, carved out of Upper Peru, would name itself for Bolivar the next year.
Beethoven's Ninth Premieres
In a Vienna theater on a May evening, a deaf composer stood beside the conductor and beat time for a symphony he could not hear. At the end, a contralto turned him to face an audience whose ovation he had to be shown. The Ninth, with its Schiller ode to joy, remade what a symphony could be.
Iturbide Executed
Agustin de Iturbide, the architect of Mexican independence who had briefly crowned himself emperor, returned from European exile unaware that the new republic's congress had declared him a traitor on sight. He was arrested on the Tamaulipas coast and shot within days. Latin American republics had a new template for dealing with former saviors.
Byron Dies at Missolonghi
The English poet, who had come to Greece with money and enthusiasm to fight for independence, died of a fever in a marshy Aetolian town without seeing combat. He was thirty-six. His death electrified European philhellenism and made the Greek cause irresistible. The man who had written Don Juan ended, absurdly, as a plaster saint.
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Frequently asked
What happened in the year 1824?
Saeculum lists 4 curated events from 1824. The most significant is Battle of Ayacucho: At twelve thousand feet on an Andean plateau, Sucre's army of patriots routed the last royalist field army in South America in less than an hour.
What era was 1824 part of?
1824 falls within the Industrial Age (1801-1900). Steam, empire, and the unmaking of the old order.
Which regions saw notable events in 1824?
The curated events from 1824 span South America, Europe and North America.