Jose de la Serna (1 May 1770-6 July 1832) was Viceroy of Peru from 29 January 1821 to 9 December 1824, succeeding Joaquin de la Pezuela and preceding Pio de Tristan.
Biography[]
Jose de la Serna was born in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain in 1770, and he served in the Spanish Army during the defense of Ceuta from Morocco in 1784, the fight against the French in Catalonia in 1795, against the British in 1797, and during the 1809 siege of Zaragoza, during which he was taken as a prisoner and brought to France. However, De la Serna escaped from French captivity and returned to Spain in 1811, serving under the Duke of Wellington during the Peninsular War. In 1816, having risen to Major-General, De la Serna was appointed to take command of the Spanish royalist forces in Peru during the Peruvian War of Independence, arriving in Callao on 22 September 1816. His army in Alto Peru (Bolivia) was reduced to defensive warfare against various rebel groups in different parts of the country after Jose de San Martin's liberating army crossed the Andes, and, in 1819, he decided to resign due to his conflicts with Viceroy Joaquin de la Pezuela. However, he was convinced to stay to defend against San Martin's threatened invasion from Chile, and, in 1821, a coup against Pezuela led to De la Serna becoming the new Viceroy of Peru. On 6 July 1821, De la Serna was forced to abandon Lima, and he made Cuzco his new base of operations during the fight against San Martin's army. His general Jose de Canterac was defeated by Simon Bolivar's army at the Battle of Junin, and De la Serna was wounded and captured at the Battle of Ayacucho. De la Serna was released soon after and sent back to Europe, and he was welcomed at court and his administration approved; he became Captain General of Granada, and the childless De la Serna died in 1832.