Inca Imperial Army

Timeline

1. c. 1500–1521Throughout the Andean empire · TawantinsuyuAround 1521 the Inca army consisted of standing troops at the capital and levied soldiers from the four provinces, equipped with slings, javelins, copper/bronze axes, and clubs; the mit'a labor system guaranteed provisions and road maintenance, the quipu recorded personnel and materiel, and hundreds of thousands could be mobilized to control highland corridors from northern Chile to Ecuador.
2. c. 1527–1529Cusco–Quito axis · EcuadorAfter Huayna Capac's death, military command split: Huáscar at Cusco and Atahualpa at Quito each controlled part of the standing army and provincial levying rights, obstructing the formerly unified command chain and tribute-support system, turning the imperial army from a machine of expansion into an instrument of internal consumption.
3. 1529–1530South of Quito to Cusco · EcuadorFrom 1529 to 1530 the two armies fought repeated battles in the highlands; Atahualpa's northern army, centered on Quito's elite troops, gradually pressed south. Huáscar's Cusco army held the capital and traditional authority, but its manpower and supplies were steadily drained by the civil war. By 1530 Atahualpa had gained the upper hand, and imperial military strength was gravely depleted.