embroiled in Civil War. Nariño ordered General Antonio Baraya to defeat the federalist leaders in Tunja, but Baraya decided to switch sides and support the federalist forces, and many important leaders like Santander and Caldas joined him. Baraya and the rebels with him signed an act that declared Nariño an usurper and a tyrant, and pledged loyalty to the Congress. Nariño used the opportunity to request extraordinary powers from the legislature of Cundinamarca, which allowed him to be appointed as a dictator. On November 26, 1812, Nariño left with his army to conquer Tunja. On December 2, 1812, his army faced a federalist army commanded by Antonio Ricaurte and Atanasio Girardot in the Battle of Ventaquemada, and was soundly defeated, having to retreat back to Bogota. The federalist troops, however, only started pursuing more than a week later, giving Nariño's troops enough chance to plan a defense. Santafé was sieged by Baraya's troops on December 24. On January 9, 1813, in the Battle of San Victorino, Nariño's troops proved superior and the federalist armies were completely defeated. The first civil war hence resulted in a sort of stalemate, which nevertheless allowed Cundinamarca to organize an expedition against the royalist regions of Popayán and Pasto, and Quito in July 1813. Nariño assembled his 'Army of the South,' numbering 1500 to 2000 men, and managed to capture Popayán in January 1814, but was then defeated by the Royalist forces in Pasto, after which he was arrested in May 1814, and then sent to the Royal prison at Cádiz. The failure of the campaign and the capture of Nariño left an enfeebled Cundinamarca, so the United Provinces took the opportunity to send an army against it, headed by Simón Bolívar, who had fled Venezuela for the second time after the fall of the Second Republic of Venezuela. Bolívar and his army forced the submission of Cundinamarca to the United Provinces by December 1814. Meanwhile, Cartagena had been engaged in war against the then-Royalist city of Santa Marta, and was in chaos following its defeat. Aftermath: Spanish reconquest of New Granada Impoverished by the civil wars between federalist and centralist factions, as well as the squirmishes and wars against Royalist cities, the provinces were in a precarious position already by the end of 1814. This added to the fact that many in the recently independent provinces had never rejected the legitimacy of Ferdinand VII