The War of the Pacific took place in western
South AmericaSouth America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
from 1879 through 1883.
ChileChile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
fought against
BoliviaBolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
and
PeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
. Despite cooperation among the three nations in the
war against SpainThe Chincha Islands War was a series of coastal and naval battles between Spain and its former colonies of Peru and Chile from 1864 to 1866, that began with Spain's seizure of the guano-rich Chincha Islands, part of a series of attempts by Isabel II of Spain to reassert her country's lost...
, disputes soon arose over the mineral-rich Peruvian provinces of Tarapaca, Tacna, and Arica, and the Bolivian province of Antofagasta. Chilean enterprises, which largely exploited the area, saw their interests at stake when Peru nationalized all nitrate mines in Tarapaca, and Bolivia imposed a 10 cent tax on the Antofagasta Nitrate & Railway Company. The foundations of the conflict were laid in a
dispute between Chile and BoliviaThe Atacama border dispute was a dispute between Chile and Bolivia in the 19th century that ended in the transfer to Chile of all of the Bolivian Coast and the southern tip of Bolivia's ally Peru through the Treaty of Ancón with Peru and the Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1904 between Chile and...
over part of the
Atacama DesertThe Atacama Desert is a plateau in South America, covering a strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes mountains. It is, according to NASA, National Geographic and many other publications, the driest desert in the world...
.
The war began on February 14, 1879 when Chilean armed forces occupied the port city of Antofagasta, after a Bolivian threat to confiscate Chilean Antofagasta Nitrate Company's property. Peru attempted to
mediateMediation, as used in law, is a form of alternative dispute resolution , a way of resolving disputes between two or more parties. A third party, the mediator, assists the parties to negotiate their own settlement...
, but when Bolivia announced that a
state of warState of war may refer to:*a situation where two or more states are at war with each other, with or without a real armed conflict*State of War , a book by James Risen which makes numerous controversial allegations about Central Intelligence Agency activities*State of War , a real-time strategy...
existed, the situation deteriorated. Bolivia called on Peru to activate the
mutual defense pactThe Treaty of Mutual Defense was a secret treaty signed in Lima, Peru, on February 6, 1873 by the representative of Peru, Jose de la Riva-Aguero and Bolivia, Juan de la Cruz Benavente. The treaty contains 11 articles in order to guarantee the integrity, independence, and sovereignty of the...
, whereas Chile demanded that Peru immediately declare its neutrality. On April 5, after Peru resisted both demands, Chile declared war on both nations. The following day, Peru responded by acknowledging the
casus foederisCasus foederis alternatively spelled Casus fœderis is derived from the Latin for "case of the alliance". In diplomatic terms, it describes a situation in which the terms of an alliance come into play, such as one nation being attacked by another....
.
This "
SaltpeterPotassium nitrate is a chemical compound with the formula KNO3. It is an ionic salt of potassium ions K+ and nitrate ions NO3−.It occurs as a mineral niter and is a natural solid source of nitrogen. Its common names include saltpetre , from medieval Latin sal petræ: "stone salt" or possibly "Salt...
War" took place over five years in a variety of terrain, including the
Atacama DesertThe Atacama Desert is a plateau in South America, covering a strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes mountains. It is, according to NASA, National Geographic and many other publications, the driest desert in the world...
and Peru's deserts and mountainous regions. The war's first battle was the
Battle of TopáterThe Battle of Topáter was fought on March 23, 1879 between Chile and Bolivia, and was the first of the War of the Pacific.The Chileans were taking possession of the Antofagasta province, at that time a part of Bolivia. The Bolivian troops, quite few in number, decided to make a stand in the town...
. For most of the first year the focus was on the
naval campaignThe Atacama Desert was a rough terrain to conquer and occupy for long. It was nearly waterless and had few roads and railroads. From the beginning of the war it became clear that, to seize or defend the local nitrate resources in a difficult desert terrain, control of the sea would be the deciding...
, as Chile struggled to establish a sea-based resupply corridor for its forces in the world's driest desert. The
Peruvian NavyThe Peruvian Navy is the branch of the Peruvian Armed Forces tasked with surveillance, patrol and defense on lakes, rivers and the Pacific Ocean up to 200 nautical miles from the Peruvian littoral...
met initial success, but the
Chilean Navy-Independence Wars of Chile and Peru :The Chilean Navy dates back to 1817. A year before, following the Battle of Chacabuco, General Bernardo O'Higgins prophetically declared "this victory and another hundred shall be of no significance if we do not gain control of the sea".This led to the...
prevailed. Afterwards, Chile's
land campaignAfter the Naval Campaign of the War of the Pacific of the War of the Pacific was resolved, the Chilean terrestrial invasion began.- Land campaign and invasion:Having gained control of the sea, Chile sent its army to invade Peru...
bested the badly equipped
BolivianThe Bolivian Army or Ejército Boliviano is the land forces component of the Military of Bolivia, the Bolivian Army has around 31,500 men.- Combat units directly under the Army general command :...
and
Peruvian armiesThe Peruvian Army is the branch of the Peruvian Armed Forces tasked with safeguarding the independence, sovereignty and integrity of national territory on land through military force. Additional missions include assistance in safeguarding internal security, conducting disaster relief operations...
, leading to Bolivia's complete defeat and withdrawal in the
Battle of TacnaThe Battle of Tacna, also known as the Battle of Alliance Heights , effectively destroyed the Peru-Bolivian alliance against Chile, forged by a secret treaty between both countries signed on 1873...
on May 26, 1880, and the defeat of the Peruvian army after the
Battle of AricaThe Battle of Arica, also known as Assault and Capture of Arica Cape, was a battle in the War of the Pacific. It was fought on 7 June 1880, between the forces of Chile and Peru....
on June 7. The land campaign climaxed in 1881, with the Chilean
occupation of LimaThe Occupation of Lima by the Chilean Army was an event that happened during the War of the Pacific in 1881.Lima was defended by the remnants of the Peruvian army and crowds of civilians in the lines of San Juan and Miraflores...
. The conflict then became a guerrilla war engaging Peruvian army remnants and irregulars. This Campaign of the Breña was fairly successful as a
resistance movementA resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups, dedicated to opposing an invader in an occupied country or the government of a sovereign state. It may seek to achieve its objects through either the use of nonviolent resistance or the use of armed force...
, but did not change the war's outcome. After Peru's defeat in the
Battle of HuamachucoThe Battle of Huamachuco was fought on July 10, 1883, and it was the last major battle of the War of the Pacific. The Chilean soldiers led by Colonel Alejandro Gorostiaga decisively defeated the Peruvian army commanded by General Andrés Avelino Cáceres near the town of Huamachuco...
, Chile and Peru signed the
Treaty of AncónThe Treaty of Ancón was signed by Chile and Peru on 20 October 1883, in the Ancón District near Lima. It was intended to settle the two nations' remaining territorial differences at the conclusion of their involvement in the War of the Pacific and to stabilise post-bellum relations between...
on October 20, 1883. Bolivia signed a truce with Chile in 1884.
Chile acquired the Peruvian territory of
TarapacáThe Tarapacá department was an old territorial division of Peru, which existed between 1878 and 1884.- Location :The department was located in southern Peru, near the Pacific Ocean...
, the disputed Bolivian
department of LitoralThe Department of Litoral, commonly known as the Bolivian coast, was the description of the extent of the Pacific coast of the Atacama desert included the territory of Bolivia since its inception in 1825 until 1879.- Background :...
(cutting Bolivia off from the sea), as well as temporary control over the Peruvian provinces of
TacnaTacna is the largest of four provinces in the Tacna Region in southern Peru. Its capital is Tacna.-Boundaries:*North: Jorge Basadre Province and Tarata Province*East: Chile and Bolivia*South: Chile*West: Pacific Ocean...
and
AricaThe Province of Arica was an old territorial division of Peru, which existed between 1823 and 1883.*Established in 1823, as part of the Department of Arequipa.*In 1828, changes to the capital city of Arica to Tacna....
. In 1904, Chile and Bolivia signed the "
Treaty of Peace and FriendshipThe Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1904 between Chile and Bolivia was signed in Santiago de Chile on October 20, 1904 in order to delimite the boundary through 96 specified points between Cerro Zapaleri and Cerro Chipe and to regulate the relations between the two countries 20 years after the...
" establishing definite boundaries. The situation between Chile and Peru worsened when the 1893 plebiscite to determine the fate of the provinces of Arica and Tacna was not held. Colonization and violent
Chileanization of the territoriesChilenization of Tacna, Arica and Tarapacá describes a process of transculturation or acculturation in the zones which were incorporated or occupied by Chile since the War of the Pacific . The aim of the Chilenization was to create a dominance of Chilean traditions and culture in preference to...
resulted in a break of relations in 1911. The 1929 Tacna–Arica compromise gave Arica to Chile and Tacna to Peru, but did not resolve the antipathy. Later political problems among these neighbors often referred back to this conflict.
Background
The dry climate of the Peruvian and Bolivian coasts had permitted the accumulation and preservation of vast amounts of high-quality
nitrateThe nitrate ion is a polyatomic ion with the molecular formula NO and a molecular mass of 62.0049 g/mol. It is the conjugate base of nitric acid, consisting of one central nitrogen atom surrounded by three identically-bonded oxygen atoms in a trigonal planar arrangement. The nitrate ion carries a...
deposits such as
guanoGuano is the excrement of seabirds, cave dwelling bats, and seals. Guano manure is an effective fertilizer due to its high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen and also its lack of odor. It was an important source of nitrates for gunpowder...
(
birdBirds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
excrement) and
saltpeterSodium nitrate is the chemical compound with the formula NaNO3. This salt, also known as Chile saltpeter or Peru saltpeter to distinguish it from ordinary saltpeter, potassium nitrate, is a white solid which is very soluble in water...
. In the 1840s, guano's newfound value as
fertilizerFertilizer is any organic or inorganic material of natural or synthetic origin that is added to a soil to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to the growth of plants. A recent assessment found that about 40 to 60% of crop yields are attributable to commercial fertilizer use...
and saltpeter's role in explosives made the
Atacama desertThe Atacama Desert is a plateau in South America, covering a strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes mountains. It is, according to NASA, National Geographic and many other publications, the driest desert in the world...
strategically and economically important. Bolivia, Chile, and Peru sat on the largest reserves of a resource the world demanded. During the
Chincha Islands WarThe Chincha Islands War was a series of coastal and naval battles between Spain and its former colonies of Peru and Chile from 1864 to 1866, that began with Spain's seizure of the guano-rich Chincha Islands, part of a series of attempts by Isabel II of Spain to reassert her country's lost...
(1864–1866), Spain, under Queen
Isabella IIIsabella II was the only female monarch of Spain in modern times. She came to the throne as an infant, but her succession was disputed by the Carlists, who refused to recognise a female sovereign, leading to the Carlist Wars. After a troubled reign, she was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of...
, attempted to exploit an incident involving Spanish citizens in Peru to re-establish Spanish influence over the guano-rich
Chincha IslandsThe Chincha Islands are a group of three small islands 21 km off the southwest coast of Peru, to which they belong, near the town of Pisco,...
, lost following the
independence of PeruThe Peruvian War of Independence was a series of military conflicts beginning in 1809 that culminated in the proclamation of the independence of Peru by José de San Martín on July 28, 1821. During the previous decade Peru had been a stronghold for royalists, who fought those in favor of...
. Peru and Chile signed a treaty of alliance against Spain on December 5, 1865. Together, with the minor aid of Bolivia and
EcuadorEcuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
(who had fought an inconclusive war with Peru from 1858 to 1860), they forced the Spanish to withdraw after clashes at
PapudoThe Naval Battle of Papudo was a naval engagement fought between Spanish and Chilean forces on November 26, 1865, during the Chincha Islands War...
,
AbtaoThe Naval Battle of Abtao took place on February 7, 1866, between a Spanish naval squadron and a combined Peruvian-Chilean fleet, at the island of Abtao in the Gulf of Ancud near Chiloé Archipelago in south-central Chile.-Background:...
, and
CallaoThe Battle of Callao occurred on May 2, 1866 between a Spanish fleet under the command of Admiral Casto Méndez Núñez and the fortified battery emplacements of the Peruvian port city of Callao during the Chincha Islands War...
.
During this time mutual interests sustained a Chile-Peru alliance, while Bolivia and Chile fell into a
border disputeThe Atacama border dispute was a dispute between Chile and Bolivia in the 19th century that ended in the transfer to Chile of all of the Bolivian Coast and the southern tip of Bolivia's ally Peru through the Treaty of Ancón with Peru and the Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1904 between Chile and...
. Claiming territory according to the
uti possidetis jurisUti possidetis juris is a principle of international law that states that newly formed sovereign states should have the same borders that their preceding dependent area had before their independence.-History:...
principle, the two disagreed on whether the territory of
CharcasCharcas may refer to:* Charcas Province, a province in Potosí Department, Bolivia* Real Audiencia of Charcas, one of six political units of the Viceroyalty of Peru* Charcas, a historical name of Sucre, capital of Bolivia...
had access to the sea. Charcas had been part of the Viceroyalty of Peru and, later, part of the
Viceroyalty of the Rio de la PlataThe Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, , was the last and most short-lived Viceroyalty of the Spanish Empire in America.The Viceroyalty was established in 1776 out of several former Viceroyalty of Perú dependencies that mainly extended over the Río de la Plata basin, roughly the present day...
. Eventually, the two countries negotiated the
Boundary Treaty of 1866The Boundary Treaty of 1866 between Chile and Bolivia was signed in Santiago de Chile at August 10, 1866 and stated amongst others that:* a formal frontier at 24° Latitude South adding some east of the Andes,* Chile and Bolivia would share equally all the tax revenue generated by mining...
("Treaty of Mutual Benefits"). The treaty established the
24th parallel southThe 24th parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 24 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane, about 60km south of the Tropic of Capricorn...
as their mutual boundary. The two countries gained equal rights to tax revenue on mineral exports from the territory between the
23rdThe 23rd parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 23 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane, about 50km north of the Tropic of Capricorn...
and
25th parallelsThe 25th parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 25 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane, just south of the Tropic of Capricorn...
, which covered a large part of the
Atacama DesertThe Atacama Desert is a plateau in South America, covering a strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes mountains. It is, according to NASA, National Geographic and many other publications, the driest desert in the world...
.
Atacama quickly became populated by Chilean investors backed by European (mainly British) capital. The natural barrier of the Andes mountains divided the Bolivian
altiplanoThe Altiplano , in west-central South America, where the Andes are at their widest, is the most extensive area of high plateau on Earth outside of Tibet...
from Atacama, preventing the Bolivians from colonizing the area. Chilean and foreign enterprises in the region eventually extended their control all the way to the Peruvian saltpeter mines. During the 1870s, Peru capitalized on the guano exploitation and nationalized all industries in the region, leaving Peru with 58.8% of all saltpeter production, while Chile held 19% and Great Britain 13.5%. After the War of the Pacific, Peru was left without saltpeter production, the Chilean production decreased to 15%, and Great Britain's production rose to 55%.
Aliance Peru - Bolivia
In 1872, Peruvian foreign relations minister José de la Riva-Agüero believed Chile would use their acquisition of new ironclads to take posession of the Bolivian coastline. He desired for Peru to use its maritime influence to put an end to the conflict before matters got out of hand. Marshal
Ramon CastillaRamón Castilla y Marquesado was a Peruvian caudillo and President of Peru four times. His earliest prominent appearance in Peruvian history began with his participation in a commanding role of the army of the Libertadores that helped Peru become an independent nation...
had also warned Peru of a possible Chilean attack and recommended that when Chile bought a warship, Peru should buy two; lack of money prevented the Peruvian government from following Castilla's advice.
On February 6, 1873, Peru and Bolivia signed a treaty of alliance known as the "
Treaty of Mutual DefenseThe Treaty of Mutual Defense was a secret treaty signed in Lima, Peru, on February 6, 1873 by the representative of Peru, Jose de la Riva-Aguero and Bolivia, Juan de la Cruz Benavente. The treaty contains 11 articles in order to guarantee the integrity, independence, and sovereignty of the...
" which guaranteed their independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. The last clause kept the treaty secret as long as both parties considered its publication unnecessary. Nonetheless, Chile, through its minister plenipotenciary Carlos Walker, knew of the treaty since 1874. Walker even mentioned the treaty in his 1876 work, Pajinas De Un Viaje Al Traves De La America Del Sur. Chile once again received notification of the treaty through another minister in 1877, when Argentina's senate discussed the invitation to join the Peru-Bolivia defensive alliance.
Boundary Treaty 1874
In 1874, Chile and Bolivia replaced the 1866 boundary treaty with a treaty granting Bolivia the authority to collect all tax revenue between the 23rd and 24th parallels, fixing the tax rates on Chilean companies for 25 years and calling for Bolivia to open up. Chilean companies executed most of the exploitation of the Atacama coastal region. On December 26, 1874, the recently built ironclad Cochrane arrived in
ValparaisoValparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...
; it remained in Chile until the completion of the Blanco Encalada threw the balance of south Pacific power towards Chile. In 1875 Peru postponed the Argentine signing of the alliance treaty.
Crisis
The crisis began in 1878 when the
National Congress of BoliviaThe Plurinational Legislative Assembly also known as the National Congress is the national legislature of Bolivia, based in the nation's de facto capital, La Paz....
and a
National Constituent AssemblyThe National Constituent Assembly was formed from the National Assembly on 9 July 1789, during the first stages of the French Revolution. It dissolved on 30 September 1791 and was succeeded by the Legislative Assembly.-Background:...
determined an 1873 contract authorizing the
Antofagasta Nitrate & Railway CompanyThe Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia is a private railway operating in the northern provinces of Chile. It is notable in that it was one of the earliest railways built to the gauge of , with a route that climbed from sea level to over , while handling goods traffic totaling near 2 million tons...
to extract
saltpeterSodium nitrate is the chemical compound with the formula NaNO3. This salt, also known as Chile saltpeter or Peru saltpeter to distinguish it from ordinary saltpeter, potassium nitrate, is a white solid which is very soluble in water...
duty-free for 15 years to be moot because it had never been ratified by the Bolivian Congress, as required by the constitution. The Congress proposed to approve the contract if the company would pay a 10 cents per
quintalQuintal may refer to:* Quintal , a unit of mass* Quartal and quintal harmony in music* Quintal, Haute-Savoie, a commune of the Haute-Savoie département in France* Stéphane Quintal, NHL ice hockey player...
tax, but the company objected that the increased payments were illegal and demanded an intervention from the Chilean government. In response, Chile said that the treaty did not allow for such a tax hike. Bolivia suspended the tax in April 1878. In November Chile suggested the possibility of nullifying the treaty if Bolivia continued to insist on the taxes. Bolivia then said the tax was unrelated to the treaty and that the claim of the Nitrate Company should be addressed in Bolivian courts, and revived the tax. When the company refused to pay the tax, Bolivia threatened to confiscate its property.
In December 1878, Chile dispatched a warship to the area. Bolivia announced that the company was to be seized and auctioned on February 4, 1879. On the day of the auction, 500 Chilean soldiers arrived by ship and occupied the port city of
AntofagastaAntofagasta is a port city in northern Chile, about north of Santiago. It is the capital of Antofagasta Province and Antofagasta Region. According to the 2002 census, the city has a population of 296,905...
without a fight and experienced widespread support. Antofagasta's population was 93–95% Chilean. On February 18, while in Antofagasta, Chilean colonel Emilio Sotomayor intercepted a letter from Bolivian presidential
Hilarión DazaHilarión Daza Groselle was President of Bolivia from 1876 to 1879.A career military officer and native of Sucre, Daza came to power on May 4, 1876 in a coup against the constitutional president Tomás Frías. He was supported by much of the country's financial elite because of his avowal to maintain...
to Bolivian prefect-colonel Severino Zapata. The letter allegedly mentioned Daza's worry of Chilean interference with Bolivia's
nationalizationNationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...
of British saltpeter companies, and mentioned a previously secret treaty that Bolivia would, if necessary, demand that Peru honor should Chile declare war.
Tengo una buena noticia que darle. He fregado a los gringos (se refiere a Mr. Hicks) decretando la reivindicacion de las salitreras i no podran quitarnoslas por mas que se esfuerce el mundo entero. Espero que Chile no intervendra en este asunto... pero si nos declara la guerra podemos contar con el apoyo del Peru a quien exijiremos el cumplimiento del Tratado secreto. Con este objeto voi a mandar a Lima a Reyes 0rtiz. Ya ve Ud. como le doi buenas noticias que Ud. me ha de agradecer eternamente i como le dejo dicho los gringos estan completamente fregados i los chilenos tienen que morder i reclamar nada mas.
News of the invasion reached Hilarión Daza on February 20, but he postponed mention of it until the end of the carnival festivities. On February 27, Daza made a public manifesto informing Bolivians and calling for patriotic support. The same day the Bolivian legislature authorized a formal
declaration of warA declaration of war is a formal act by which one nation goes to war against another. The declaration is a performative speech act by an authorized party of a national government in order to create a state of war between two or more states.The legality of who is competent to declare war varies...
upon Chile, although it was not immediately announced. On March 1, Daza issued instead a decree which prohibited all commerce and communications with Chile "while the state-of-war provoked upon Bolivia lasts," provided Chileans ten days to leave Bolivian territory unless gravely ill or handicapped, embargoed Chilean furniture, property, and mining produce, allowed Chilean mining companies to continue operating under a government-appointed administrator, and provided all embargoes as temporary "unless the hostilities exercised by Chilean forces requires an energetic retaliation from Bolivia." Then, on March 14, in a meeting with foreign powers in Lima, Bolivia announced that a
state of warState of war may refer to:*a situation where two or more states are at war with each other, with or without a real armed conflict*State of War , a book by James Risen which makes numerous controversial allegations about Central Intelligence Agency activities*State of War , a real-time strategy...
existed with Chile. Bolivia called on Peru to activate the alliance treaty, arguing that Chile's invasion constituted a casus foederis. On March 23, while on their way to occupy
CalamaCalama is a city and commune in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. It is the capital of El Loa Province, part of the Antofagasta Region. Calama is one of the driest cities in the world with average annual precipitation of just . The River Loa, Chile's longest, flows through the city...
, north of 23rd parallel, 554 Chilean troops and cavalry defeated 135 Bolivian soldiers and civilians dug in at two destroyed bridges next to the Topáter river. This
Battle of TopáterThe Battle of Topáter was fought on March 23, 1879 between Chile and Bolivia, and was the first of the War of the Pacific.The Chileans were taking possession of the Antofagasta province, at that time a part of Bolivia. The Bolivian troops, quite few in number, decided to make a stand in the town...
was the first of the war.
Peruvian mediation
Peru sent a diplomatic team headed by José Antonio de Lavalle, a senior diplomat, to mediate with the Chilean government and request that Chile return Antofagasta to Bolivia. The Chilean government stalled, suspecting that Peru's attempt was not
bona fideBona Fide is a studio album from rock band Wishbone Ash. It is the first studio album in six years and is the only studio album to feature guitarist Ben Granfelt...
, and that it was only trying to delay until it completed its war preparations. Previous Peruvian demands had favored Bolivia, and Lavalle denied knowing about the existence of the treaty, which discomfited the Chileans. However, not only did Peru hold a poorly equipped military, but also faced a financial crisis which prevented the possibility of any war preparations. On March 14, Alejandro Fierro, Chile's minister of foreign affairs, sent a telegram to the Chilean representative in Lima, Joaquin Godoy, requesting immediate neutrality from the Peruvian government. On March 17, Godoy formally presented the Chilean proposal in a meeting with Peruvian president
Mariano Ignacio PradoMariano Ignacio Prado Ochoa was twice the President of Peru, from 1865 to 1868 and 1876 to 1879).-Biography:Born in Huánuco in 1826, he entered the army at an early age and served in the provinces of Southern Peru....
. The following day Prado told Godoy about the a secret treaty.
On March 24, Peru responded to Chile and Bolivia by proposing that the
Peruvian CongressThe Congress of the Republic of Peru or the National Congress of Peru is the unicameral body that assumes legislative power in Peru.Congress consists of 130 members of congress , who are elected for five year periods in office on a proportional representation basis...
debate both Chile's neutrality proposal and the Bolivian request for military action under the alliance on April 24. On March 31, after receiving the treaty from Lima, Lavalle proceeded to read the whole text to Fierro and told him that it was not offensive to Chile. Acknowledging the alliance, Chile responded by breaking diplomatic ties and formally declaring war on both countries on April 5, 1879. Peru responded on April 6, when President Prado declared the
casus foederisCasus foederis alternatively spelled Casus fœderis is derived from the Latin for "case of the alliance". In diplomatic terms, it describes a situation in which the terms of an alliance come into play, such as one nation being attacked by another....
of the Mutual Defense Treaty with Bolivia.
Naval campaign
Given the few roads and railroad lines, the nearly waterless and largely unpopulated Atacama Desert was difficult to occupy. From the beginning naval superiority was critical. Bolivia had no navy, so on March 26 of 1879 Hilarión Daza formally offered
letters of marqueIn the days of fighting sail, a Letter of Marque and Reprisal was a government licence authorizing a person to attack and capture enemy vessels, and bring them before admiralty courts for condemnation and sale...
to any ships willing to fight for Bolivia. The
Armada de Chile-Independence Wars of Chile and Peru :The Chilean Navy dates back to 1817. A year before, following the Battle of Chacabuco, General Bernardo O'Higgins prophetically declared "this victory and another hundred shall be of no significance if we do not gain control of the sea".This led to the...
and
Marina de Guerra del PerúThe Peruvian Navy is the branch of the Peruvian Armed Forces tasked with surveillance, patrol and defense on lakes, rivers and the Pacific Ocean up to 200 nautical miles from the Peruvian littoral...
fought the naval battles.
Chilean naval power was based on the twin central battery ironclads Cochrane and Blanco Encalada (commissioned in 1874 and 1875, respectively), the
corvetteA corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...
s Chacabuco, O'Higgins, and Esmeralda, the
gunboatA gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...
Magallanes, and the
schoonerA schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
Covadonga. Peruvian naval power relied on the broadside ironclad Independencia and the
monitorA monitor was a class of relatively small warship which was neither fast nor strongly armoured but carried disproportionately large guns. They were used by some navies from the 1860s until the end of World War II, and saw their final use by the United States Navy during the Vietnam War.The monitors...
Huáscar (both commissioned in 1868), the corvette Unión, the gunboat Pilcomayo, and the coastal monitors Atahualpa and Manco Cápac. Although both the Chilean and Peruvian ironclads seemed evenly matched, the Chilean ironclads had twice the armor and greater range and hitting power.
Early on Chile
blockadedOnce war was declared by Chile upon Peru on Saturday, April 5, 1879, the first Chilean naval action for the War of the Pacific was set in motion. The plan was to block the Peruvian port of Iquique the same day the declaration of war was made...
the Peruvian port of
IquiqueIquique is a port city and commune in northern Chile, capital of both the Iquique Province and Tarapacá Region. It lies on the Pacific coast, west of the Atacama Desert and the Pampa del Tamarugal. It had a population of 216,419 as of the 2002 census...
, on April 5. This first naval encounter was the indecisive
Battle of ChipanaThe Battle of Chipana took place on April 12, 1879, during the War of the Pacific between Chile and Peru. It was the first naval engagement between both navies and it took place in front of Huanillos, off the Bolivian coast, as the Peruvian corvette Unión and gunboat Pilcomayo found the Chilean...
of April 12, 1879, in which the Chilean Magallanes escaped the Unión and Pilcomayo, but was unable to complete its
reconnaissanceReconnaissance is the military term for exploring beyond the area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about enemy forces or features of the environment....
mission. In the
Battle of IquiqueThe Battle of Iquique was a confrontation that occurred on May 21, 1879, during the naval stage of the War of the Pacific, a conflict between Chile and Peru and Bolivia. The battle took place off the, by then, Peruvian port of Iquique...
(May 21, 1879), Captain
Miguel GrauMiguel María Grau Seminario was a renowned Peruvian naval officer and hero of the Naval Battle of Angamos during the War of the Pacific . He was known as the el Caballero de los Mares for his chivalry and is esteemed by both Peruvians and Chileans...
commanding the Huáscar engage and sunk the Esmeralda; during the battle, the Chilean commander Arturo Prat was killed in attempt to board the Huascar. At the same time, the Independencia, led by Captain
Juan Guillermo MoreJuan Guillermo More Ruiz, , was a Peruvian navy officer, who during his lifetime was considered as the man who "lost the War of the Pacific". He was killed during the Battle of Arica....
, chased the schooner Covadonga, led by Lieutenant Commander
Carlos CondellCarlos Arnaldo Condell De La Haza was a prominent Chilean naval officer and hero of the Battle of Punta Gruesa during the start of the War of the Pacific....
, until the heavier Independencia collide with a submerged rock and sank in the shallow waters near
Punta GruesaThe Battle of Punta Gruesa took place on May 21, 1879 during the War of the Pacific between Chile and Peru. This may be labelled as the second part of the Naval Battle of Iquique, although it is described in many sources as a separate battle.-Context:...
. The naval battle of Iquique gave a tactical victory to Peru: the blockade was defeated and one Chilean ship was sunk and the other retreated. Nevertheless, it was a Pyrrhic victory; the loss of the Independencia, one of Peru's most important ships, was a fatal blow. Prat's death, considered an act of heroism, increased Chilean patriotism and the number of military enlistments soared.
Grau's gallantry during the conflict, especially his treatment of Prat's family and rescue of Chilean sailors in Iquique, gained him widespread recognition as the Caballero de los Mares ("Knight of the Seas"). His notability upheld Peruvian morale in the early stages of the conflict as, despite being outnumbered, his monitor Huáscar held off the Chilean navy for six consecutive months. During this time the Huáscar participated in the Battle of Antofagasta (May 26, 1879) and the Second Battle Antofagasta (August 28, 1879). The climax finally came with the capture of the steamship Rímac on July 23, 1879, while carrying a cavalry regiment (the Carabineros de Yungay), the Chilean army's largest loss to that point. The loss led
AdmiralAdmiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...
Juan Williams RebolledoJuan Williams Rebolledo was a Chilean rear admiral who was the organizer and commander-in-chief of the Chilean navy at the beginning of the War of the Pacific.-Early life:...
to resign. Commodore Galvarino Riveros Cárdenas replaced Rebolledo and devised a plan to catch the Huáscar.
The
Battle of AngamosThe Battle of Angamos was fought on October 8, 1879, during the naval stage of the War of the Pacific . The Chilean Navy, commanded by Captain Galvarino Riveros and Captain Juan Jose Latorre surrounded and captured the ironclad Huáscar, commanded by Rear Admiral Miguel Grau Seminario, who died in...
, on October 8, 1879 proved decisive. In this battle, the entire Chilean Navy finally managed to capture the Huáscar after several hours of fierce battle, despite her remaining crew attempt to scuttle her.
Miguel Grau SeminarioMiguel María Grau Seminario was a renowned Peruvian naval officer and hero of the Naval Battle of Angamos during the War of the Pacific . He was known as the el Caballero de los Mares for his chivalry and is esteemed by both Peruvians and Chileans...
died during the fighting, but his deeds made him a Peruvian national hero. After the loss of the Huascar, the Peruvian navy still have some succesful actions, during the Naval Battle of Arica (February 27, 1880) and the Second Naval Battle of Arica (March 17, 1880), but its remaining units were locked in its main port during the long Blockade of Callao until the fall of the capital, after the battles of San Juan and Miraflores, when the Peruvian naval officers scuttled the entire fleet to prevent its capture by the Chilean forces.
Land campaign
Once it had achieved naval superiority, the
Chilean armyThe Chilean Army is the land arm of the Military of Chile. This 45,000-person army is organized into seven divisions, a special operations brigade and an air brigade....
initiated a series of military maneuvers in the Peruvian provinces of
TarapacáThe Province of Tarapacá was an old territorial division of Peru, which existed from 1837 until 1883.* It was created in 1837, in Litoral Department....
,
Tacna- Rail :Tacna is served by a cross-border standard gauge railway to Arica, Chile.It is also the location of the National Railway Museum of Peru.-Air:Tacna is served by the Crnl. FAP...
, and
AricaArica is a city in northern Chile. "Arica" may also refer to:Places* Arica and Parinacota Region, Chile* Arica Airport , Chile* Arica, Amazonas, town in Colombia* Rio Aricá-açu, tributary of the Cuiabá River south of Cuiabá, BrazilOther...
. The Campaign of Tarapaca began on November 2, 1879, when Chilean troops landed and attacked beach defenses in
PisaguaThe Battle of Pisagua , was a landing operation of the War of the Pacific, fought on November 2, 1879, between Chile and the combined forces of Bolivia and Peru. The Chilean army commanded by Erasmo Escala, supported by the Chilean Fleet, launched an amphibious assault, led by Gen...
, some 500 kilometres (310.7 mi) north of Antofagasta. That night, the Chilean army moved inland. From Pisagua the Chileans marched south towards
IquiqueIquique is a port city and commune in northern Chile, capital of both the Iquique Province and Tarapacá Region. It lies on the Pacific coast, west of the Atacama Desert and the Pampa del Tamarugal. It had a population of 216,419 as of the 2002 census...
and on November 19, 1879, defeated the allied troops gathered in Agua Santa in the
Battle of San Francisco and DoloresThe Battle of San Francisco, also known as Battle of Dolores, fought on November 19, 1879, was the third battle of the Tarapacá Campaign in the War of the Pacific, after Pisagua and Germania...
. Bolivian forces retreated to
OruroOruro is a city in Bolivia with a population of 235,393 , located about equidistant between La Paz and Sucre at approximately 3710 meters above sea level. It is the capital of the department of Oruro....
and the Peruvians fell back to Tiliviche, while the Chilean army captured Iquique. A detachment of Chilean soldiers, with cavalry and artillery, was sent to face the Peruvian forces in Tarapacá. Peruvian forces marched towards Arica to reach Bolivian troops led by Daza coming from Arica, but in Camarones Daza decided to return towards Arica. The two sides clashed on November 27 in the
Battle of TarapacáThe Battle of Tarapacá occurred on November 27, 1879 during the Tarapacá Campaign of the War of the Pacific. A Chilean column of 2,300 soldiers led by General Luis Arteaga recklessly attacked an outnumbering Peruvian contingent of 4,500 troops at Tarapacá commanded by Gen Juan Buendía, resulting in...
, where the Chilean forces were defeated, but the Peruvian forces, unable to maintain the territory, retreated north to
AricaArica is a city in northern Chile. "Arica" may also refer to:Places* Arica and Parinacota Region, Chile* Arica Airport , Chile* Arica, Amazonas, town in Colombia* Rio Aricá-açu, tributary of the Cuiabá River south of Cuiabá, BrazilOther...
. Bruce W. Farcau comments that, "The province of Tarapacá was lost along with a population of 200,000, nearly one tenth of the Peruvian total, and an annual gross income of ₤ 28 million in nitrate production, virtually all of the country's export earnings." The victory afforded Santiago an economic boon and a potential diplomatic asset.
The Peruvian government was confronted with widespread rioting in Lima because of its failures. On December 18, 1879, Peruvian president Prado went from
CallaoCallao is the largest and most important port in Peru. The city is coterminous with the Constitutional Province of Callao, the only province of the Callao Region. Callao is located west of Lima, the country's capital, and is part of the Lima Metropolitan Area, a large metropolis that holds almost...
to
PanamaPanama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
, allegedly with six million pesos in gold, with the duty to oversee the purchase of new arms and warships for the nation. In a statement for the Peruvian newspaper El Comercio, he turned over the command of the country to vice president
La PuertaLa Puerta is a village in Catamarca Province, Argentina. It is the head of the Ambato Department.-Attractions:* Iglesia de Nuestra Sra. del Rosario * La Rinconada archaeological site* Cubas cave* Cruce La Puerta...
, but a
coup d'étatA coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
led by
Nicolás de PiérolaH.E. Don Jose Nicolás Baltasar Fernández de Piérola y Villena was a prominent Peruvian politician, the Finance Minister and twice President of the Republic of Peru .-Early years:Nicolás de Piérola was born and educated in the southern Peruvian city of Arequipa...
overthrew the government and took power on December 23, 1879. In Bolivia, after receiving a telegram on December 27, informing him that the army had overthrown him, Daza departed to Europe with $500,000. General
Narciso CamperoGeneral Narciso Campero Leyes was president of Bolivia from 1880 to 1884. The Narciso Campero Province was named after him.The offspring of a rich land-owning family from Tarija, he was educated at Chuquisaca's St...
became Bolivia's new president.
Meanwhile, Chile continued its advances in the Campaign of Tacna and Arica. On November 28, Chile declared the formal blockade of Arica. A Chilean force of 600 men carried out an
amphibiousAmphibious warfare is the use of naval firepower, logistics and strategy to project military power ashore. In previous eras it stood as the primary method of delivering troops to non-contiguous enemy-held terrain...
raid at Ilo as a reconnaissance in force, to the north of Tacna, on December 31, and withdrew the same day. On February 24, 1880 approximately 11,000 men in nineteen ships (protected by Blanco Encalada, Toro, and Magallanes and two torpedo boats) sailed from Pisagua and arrived off Punta Coles, near Pacocha,
IloIlo is a port city in southern Peru, with some 58,000 inhabitants. It is the largest city in the Moquegua Region and capital of the province of Ilo.-History:...
on February 26. The landing took several days without resistance. The Peruvian commander, Lizardo Montero, refused to try to drive the Chileans from the
beachheadBeachhead is a military term used to describe the line created when a unit reaches a beach, and begins to defend that area of beach, while other reinforcements help out, until a unit large enough to begin advancing has arrived. It is sometimes used interchangeably with Bridgehead and Lodgement...
, as the Chileans had expected. On March 22, 3,642 Chilean troops defeated 1,300 Peruvian troops in the
Battle of Los ÁngelesThe Battle of Los Ángeles was a military action fought on March 22, 1880 between the Chilean and Peruvian armies during the Tacna and Arica Campaign of the War of the Pacific...
, cutting any direct Peruvian supply from Lima to Arica or Tacna (Supply was possible only through the long way over Bolivia). After the Battle of Los Ángeles, only three allied positions remained in southern Peru: General Leyva's 2nd Army at
ArequipaArequipa is the capital city of the Arequipa Region in southern Peru. With a population of 836,859 it is the second most populous city of the country...
(including some survivors from Los Ángeles), Bolognesi's 7th and 8th Divisions at Arica, and at Tacna the 1st Army. These forces were under Campero's direct command. However, they were unable to concentrate troops or even to move from their garrisons. After crossing 40 miles (64.4 km) of desert, on May 26 the Chilean army (14,147 men) destroyed the allied army of 5,150 Bolivians and 8,500 Peruvians in the
Battle of TacnaThe Battle of Tacna, also known as the Battle of Alliance Heights , effectively destroyed the Peru-Bolivian alliance against Chile, forged by a secret treaty between both countries signed on 1873...
. The need for a port near the army to supply and reinforce the troops and evacuate the wounded compelled the Chilean command to concentrate on the remaining Peruvian stronghold of Arica. On June 7, after the
Battle of AricaThe Battle of Arica, also known as Assault and Capture of Arica Cape, was a battle in the War of the Pacific. It was fought on 7 June 1880, between the forces of Chile and Peru....
, the last Peruvian bastion in the Tacna Department fell. After the campaign of Tacna and Arica, the Peruvian and Bolivian regular armies ceased to exist, and Bolivia effectively left the war.
To show Peru the futility of further resistance, on September 4, 1880 the Chilean government dispatched an expedition of 2,200 men to northern Peru under the command of Captain
Patricio LynchPatricio Javier de los Dolores Lynch y Solo de Zaldívar was a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and a Rear Admiral in the Chilean navy, and one of the principal figures of the later stages of the War of the Pacific...
to collect war taxes from wealthy landowners. Lynch's Expedition arrived on September 10 to
ChimboteChimbote is the largest city in the Ancash Region of Peru, and the capital of both Santa Province and Chimbote District.The city is located on the coast in Chimbote Bay, south of Trujillo and north of Lima on the North Pan-American highway. It is the start of a chain of important cities like...
and levied taxes of $100,000 in Chimbote, $10,000 in
PaitaPaita is a city in northwestern Peru. It is the capital of the Paita Province which is in the Piura Region. It is a leading seaport in that region...
, $20,000 in
ChiclayoChiclayo is the capital city of the Lambayeque region in northern Peru. It is located 13 kilometers inland from the Pacific coast and 770 kilometers from the nation's capital, Lima...
, and $4,000 in
LambayequeThe name Lambayeque originates from "Llampayec", an idol that was worshipped in northern Peru. It can refer to the following Peruvian locations:* The city of Lambayeque, Peru* The Lambayeque District* The Lambayeque Province* The Lambayeque Region...
in local currencies; those who did not comply had their property impounded, destroyed or were killed. On September 11, the Peruvian government decreed that payment was an act of
treasonIn law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
, but most landowners still paid, given the many death threats.
Lackawanna Conference
Before the United States became formally involved, France, England, and Italy jointly proposed that Chile receive Tarapacá and withdrew their troops to the
Camarones River-References:*...
; Chile accepted this solution.
On October 22, 1880, delegates of Peru, Chile, Bolivia, and the United States Minister Plenipotentiary in Chile held a 5-day conference aboard the
USS LackawannaThe first USS Lackawanna was a screw sloop-of-war in the Union Navy during the American Civil War.Lackawanna was launched by the New York Navy Yard on 9 August 1862; sponsored by Ms. Imogen Page Cooper; and commissioned on 8 January 1863, Captain John B. Marchand in command...
in Arica. Chile had refused previous peace mediations from Ecuador (in May). The Lackawanna Conference, also called the Arica conference, attempted to develop a peace settlement.
Chile demanded the Peruvian Tarapacá province and the Bolivian Atacama, an indemnity of $20,000,000
goldGold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
pesoThe word peso was the name of a coin that originated in Spain and became of immense importance internationally...
s, restoration of property taken from Chilean citizens, the Rimacs return, abrogating the treaty between Peru and Bolivia and Peru's formal commitment not to mount artillery batteries in Arica's harbor. Arica was to be limited to commercial use only. Chile planned to retain the territories of Moquegua, Tacna, and Arica until all peace treaty conditions were satisfied. Although willing to accept the negotiated settlement, Peru and Bolivia insisted that Chile withdraw its forces from all occupied lands as a precondition for discussing peace. Having captured this territory at great expense, Chile declined the terms and the negotiations failed.
Campaign of Lima
After the campaign of Tacna and Arica, the southern departments of Peru were in Chilean hands, and the armies of Peru and Bolivia could no longer fight. Nonenetheless, Chilean public pressure and expansionist ambitions demanded an invasion of
LimaLima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
to "exterminate the enemy." The defeated allies not only failed to realize their situation but, despite the empty Bolivian treasury, on June 16, 1880, the National Assembly voted to continue the war. On June 11, 1880, a document was signed in Peru declaring the creation of the United States of Peru-Bolivia. This situation forced both the Chilean government and its high command to plan a new campaign to obtain an
unconditional surrenderUnconditional surrender is a surrender without conditions, in which no guarantees are given to the surrendering party. In modern times unconditional surrenders most often include guarantees provided by international law. Announcing that only unconditional surrender is acceptable puts psychological...
.
The Chilean forces confronted virtually the entire civilian population of Lima. The irregulars defended prepared positions, supported by a collection of old coastal guns located a few miles from the capital's arsenal and supply depots. President Pierola ordered the construction of two parallel defense lines at
ChorrillosChorrillos is a district of the Lima Province in Peru and part of the city of Lima. It gets its name from the Spanish word for "trickle of water"...
and
MirafloresMiraflores is a district of the Lima Province in Peru. Known for its shopping areas, gardens, flower-filled parks and beaches, it is one of the upscale districts that make up the city of Lima....
a few kilometers south of Lima. The line of Chorrillos was 10 miles (16.1 km) long, lying from Marcavilca hill to La Chira, passing through the steep terrain of San Juan and Santa Teresa. The Peruvian forces were approximately 10,000 untrained civilians between Arequipa and Lima. A small Chilean force went ashore near
PiscoPisco is a colorless or yellowish-to-amber colored grape brandy produced in winemaking regions of Chile and Peru. Pisco was developed by Spanish settlers in the 16th century as an alternative to orujo, a pomace brandy that was being imported from Spain...
, approximately 200 miles (321.9 km) south of Lima, while the mass of the army disembarked in
ChilcaChilca was a rocket launch site in Peru at , near to Lima. Chilca was in service from 1974 and 1983 and was mainly used for launching Arcas and Nike rockets....
only 45 kilometres (28 mi) from the city. On January 13, 1881, the 23,129 Chilean troops charged 18,000 Peruvian defenders in Chorrillos. During the
Battle of ChorrillosThe Battle of Chorrillos, also known as the Battle of San Juan and Chorrillos, was the first of the two battles of the Lima Campaign during the War of the Pacific, and was fought on January 13, 1881. This battle is really a group of a smaller, yet fierce confrontations at the defensive strongholds...
, the Chileans inflicted a harsh defeat and eliminated Lima's first defensive line. Following a triumph in the
Battle of MirafloresThe Battle of Miraflores occurred on January 15, 1881 in the Miraflores District of Lima, Peru. It was an important battle during the War of the Pacific that was fought between Chile and the forces of Peru. The Chilean army led by Gen. Manuel Baquedano defeated the army commanded by Nicolás de...
, the Chilean army entered Lima on January 17, 1881. The Peruvian dictator Nicolás de Piérola retreated from the capital to try governing from the rear, and defied Chile's demand for territory and indemnity.
After the
Battle of MirafloresThe Battle of Miraflores occurred on January 15, 1881 in the Miraflores District of Lima, Peru. It was an important battle during the War of the Pacific that was fought between Chile and the forces of Peru. The Chilean army led by Gen. Manuel Baquedano defeated the army commanded by Nicolás de...
, Chilean soldiers started fires and performed sackings, rapes, and even fighting among themselves over war spoils in the towns of Chorrillos and
BarrancoBarranco is one of 43 districts in Lima, Peru. Its current mayor is Jessica Vargas and its postal code is 04.The district is considered to be the city's most romantic and bohemian, being the home and working place of many of Peru's leading artists, musicians, designers and photographers...
. Chile ransacked the contents of the National Library of Peru in Lima and transported thousands of books (including many centuries-old original Spanish, Peruvian, and Colonial volumes) to Santiago de Chile, along with much capital stock. 3,000 wagons carried the plunder that hadn't already left by sea. In November 2007, Chile returned 3,778 stolen books to the National Library.
Without a Peruvian president who was willing to accept their terms, on February 22, 1881, the Chileans allowed a convention of Peruvian "notables" outside of Lima to elect
Francisco García CalderónFrancisco García Calderón Landa was a lawyer and president of Peru for a short seven-month period in 1881, during the War of the Pacific. His predecessor was Nicolás de Piérola, his successor was Lizardo Montero Flores...
as president. Garcia Calderón was allowed to raise and arm two infantry battalions (400 men each) and two small cavalry squadrons to add credibility to the provisional government.
Campaign of the Breña or Sierra
The occupation commander, Vice-admiral
Patricio LynchPatricio Javier de los Dolores Lynch y Solo de Zaldívar was a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and a Rear Admiral in the Chilean navy, and one of the principal figures of the later stages of the War of the Pacific...
, sited his military headquarters in the Government Palace of Peru in Lima. After the confrontations in San Juan and Miraflores, Peruvian Colonel Andrés Avelino Cáceres escaped to the central Andes to organize resistance. This would come to be known as the Campaign of the Breña or Sierra, which organized a
rebellionRebellion, uprising or insurrection, is a refusal of obedience or order. It may, therefore, be seen as encompassing a range of behaviors aimed at destroying or replacing an established authority such as a government or a head of state...
in Lima and eventually organized a widespread resistance.
Despite the Bolivian tax crisis of 1879, Chile voted in a new Congress on schedule. In 1881
Domingo Santa MariaDomingo Santa María González was a Chilean political figure. He served as the president of Chile between 1881 and 1886.-Early life:...
was elected President, assuming office on September 18, 1881. A new Congress was elected on schedule in 1882. The new administration pushed for an end to the costly war. In February 1881, Chilean forces under Lt. Col. Ambrosio Letelier started the first Expedition, with 700 men, to defeat the last guerrilla bands from
Huanuco-Famous Natives:* Daniel Alomía Robles - Musical composer and ethnologist born in 1871, famous for El Cóndor Pasa* Johan Fano- Professional football player-External links:*** - Catholic Encyclopedia article...
(April 30) to
JuninJunín is a region in the central highlands and westernmost Amazonia of Peru. Its capital is Huancayo.-Geography:The region has a very heterogeneous topography. The western cordillera located near the border with the Lima Region, has snowy and ice covered peaks. On the east, there are high glacier...
. After many losses the expedition achieved very little and returned to Lima in early July, where Letelier and his officers were
courts-martialedA court-martial is a military court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment.Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in which a breach of...
for diverting money into their own pockets.
To annihilate the guerrillas, in January 1882 Lynch started an offensive with 5,000 men first towards
TarmaSanta Ana de la Ribera de Tarma is a city in Junín Region, Perú. Tarma is the capital city of the Province of Tarma, and is also called the Pearl of the Andes. The city is located at around , at an elevation of around 3000 m...
and then southeast towards Huancayo, reaching Izcuchaca. Lynch's army suffered enormous hardships and more than 5,000 Chilean soldiers were faced with major hurdles like cold temperatures, snow, and mountain sickness. On July 9, 1882 they fought the emblematic
Battle of La ConcepciónThe Battle of Concepción was fought on July 9 and July 10, 1882, during the Sierra Campaign of the War of the Pacific. Heavily outnumbered, the Chilean detachment of 77 men under the command of Lieutenant Ignacio Carrera Pinto was annihilated by a 1.300 Peruvian force, many of them armed with...
. The Chileans had to pull back with a loss of 534 soldiers: 154 in combat, 277 of disease and 103 deserters.
During the James A. Garfield administration (March 4—September 19, 1881), the anglophobic
Secretary of StateSecretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....
James G. BlaineJames Gillespie Blaine was a U.S. Representative, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, U.S. Senator from Maine, two-time Secretary of State...
wanted to advance the US presence in Latin America. He believed that England had prodded Chile into war to secure England's mining interests. Blaine proposed that Chile accept a monetary
indemnityAn indemnity is a sum paid by A to B by way of compensation for a particular loss suffered by B. The indemnitor may or may not be responsible for the loss suffered by the indemnitee...
and renounce claims to Antofagasta and Tarapacá. These American attempts reinforced Garcia Calderon's refusal to discuss the matter of territorial
cessionThe act of Cession, or to cede, is the assignment of property to another entity. In international law it commonly refers to land transferred by treaty...
. When it became known that Blaine's representative, Stephen Hurlburt, would personally profit from the settlement, it was clear that Hurlburt was complicating the peace process. Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen, Blaine's successor, publicly disavowed Blaine's policy, rejected any notion of intervening militarily in the dispute and accepted Chile's right to annex Tarapacá.
Because Garcia Calderon refused to relinquish Peruvian control over
TarapacáThe Province of Tarapacá was an old territorial division of Peru, which existed from 1837 until 1883.* It was created in 1837, in Litoral Department....
, he was arrested. Before Garcia Calderon left Peru for Chile, he named Admiral Lizardo Montero as successor. At the same time President Pierola stepped back and supported Avelino Caceres for the Presidency. Caceres refused to serve and supported Lizardo Montero instead. Montero moved to Arequipa and in this way Garcia Calderon's arrest unified the forces of Pierola and Caceres.
On April 1, 1882 Miguel Iglesias, Defence Minister under Pierola, became convinced that the war had to be brought to an end or Peru would be completely devastated. He issued a manifesto, "Grito de Montan", calling for peace and in December 1882 convened a convention of representatives of the seven northern departments, where he was elected "Regenerating President" To support Iglesias against Montero, on April 6, 1883, Patricio Lynch started a new offensive to drive the Montoneros from central Peru and destroy Caceres' little army. The Chilean troops pursued Caceres northwest through narrow mountain passes until July 10, 1883, winning the definitive
Battle of HuamachucoThe Battle of Huamachuco was fought on July 10, 1883, and it was the last major battle of the War of the Pacific. The Chilean soldiers led by Colonel Alejandro Gorostiaga decisively defeated the Peruvian army commanded by General Andrés Avelino Cáceres near the town of Huamachuco...
, the final Peruvian defeat.
After signing the peace treaty on October 20, 1883 with Iglesias' government, Lizardo Montero tried to resist in
ArequipaArequipa is the capital city of the Arequipa Region in southern Peru. With a population of 836,859 it is the second most populous city of the country...
with a force of 4,000 men, but when Chile's 3,000 fighters arrived, the troops in Arequipa revolted and allowed the Chileans to occupy the city. Montero opted for Bolivian asylum. On October 29, 1883 the Chilean occupation of Lima ended.
Peace treaty with Peru
On October 20, 1883 hostilities between Chile and Peru formally came to an end under the
Treaty of AncónThe Treaty of Ancón was signed by Chile and Peru on 20 October 1883, in the Ancón District near Lima. It was intended to settle the two nations' remaining territorial differences at the conclusion of their involvement in the War of the Pacific and to stabilise post-bellum relations between...
. Chile was to occupy the provinces of Tacna and Arica for 10 years, after which a plebiscite was to be held to determine nationality. For decades thereafter, the two countries failed to agree on the terms of the plebiscite. Finally, in 1929, through US mediation, under President
Herbert HooverHerbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
, an accord was reached by which Chile kept Arica. Peru re-acquired Tacna and received some concessions in Arica.
Peace treaty with Bolivia
In 1884, Bolivia signed a truce that relinquished the entire Bolivian coast, the province of
AntofagastaAntofagasta is a port city in northern Chile, about north of Santiago. It is the capital of Antofagasta Province and Antofagasta Region. According to the 2002 census, the city has a population of 296,905...
, and its nitrate, copper and other mineral deposits. A 1904 treaty made this arrangement permanent. In return, Chile agreed to build the
Arica-La Paz railwayThe Arica-La Paz railway or Ferrocarril de Arica-La Paz was built by the Chilean government under the Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1904 between Chile and Bolivia. It was inaugurated on 6 March 1912, and is the shortest line from the Pacific Coast to the interior. It is long, of which is in...
, a railroad connecting the capital city of La Paz, Bolivia with the port of Arica, and Chile guaranteed freedom of transit for Bolivian commerce through Chilean ports and territory.
Military strength comparison
Ships of Chile and Peru at the beginning of the War of the Pacific
WarshipA warship is a ship that is built and primarily intended for combat. Warships are usually built in a completely different way from merchant ships. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster and more maneuvrable than merchant ships...
|
tons Tonnage is a measure of the size or cargo carrying capacity of a ship. The term derives from the taxation paid on tuns or casks of wine, and was later used in reference to the weight of a ship's cargo; however, in modern maritime usage, "tonnage" specifically refers to a calculation of the volume...
(L.tonLong ton is the name for the unit called the "ton" in the avoirdupois or Imperial system of measurements, as used in the United Kingdom and several other Commonwealth countries. It has been mostly replaced by the tonne, and in the United States by the short ton...
) |
Horse-
powerHorsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...
|
Speed In kinematics, the speed of an object is the magnitude of its velocity ; it is thus a scalar quantity. The average speed of an object in an interval of time is the distance traveled by the object divided by the duration of the interval; the instantaneous speed is the limit of the average speed as...
(Knots) |
ArmourIron armour was a type of armour used on ironclad warships. The earliest material available in sufficient quantities for armouring ships was iron, wrought or cast. The use of iron gave rise to the term ironclad as a reference to a ship 'clad' in iron....
(Inch) |
Main ArtilleryOriginally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
|
Built
Year |
 CochraneThe armored frigate Almirante Cochrane was a ship of the Chilean Navy in the late nineteenth century. She was built, like her twin, the armored frigate Blanco Encalada, in the UK in 1875. She participated in the War of the Pacific, with her most prominent action being her defeat of the Peruvian...
|
3,560 |
3,000 |
9-12.8 |
up to 9 |
6x9 Inch |
1874 |
Blanco EncaladaBlanco Encalada was an armored frigate built by Earle's Shipbuilding Co. in England for the Chilean Navy in 1875. She was nicknamed El Blanco...
|
3,560 |
3,000 |
9-12.8 |
up to 9 |
6x9 Inch |
1874 |
| Esmeralda |
854 |
200 |
8 |
wood |
16x32-2x12-pounders |
1855 |
| O'Higgins |
1,101 |
300 |
12 |
wood |
3x115-2x70-2x12-pounders |
1874 |
| Chacabuco |
1,101 |
300 |
11 |
wood |
1x115-2x70-2x12-pounders |
1874 |
| Covadonga |
412 |
140 |
7 |
wood |
2x70-3x40-pounders |
1859 |
| Magallanes |
772 |
260 |
11.5 |
wood |
1x115-1x64-2x20-pounders |
1874 |
| Abtao |
1,051 |
300 |
8 |
wood |
3x115-3x30-pounders |
1870 |
 HuascarHuáscar is a 19th century small armoured turret ship of a type similar to a monitor. She was built in Britain for Peru and played a significant role in the battle of Pacocha and the War of the Pacific against Chile before being captured and commissioned with the Chilean Navy. Today she is one of...
|
1,130 |
1,200 |
10-11 |
4½ |
2x300-pounders |
1865 |
| Independencia |
2,004 |
1,500 |
12-13 |
4½ |
2x150-pounders |
1865 |
Manco CápacUSS Oneota, a coastal monitor built at Cincinnati, Ohio, by Alexander Swift & Co., and by the Niles Works, was launched 21 May 1864.Completed shortly after the end of the American Civil War, on 10 June 1865, Oneota was laid up until sold to her builder, Alexander Swift and Co., 13 April 1868, and...
(ex USS Oneota) |
1,034 |
320 |
6 |
10 |
2x500-pounders |
1864 |
AtahualpaUSS Catawba was a Canonicus-class monitor built for the American Civil War; but completed too late to see action in that conflict. To help finance the Reconstruction, Catawba was sold to Peru.-Construction and sale:...
(ex USS Catawba) |
1,034 |
320 |
6 |
10 |
2x500-pounders |
1864 |
| Unión |
1,150 |
320 |
13 |
wood |
12x68-1x9-pounders |
1864 |
| Pilcomayo |
600 |
180 |
10.5 |
wood |
2x70-4x40-pounders |
1864 |
As the war began, the
Peruvian ArmyThe Peruvian Army is the branch of the Peruvian Armed Forces tasked with safeguarding the independence, sovereignty and integrity of national territory on land through military force. Additional missions include assistance in safeguarding internal security, conducting disaster relief operations...
numbered 5,241 men of all ranks, organized in seven
infantryInfantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
battalionA battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...
s, three squadrons of
cavalryCavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
and two
regimentA regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...
s of
artilleryOriginally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
. The most common
rifleA rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
s in the army were the French
ChassepotThe Chassepot, officially known as Fusil modèle 1866, was a bolt action military breechloading rifle, famous as the arm of the French forces in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and 1871. It replaced an assortment of Minie muzzleloading rifles many of which were converted in 1867 to breech loading...
and the
Minié rifleThe Minié rifle was an important rifle in the 19th century, developed in 1849 following the invention of the Minié ball in 1847 by the French Army captains Claude-Étienne Minié of the Chasseurs d'Orléans and Henri-Gustave Delvigne. The rifle was designed to allow rapid muzzle loading of rifles, an...
s. The artillery, with a total of twenty-eight pieces, was composed mostly of British-made Blakely cannon and counted four
machine gunA machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
s. Much of the artillery dated from 1866, and had been bought for the
Chincha Islands WarThe Chincha Islands War was a series of coastal and naval battles between Spain and its former colonies of Peru and Chile from 1864 to 1866, that began with Spain's seizure of the guano-rich Chincha Islands, part of a series of attempts by Isabel II of Spain to reassert her country's lost...
against Spain. The mounts used by the cavalry were small and inferior to the Chileans'.
The
Bolivian ArmyThe Bolivian Army or Ejército Boliviano is the land forces component of the Military of Bolivia, the Bolivian Army has around 31,500 men.- Combat units directly under the Army general command :...
numbered no more than 2,175 soldiers, divided into three infantry regiments, two cavalry squadrons, and two sections of artillery. The Colorados Battalion, President Daza's personal guard, was armed with Remington Rolling Block rifles, but the remainder carried odds and ends including
flintlockFlintlock is the general term for any firearm based on the flintlock mechanism. The term may also apply to the mechanism itself. Introduced at the beginning of the 17th century, the flintlock rapidly replaced earlier firearm-ignition technologies, such as the doglock, matchlock and wheellock...
muskets. The artillery had three rifled pounders and four machine guns, while the cavalry rode
muleA mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse. Horses and donkeys are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes. Of the two F1 hybrids between these two species, a mule is easier to obtain than a hinny...
s given a shortage of good
horseThe horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
s.
The regular Chilean Army was well equipped, with 2,694 soldiers. By April 5, when Chile formally declared war, the army had grown to 7,906 men. The regular infantry was armed with the modern Belgian
Comblain rifleThe M1870 Belgian Comblain was a falling-block rifle invented by Hubert-Joseph Comblain of Liège, Belgium.-Users:: M1882 Belgian Comblain: M1873 Brazilian Comblain: M1874 Chilean Comblain: Brazilian Comblain Carbine Model 92-Sources:*...
, of which Chile had a stock of some 13,000. Chile also had Grass, Minie,
RemingtonRemington Arms Company, Inc. was founded in 1816 by Eliphalet Remington in Ilion, New York, as E. Remington and Sons. It is the oldest company in the United States which still makes its original product, and is the oldest continuously operating manufacturer in North America. It is the only U.S....
and Beaumont rifles which mostly fired the same caliber cartridge (11 mm). The artillery had seventy-five artillery pieces, most of which were of
KruppThe Krupp family , a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, have become famous for their steel production and for their manufacture of ammunition and armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th...
and Limache manufacture, and six machine guns. The cavalry used French sabers and Spencer and
WinchesterIn common usage, Winchester rifle usually means any of the lever-action rifles manufactured by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, though the company has also manufactured many rifles of other action types...
carbines.
Strategy
Control of the sea was Chile's key to an inevitably difficult desert war: supply by sea, including water, food, ammunition, horses,
fodderFodder or animal feed is any agricultural foodstuff used specifically to feed domesticated livestock such as cattle, goats, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. Most animal feed is from plants but some is of animal origin...
and reinforcements, was quicker and easier than marching supplies through the desert or across the
Bolivian high plateauThe Altiplano , in west-central South America, where the Andes are at their widest, is the most extensive area of high plateau on Earth outside of Tibet...
. While the Chilean Navy started an economic and military blockade of the Allies' ports, Peru took the initiative and used its smaller navy as a raiding force. The raids delayed the ground invasion for six months, and forced Chile to shift its fleet from blockading to hunting and capturing the Huascar. After achieving naval supremacy, sea-mobile forces proved to be an advantage for
desert warfareDesert warfare is combat in deserts. In desert warfare the elements can sometimes be more dangerous than the actual enemy. The desert terrain is the second most inhospitable to troops following a cold environment...
on the long coastline. Peruvian and Bolivian defenders found themselves hundreds of kilometers from home while Chilean forces were usually just a few kilometers from the sea.
Chilean ground strategy focused on mobility. They landed ground forces in enemy territory to raid, landed in strength to split and drive out defenders and then
garrisonGarrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....
ed the territory as the fighting moved north. Peru and Bolivia fought a defensive war maneuvering through long overland distances and relying where possible on land or coastal fortifications with gun batteries and minefields. Coastal railways reached to central Peru and telegraph lines provided a direct line to the government in Lima. During the entire conflict the Chilean armed forces sought the systematic destruction of the Peruvian infraestructure, including the complete destruction of several towns after looting and killing the civil population, which also includes foreign citizens. They also receive the support of the Chinese coolies inmigrants, who joined the Chilean Army during the campaign of Lima and in the raids to the north Peruvian cities.
The occupation of Peru between 1881 and 1884 took a different form. The war theater was the Peruvian Sierra, where the remains of the Peruvian Army had easy access to population, resource and supply centers far from the sea; supporting an indefinite
war of attritionAttrition warfare is a military strategy in which a belligerent side attempts to win a war by wearing down its enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses in personnel and matériel....
. The occupying Chilean force was split into small garrisons across the theater and could devote only part of its strength to hunting down dispersed pockets of resistance and the last Peruvian forces in the Sierra. After a costly occupation and prolonged counterinsurgency campaign, Chile sought a diplomatic exit. Rifts within Peruvian society and Peruvian defeat in the Battle of Huamachuco resulted in the peace treaty that ended the occupation.
The three nations claimed to adhere to the
Geneva Red Cross ConventionThe International Committee of the Red Cross is a private humanitarian institution based in Geneva, Switzerland. States parties to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 and 2005, have given the ICRC a mandate to protect the victims of international and...
to protect the war wounded, prisoners, refugees, civilians, and other non-combatants. However, during the war, Chile commonly ordered a repaso (or repase), a method "to completely kill the dead" by executing all soldiers, regardless of injuries, of the opposing army left in the battlefied. After the Battle of Tacna, Chilean troops went as far as to enter
field hospitalA field hospital is a large mobile medical unit that temporarily takes care of casualties on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent hospital facilities...
s and execute all soldiers of the opposing Peruvian and Bolivian armies. The repaso further incremented the number of Peruvian casualties in the battles of San Juan, Chorrillos, and Miraflores. In the aftermath of the Battle of Huamachuco, Chilean Colonel
Alejandro GorostiagaAlejandro Gorostiaga Orrego , was a Chilean military officer born in La Serena. He joined the Escuela Militar de Chile in 1857 till his retirement in 1878. Alejandro Gorostiaga was of Basque descent....
ordered a repase under the pretext that they formed part of an irregular army and could therefore not be considered prisoners of war. Peruvian Colonel Leoncio Prado was among the few soldiers who were not killed during the Huamachuco repase, but was executed shortly thereafter.
Technology
Both sides employed late 19th-century military technology such as breech-loading rifles and cannons, remote-controlled
land mineA land mine is usually a weight-triggered explosive device which is intended to damage a target—either human or inanimate—by means of a blast and/or fragment impact....
s, armor-piercing shells, naval torpedoes, torpedo boats, and purpose-built
landing craftLanding craft are boats and seagoing vessels used to convey a landing force from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. Most renowned are those used to storm the beaches of Normandy, the Mediterranean, and many Pacific islands during WWII...
. The second-generation of ironclads (i.e. designed after the
Battle of Hampton RoadsThe Battle of Hampton Roads, often referred to as either the Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack or the Battle of Ironclads, was the most noted and arguably most important naval battle of the American Civil War from the standpoint of the development of navies...
) were employed in battle for the first time. That was significant for a conflict where no major power was involved, and attracted British, French, and U.S. observers. During the war, Peru developed the
Toro SubmarinoThe Toro Submarino was a Peruvian submarine developed during the War of the Pacific. While it was completely operational, the submarine never saw action before the end of the war, when it was scuttled to prevent its capture by Chilean troops.-Development:In 1864, an overseas German civil engineer...
("Submarine Bull"). Though completely operational, she never saw action, and was scuttled at the end to prevent her capture.
The
USS WachusettUSS Wachusett has been the name of more than one United States Navy ship, and may refer to:*USS Wachusett , a sloop-of-war in commission from 1862 to 1868, from 1871 to 1874, and from 1879 to 1885...
(1861) commanded by
Alfred Thayer MahanAlfred Thayer Mahan was a United States Navy flag officer, geostrategist, and historian, who has been called "the most important American strategist of the nineteenth century." His concept of "sea power" was based on the idea that countries with greater naval power will have greater worldwide...
, was stationed at Callao, Peru, to protect American interests during the war's final stages. Mahan formulated his concept of sea power while reading history in an English gentlemen's club in Lima, Peru. This concept became the foundation for his celebrated
The Influence of Sea Power upon HistoryThe Influence of Sea Power Upon History: 1660-1783 is a history of naval warfare written in 1890 by Alfred Thayer Mahan. It details the role of sea power throughout history and discusses the various factors needed to support and achieve sea power, with emphasis on having the largest and most...
.
Consequences
The War of the Pacific left traumatic scars on all three societies.
Bolivia
For Bolivians, the loss of the Litoral (the coast) remained a deeply emotional and practical issue, as was particularly evident during the 2003
natural gas riotsThe Bolivian gas conflict was a social confrontation in Bolivia centering on the exploitation of the country's vast natural gas reserves. The expression can be extended to refer to the general conflict in Bolivia over the exploitation of gas resources, thus including the 2005 protests and the...
. Popular belief attributed many of the country's problems to its
landlockedA landlocked country is a country entirely enclosed by land, or whose only coastlines lie on closed seas. There are 48 landlocked countries in the world, including partially recognized states...
condition; recovering the seacoast was seen as the solution to these difficulties. Numerous Bolivian Presidents pressured Chile for sovereign access to the sea. Diplomatic relations with Chile were severed on March 17, 1978, in spite of considerable commercial ties. The leading Bolivian newspaper El Diario featured at least a weekly editorial on the subject, and the Bolivian people annually celebrated a patriotic "Dia del Mar" (Day of the Sea) to remember the crippling loss.
Politically, Narciso Campero ushered in a new era of civilian constitutional government that would last under the 1880 Constitution until defeat in the
Chaco WarThe Chaco War was fought between Bolivia and Paraguay over control of the northern part of the Gran Chaco region of South America, which was incorrectly thought to be rich in oil. It is also referred to as La Guerra de la Sed in literary circles for being fought in the semi-arid Chaco...
radicalised opponents of the ruling elite.
Chile
As the victor and possessor of a new coastal territory, Chile benefited from the war by gaining a lucrative territory with significant mineral income. The national treasury grew by 900% between 1879 and 1902 due to taxes coming from the newly acquired lands. British involvement and control of the nitrate industry rose significantly.
High nitrate profits lasted for several decades, but fell sharply once
synthetic nitratesThe Haber process, also called the Haber–Bosch process, is the nitrogen fixation reaction of nitrogen gas and hydrogen gas, over an enriched iron or ruthenium catalyst, which is used to industrially produce ammonia....
were developed during
World War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. This led to a massive economic breakdown (known as the Nitrate Crisis). Many industrial factories had closed in the early 1880s to provide labor for the extraction industry. Loss of industry dramatically slowed the country's industrial development. When the saltpeter mines closed or became unprofitable, the British companies left the country, destroying many jobs. The former Bolivian region remained the world's richest source of copper and its ports moved trade between nearby countries and the Pacific Ocean. The former Peruvian region suffered because no new sources of wealth appeared after the Nitrate Crisis. On August 28, 1929, Chile returned Tacna to Peru, who later discovered huge copper deposits.
During the war Chile waived most of its claim over the
PatagoniaPatagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean...
in the 1881 Chile/Argentina treaty, to ensure Argentina's neutrality. After the war, the
Puna de Atacama disputeThe Puna de Atacama dispute was a border dispute involving Argentina, Chile and Bolivia in the 19th century over the arid high plateau of Puna de Atacama located about 4500 m.a.s.l...
grew until 1899, since both Chile and Argentina claimed former Bolivian territories. On August 28, 1929, Chile
returned the province of Tacna to PeruThe Tacna–Arica compromise was a series of documents that settled the territorial dispute of both Tacna and Arica provinces of Peru and Chile respectively....
. In 1999, Chile and Peru at last agreed to fully implement the
Treaty of LimaThe Treaty of Lima solved the dispute between Peru and Chile regarding the status of the Chilean administered territories of Tacna and Arica. According to the Treaty, the Tacna-Arica Territory was divided between both countries; Tacna being awarded to Peru and with Chile retaining sovereignty over...
, providing Peru with a port in
AricaArica is a city in northern Chile. "Arica" may also refer to:Places* Arica and Parinacota Region, Chile* Arica Airport , Chile* Arica, Amazonas, town in Colombia* Rio Aricá-açu, tributary of the Cuiabá River south of Cuiabá, BrazilOther...
.
Ericka Beckman argued that during and after the war there was a rise of racial and national superiority ideas among the Chilean ruling class. Chilean historian Gonzalo Bulnes (son of president
Manuel Bulnes-Sources:* Juan B. Alberdi, Biografia de general Bulnes...
) once wrote, "What defeated Peru was the superiority of a race and of a history". During the occupation of Tacna and Arica (1884–1929) the Peruvian people and nation were treated in racist and denigrating terms by the Chilean press.
In 2007 the Chilean government returned almost 4,000 books to Peru's national library, more than a century after they were taken by Chilean soldiers in hopes that the return of the books may go some way to improving the two nations relations.
Peru
According to Bruce W. Farcau, "in Peru, the wounds run less deep than in neighboring Bolivia". On the other hand, George J. Mills argued that after Peru's defeat, "Peruvian resentment, born of the loss of her nitrate territories, is still smoldering." According to military historian Robert L. Scheina, the Chilean plunder of Peruvian national literary and art treasures contributed to "demands of revenge among Peruvians for decades." Brooke Larson pointed out that the War of the Pacific was the "first time since independence wars" that "Peru was invaded, occupied and pillaged by a foreign army" and that "no other Andean republic experienced such a costly and humiliating defeat as Peru did in the hands of Chile".
In the aftermath of the war, the
indigenous populations of PeruIndigenous people in Peru comprise a large number of distinct ethnic groups who inhabited the country's present territory prior to its discovery by Europeans around 1500...
became scapegoats in the
narrativeA narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...
s of Peruvian
criolloThe Criollo class ranked below that of the Iberian Peninsulares, the high-born permanent residence colonists born in Spain. But Criollos were higher status/rank than all other castes—people of mixed descent, Amerindians, and enslaved Africans...
elites, exemplified in the writing of
Ricardo PalmaManuel Ricardo Palma Soriano was a Peruvian author, scholar, librarian and politician. His magnum opus is the Tradiciones peruanas.- Biography :...
:
The principal cause of the great defeat is that the majority of Peru is composed of that wretched and degraded race that we once attempted to dignify and ennoble. The Indian lacks patriotic sense; he is born enemy of the white and of the man of the coast. It makes no difference to him whether he is a Chilean or a Turk. To educate the Indian and to inspire him a feeling for patriotism will not be the task of our institutions, but of the ages.
The war period was one of profound political instability for Peru, ending only with the election of Cáceres as president in 1886.
See also
- Anti-Chilean sentiment
Anti-Chilean sentiment refers to a diverse spectrum of prejudices, dislikes or fears of Chile, Chileans, or Chilean culture. Anti-Chilean sentiment is most prevalent among Chile's neighbors; Argentina, Bolivia and Peru particularly in the latter two, who lost the War of the Pacific in the 19th...
- Atacama border dispute
The Atacama border dispute was a dispute between Chile and Bolivia in the 19th century that ended in the transfer to Chile of all of the Bolivian Coast and the southern tip of Bolivia's ally Peru through the Treaty of Ancón with Peru and the Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1904 between Chile and...
- Battle of Tarapaca: Brief synopsis (in Spanish, from Website of Peruvian military central command)
- Chincha Islands War
The Chincha Islands War was a series of coastal and naval battles between Spain and its former colonies of Peru and Chile from 1864 to 1866, that began with Spain's seizure of the guano-rich Chincha Islands, part of a series of attempts by Isabel II of Spain to reassert her country's lost...
- Chilean-Peruvian Maritime Dispute of 2006--2007
- Chile-Peru relations
Chile–Peru relations refers to international relations between the Republic of Chile and the Republic of Peru. Peru and Chile share a long history of international diplomacy starting from the times of the Inca Empire in the 15th century. Under the Viceroyalty of Peru, Chile and Peru had...
- Puna de Atacama Lawsuit
- Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1904 between Chile and Bolivia
- War of the Confederation
The War of the Confederation , was a conflict between the Peru-Bolivian Confederation on one side and Chile, Peruvian dissidents and Argentina, on the other, fought mostly in the actual territory of Peru and which ended with a Confederate defeat and the dissolution of the...