After the naval campaign of the War of the Pacific was resolved, the Chilean terrestrial invasion began.
Having gained control of the sea, Chile sent its army to invade Peru. Bolivia, unable to recover the Litoral Department, joined the Peruvian defense of Tarapacá and Tacna.
Once the naval superiority was achieved, the troops of the Chilean army began the occupation of the Peruvian province of Tarapacá.
On 2 November 1879 at 7:15 began the naval bombardment and disembarkment at the small port of Pisagua and the Junin Cove, –some 500 km North of Antofagasta. At Pisagua, several landing waves Chilean troops attacked beach defenses held by Allies, and took the town. By the end of the day, the Chilean army were ashore and moving inland [1] : 172-
From Pisagua the Chileans marched south towards the city of Iquique with 6,000[ citation needed ] troops and defeated on 19 November 1879 the 7,400[ citation needed ] allied troops gathered in Agua Santa in Battle of San Francisco/Dolores. Bolivian forces retreated to Oruro and the Peruvians to Tiliviche. Four days later, the Chilean army captured Iquique without resistance.
A detachment of 3,600[ citation needed ] Chilean soldiers, cavalry and artillery, was sent to face the Peruvian forces in the small town of Tarapacá. Peruvian forces started a march towards Arica to find Bolivian troops led by Hilarion Daza coming from Arica southwards, but in Camarones Daza decided to return towards Arica.
Chileans and Allies met on 27. November 1879 in the Battle of Tarapacá, where the Chilean forces were defeated, [2] but the Peruvian forces, unable to maintain the territory, retreated further north to Arica by 18 December 1879. [3]
About the importance of the campaign Bruce W. Farcau wrote:
giving Santiago not only an economic bonanza but also a diplomatic asset. [5]
The Peruvian government was confronted with widespread rioting in Lima because of the disastrous handling of the war to date. [6]
On 18 December 1879 the Peruvian President Mariano Ignacio Prado suddenly took a ship from Callao to Panama, allegedly with six million pesos in gold, [7] supposedly to oversee the purchase of new arms and warships for the nation. In a statement in the newspaper El Comercio he turned over the command of the country to Vice President La Puerta. After a putsch and more than 300 dead [8] Nicolás de Piérola overthrew La Puerta and took power in Peru on 23 December 1879.
Back to Arica from the aborted expedition to Iquique, on 27 December 1879 Daza received a telegram from La Paz informing him the army had overthrown him. He departed to Europe with $500,000. In Bolivia General Narciso Campero became president. [9]
Bolivia's president Campero remained in office until the end of the war, but Pierola was recognized as president only by his occupation of Lima.
During the Bolivian tax crisis of 1879, Chile voted a new Congress on schedule and in 1881 Domingo Santa María was elected as President of the Republic. He assumed the office on September 18, 1881 A new Congress was elected in on schedule in 1882. [10]
After the failure of the peace talks the Chilean forces began to prepare for the occupation of South Peru. On 28 November 1879 [1] : 214 Chile declared the formal blockade of Arica. Later the port Callao was also put under blockade.
A Chilean force of 600 men carried out an amphibious raid at Ilo as a reconnaissance in force, to the north of Tacna, on December 31, 1879, and withdrew the same day. [11]
On 24 February 1880 approximately 11,000 men in nineteen ships protected by the warships Blanco Encalada, Toro and the Magallanes and two torpedo boats sailed from Pisagua and arrived off Punta Coles, near Pacocha, Ilo on 26 February 1880. The landing took several days and occurred without resistance The Peruvian commander, Lizardo Montero, refused to try to drive the Chileans from the beachhead, as the Chileans had expected. [1] : 217
On 22 March 1880 3,642 Chilean troops defeated 1,300 [1] : 222 Peruvian troops in the Battle of Los Ángeles cutting any direct Peruvian supply from Lima to Arica or Tacna [12] (Supply was possible only through the long way over Bolivia).
After the Battle of Los Ángeles there were three allied positions in South Peru. General Leyva's 2nd Army was at Arequipa, with some survivors of the battle at Los Angeles included. Bolognesi's 7th and 8th Division was at Arica and at Tacna was the 1st Army. All these forces were under the direct command of the Bolivian president, Campero. [13] But they were unable to concentrate troops or even to move from their garrisons. [14] [15]
After crossing 40 miles (64 km) of desert, on 26 May 1880 the Chilean army (14,147 men [1] : 229 ) destroyed the allied army of 5,150 Bolivians and 8,500 Peruvians in the Battle of the Halt of the Alliance.
The need for a port near the army to supply and reinforce the troops and evacuate the wounded made the Chilean command concentrate on the remaining Peruvian stronghold of Arica. On June 7, 1880, after the Battle of Arica, 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. [1] : 256 Bolivia effectively dropped out of the war. [4] : 147
Prior to the United States becoming formally involved into the matter, the united proposal of France, England, and Italy was to provide Chile with Tarapacá while they retreated their troops to the Camarones River; Chile found this solution to be acceptable. [16]
On October 22, 1880, delegates of Peru, Chile, Bolivia, and the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America in Chile held a 5-day conference aboard the USS Lackawanna in Arica. [4] : 153 The Lackawanna Conference, also called the Arica conference, attempted to develop a peace settlement for the war. Chile demanded the Peruvian Tarapacá province and the Bolivian Atacama, an indemnity of $20,000,000 gold Pesos, restoration of property taken from Chilean citizens, the return to Chile of the transport vessel Rimac, the abrogation of the alliance treaty between Peru and Bolivia and the formal commitment on the part of Peru not to mount artillery batteries in Arica's harbor once it was returned by Chile. Furthermore, Arica was to be limited to commercial use only. Celae planned to retain all 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 refused to accept these terms and the negotiations failed.
To show Peru the futility of further resistance against Chilean forces, on 4 September 1880 the Chilean government dispatched an expedition of 2,200 men [17] to northern Peru under the command of Captain Patricio Lynch to collect war taxes from wealthy landowners. [18] [19] Lynch's Expedition arrived on 10 September to Chimbote [1] : 260- levied taxes of $100,000 in Chimbote, $10,000 in Piata, $20,000 in Chiclayo, and $4,000 in Lambayeque in local currencies; those who did not comply had their property impounded or destroyed. On September 11, 1880, the Peruvian government made a decree that made the payment of these taxes an act of treason, but most land owners still paid the Chileans under the belief that denizens of occupied areas had to comply with the occupying army. [20]
After the campaign of Tacna and Arica, the southern departments of Peru were in Chilean hands, and the allies armies were smashed, so for the Chilean government there was no reason to continue the war. However, public pressure as well as expansionist ambitions pushed the war farther north. [21] [22] The defeated allies not only didn't realize their situation, but despite the empty Bolivian treasury, on 16 June 1880 the National Assembly voted in favour of a continuation of the war and on 11 June 1880 was signed in Peru a document declaring the creation of the United States of Peru-Bolivia. [23]
This forced both the Chilean government and its high command to plan a new campaign with the objective to obtain an unconditional capitulation at the Peruvian capital city. [24]
The Chilean forces would have to confront virtually the entire male population of Lima defending prepared positions and supported by a formidable collection of the coastal guns of Lima, located within a few miles of the capital's arsenal and supply depots. [1] : 258–259 President Pierola ordered the construction of two parallel lines of defenses at Chorrillos and Miraflores a few kilometers south of Lima. The line of Chorrillos had 10 miles (16 km) long, lying from Marcavilca hill to La Chira, passing through the acclivities of San Juan and Santa Teresa. [1] : 276- The Peruvian forces were approximately 26,000 men strong between Arequipa and Lima. [25]
A small Chilean force went ashore near Pisco, approximately 200 miles (320 km) south of Lima, and the mass of the army disembarked in Chilca only 45 kilometres (28 mi) from Lima.
On January 13, 1881 the 20,000 [26] Chilean troops charged 14,000 [26] Peruvian defenders in Chorrillos. During the Battle of Chorrillos, the Chileans inflicted a harsh defeat to the Peruvian army and eliminated the first defensive line guarding Lima. Two days later, on January 15, 1881, after the triumph in the Battle of Miraflores the Chilean army entered Lima.
After the battle there were fires and sackings in the towns of Chorrillos and Barranco.
During the occupation of Lima, Chilean troops systematically pillaged Peruvian public buildings, turned the old University of San Marcos into a barracks, raided medical schools and other institutions of education, and stole a series of monuments and artwork that had adorned the city. [27] The Chilean Army plundered the contents of the Peruvian National Library 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. In November 2007 3,778 books were returned to the National Library of Peru. [28]
Chileans troops entered Lima on 17 January 1881. [1] : 296 The Peruvian dictator Nicolás de Piérola retreated from the capital to try governing from the rear area, and he still refused to accept Chile's demand for territory and indemnity. [29]
In absence of a Peruvian president who was willing to accept their peace terms, on February 22, 1881, the Chileans allowed a convention of Peruvian "notables" outside of Lima that elected Francisco García Calderón as president. Garcia Calderón was allowed to raise and arm two infantry battalions (400 men each) and two small cavalry squadrons to give more legitimacy to the provisional government. [4] : 173
The commander of the Chilean occupation, Vice-admiral Patricio Lynch, set down his military headquarters in the Government Palace of Peru in Lima. After the confrontations in San Juan and Miraflores, Peruvian Colonel Andrés Avelino Cáceres decided to escape to the central Andes to organize and reinitiate the Peruvian resistance to the Chilean occupation army from within the mountain range. This would come to be known as the campaign of the Breña or Sierra, which organized abundant acts of rebellion in Lima and eventually organized a widespread Peruvian resistance. [30] [31]
Meanwhile, in Chile the new administration under the command of Domingo Santa Maria pushed for an end to the costly war.
In February 1881, the Chilean forces under the command of Lt. Col. Ambrosio Letelier started the first Expedition, with 700 men, to defeat the last guerilla bands from Huánuco (30 April) to Junín. After many losses the expedition achieved very little and came back to Lima in early July, [1] : 309- where Letelier and his officers were court-martialed because they illegally diverted money into their own pocket. [32]
With apparent encouragement from the United States, [33] Peruvians kept up the resistance for three more years in a campaign known in Peru as the campaign of the Breña. The leader of the resistance was General Andrés Avelino Cáceres (nicknamed the Warlock of the Andes), who would later be elected president of Peru. Cáceres's troops faced against the better equipped and armed Chilean troops with the usage of archaic weaponry such as machetes, spears, clubs, stones, and few old muskets. [34] Under his leadership, the Peruvian militia forces strengthened with Native American montoneros inflicted several blows upon the Chilean army in small battles such as Pucará, Marcavalle, Concepción, and Tarmatambo, forcing Colonel Estanislao del Canto's division to return to Lima in 1882.
Chile would once again attempt to dominate the region by sending another campaign force, but the Chilean troops were defeated at the battles of Chicla and Purhuay. However, Cáceres was conclusively defeated by Colonel Alejandro Gorostiaga at the Battle of Huamachuco on 10 July 1883. Even still, without any major forces left to continue the resistance, Cáceres managed to keep Chileans on the retreat at Ayacucho. Finally, after the Peruvian victory at the Battle of San Pablo, Colonel Miguel Iglesias manages to reach a diplomatic solution with Chile on 20 October 1883 with the signing of the Treaty of Ancón, by which Peru's Tarapacá province was ceded to the victor; on its part, Bolivia was forced to cede Antofagasta. Nonetheless, the treaty would not come into official effect until 8 March 1884. During the time prior to that date, Chilean troops occupied the city of Arequipa after an uprising forced the puppet regime of Lizardo Montero to flee to La Paz, Bolivia. Afterwards, the Battle of Pachía, on 11 November 1883, forced the Chileans to retreat to Moquegua. Despite the Peruvian victory, the lack of resources and manpower forced the Peruvian advances in Tacna to stop.
To annihilate the guerrilla, Lynch started in January 1882 a new offensive with 5,000 men [1] : 315- first in the direction of Tarma and then southeast: Huancayo, until Izcuchaca. The Chilean troops suffered enormous hardships: cold, snow, mountain sickness (more than 5,000m). On 9 July 1882 was fought the emblematic Battle of La Concepción. The Chileans had to pull back with a loss of 534 soldiers: 154 died in combat, 277 died to disease and 103 deserted.
During the administration of James A. Garfield (Mar. 4, 1881 – Sep. 19, 1881) in the US, the anglophobic Secretary of State James G. Blaine wanted to advance the US presence in Latin America. He believed that England had prodded Chile into war on Peru to secure England's stake in the mineral wealth of the disputed areas. Blaine made a proposal that called for Chile to accept a monetary indemnity and renounce claims to Antofagasta and Tarapacá. These American attempts reinforced Garcia Calderon's refusal to discuss the matter of territorial cession. When it became known that Blaine's representative to Garcia Calderon, Stephen Hurlburt, would personally profit from the business trade-off, it was clear that Hurlburt was complicating the peace process. [35]
Because of President Calderon's refusal to relinquish Peruvian control over Tarapacá, he was placed under arrest. 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 of Peru. Caceres refused to serve and supported Lizardo Montero instead. Montero moved to Arequipa and in this way Garcia Calderon's arrest achieved the union of the forces of Pierola and Caceres. [1] : 329
Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen, successor to Blaine as US Secretary of State after the assassination of President Garfield, publicly disavowed Blaine's policy while abandoning any notion of intervening militarily in the dispute [1] : 306 and recognizing Chile's right to annex Tarapacá. [1] : 329
On 1 April 1882 Miguel Iglesias, former Defence minister under Pierola, became convinced that the war had to be brought to an end if Peru was not to be completely devastated. He issued a manifesto, "Grito de Montan", calling for peace and in December 1882 called a convention of representatives of the seven departments of northern Peru where he was elected "Regenerating President" [1] : 329–330 [4] : 181–182
To protect and support Iglesias against Montero, on 6 April 1883, Patricio Lynch started a new offensive to drive the Montoneros from central Peru and destroy Caceres' little army. Unlike in previous plans, the Chilean troops pursued Caceres to northwest through narrow mountain passes until 10 July 1883 as the definitive Battle of Huamachuco was fought. The Peruvians were defeated. [1] : 317–338 [4] : 183–187 It was the last battle of the war.
After the signing of the peace on 20 October 1883 with the government of Iglesias, Lizardo Montero tried to resist in Arequipa, but fortunately for Chile, the arrival of its men stampeded Montero's troops and Montero went for a Bolivian asylum. [36]
On 29 October 1883 ended the Chilean occupation of Lima.
19 November 1880 the Chilean army landed in Pisco, and by January 1881, the Chileans were marching towards the Peruvian capital, Lima. Regular Peruvian forces together with poorly armed people, set up to defend Lima. With little effective Peruvian central government remaining, Chile pursued an ambitious campaign throughout Peru, especially along the coast and in the central Sierra, penetrating as far north as Cajamarca, seeking to eliminate any source of resistance. Peruvian forces were decisively defeated in the battles of San Juan and Miraflores, and Lima fell in January 1881 to the forces of General Baquedano.
The southern suburbs of Lima, including the upscale beach area of Chorrillos, were looted by demoralized Peruvian soldiers [37]
The War of the Pacific, also known as the Saltpeter War and by multiple other names, was a war between Chile and a Bolivian–Peruvian alliance from 1879 to 1884. Fought over Chilean claims on coastal Bolivian territory in the Atacama Desert, the war ended with a Chilean victory, which gained for the country a significant amount of resource-rich territory from Peru and Bolivia.
Andrés Avelino Cáceres Dorregaray served as the President of Peru two times during the 19th century, from 1886 to 1890 as the 27th President of Peru, and again from 1894 to 1895 as the 30th President of Peru. In Peru, he is considered a national hero for leading the resistance to Chilean occupation during the War of the Pacific (1879–1883), where he fought as a General in the Peruvian Army.
Jose Nicolás Baltasar Fernández de Piérola y Villena was a Peruvian politician and Minister of Finance who served as the 23rd and 31st President of the Republic of Peru, from 1879 to 1881 and 1895 to 1899.
Mariano Ignacio Prado Ochoa was a Peruvian army general who served as the 16th and 21st President of Peru.
Francisco Bolognesi Cervantes was a Peruvian military general. He is considered a national hero in Peru and was declared patron of the Army of Peru by the government of Peru on January 2 of 1951.
The Battle of Arica, also known as Assault and Capture of Cape Arica, was a battle in the War of the Pacific. It was fought on 7 June 1880, between the forces of Chile and Peru.
The Battle of San Juan, also known as the Battle of San Juan and Chorrillos, was the first of two battles in the Lima Campaign during the War of the Pacific, and was fought on 13 January 1881. This battle is really a group of smaller, yet fierce confrontations at the defensive strongholds of Villa, Chorrillos, Santiago de Surco, San Juan de Miraflores, Santa Teresa and Morro Solar. The Chilean army led by Gen. Manuel Baquedano inflicted a harsh defeat on the Peruvian army commanded by the Supreme Chief Nicolás de Piérola. The Chilean triumph eliminated the first defensive line guarding Lima, and almost obliterated the Peruvian army defending it.
The Battle of Tacna, also known as the Battle of the Peak of the Alliance, effectively destroyed the Peru-Bolivian alliance against Chile, forged by a secret treaty signed in 1873. On May 26, 1880, the Chilean Northern Operations Army led by General Manuel Baquedano González, conclusively defeated the combined armies of Peru and Bolivia commanded by Bolivian President, General Narciso Campero. The battle took place at the Inti Urqu (Intiorko) hill plateau, a few miles north of the Peruvian city of Tacna. As a result, Bolivia was knocked out of the war, leaving Peru to fight the rest of the war alone. Also, this victory consolidated the Chilean domain over the Tarapacá Department. The territory was definitively annexed to Chile after the signing of the Tratado de Ancón, in 1884, which ended the war. Tacna itself remained under Chilean control until 1929.
The Tacna and Arica campaign is known as the stage of the War of the Pacific after the Chilean conquest of the Peruvian department of Tarapacá, ending with Chilean domination of the Moquegua department in southern Peru. During this campaign Bolivia retired from the war after the Battle of Tacna, and Peru lost the port of Arica. Also, Manuel Baquedano assumed command as the new Commander in Chief of the Chilean Army, and the Allied Presidents were thrown out of office and replaced by Nicolas de Pierola in Peru and General Narciso Campero in Bolivia.
The Province of Arica was a historical territorial division of Peru, which existed between 1823 and 1883. It was populated by pre-Hispanic peoples for a long period of time before Spanish colonisation in the early 16th century saw the transformation of a small town into a thriving port. Trade in both gold and silver was facilitated through Arica after the precious metals were first extracted from the Potosí silver mines of Bolivia. Following the War of the Pacific, the province was transferred to Chile and became an official Chilean territory in 1929.
The Tarapacá Department was an old territorial division of Peru, which existed between 1878 and 1884, when it was unconditionally ceded to Chile after the War of the Pacific under the Treaty of Ancón.
The occupation of Lima by the Chilean Army in 1881-1883 was an event in the land campaign phase of the War of the Pacific (1879-1883).
The Naval campaign of the War of the Pacific or Saltpeter war, was a naval campaign that took place from 1879 to 1884, involving Peru, and Chile, undertaken in order to support land forces in the Atacama Desert. Although the conflict lasted until 1884, the primary naval engagements occurred between 1879 and 1880. Due to the rough terrain and few transport methods it was imperative to have control of the ports in order to have a good supply source in the region. It resulted in a successful campaign by Chile, and the success of their land campaigns eventually led to a Chilean victory, which cut off Bolivia's access to the coast.
The Chilean occupation of Peru began on November 2, 1879, with the beginning of the Tarapacá campaign during the War of the Pacific. The Chilean Army successfully defeated the Peruvian Army and occupied the southern Peruvian territories of Tarapacá, Arica and Tacna. By January 1881, the Chilean army had reached Lima, and on January 17 of the same year, the occupation of Lima began.
The Lima campaign is the third land campaign of the War of the Pacific, carried out by Chile between December 1880 and January 1881. The campaign ended with the Chilean occupation of the Peruvian capital and the establishment of the Chilean authority in it and other surrounding territories, which would extend until 1883, with the end of the war.
The Peruvian-Bolivian War was a warlike confrontation between Peru and Bolivia in the years 1841 and 1842.
The Lynch Expedition was a series of raids during the War of the Pacific on the Peruvian coast north of Lima. It was conducted by Patricio Lynch, Captain of the Navy of Chile. Beginning on 4 September 1880 and continuing for two months, Lynch sailed north from Arica, and over the course of his raids, he captured resources and destroyed 4.7 million US dollars worth of Peruvian property.
Manuel Belisario Suárez y Vargas was a Peruvian colonel and politician that was notable for serving in several battles of the War of the Pacific as well as holding several offices within the Congress of the Republic of Peru.
Gregorio Albarracín Lanchipa was a Peruvian Colonel and War Hero who participated in the Peruvian-Bolivian War of 1841-1842, the Peruvian Civil War of 1843–1844, the Peruvian Civil War of 1856–1858 and the War of the Pacific. He is known as El Centauro de las Vilcas as he was notable for using a vilca, a typical tree from Tacna, as a pole to raise the Peruvian flag during the Chilean administration of the area.
Juan Gastó Valderrama was a Peruvian colonel who participated prominently in the Sierra Campaign of the War of the Pacific and was in the Peruvian army for forty years. During his military service, he was the main commander of the Peruvian victories at the Battle of La Concepción and the Battle of Tarmatambo. He participated at the Battle of Huamachuco as head of the 2nd division of the Army of the Center where he was killed in action at the age of 59.