por The Pacific War The saltpeter war was a military conflict that pitted Chile against an alliance formed by Peru and Bolivia. The armed confrontation took place between 1879 and 1884 and ended with the annexation of various Bolivian and Peruvian territories to Chile.
Territorial disputes between the countries in the area had been common since the moment of their independence. Furthermore, some of the disputed territories were rich in saltpeter and therefore important sources of wealth. Bolivia and Chile tried to ease the tension with a boundary agreement signed in 1874.
However, in 1878, Bolivia established a tax on the Chilean company that was in charge of exploiting the Antofagasta nitrate, which was considered by the Chileans as a violation of the treaty. Tension increased until Chile militarily occupied Antofagasta. Bolivia and its ally Peru responded immediately.
The first months of the war took place in the ocean. Chile managed to control the coastal areas, which allowed it to attack by land and occupy Tarapacá, Tacna and Arica. Although Bolivia abandoned the conflict, the battles between Chileans and Peruvians continued until the signing of the Treaty of Ancón, in 1883, which confirmed the Chilean victory.
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Background
At the beginning of the republican era, Peru, Bolivia and Argentina accepted that their borders were the same as during the colony. However, the Spanish had never been very clear about them, so some limits were quite imprecise. This was transferred to the first border demarcations of those countries.
Among the problematic territories were the Atacama, which Chile designated as its northern border and Bolivia regarded as belonging to its Potosí province.
The situation worsened after the discovery in the 1840s of saltpeter and guano deposits in Tarapacá and Antofagasta. The wealth that these materials represented caused Chileans and Bolivians to claim the territories as their own, without being able to reach an agreement.
The issue ended up causing Bolivia to declare war on Chile in June 1863. However, the conflict did not become serious, since shortly after the countries in the area had to unite to confront Spain.
Boundary treaties of 1866 and 1874
At the end of the war with Spain, Chile and Bolivia resumed negotiations on their borders. The first agreement was signed in August 1866 and, in addition to indicating the coordinates of their territorial limits, it stated that they had to share half the rights to exploit the minerals in a certain strip of territory.
A coup in Bolivia in 1871 brought Agustín Morales to power. One of his first measures was to consider the treaty signed by the previous president null and void. The result was a new round of negotiations between the two countries involved. Despite the fact that a new treaty was signed, in 1872, Bolivia rejected its content.
On August 6, 1875, the two countries reached a new agreement. Through this treaty, Chile waived 50% of the taxes obtained from mineral exploitation in exchange for Bolivia’s promise not to increase taxes on Chilean businesses and capital for 25 years.
Secret treaty of alliance between Peru and Bolivia of 1873
Chile was strengthening its position in the area thanks to the investments it was making in Tarapacá and Antofagasta. Peru considered the Chilean position as a threat to its supremacy on the Pacific coast.
The result was a secret mutual defense agreement between Peru and Bolivia. Argentina was also invited, but did not join.
Causes of the Pacific War
As has been pointed out, territorial disputes between Chile and Bolivia had been constant since the beginning of the republican era. The main territory that both countries claimed was the Atacama desert.
However, behind this territorial dispute was the economic question, since the two countries tried to control the rich saltpeter deposits in the area.
Economic crisis in Bolivia and Peru
In 1872, the Peruvian economy was bankrupt. One of the causes was the depletion of guano and the exploding saltpeter. In addition, a quarter of the nitrate capital of Tarapacá was from Chile, as were the majority of the workers.
Peru tried to monopolize trade in both products, but the fall in the price of nitrate meant that the economy did not improve. The Chilean capitalists refused to grant new credits to the Tarapacá companies and the Peruvian government was unable to pay for the expropriations it intended to carry out.
For its part, Bolivia was exploiting its Tal-Tal saltpeter reserves. The Peruvian president sought an alliance with the Bolivians and the Argentines to avoid the Chilean presence in the Atacama desert.
Exploitation of wealth by Chilean capital in areas with imprecise limits
The activity of Chilean companies in Tarapacá and Antofagasta worried Bolivians and Peruvians. Both governments thought that Chile had a plan to take over these historically disputed territories.
The export tax increase in 1878
The coming to power in Bolivia of Hilarión Daza after a military coup in 1876 caused an increase in tension. Daza denied the validity of the treaties signed by his predecessors. In addition, in 1878, he decreed a tax increase that affected Chilean companies in Antofagasta.
From that moment on, Chilean companies had to pay 10 cents more for each quintal of nitrate. Daza threatened to confiscate the infrastructure of companies that did not pay.
At the beginning of 1879, the Chilean president fulfilled his threat and expelled the Chileans from Antofagasta and began to auction off the assets of the companies.
Confiscation of assets of Chilean mining companies
The aforementioned confiscation of the assets of Chilean companies ordered by Hilarión Daza was the final event that provoked the war. The companies refused to pay the tax increase decreed by the Bolivian president and Chile tried to get the two countries to resort to neutral arbitration.
Daza refused and issued a resolution that aggravated the situation. Thus, at the beginning of 1879 he ordered the elimination of the tax, but in return he set out to annul the concessions granted to the Chileans on saltpeter.
Although Peru, which had already signed the secret defense agreement with Bolivia, tried to convince Daza to accept arbitration, preparations for a war accelerated.
development and battles
The Chilean government considered that Bolivia had broken the treaty signed in 1874 and sent some ships to Antofagasta. His troops landed and took the city without resistance.
Given this, Bolivia declared war on Chile on March 1, 1879. The lack of a diplomatic corps in La Paz meant that the Peruvian government had to communicate the declaration of war to the rest of the world, starting with the United States.
maritime campaign
The first stage of the war took place in the waters of the Pacific. Chile considered it vital to gain control of the ports in order to weaken its enemies.
The maritime campaign faced only the Chileans and the Peruvians, since Bolivia did not have its own navy. At first, the naval power of both sides was fairly even, as the two countries had purchased modern warships in recent years.
The most important confrontations took place between April 5 and October 8, 1879 and the final result clearly favored the Chileans.
Chile began the campaign by blockading the port of Iquique with the intention of blocking Peruvian exports and forcing their ships to leave Callao. This blockade began in early April. On those dates, the Chileans also bombarded Mollendo, Pabellón de Pica and Pisagua.
The Peruvians, for their part, preferred to avoid direct confrontations as much as possible. Instead, they attacked unprotected Chilean transportation lines and ports.
Battle of Iquique
On May 16, the Chilean ships left Iquique for Callao. They only left two ships to maintain the blockade. Knowing this, the Peruvians sent two large ships to try to open the city.
The battle took place on May 21 and culminated in the victory of the Peruvian ships and the temporary unlocking of the port.
After this, capturing the battleship Huáscar, one of the Peruvian ships that had participated in the battle of Iquique, became a priority for Chile. The battleship spent six months attacking enemy transports and managed to capture a steamer, the Rímac, which was carrying an important Chilean cavalry corps.
Finally, on October 8, the Chileans were able to end the threat posed by Huáscar. The loss of that ship meant that Peru lost all its options to resist the Chilean navy. His attempt to buy new boats ended in failure.
Despite the fact that some more battles still took place, such as the blockade of Callao, Chile ended up controlling the ports, thus beginning its land campaign.
Tarapaca campaign
Once Chile gained maritime control, its ships were able to safely transport almost 9,000 soldiers to Pisagua. This landing, which took place on November 2, 1879, was the beginning of the Tarapacá campaign.
The Chileans began their advance through the region with the intention of conquering it, since they considered that it was the key to being able to take Lima.
Peruvian and Bolivian troops achieved an important victory in the Battle of Tarapacá, but it was not enough to stop the Chilean soldiers. The allies were left without reinforcements and without logistical support, so they had to withdraw to Arica and gave way to the Chilean troops.
That withdrawal caused internal disturbances in Bolivia and Peru that ended up causing two separate changes of government.
Tacna and Arica Campaign
The Chilean war minister proposed organizing a landing near Lima to shorten the war. However, the rest of the government preferred to send its troops to occupy Bolivia’s exit to the ocean first.
The Chileans landed on December 31, 1879 in the vicinity of Tacna on a reconnaissance mission. Later, at the end of February of the following year, 11,000 of his soldiers were transported to Punta Coles, near Ilo, without meeting resistance.
At the same time, Chile sent an expedition made up of more than 2,000 soldiers to Mollendo to destroy its port and prevent the arrival of materials and food to Arequipa.
The Chilean contingent that had landed at Punta Coles began its advance. On March 22, the battle of Los Angeles took place, in which Chilean forces defeated a Peruvian division and thereby managed to cut off communications between Tacna and Arica with Arequipa.
The Chilean victory was repeated in the battle of Tacna, on May 26, and in that of Arica, on June 7. This last confrontation meant the practice…