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The War of the Pacific was fought between Chile and the joint forces of Bolivia and Peru, from 1879 to 1884. Chile gained substantial mineral-rich territory in the conflict, leaving Bolivia a land-locked country and annexing the formerly Peruvian province of Tarapacá.
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The war grew out of a dispute between Chile and Bolivia over control of a part of the Atacama desert that lies between the 23rd and 26th parallels on the Pacific coast. The territory contained valuable mineral resources, particularly sodium nitrate from guano, and secondarily saltpeter. The government of Bolivia wanted to levy taxes on the commercial operators exploiting the area, who happened to be Chilean and British.
National borders in the region had never been definitively established; the two countries negotiated a treaty that recognized the 24th parallel as their boundary and that gave Chile the right to share the export taxes on the mineral resources of Bolivia's territory between the 23rd and 24th parallels. But Bolivia subsequently became dissatisfied at having to share its taxes with Chile and feared Chilean seizure of its coastal region where Chilean interests already controlled the mining industry.
Bolivian and Chilean historians disagree on whether the territory of Chacras, originally part of the Viceroyalty of Peru and later of the Viceroyalty de la Plata included access to the sea. Supporting their claims with different documents, the Bolivians claim that it did; the Chileans disagree. When Simón Bolívar established Bolivia, he claimed access to the sea, although most economic exploitation of the coastal region was being conducted by Chilean enterprises, under the aegis of Chile's more robust economy and more stable institutions.
The dispute was originally between Chile and Bolivia but Peru was brought into the war because it had an alliance with Bolivia and Argentina to contain what they perceived as Chile's imperialist ambitions in the region. Argentina never fulfilled its obligations.
In 1878, Bolivia, under President Hilarión Daza, tried to increase the taxes of the Chilean Antofagasta Nitrate Company, over the protests of the Chilean government of President Aníbal Pinto. When Bolivia threatened to confiscate the company's property, Chilean armed forces occupied the port city of Antofagasta on February 14, 1879. In response, Bolivia invoked its secret alliance with Peru, the Treaty of 1873, which brought the latter into the conflict.
Bolivia, after several short-lived governments, was in no position to face the Chilean army by itself. From the beginning of the war, it was clear that for a difficult desert war, control of the sea would be crucial. Bolivia had no navy, and Peru was facing an economic collapse that left its navy and army without proper training or budget. Most of its warships where old and unable to face battle, leaving only the ironclad Huáscar and the Independencia ready. In contrast, the Chilean armed forces (encouraged by British interests) were well prepared; a modern navy supplemented a well-trained and equipped army. Two of the newest and most powerful Chilean battleships — Blanco Encalada and Cochrane — were alreay blockading the Bolivian coast.
In the Naval Battle of Iquique, the Chilean Navy was trying to blockade the Peruvian port of Iquique. Two of their oldest vessels, Esmeralda and Covadonga were present, and were quickly intercepted by the Peruvian ships. The Esmeralda was sunk by the ironclad Huáscar, while in a concurrent battle called by Chilean historians The Naval Battle of Punta Gruesa (but included in the previous one by Peruvian historians), the gunboat Covadonga made the larger ship Independencia run aground.
Ultimately, the Independencia was lost, since it was impossible for the Peruvian Navy to recover it from the sea. Chileans viewed Arturo Prat, captain of the Esmeralda, as a martyr to their cause. The survivors from the Esmeralda were rescued by the Huáscar and gave its captain, Miguel Grau, the nickname of "Knight of the Seas". The Huáscar was left as the only Peruvian vessel capable of holding off the invasion.
In the Naval Battle of Angamos six months later, the Chileans captured the Huáscar in a bloody combat that raged for nearly two hours. Admiral Grau was among the dead.
Domination of the seas enabled the Chilean Army to invade Peru. Bolivia, unable to recover its province of Antofagasta, participated in the Peruvian defence of Tarapacá. Chile had land superiority as well, having the advantage of modern artillery and better rifles.
Two weeks after the capture of the Huáscar, the Chilean Army started its invasion of Peru. With full control of the sea, an Army of nearly 10,000 soldiers landed and captured the small port of Pisagua, splitting the Peruvian-Bolivian Army in two.
Marching towards the city of Iquique, the first battle of the campaign started. In the Battle of San Francisco, the Chilean Army held off a sudden counterattack, in which both sides suffered several casualties. The Bolivians withdrew, forcing the Peruvian Army to retreat to the city of Tarapacá. Four days later, the Chilean Army captured Iquique, with little resistance.
An expedition composed of 3,600 soldiers and artillery were sent to wipe out the rest of the Peruvian Army. Less than 2,000 Peruvian soldiers were there, poorly trained and demoralized by the previous defeat. The Chileans captured a key position and surrounded the city, from which they started their attack. Nevertheless, the Chilean expedition was disbanded in the Battle for Tarapacá: the Peruvians managed to rout the enemy, forcing them to leave behind significant quantities of supplies and ammunition. However, the victory counted for little, because a separate Chilean force left Pisagua and disembarked nearly 12,000 soldiers in Pacocha Bay, destroying any practical hope for reinforcement of the provinces of Tacna and Arica.
An attempt at mediation by the United States failed in October 1880; by that time, Bolivia, defeated in a series of desert battles and in the Chilean occupation of Morro de Arica, had withdrawn from the war. The Chilean Army marched towards the Peruvian capital, Lima. After Peruvian defeats in the battles of San Juan and Miraflores, Lima fell in January 1881 to the forces of Chilean General Manuel Baquedano; the southern suburbs of Lima were sacked and burned to the ground. The outlying haciendas were burned down by the Chinese coolies who had been brought in for cheap labor. (Chilean historians claim that the Chilean troops entered Lima to prevent looting and destruction after the collapse of authority there; Peruvian historians are unanimous in saying that those same Chilean forces were responsible for the looting and destruction.)
With little effective Peruvian central government remaining, Chile pursued a brutal campaign throughout Peru, especially on the coast and the central Sierra, penetrating as far north as Cajamarca. Remarkably, even in these circumstances, Chile was not able to completely subjugate Peru. As war booty, Chile confiscated the National Library from Lima along with much capital stock.
Peruvian resistance continued for three more years, with U.S. encouragement. The remmants of the Peruvian Army defeated the Chilean Army on several occasions. Finally, on 20 October 1883, Peru and Chile signed the Treaty of Ancón, by which Tarapacá province was ceded to the latter.
Under the terms of the treaty, Chile was to occupy the provinces of Tacna and Arica for 10 years, after which a plebiscite was to be held to determine their nationality. But the two countries failed for decades to agree on the terms the plebiscite.
Finally, in 1929, through the mediation of the United States under president Herbert Hoover, an accord was reached by which Chile kept Arica; Peru reacquired Tacna and received $6 million indemnity and other concessions.
In 1884, a truce between Bolivia and Chile gave the latter control of the entire Bolivian coast, the province of Antofagasta, with its valuable nitrate, copper, and other minerals. A treaty in 1904 made this arrangement permanent. In return Chile agreed to build a railroad connecting the Bolivian capital of La Paz with the port of Arica and guaranteed freedom of transit for Bolivian commerce through Chilean ports and territory.
Later, Bolivia attempted to break out of its landlocked situation by making a grab for territory surrounding the Rio de la Plata, a massive river which leads to the Atlantic coast, an effort that resulted in the Chaco War (1932–1935) between Bolivia and Paraguay.
The War of the Pacific left traumatic scars on Bolivian and Peruvian society. Peruvians developed an cult for the "heroic" defenders of the patria, such as Admiral Miguel Grau, Francisco Bolognesi who were killed in the war, and Andrés A. Cáceres who went on to become a leading political figure and symbol of resistance to the invading Chilean Army. The defeat engendered a deep inferiority complex among the ruling classes, wich also led to a skewed view of the role of the armed forces, which dominated society throughout the 20th century.
For Bolivians, the loss of the territory which they refer to as the litoral remains a deeply emotional (as well as practical) issue, as was particularly evident during the Bolivian Gas War. President Carlos Mesa of Bolivia announced in 2004 that he would push for Chile to return the lost seacoast territory.
Chile, of course, fared better, gaining a lucrative territory, including the nitrates and saltpeter, major sources of income (although less so once Germany developed artificial nitrate synthesis during World War I). Still, the involvement of the British in the exploitation of these resources was, at best, a mixed blessing, leading them to meddle in Chilean politics, ultimately backing an overthrow of the Chilean president in 1891.
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