The War of the Pacific, also known as the Saltpeter War,, 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. The Chilean Army took Bolivia’s nitrate-rich coastal region, and Peru was defeated by the Chilean Navy.
Battles were fought in the Pacific Ocean, the Atacama Desert, the Peruvian deserts, and the mountainous regions in the Andes. For the first five months, the war played out in a naval campaign, as Chile struggled to establish a marine resupply corridor for its forces in the world’s driest desert.
In February 1878, Bolivia imposed a new tax on a Chilean mining company, Compañía de Salitres y Ferrocarril de Antofagasta, despite Bolivia’s express guarantee in the 1874 Boundary Treaty not to increase taxes on Chilean persons or industries for 25 years. Chile protested and solicited to submit the issue to mediation, but Bolivia refused and considered it a subject of Bolivian courts. Chile insisted and informed the Bolivian government that Chile would no longer consider itself bound by the 1874 Boundary Treaty unless Bolivia suspended the enforcement of the law. On February 14, 1879, when Bolivian authorities attempted to auction the confiscated property of the CSFA, Chile’s armed forces occupied the port city of Antofagasta.
Peru, bound to Bolivia by a secret 1873 treaty of alliance, tried to mediate the dispute but on 1 March 1879, Bolivia declared war on Chile and called on Peru to activate its alliance while Chile demanded that Peru declare its neutrality. On April 5, after Peru refused the latter request, Chile declared war on both nations. The next day, Peru responded by acknowledging the casus foederis.
Afterwards, Chile’s land campaign bested the Bolivian and Peruvian armies. Bolivia withdrew after the Battle of Tacna, on May 26, 1880. Chile’s forces occupied Lima in January 1881. Remnants and irregulars of the Peruvian army waged a guerrilla war but did not change the war’s outcome.
Chile and Peru signed the Treaty of Ancón on October 20, 1883. Bolivia signed a truce with Chile in 1884. Chile acquired the Peruvian territory of Tarapacá, the disputed Bolivian department of Litoral (turning Bolivia into a landlocked country), and the temporary control over the Peruvian provinces of Tacna and Arica.
In 1904, Chile and Bolivia signed the Treaty of Peace and Friendship, which established definite boundaries. The 1929 Tacna–Arica compromise gave Arica to Chile and Tacna to Peru.
Articles
- Dead Country Stamps and Banknotes: Chala, Chilean Occupation of Peru (1884)
- Dead Country Stamps and Banknotes: Peru, Chilean Occupation (1881 – 1884)
- Stamp Master Album: Peru Occupational Stamps
