History UsefulNotes / WarOfThePacific

[{AC:Films -- Live-Action]]

!!Depictions in fiction
* In ''Literature/TheLegacyOfTheGlorious'', the war is won by the Peruvian-Bolivian side: Spanish support for Perú allows them to buy two warships, which are enough to turn the Battle of Punta Angamos (where, in RealLife, Miguel Grau died) into a Peruvian victory, allowing for the liberation of the Bolivian coast and the eventual invasion of Chile.
* Various Chilean and Peruvian productions dedicated movies (for cinema and [[DirectToVideo TV]]) to this war. In Chile, there's one TV movie from ''Heroes'' series dedicated to Arturo Prat since his youth to his final days in the War; and there's the 2010 movie ''La Esmeralda, 1879'', which is the PointOfView of the cabin boy that was the last survivor of the Esmeralda ship during the War.
* Some Chilean comic books refers to the War of the Pacific: in ''ComicBook/{{Diablo|Chile}}'', Arturo Prat himself appeared to Alex when he came to [[{{Hell}} Entropía]] for the first time; and in ''Caleuche Comics'' series "Cazadores del Desierto" (Desert Hunters), there's a ZombieApocalypse in the middle of the War, getting both armies an [[EnemyMine unexpected alliance]] to survive.

Both Peru and Chile knew that, to first gain control of the land, they needed to secure dominion over the sea. To accomplish this, Miguel Grau was given command of the Peruvian armada, a decision that proved to be a smart move for the Peruvians. Grau, commanding only the monitor ''Huáscar'', was able to stall the Chileans for months, to the point that the leadership of the entire Chilean Navy was overhauled in order to finally hunt down the damned ship, which they finally did in the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Angamos ''Combate de Angamos'']] (''Naval Battle of Angamos''), using overwhelming numerical advantage [[note]]Two ironclads and four wooden warships against a single monitor. Although only the two ironclads faced Huáscar in Angamos, the others only maintained the blockade of the port.[[/note]] to capture the ''Huáscar'', killing Grau in the process.

Both Chile and Peru tried a peaceful solution as did European investors, but Bolivia did not budge. Added to this, James G. Blaine Secretary of State of the United States lied accusing Chile of being aided and incited by the United Kingdom to war, in order to generate support to intervene in favor of Peru following the Monroe doctrine. Blaine's objective was not met, but his statements would make relations between Chile and the United States tense for many years, and Blaine himself was frowned upon in both countries. Despite being proven false to Blaine's statements, to this day there is the "myth of English aid", even on this wiki.

One of the most memorable moments of the battle was the sacrifice of Colonel Alfonso Ugarte, who threw himself and his horse off the hill and into the sea to prevent the national flag from falling into the hands of the Chileans. The other one, which is rather infamous, was the chilean ''repaso'', which was the act of killing those that survived by bayonet and the rape of the women of Arica.

After the battle of Arica, Peru tried to negotiate with Chile for a peace treaty, however, their demands were incredibly harsh towards Peru and negotiations failed. Now, Chile began to move its army north toward the Peruvian capital city of Lima, while a naval force called the ''Lynch Expedition'' attacked Peru's the northern coast (Lynch later was called "the Last Viceroy of Peru"). Also Lynch liberated Chinese enslaved in Peru, they called them the "Red Prince"[[note]]He was redhead[[/note]], and some joined the fight against the Peruvians in revenge for their treatment. The army finally disembarked on the central coast of Peru and began to move towards the capital. Along the way, they burned and destroyed the resort town of Chorrillos, finally ending in the battle of Miraflores, in which the last of the Militia died, as well as the best of the Peruvian youth (i.e. teenagers and young boy who were recruited to fight against the Chilean invaders) and the army of Chile entered the capital.

The War of the Pacific (1879-1883), also called the War of the Saltpeter, pitted the [[UsefulNotes/{{Chile}} Republic of Chile]] against the alliance of UsefulNotes/{{Peru}} and UsefulNotes/{{Bolivia}} over rich saltpeter and nitrate deposits. [[note]]"Nitrate deposits" being a polite term for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guano Guano]], i.e. bird dung. Guano is rich in nitrate, which is needed to make modern fertilizer and explosives. So yes, it was totally worthwhile (at the time, but not anymore; for why, see below) to fight a major war over bird poop. And you thought it was just the annoying stuff that got stuck to the windshield of your car...[[/note]] The deposits were on Peruvian and Bolivian territory, and the Bolivian deposits were mostly mined by a Chilean company. Hilarión Daza, the President of Bolivia, tried to raise the taxes the Chileans paid (in violation of a treaty), and when they wouldn't pay he nationalized the company. Then Chile invaded Bolivia, and Peru (which had a mutual defense treaty with Bolivia) got dragged into the fight.

However, things were actually a bit more complicated. Over the years following the [[UsefulNotes/TheChinchaIslandsWar War against Spain]] (Not to be confused with the War of Independence), Chile had been arming itself, gaining indirect support of the British, the Germans and the French, which were the one who sold the weapons and the ironclads to them, due to the desire of Chile's ruling class to seize control of the lands in the north, thus creating the tension between Chile and Bolivia, since at the time Bolivia controlled the strip of coast north of Chile.

After the situation between the Bolivian and Chilean governments started to go awry, Peru sent a diplomatic mission to try to resolve the problem peacefully, also hoping for time to properly arm itself in case a war started. Unfortunately, the countries supplying the weapons and ships (i.e. France, Germany, Britain) had already chosen a side, and were not willing to sell Peru anything. To make things worse, the diplomatic mission turned out to be a failure, for Chile was determined to go to war.

Both Peru and Chile knew that, to first gain control of the land, they needed to secure dominion over the sea. To accomplish this, Miguel Grau was given command of the Peruvian armada, a decision that proved to be a smart move for the Peruvians. Grau, commanding only the monitor ''Huáscar'', was able to stall the Chileans for months, to the point that the leadership of the entire Chilean Navy was overhauled in order to finally hunt down the damned ship, which they finally did in the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Angamos ''Combate de Angamos'']] (''Naval Battle of Angamos''), using overwhelming numerical advantage [[note]]Two ironclads and four wooden warships against a single monitor[[/note]] to capture the ''Huáscar'', killing Grau in the process.

One of the most memorable moments of the battle was the sacrifice of Colonel Alfonso Ugarte, who threw himself and his horse off the hill and into the sea to prevent the national flag from falling into the hands of the Chileans, who at the time had the practice of burning the banners of their enemies. The other one, which is rather infamous, was the chilean ''repaso'', which was the act of killing those that survived by bayonet and the rape of the women of Arica.

After the battle of Arica, Peru tried to negotiate with Chile for a peace treaty, however, their demands were incredibly harsh towards Peru and negotiations failed. Now, Chile began to move its army north toward the Peruvian capital city of Lima, while a naval force called the ''Lynch Expedition'' attacked Peru's the northern coast (Lynch later was called "the last viroy of Peru"). The army finally disembarked on the central coast of Peru and began to move towards the capital. Along the way, they burned and destroyed the resort town of Chorrillos, finally ending in the battle of Miraflores, in which the last of the Militia died, as well as the best of the Peruvian youth (i.e. teenagers and young boy who were recruited to fight against the Chilean invaders) and the army of Chile entered the capital.

Ironically, despite winning the war and being economically sound, Chile fell into a Civil War less than 10 years after the war's end. Even more ironically, the invention of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haber_process Haber process]] thirty years later would render the nitrate deposits that served as the ''casus belli'' completely worthless--why mine nitrate when you can literally make it out of thin air (and water or natural gas, but whatever)? However, the greatest irony of all is that Chilean companies were not the ones that benefited from the war, but the British and German ones in payment of their help in the war.

The Treaty of Ancón ended the war between Peru and Chile in 1883. In the treaty, Chile won the province of Tarapaca from Peru. Chile also occupied various other provinces in Southern Peru until the 1920s. In 1884 Chile and Bolivia signed a treaty formalizing the Chilean possession of the province of Antofagasta, turning Bolivia into a land-locked country.

!!Tropes Set during the war

* TheCaptain: Arturo Prat and Miguel Grau. Chilean and Peruvian national heroes respectively. Pratt led 21 men in an attempt to board one of the enemy's battleships, with most of them dying and impressing the Peruvians in the attempt. Grau would later send a letter to Prat's widow praising her husband's bravery and returning his personal effects. Grau would then go on to single handedly hold off the entire Chilean navy with just one ship, ''The Huáscar'', for almost six months.
** As commemoration of Grau's achivements, he's the last admiral of the Peruvian navy since from then on the maximum rank that one can achieve in the navy is rear admiral.
* ChildSoldiers: Most of the Army, of both sides, including the ones who died in ''La Batalla de la Concepción'' were teenagers at the time.
* CoolBoat: ''The Huáscar ''became legendary in both Peru and Chile. Despite having inferior guns and armor than the Chilean ironclads, Grau was still able to use it to keep the Chileans in check. [[note]]The ship can still be visited today Chile, which captured it during the war.[[/note]]
* LaResistance: The Peruvian resistance movement helped their army to keep the guerrilla war for about two more years.
* NamesTheSame: Some historians call this war the Pacific War, a term also used for the Pacific theater of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
* NeverLiveItDown: Bolivia, in regard to the loss of its seacost. To the point that the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivian_Navy Bolivian Navy]] ''still exists'' as an actual military force (operating on rivers and in inland Lake Titicaca). Bolivians 'commemorate' the loss of access to the sea as a national holiday, ''Dia del Mar,'' and Bolivia routinely seeks international mediation to resolve the problem.[[note]]Bolivia since 1992 has been utilizing a port near the city of Ilo, Peru, but this is subject to a 99-year non-renewable lease from the Peruvian government. Bolivia also has access to the Atlantic through Argentina via the Parana River and maintains port facilities in the Argentinian city of Rosario, but attempts to regain an actual coastline connected to the rest of the country remain frustrated by Chile.[[/note]]
* OfficerAndAGentleman: Peruvian Admiral Miguel Grau embodied this trope to such a degree that ''the Chileans themselves'' gave him the name ''El Caballero de los Mares'' (The Gentleman/Knight of the Seas)
* OffscreenTeleportation: Peruvian Colonel Andrés Cáceres was nicknamed "The Warlock of Los Andes" for his ability to appear and dissapear at will in the mountain range (he knew them like the palm of his hand).
* [[OneSidedBattle One Sided War]]: Chile not only managed to hold its own against two nations, but occupied one country and forced the other to back down.
** In the other hand ''La Batalla de la Concepción'' (The Battle of La Concepción) and the same ''Batalla Naval de Iquique'' (Naval Battle of Iquique) were OneSidedBattle for the Peruvian/Bolivian Side. Those are remembered by the Chileans because they helped to rally the spirits for win the war.
* RapePillageAndBurn: After the Battle of San Juan and Chorrillos the Chilean troops entered the towns of Chorrillos and Barranco, which being resorts for Lima's rich upper class had vast amounts of liquor that the Chilean soldiers helped themselves to. The drunk troops proceded to sack and burn both towns, raping any woman unlucky enough to cross their path.
* RashomonStyle: The role that French admiral Abel Bergasse du Petit Thouars played in the days before the Chilean occupation of Lima is drastically different depending on whose history book you read:
** Peruvian history remembers him as the savior of the city. In this version, Petit Thouars, appalled at the atrocities committed by the Chilean troops during the sacks of Chorrillos, Miraflores and Barranco, told General Baquedano, the Chilean commander, that if his troops behaved the same way in Lima, then the neutral fleet of French, British and Italian warships observing events would open fire on the Chilean forces and obliterate them. Several monuments and avenues named after Petit Thouars can be found in Lima.
** Chilean history says Petit Thouars did no such thing, going so far as saying that the spokesperson for the neutral fleet was instead captain Sterling of the [[UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships Royal Navy]], who was content with Baquedano’s reassurances that the Chileans had no intention of destroying Lima like Chorrillos, Miraflores and Barranco, if it surrendered unconditionally.
* RedBaron: On the Peruvian side you have Miguel Grau...''The Knight of the Seas'' and Andres Cáceres...''The Warlock of the Andes''.
* SuperSerum: The legend says, before going to fight any battle, the Chilean Soldiers got drunk with ''La Chupilca del Diablo'' (The Devil's Booze), a mix of strong Aguardiente and ''gunpowder''. It supposedly made the soldiers go absolutely berserker and able to ignore pain or fatigue.
* WeAreStrugglingTogether: The other reason for the Peruvian defeat was the lack of unity amongst the generals.
* WonTheWarLostThePeace: Apart from the coup that happened ten years after the war, Chilean analists lamented the fact that the exterior policy of Bolivia and Peru (eventually Argentina joined in this) from then on till today towards Chile has been filled completely with animosity and any suggestion of cooperation with either of the countries is going to be met with a heavy backlash.
* WorthyOpponent: Miguel Grau for the Chileans.

** Chilean history says Petit Thouars did no such thing, going so far as saying that the spokesperson for the neutral fleet was instead captain Sterling of the RoyalNavy, who was content with Baquedano’s reassurances that the Chileans had no intention of destroying Lima like Chorrillos, Miraflores and Barranco, if it surrendered unconditionally.

->''"UsefulNotes/{{Spain}} found [[UsefulNotes/{{Chile}} the future colony's fate]] in the desert and the sea.\\

Spain knew that his son will achieve his destiny...not now, but in a hundred of years he will know why he was created.\\
To landlock UsefulNotes/{{Bolivia}}."''
-->--[[http://i.imgur.com/2aVkaQT.png This]] ''Webcomic/{{Polandball}}'' comic strip

* NamesTheSame: Some historians call this war the Pacific War, a term also used for the Pacific theater of WorldWarII.

* KarmaHoudini: Chile after the war (YMMV).

** Chilean history says Petit Thouars did no such thing, going so far as saying that the spokesperson for the neutral fleet was instead British captain Sterling, who was content with Baquedano’s reassurances that the Chileans had no intention of destroying Lima like Chorrillos, Miraflores and Barranco, if it surrendered unconditionally.