Chilean occupation of Peru

Peruvian Republic República Peruana  (Spanish)
1879–1883
Flags of Peru (de jure) and Chile (de facto)
Peru in 1881 (occupied areas shown in light green)
Capital	Lima (1881–1883)
Government	Military occupation by Chile
President (of Chile)
• 1879–1881	Aníbal Pinto
• 1881–1883	Domingo Santa María
President (of Peru)
• 1881	Francisco García Calderón
• 1881–1883	Lizardo Montero Flores
Commander in Chief of the Occupation Forces
• 1881	Cornelio Saavedra
• 1881	Pedro Lagos
• 1881–1883	Patricio Lynch
History
• Tarapacá campaign	2 November 1879
• Treaty of Ancón	23 October 1883
Preceded by Succeeded by Peru Peru

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 occupation came to an end after the signing of the Treaty of Ancón on October 23, 1883, with Chilean troops retreating on October 29. However, Chilean forces continued to occupy and administer Tarata until 1925, while a final agreement between the two countries regarding Tacna and Arica was reached in 1929.

Background[]

On April 5, 1879, a state of war was officially declared between Peru and Chile, starting military confrontations between both states. Due to Bolivia's loss of its Litoral Department by the occupying Chilean forces and consequent loss of access to the Pacific Ocean,^[1] on March 26, 1879, Hilarión Daza formally offered letters of marque to any ships willing to fight for Bolivia.^[2] Despite this, the Chilean navy carried out a successful naval campaign against Peru, which guaranteed her control over the seas.^[3]

Occupation of Tarapacá, Tarata and Tacna[]

The Tarapacá campaign began on the early hours of November 2, 1879. A maritime bombing and subsequent landing at Pisagua proved successful for the Chilean troops, who quickly occupied the town and set it as their base from which to continue the invasion up north. Peruvian General Juan Buendía, who was in command of the Allied Southern Army at Tarapacá, was left in a difficult position. Pisagua and Iquique were his communication lines, and since May, Iquique was under blockade. The liberation of Pisagua then became his main objective. Buendía left Iquique on November 5, moving to Agua Santa, where his forces were to reunite. From here he marched to Porvenir, prior to moving north to join with Hilarión Daza. The Chilean advance had proven successful, however, as Peruvian troops and Chilean troops soon saw themselves fighting on November 19, in the Battle of San Francisco.

As a result of the aforementioned battle, both sides had taken heavy casualties, and the Peruvian troops had soon retreated to nearby Tarapacá. The Chilean advance continued, however, and fighting resumed in the Battle of Tarapacá, where the defending troops saw themselves victorious, and the Chilean troops were forced to retreat. The victory, however, had no effect on the general campaign. The Allies left Tarapacá, withdrawing north-west to Arica on the coast, moving through the area close to the mountains to avoid the Chilean cavalry attack. They marched during twenty days at the cost of six casualties. Therefore, despite the defeat, Chile secured Tarapacá Province.^[4] This occupation of the southern provinces of the country were successful in that Chile was able to carry out its plans of using them as leverage against the Peruvian government during the war, with most of the territory being awarded to Chile, while Tacna was, almost in its entirety, returned to Peru.

Occupation of Lima[]

Government Palace during the occupation in 1881.

After the success in Tarapacá and the Lynch Expedition in the north of Peru, a campaign to take Lima began in late 1880, with amphibious landings taking place among the Peruvian coast. By early 1881, fighting had reached the outskirts of the capital, and after the Chilean success at Chorrillos and Miraflores, the occupation of Lima began on January 1881, with Chilean troops occupying the capital and establishing a military administration headquartered in the Government Palace.

Reports of Chilean destruction and looting resulted in a meeting between the different observing powers, concluding that such an event would not be allowed in Lima proper. Had the Chilean army destroyed and looted the city as it had done in Barranco, Chorrillos and Miraflores, the observing powers would have used their military power in the form of a bombardment of the city against the occupying army.^[5][6]

In absence of a Peruvian President who was willing to accept their peace terms, on 22 February 1881, the Chileans allowed an open cabildo of notables outside of Lima to elect Francisco García Calderón as President, also allowing him to raise and arm two infantry battalions composed of 400 men each, as well as two small cavalry squadrons in order to give more consistency to the provisional government.^[7][8]

At that time, the U.S. Secretary of State, James G. Blaine, who saw the war as an inadmissible intervention of British capital in the United States' sphere of influence, outlined a new policy in June 1881 reversing the U.S.' previous neutrality for a denial of any territorial annexation of territories.^[7] On 26 June 1881, the United States recognized President Calderón as President of Peru. Because of Calderón's refusal to accept the Chilean peace conditions, which involved the cession of Tarapacá and Arica to Chile, he was placed under arrest by the Chileans, with Lizardo Montero Flores succeeding him as provisional president of Peru.^[9]

Despite a relatively peaceful administration in comparison to the destruction in Barranco, Chorrillos and Miraflores, the city of Lima was looted by Chilean forces, such as in the case of the National Library of Peru. After the occupation, Chile diverted part of its war efforts to crush Mapuche resistance in the south, with some of its equipment captured from Peruvian troops, as well as civilians.^[10] Chilean troops coming from Peru entered Araucanía where they in 1881 defeated the last major Mapuche uprising.^[11][12]

End of the occupation[]

The occupation came to an end after the signing of the Treaty of Ancón on October 23, 1883, with Chilean troops retreating six days later, on October 29. The treaty unconditionally ceded Tarapacá to Chile, while the situation in Tacna and Arica—by then known in Peru as the captive provinces—was to be determined by a plebiscite, which never came to pass.^{[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]}

In 1925, the contested Tarata Department was ceded to Peru, while a final agreement between the two countries regarding Tacna and Arica was reached in 1929, with most of Tacna returning to Peru, and Arica being ceded to Chile.

See also[]

• Occupation of Araucanía

References[]