War of the Pacific | South American history | Britannica.com War of the Pacific Bolivia War of the Pacific, Spanish Guerra del Pacífico, (1879–83), conflict involving Chile , Bolivia , and Peru , which resulted in Chilean annexation of valuable disputed territory on the Pacific coast. It 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 of South America . The territory contained valuable mineral resources, particularly sodium nitrate . 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. Peru’s interest in the conflict stemmed from its traditional rivalry with Chile for hegemony on the Pacific coast. In 1873 Peru agreed secretly with Bolivia to a mutual guarantee of their territories and independence.

In 1874 Chilean-Bolivian relations were ameliorated by a revised treaty under which Chile relinquished its share of export taxes on minerals shipped from Bolivia, and Bolivia agreed not to raise taxes on Chilean enterprises in Bolivia for 25 years. Amity was broken in 1878 when Bolivia tried to increase the taxes of the Chilean Antofagasta Nitrate Company over the protests of the Chilean government. When Bolivia threatened to confiscate the company’s property, Chilean armed forces occupied the port city of Antofagasta on Feb. 14, 1879. Bolivia then declared war on Chile and called upon Peru for help. Chile declared war on both Peru and Bolivia (April 5, 1879). Chile easily occupied the Bolivian coastal region ( Antofagasta province) and then took the offensive against more powerful Peru. Naval victories at Iquique (May 21, 1879) and Angamos (Oct. 8, 1879) enabled Chile to control the sea approaches to Peru. A Chilean army then invaded Peru.

An attempt at mediation by the United States failed in October 1880, and Chilean forces occupied the Peruvian capital of Lima the following January. Peruvian resistance continued for three more years, with U.S. encouragement. Finally, on Oct. 20, 1883, Peru and Chile signed the Treaty of Ancón , by which Tarapacá province was ceded to the latter. Similar Topics Inventory of Conflict and Environment (ICE): Chile Bolivia War I. CASE BACKGROUND 1. Abstract Throughout the 1800's Bolivia and Chile disagreed over which nation rightfully controlled the northernmost portion of the Atacama dessert. In 1879 the War of the Pacific (1879-1884) was brought about by a dispute between Bolivia and Chile over control of a portion of the Atacama Desert containing highly valuable mineral resources. The resources were exploited by Chilean and British companies who made great profits off of their export. When Bolivia decided to impose a tax on the export of these resources the conflict quickly escalated into war (once money became involved), despite the fact that the tax was enacted to fund the reconstruction of the port of Antofogasta which was highly used by Chile.

Chile alleged that because of certain border treaties between Bolivia and Chile, Bolivia did not have the right to impose this export tax. Well-established in the extraction of nitrate resources from the region, in addition to its relative stability in comparison to Peru and Bolivia, Chile had a clear advantage going into the War of the Pacific. Additionally, Chile claimed that its territory had had always included the region being disputed, encompassing the entirety of the Atacama dessert. Ultimately, Chile emerged as the victor in the war, depriving Peru of much-desired resources and territory and Bolivia of its own access to the Pacific Ocean. The outcome of the war had a lasting impact, economically and even politically, in all three nations. In particular, Bolivia has suffered seemingly without end due to its lack of access to an ocean from which it can export its abundance of natural resources. 2. Description The Region: The Atacama desert is one of the driest locations on the planet, averaging less than half an inch of rain each year, often with numerous years passing without the area seeing a mere drop of rain.

Just off the coast, the immensely cold waters of the Pacific Ocean house numerous schools of fish that have for centuries attracted "hundreds of thousands of sea birds, pelicans, cormorants, gulls, and others, who have hunted these waters for thousands and tens of thousands of years"( Farcau, 7 ). The birds feed on the residents of the ocean but reside themselves over the neighboring land. Due to the fact that the area was a desert, it naturally discouraged settlement by humans, allowing the birds and their byproducts (known as guano) were able to amass in this region of the South American continent. Over the years, deposits of guano many meters thick formed on the surface of the Atacama in the region. In addition to the guano, the Atacama region received deposits of minerals coming from water resulting from snow melting off of the western face of the Andes at the end of each winter. Due to the immense strength of the sun, this water, which formed into shallow pools, eventually dried up. As the waters dried they would leave behind deposits of minerals, called caliche.

Development of the Nitrate Export Industry: In 1840, French scientist Alexander Cochet discovered that valuable quantities of sodium nitrate could be derived from both the guano and caliche found in the region. This discovery of their use as fertilizer and as a key ingredient in explosives, due to the high concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorous) made the area strategically valuable. Bolivia, Chile and Peru had suddenly found themselves sitting on the largest reserves of a resource that the world needed for economic and military expansion and Chile found itself in the position to be the one to extract that resource from its territory. After the discovery of the nitrate reserves, world powers were directly or indirectly vying for control of the area's resources. Nitrates were used as a form of fertilizer by many countries and were soon in high demand from the region due to a need in Europe to obtain greater productivity from a fixed amount of land available for agriculture. This lead to the rapid development of mining in the region, first of guano, merely because it was more readily accessible, and then of caliche.

To capitalize on the profits to be made from guano and caliche, "foreign traders, especially the British, set up trading houses to ship guano back to England and Europe for trade and distribution, high in demand due to the European need to compete with larger-sized and more productive farms in the United States. "Americans, who also found guano to be valuable in increasing crop yields endeavored to help the U.S. government acquire islands in the Pacific and the Caribbean to ensure American reserves of these valuable resourcs (under the U.S. Guano Island Act of 1856) (Guano ). The physical extraction of both the guano and caliche led to an additional layer of environmental conflict. The conditions under which the workers were forced to live and work were deplorable. Needing to be close to the resources, the workers lived directly on top of the guano deposits.

While working, "the digging and hauling activities raised permanent clouds of acrid dust that penetrated the eyes, the nose, the mouth, contaminated the water, and liberally garnished the poor food the men ate...and everything was overlaid with an appalling stench that could be detected for miles out to sea, an odor not just of hundreds of sweating bodies that would not be washed for weeks on end, but of rotting fish, salt, and excrement from which there was no escape" (Farcau, 9) . There workers were paid appallingly low wages, which, when added to the horrid working conditions, left the extraction companies with great difficulty in finding labor, despite the relative ease of the job itself. All of a Sudden Everyone Wants Bird Droppings... (and caliche) Bolivia, Chile and Peru were all conducting some nitrate extraction the territory. Due to Peru's focus on other interests within its borders and a lack of Bolivian interest in doing the extraction, most economic exploitation of the coastal region done by Chilean and British companies, largely with the justification that Chile was more capable of handling the job because of its more robust economy and stable institutions.

As the economic situation of all three countries continued to worsen, conflict erupted over control of the territory and over the financial benefits to be seen from having that control. After an initial attack levied by Chile, the war continued for five years. The War of the Pacific was ended by the signing of the Treaty of Anacin as well as truce between Bolivia and Chile, however, true peace and agreement between the three nations was not reached until many years later (Farcau, 191) . In winning the War of the Pacific, Chile inherited "the worldï¿½s only commercially viable deposits of sodium nitrate, a natural source of nitrogen that was the world's leading fertilizer in the decades before World War I" ( Sicotte ). The export tax levied on firms exporting those nitrates accounted for approximately fifty percent of the Chilean government's total revenue. 3. Duration: 1879-1884 Country: Chile (Atacama Desert region, specifically between the 23rd and 26th parallels). 5. Actors: Chile, Bolivia and Peru Chile Although Chile declared its independence in 1810, decisive victory over the Spanish was not achieved until 1818.

In the War of the Pacific (1879-84), Chile defeated Peru and Bolivia and won its present northern lands, thereby extending its territory, which contributed significantly to Chile's prominent position (in comparison to its neighbors) seen today ( CIA ). Unlike Peru and Bolivia , the Chilean population has a small indigenous portion, which accounts for a mere three precent of the total population, where as the percentages of the population are at least part indigenous in Bolivia and Peru are eighty-five and eighty-two, respectively( CIA ). Additionally, though it was very much isolated from its neighbors, Chile was a geographically cohesive nation. No segment of the country was ever more than a weeks travel from the ocean, even in the nineteenth century, where as both Bolivia and Peru were plagued by the size of their lands and the distance that had to be traveled from many parts of their land to the ocean. In the late nineteenth century Chile entered a period of economic downturn. Other nations, such as the United States and Australia began to be stronger competitors for Chilean exporters, mainly of wheat and beef (Farcau, 27 ).

As Chilean exports declined, the country's foreign debt steadily increased, most notably doubling between 1860 and 1870 (Farcau, 27) . As a consequence of these challenges, the Chilean government was eager to acquire the nitrates in the Atacama region. With its nitrate-export firms already working in the territory in question, Chile felt entitled to claim the territory. When Bolivia imposed a ten cent tax on each quintile (100lbs) of nitrates exported from the territory, Chile vehemently protested but Bolivia refused to retract the tax. Consequently, Chile decided to assert its position (by assembling an army and initiating the War of the Pacific). The War itself was not fought just over this miniscule tax. According to the government of Chile, "Bolivian provocation threatened the Chilean communities who had created 'cities in the desert' and that the combination of Bolivia and Peru in a hostile alliance threatened Chile's sovereignty and territorial integrity, with the decision to war being taken in Santiago only after 'much agonizing'" (Farcau, 44).

This argument, similar to that which was espoused by Peru regarding its involvement in the war, did not hold much merit since the country had arduously been trying to inch is border farther north for some time. During the war Chile had taken to printing money in order to finance government operations. This left the government with more problems to deal with once the war had ended. After winning the war, Chile hoped that the income it would receive from the export of the nitrates would solve many of its economic woes. By increasing the tax levied on the export of nitrates, the government increased its income. By the time new Chilean elections came around, in 1885 half of the governmentï¿½s revenue from the nitrate exports had been used to pay off European bondholders. The remaining half of the income was able to be spent on other programs the government wished to invest in. However, this economic windfall did not encourage the Chilean government to spend its money wisely. By 1900, Chile had earned close to three billion pesos from the export of nitrates.

The triggered lavish spending on the part of the government for many years, though little investment was made into modernizing the state or looking for different sources of revenue (i.e. income taxes) in the event that the nitrate exports stopped being profitable. Not surprisingly, a century after the dependence of the government of nitrate exports for half of its income began, scientific discovery found a way to produce the ammonia needed for fertilizer and caused the demand for Chilean nitrate exports to dramatically dive. This left Chile to find different sources of income - a process that would take many years and cause the government great hardship in the meantime (Farcau, 197). This scenario, know in economics as the "Dutch Disease" is not uncommon. Often times, when countries seen an increase in demand for a natural resource they will not invest in the development of other industries, leaving the country with a weakened economy when demand for the natural resource declines. In the case of the nitrates, that is exactly what Chile's government did. When nitrates could be replaced with a synthetic substitute, demand for nitrate resources from Chile dramatically declined.

While there is still some nitrate mining taking place in Chile today, the country is more dependent on its copper mining industry and devotes substantial time and energy to the development of that industry. If global deman for copper falls, Chile risks putting itself in a similar predicament, whereby it will have to scramble for ways to increase its trade to make up for losses in the mining industry. Bolivia Bolivia became an independent nation in 1825. By 1875 Bolivia found itself in a dire economic situation, said to neither produce nor consume, despite its abundance of resources and relatively large population (relatively) at the time. The vast majority of the Bolivian population at the time was composed of indigenous peoples, with eighty percent of the population unable to speak Spanish (Farcau, 21 ). Most income that Bolivia did generate came from mining. However, when the guano and caliche deposits were discovered, despite its functional expertise in mining, Bolivia was unable to reap the benefits of the newly-discovered resources because the attention of the current mining infrastructure was wholly consumed by existing mining projects ( not unlike today ), with no ability to divert attention to the nitrate deposits (Farcau).

Consequently, Chilean companies were able to move into the territory and extract the nitrate resources. Bolivia 's long history of political instability, with over 200 coups on its record, has left the country plagued by weak political institutions (not unlike many other developing nations). The country's diverse ethnic populations and highly active indigenous groups serve to bring about even greater polarization of politics and government. In 2003, violent political protests (led by left-wing leader Evo Morales) broke out in the country's capital over the prospect of increasing taxes, budget cuts and further marginalization of the most downtrodden people in Bolivian society, forcing then-President Gonzalo Sanchez de Losada to resign, despite the best political manipulations of James Carville and his top political consultants (Our Brand is Crisis) . In December 2005, Bolivians elected Movement Toward Socialism party leader Evo Morales to the presidency by the widest margin of any presidential candidate since 1982 (when civilian rule was restored to the nation).

Morales' promise to change the country's traditional political class and empower the nation's poor majority appealed to marginalized persons in Bolivian society as well as working class citizens hoping for a better economic situation. Peru The territory now known as Peru was first inhabited by Spain in 1533. Peruvian independence was declared in 1821 and any Spanish forces that remained in the territory were defeated in 1824. While Peru emerged from the wars of independence as the most powerful nation in South America, in no small part due to its abundance of natural resources such as silver, copper, sugar, guano and other nitrates, by the final quarter of the 19th century the country was facing a steady decline. The vast territory of Peru is broken up by mountains, leaving various disconnected parcels of land, some rich with nutrients and arable while others were nearly inaccessible at the time due to mountains or heavy rainforest. The discovery of the guano deposits at first gave the Peruvian government hope that its financial problems and debt would be alleviated. However the actions of multiple governments, in regard to the nitrate deposits, resulted in worsening the country's economic situation.

Instead of taking advantage of the resources to benefit the country by opening the industry to new domestic companies, the government instead gave contracts to foreign firms which resulted in the firms garnering significant profits while the Peruvian government gained little in financial means, receiving only 1/3 of the sale price of the guano (Farcau, 14). Peru had many motives for participating in the War of the Pacific. In the first place, the prospect of losing territory that contained guano, in the eyes of the government, would have served to worsen the country's already grim situation. Additionally, the outcome of a brief war with Spain convinced Peru that there was great need to have control of the coastline along the area of the Atacama containing the guano deposits. Those factors, combined with an obligation to honor the mutual defense treaty it had with Bolivia, provided the country with a great impetus for fighting in the War of the Pacific. Additionally, and for rational reasons, Peru became involved with the war for fear that a victorious Chile would come after additional Peruvian territory and out of fear of the possibility that Peru and Bolivia could become allies and combine forces against Peru. II. Environment Aspects 6.

Type of Environmental Problem: Resource, Rights, Access to Minerals, Access to Water The environmental problem at issue in this case was a conflict over control of the Atacama Desert, the region of land lying in the northeastern-most corner of Chile, abutting Bolivia and Peru. Resource issues were the primary reason for the dispute, since both countries sought the territory for control over its natural resources (nitrates) and its use as a route to the Pacific Ocean, in the case of Bolivia. Sodium nitrate was a key fertilizer until the First World War. The dry climate of the Atacama region served as an excellent catalyst for the breeding of sodium nitrate. In fact, this region was the only location where sodium nitrate was produced and exported, primarily to Europe and the United States. An additional environmental problem was the human health issues created by the nature of the work involved with extracting the nitrates in their original form (guano and caliche) in order to obtain the sodium nitrate. Workers had no choice but to live atop the guano and breathe the substance into the lungs and ingest its dusk on their food on a continual basis. 7. Type of Habitat: Dry The land in this region is flat.

The Atacama is the driest desert in the world. 8. Act and Harm Sites: Act Sites: Bolivian and Peruvian territory and Pacific Ocean along coastline. Harm Sites: Bolivian and Peruvian territory. 9. Type of Conflict: War The War of the Pacific was an interstate war. 10. Level of Conflict: Interstate Violent conflict between Chile and Bolivia began on March 1, 1879, with Chile initiating the War against Bolivia, and Peru who was obligated to support Bolivia in any conflict because of military agreements between the two countries. Chile initiated the violence in response to Bolivia's insistence on levying a tax on nitrate exports which Chile felt to be a violation of border agreements between the two nations. The conflict lasted until 1884. 11. Fatality Level of Dispute (military and civilian fatalities): 1 - Low The five-year conflict resulted in 14,000 deaths Correlates of War . IV. Environment and Conflict Overlap 12.

Environment-Conflict Link and Dynamics: Direct Although Peru, Chile and Bolivia all contained nitrates, the abundance of available nitrate resources in the Atacama region and the potential income to be earned from their export made conflict over the territory inevitable. With all three countries involved facing significant financial struggles, the incentive to control the territory and its resources was great. Causal Diagram: 13. Level of Strategic Interest: Bi-lateral The level of strategic interest was interstate and international. The governments of all three countries involved had a strategic interest in the outcome of the conflict, as did the multinational corporations that would be exporting nitrates from the region. 14. Outcome of Dispute: Victory In the War of the Pacific, control of the waters was essential. In 1879 Chile obtained control of the port of Antofogasta, which allowed the superor Chilen navy to win multiple sea battles against Peru and Bolivia. After numerous land battles, Chile occupied Peru. The Chilean occupation lasted until 1884 when the Treaty of Ancn was signed, ending the war.

As a result of this treaty, Chile became the victor of the war and was able to control the territory and resources in question, as well as access to the Pacific Ocean on the part of Bolivia. Chile's victory in this specific war laid the foundation for the economic success Chile experienced for the decade to follow, in comparison to Peru and Bolivia. Peru came out of the War of the Pacific with a weakened government and resentful of the Chilean victory the resultant Chilean occupation of Peruvian territory. As a result of the war, Bolivia ended up a landlocked state, forced to rely upon its neighbors for access to the ocean. The issue of access to the see has remains a part of Bolivian current events and politics through the present day. For instance, from 1932 until 1935 Bolivia fought against Paraguay in the Chaco War , partially with hopes of gaining better access to the Paraguay and Pilcomayo rivers, which would provide a route to the Atlantic Ocean. In the 1970's and the post-1990's Bolivia made repeated attempts at negotiating with Chile to reclaim some of the land stretching through Chile's northernmost province in order to obtain its own access to the sea.

However, these attempts proved to be futile and the feud between Chile and Bolivia continues to be strong. Today, Bolivia's landlocked status has dire effects on its prospects for development and its export of natural gas. A proposal to export Bolivian gas through Chile rather than Peru was met with strong disproval in Bolivia, regardless of a potential cost savings of $600 million, even leading to extreme rioting and ultimately the resignation of Bolivia's president. Former Bolivian President Carlos Mesa made the decision "to push the maritime issue to the top of his diplomatic agenda" during his presidency, though to no avail (Sicotte) . The lack of Chilean support for Bolivia's pleas served to heighten the animosity felt between many in Bolivia towards Chile, Bolivia's long-time rival. In recent Bolivian elections, including the 2006 election, Bolivian presidential candidates have undertaken strong campaigns to mobilize the anti-Chilean sentiment felt by the Bolivian people.

Often labeled a "narco-terrorist" for his support of Bolivian coca growers, Bolivian President Evo Morales won his seat by winning over the contingent of Bolivian society that feels exploited by the developed nations, with his anti-business, anti-American attitude and refusal to work with the United States. He played of off the feeling of exploitation held by the Bolivian people, who are extremely hesitant to let control of their natural gas exports fall into foreign hands. On May 1, 2006 President Morales announced his intention to nationalize Bolivia 's natural gas resources (Bolivia's principal export), is spite of vehement objections from the international community and energy companies (Associated Press). The actions of Morales may serve to worsen Bolivia socio-economic situation. What is the significance of this? It is not unrealistic to assume that Bolivia's current situation, as the poorest nation in all of Latin America, would be a lot less dire had Bolivia not lost its coastline to Chile. It is evident that the approaches to development that Bolivia has are not improving the welfare of the nation.

The provisions made to landlocked states in the Law of the Sea, mainly a supposed guaranteed right to free transit to and from the sea, seem to have little effect on Bolivia's welfare. Additionally, Bolivia's repeated attempts to obtain direct access to the sea for itself are unquestionably made in vain. Chile is not willing to give Bolivia any portion or its territory, which Chile believes it won fairly and should not longer be in dispute. In light of these facts, it would seem that in order for Bolivia to change its current state, the intervention of an outside party will be necessary. An international lawmaking organization, such as the United Nations (UN) will have to determine what should be done and intervene in the discussions held between Bolivia and its neighbors and ensure that Bolivia has a sufficient "dog in the fight." If the issue of Bolivia's access to the sea is to be resolved, an intervening party, like the U.N., must clearly identify the benefits for Bolivia and which ever country, be it Peru of Chile, will give Bolivia access to the sea. The settlement of this issue remains to be seen, but, if accomplished, could revolutionize the spirit of Bolivia.

The successful resolution of this issue could bring great benefits, economic and political, to Bolivia and the nation that chooses to aid her. Guano The historical case about guano and its impact on the trade and the environment is an interesting one. Guano, a natural fertilizer made from bird droppings, was a prized commodity during the 19th century and heavily traded by European and American traders. It helped build countries like Peru, expanded empires such as the United States, made companies and individuals involved rich, and exploited the local populations and the environment. Peru will be examined in detail because it was it's guano that was most valuable to foreign traders. Guano and the environment will also be reviewed at some length, as well as what other problems lay ahead for the guano-producing birds and their environment. Chaco War The Chaco War (1932-1935) was the result of a territory dispute between Bolivia and Paraguay. Both landlocked countries sought an expansion of territory in an effort to gain better access to the River Paraguay. This river runs through a stretch of territory between Bolivia and Paraguay known as the Chaco Boreal.

In 1932, Bolivia attempted to break out of its landlocked situation and gain access to the Atlantic Ocean through capture of the River Paraguay; athwart that route lay the Chaco Boreal, which the Bolivians thought had large oil preserves. Paraguay, in a move instigated by national unity, heavily armed their borders and fought viciously to defend itself against Bolivia's advances. The resultant war was disastrous for both sides: Bolivia and Paraguay lost more than 100,000 soldiers. In 1935, Paraguay would eventually claim victory over Bolivia, thus firmly establishing the Chaco Boreal as a part of Paraguay. Bolivia Gas As South America's poorest country, Bolivia is dependent upon exporting its natural resources abroad. The controversy over control of Bolivia's natural gas has been a key issue in Bolivia for many years. Indigenous portions of the population believe that the privitazation of Bolivia's natural gas only benefits the rich and the developed world. This case explores the cultural and political divide in Bolivia over this issue. Aozou The Aozou Strip is a long stretch of desolate land located in the middle of the Sahara Desert.

The area had been a zone of contention among the colonial powers of Africa, and remains so today between the now independent and sovereign countries of Chad and Libya. Rumors of rich uranium deposits compelled Libya to invade and capture the Aozou region from Chad in 1973. It remained in Libyan hands until a Chadian offensive in the late 1980s. In 1990, the two countries finally agreed to take their dispute to the International Court of Justice, which ruled in early 1994 that the Aozou Strip belonged to Chad. Iran/Iraq In 1980 war erupted between Iran and Iraq. This war resulted in hundreds of thousands of casualties and a tremendous loss of oil revenues for both countries. The war eventually ended in 1988 but animosities have persisted. While the causes of the conflict were numerous and varied, one of the principals was access to, and control of, the Shatt-al-Arab waterway. Control of the waterway and its use as a border has been a source of contention between various states since The Peace Treaty of 1639.

Ambiguities in this agreement (between the Persians and the Ottoman Empire) led to continual disputes that have not been resolved to this day. See maps of Iraq and Iran respectively below. Peru/Ecuador Conflict The Cordillera del Condor has been the site of armed disputes between the Peru and Ecuador for over one hundred and fifty years. Despite claims that the land is part of Ecuador, the area of confrontation is "recognized as Peruvian by the 1942 Rio Protocol, the 1945 arbitration decision, the 1947 U.S. Air Force aerial survey, and the documents issued after the 1981 border conflict." Belize Conflict How much is the Belizean rainforest worth? The Government of Belize values the rainforest at US $0.60 per acre, since it began selling logging rights at that price to foreign companies in 1993. The Mayan people of the Toledo district value the rainforest in a different way. Since 2,000 B.C., they have relied on the rainforest for their basic needs as well as spiritual value.

This case study explores the clash between the Belizean government's need to attract foreign currency through meeting commercial interests of a Malaysian logging firm and the Mayan people's material and spiritual need to preserve the rainforest. These interests brought the parties into conflict. Falklands War There is more to the Falklands/Malvinas War of 1982 than meets the eye. It is abundantly clear that Argentina occupied the Islands, a British colony, to refocus attention from economical and social problems at the time. In short, it was a political maneuver by the Argentine government to escape its own state of social chaos. This case examines the history, motives, and consequences of oil exploration in this area from both the Argentine and British perspectives. By consequences I simply mean the environmental damages that oil exploration can have on any region. El Salvador-Honduras The border between El Salvador and Honduras has been in dispute since the Spanish arrived in Central America. The Spanish divided the Central American territory into several viceroyalties whose borders have more or less remained since the sixteenth century. The border between Honduras and El Salvador, however, soon became disputed as El Salvador was one half the size of Honduras with almost double the population.

Attempts to demarcate the border throughout the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries failed. On June 15, 1969, after a large influx of Salvadoran refugees in Honduras, the border dispute flared into a full-fledged battle between the two countries. After El Salvador defeated Honduras in a World Cup soccer match in San Salvador, national pride became the issue. After Honduran fans were chased from the stadium and watched the Salvadorans burn their flag, tempers peaked. Honduras protested the Salvadorans' actions; El Salvador accused Honduras of mistreating Salvadoran immigrants and refugees who had taken up residence in El Salvador. El Salvador broke off relations and moved into Honduras on July 15. The final demarcation of the border did not occur until 1992 when the World Court settled the issue. Bolivian Access to the Sea The discovery of mineral deposits "at the sea-bed, or resting on it, as well as those in the subsoil beneath it" has flared intense debate concerning the equity, or inequity, of the distribution of the treasures of the earth. In retrieving deep sea-bed nodules, developed states have a distinct advantage over developing states in terms of technology and finance.

Moreover, developing landlocked states, such as Bolivia, are placed in an even more precarious position due to the geographic disadvantage of having no outlet to the oceans directly under their jurisdiction. Consequently, these states, including Bolivia, have striven to ensure that they will not be prevented from sharing the bounties recovered from the earth. This goal has been sought primarily through a multilateral treaty under the auspices of the United Nations - the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS. 16. Relevant Websites and Literature Barragan, Hugh Roberts. Gran Tracion en la Guerra del Pacifico. La Paz: 1979 Calvo, Roberto Querejazu. Alclaraciones Historicas sobre la Guerra del Pacifico. La Paz: 1995 Calvo, Roberto Querejazu. Guano, Salitre, y Sangre: Historia de la Guerra del Pacifico. Farcau, Bruce W. The Ten Cents War. Praeger, London:1996. "Lingering Feud with Chile Threatens Bolivia's Pipeline Plan," New York Times, July 8, 2002.

Sicotte, Richard, Catalina Vizcarra and Kristen Wandschneider. "Fertilizer, FIscal Crises and the War of the Pacific," April 2005. Taylor, Robert. "Chile and Bolivia: 1879 War of the Pacific Redux?" World Press Review, March 2004, (VOL. 51, No. 3) Our Brand is Crisis Directed by Rachel Boynton, 2005. How to remake the image of a once unpopular president, who is now a candidate and how to market him and sell him to voters, is the basis of this excellent documentary. The idea of importing a team of American image consultants that have been notorious in the United States for their work in helping elect president Bill Clinton, not once, but twice, seems to be a novel idea for politics in South America. How will this team, headed by James Carville fare in helping to elect Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, a man who was an unpopular president in that country, seems to have made some sense to this candidate for his successful bid for a second term. After all, Mr.

Sanchez de Lozada governed the country from 1993 to 1997, so why try to have the campaign run by Mr. Carville and his gang of experts? Bolivia Bolivian history examined in detail. Bolivia y su historia Information about the history of Bolivia and its people (in Spanish). Warofthepacific.com War of the Pacific April 5, 1879 � October 20, 1883 Guano , a natural fertilizer made from bird droppings, was a prized commodity during the 19th century and heavily traded by European and American traders. The word guano is derived from the Quechua Indian language, the main language of the Inca Empire . Guano is the accumulated excrement of cave-dwelling bats,seabirds and seals . As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to its exceptionally high content of nitrogen, phosphate and potassium: nutrients essential for plant growth. Peru's guano was considered to be the best for farming .

The discovery during the 1840s of their use as fertilizer and as a key ingredient in explosives made the area strategically valuable; Bolivia, Chile and Peru had suddenly found themselves sitting on the largest reserves of a resource that the world needed for economic and military expansion. The desert of Atacama, had remained for many years without a definite owner, at one time claimed by Bolivia, at another by Chile, but never considered of sufficient importance to warrant the establishment of a boundary line until the discovery of the guano nitrates and other mineral wealth which it contained. Not long after this discovery, world powers were directly or indirectly vying for control of the area's resources. The United States had passed legislation in 1856 enabling its citizens to take possession of unoccupied islands containing guano. Spain had seized Peruvian territory, but was repulsed by Peru and Chile fighting as allies during the Chincha Islands War. Heavy British capital investment drove development through the area, although Peru later nationalized guano exploitation during the 1870s. In the 19th century seabird excrement known as guano was the backbone of the Peruvian economy. The precious resource sparked diplomatic spats, and even wars.

Now guano -- a natural and totally organic fertiliser -- is making a comeback. Due to the lack of rain on the islands along Peru's coast, the accumulated bird droppings are baked in the dry atmosphere which preserves the nitrates in those droppings from evaporating, thus maintaining its effectiveness. Another factor that made guano an effective fertilizer was that its contents originated from fish-eating birds. Beginning in the 1840s, commercial farmers clamored for a potent fertilizer made from bird droppings (guano) obtained from Peru�s Chincha Islands. William R. Grace ( 1834 - 1902 ), mayor of New York and founder of the W. R. Grace and Company made a fortune shipping guano to America. During the golden age of guano, from 1840 to 1880, it has been estimated that the Peruvians excavated over 20,000,000 tons of guano for export, earning an estimated $2 billion . As the 19th century came to an end, and artificial fertilizers were developed, guano became less important and countries like Peru suffered from economic decline .

Collecting guano on the Chincha Islands in the19th century . This business literally did stink . Spanish squadron at the Chincha Islands The hill in the middle is a mound of guano . The lure of guano had already led to one war when Spain had tried and failed to seize the guano rich Chincha Islands , Peru, in the Chincha Islands War (Spanish: Guerra hispano-sudamericana) in which Spain fought Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Bolivia from 1864 - 66 . Spain did not recognize Peruvian independence and desired the lucrative guano profits . Argentina and Brazil refused to join the alliance, as they were involved in the War of the Triple Alliance ( 1864 - 1870 ). This seizure by Spain was one in a series of attempts by Spain, under Isabella II ( 1830 - 1904 ), to reassert its influence over its former South American colonies . Spain suffered a humiliating naval defeat at the Naval Battle of Papudo on November 26, 1865.

During this engagement, the Chilean corvette Esmeralda captured the Spanish schooner Covadonga .The Spanish fleet shelled and burned the town and port of Valparaiso , Chile on March 31, 1866 and sinking much of Chile's merchant fleet. The damage to the Chilean merchant marine was devastating . On May 2, 1866, the Spanish squadron bombarded the Peruvian port city of Callao and Spain claimed to have destroyed the Peruvian fortified battery emplacements. However, with all ports on the west coast of South America closed to the Spanish squadron, they were forced to vacate the Chincha Islands and the Spanish squadron returned to Spain . The last imperial Spanish adventure was over . Boundary claims and disputes The nitrate region extends along the narrow desert coast of the Pacific for three hundred and fifty miles. Peru owned the northern one hundred and fifty, and prior to 1866 Bolivia claimed the rest. After the discovery of the precious mineral the industrious and Chileans crowded up the coast, while the Bolivians were shut in behind their high Andes.

Chile insisted that her true boundary lay as far north as the 23d degree, and took vigorous measures to safeguard the interests of the Chilean nitrate companies. In 1866 Bolivia reluctantly made a treaty by which the 24th degree was agreed upon as the formal boundary, although the Chilean miners were allowed to continue their operations in the productive regions north of that line and their taxes were not to be increased without their government's consent. This treaty gave rise to constant disputes, and as the nitrate, silver, and copper business of the neutral zone became more profitable, the Bolivian government pressed harder for a larger revenue. Map of the major battles of the War of the Pacific Map of the area of conflict. Click image for larger view . The Peruvian government had planned to secure a control of the output by the state purchase and operation of nitrate properties, and such a trust would prove ineffective unless the Bolivian government had a free hand with the Chilean companies. In 1872 Peru and Bolivia made a secret treaty of alliance. Its provisions soon became public, and Chile not unreasonably believed it to be aimed especially at her miners' operating on Bolivian soil.

She promptly began purchasing ironclads. It was a favourite saying of old Marshal Ramon Castilla ( 1797 - 1867 ) that when Chile bought a battleship Peru should buy two, but the Lima government was too poor to follow the good advice, and the fatal year of 1879 found her naval force inferior to that of her rival. Andean Tragedy The War of the Pacific pitted Peru and Bolivia against Chile in a struggle initiated over a festering border dispute. The conflict saw Chile�s and Peru�s armored warships vying for control of sea lanes and included one of the first examples of the use of naval torpedoes. On land, large armies using the most modern weapons�breech-loading rifles, Gatling guns, and steel-barreled artillery�clashed in battles that left thousands of men dead on the battlefields. What had proven true in the time of Pizarro, San Martin, and Santa Cruz, was still true � the successful invasion or defence of Peru depended on the control of the Pacific.

Whichever power should obtain a naval preponderance would surely get the nitrate territory � a rainless, cropless region where an army must be sustained by supplies brought by sea � and then could attack the other at its capital. Historians agree that the belligerents were not prepared for the war, neither financially nor military. In 1879, Bolivia government proposed a tax on the minerals, Chile occupied the area, prompting Bolivia and Peru to declare war on Chile . The war was fought between Chile and the joint forces of Bolivia and Peru, from 1879 to 1883.

Some claim that as Peru exhausted its guano deposits after it's guano ' gold rush ' of 1840- 1879 ( From 1840�1880, Peru exported an estimated 12.7 million tons of guano from its islands with a sale value in the range of �150 million ) it tried to form a new nation in the Atacam region which failed and joined the war on Peru with Bolivia in hopes of gaining Peru's rich sodium nitrate in the Atacama Desert ) .Chile gained substantial mineral-rich territory in the conflict, annexing both the Peruvian province of Tarapac� and the Bolivian province of Litoral, leaving Bolivia as a landlocked country.

The Chilean ironclad Blanco Encalada Chile had two new ironclads, the armored frigate Almirante Cochrane ( built 1873 ) ,names after Thomas Cochrane (1775�1860), commander of the Chilean Navy during that country's war of independence against Spain .The second ironclad was the Blanco Encalada , ( built 1875 ) named in honor of the admiral and first president of the Republic of Chile, Manuel Blanco Encalada ( 1790 - 1876 ) , besides two good cruisers and several gunboats. The two Peruvian ironclads, the ironclad turret ship Hu�scar , named after the 16th-century Inca emperor, Hu�scar ( built 1864 ) and thearmored corvette Independencia ( built 1864 ), were older, though their speed was superior.

e5.2 Dossier Imperial Impersonations: Chilean Racism and the War of the Pacific Imperial Impersonations: Chilean Racism and the War of the Pacific Ericka Beckman | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Abstract: The War of the Pacific, fought between Chile, Peru and Bolivia at the end of the nineteenth century, marked a watershed moment in the creation of narratives of race and nation in all three countries. Chile, as the victor nation, annexed swaths of Peruvian and Bolivian territory, extending its borders by one-third and gaining a world monopoly on the supply of nitrates (in high demand in Europe as a fertilizer and explosive). Military aggression was framed in explicitly racial terms. In an instance of what I call “imperial impersonation,” Chilean state actors cast themselves in the role of European colonizers fighting against the “inferior races” of Peru and Bolivia. This piece examines the rhetorical effectiveness and inherent contradictoriness of Chilean articulations of white supremacy in the context of the War.

Bolivians, the Chilean Admiral José Toribio Merino infamously remarked near the end of the twentieth century, are no more than “metamorphosized camelids [auquénidos metamorfoseados], who have learned to speak, but not to think.” This slur, uttered by one of the founding members of Pinochet’s military junta, was made in reference to the Bolivian state’s on-going efforts to reclaim territory lost to Chile over a century earlier, during the War of the Pacific (1879–1884). Fought for control over nitrate deposits in Peru and Bolivia, this war resulted in Chile’s annexation of wide swaths of both nations’ territories, an outcome that has left Bolivia landlocked up to the present. It was also during this war that Chile occupied the city of Lima for nearly two years, a humiliation that is burned into Peruvian national memory. Merino’s recourse to the most naked form of racism in a discussion of geopolitical matters (precisely, the question of Bolivia’s access to the sea) is not entirely shocking given the genealogy of discourses of Chilean national sovereignty from the nineteenth century to the present.

Instead, in characterizing Bolivians as barely-evolved animals, Merino was repeating elements of a discourse that was itself constituted during the War of the Pacific, as Chilean state actors justified their military aggression as an inevitable conflict between “superior” and “inferior” races. During this war, the historically contingent boundaries of the nation-state became reimagined by Chilean elites as contiguous with a pre-ordained racial destiny, in the formulation of an enduring myth of Chilean racial superiority vis-à-vis its Andean neighbors. The War of the Pacific was fought over nitrates, a highly lucrative export commodity used as a fertilizer in Europe, and the Chilean aggressors were backed financially and morally by neocolonial British interests (Amayo 1998, Vitale 1993). British empire also provided a discursive framework through which the Chilean state articulated its right to rule.

Borrowing the language of the “civilizing mission” and “white man’s burden,” the Chilean state assumed the mantle of imperial right, a move that at once erased British neocolonial interests from view and situated Chile within the fold of “white” nations, fulfilling the destiny of “civilization” on a global scale. Figure 1. Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna (1831–1886). The cornerstone of Chilean imperial identity during the War of the Pacific was whiteness, a racial category that went far beyond phenotype to vouch for the virility, discipline, and morality of a homogenized “Chilean race.” Peruvian and Bolivian creoles, mestizos, Indians, blacks and Chinese, in contrast, were coded as racially degenerate, with inferiority measured in terms of effeminacy, laziness and backwardness. One of the key figures in the articulation of this racial discourse was Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna, the noted nineteenth-century historian and statesman (Figure 1).

In the newspaper Vicuña Mackenna founded to cover the war, El Nuevo Ferrocarril, the historian framed Chilean aggression as “(t)he noble march and the even more noble conquest of work, of creative order, and of vigorous industry” against the “torpid laziness and incurable disorder of other races,” who had allowed their territories “to become barren and sterile.” (Vicuña 1879a1). Rehearsing the central tropes of nineteenth-century Northern European empire, here bourgeois economic ideology expresses itself through a lexicon of racial difference. The War of the Pacific marked a moment in which Chilean elites rewrote national history and identity through the categories offered by an already established vocabulary of nineteenth-century Northern European imperial reason. As a political project, Chilean racism has proven an extremely effective arm of state reason, at the same time as its potency has been contradicted by the real configurations of empire on a global scale (in which Chile is not an empire, but a distant periphery). This contradiction is proper to the appropriation of the language and politics of imperial reason by a peripheral nation, one which might best be grasped as a strategy of imperial impersonation.

The term “imperial impersonation” can be understood in the context of the War of the Pacific as the will to occupy the discursive space of the European colonizer vis-à-vis neighboring nations. Another prominent nineteenth-century historian, Diego Barros Arana, wrote a history of the War before it had ended and noted that Chile was an exception among nations of the continent. In it he claimed that its people had “mixed little with Indians” after the Conquest, and that as a result, Chile is home to “an active and serious race,” one that “wants to equal the British, and which one traveler has compared to the Dutch family” (Barros Arana 1914: 16). This ongoing establishment of European racial credentials—passing through categories such as morality, virility and work ethic—allowed Chilean elites to extract their nation from a shared history with its neighbors, and to imagine Chile as a global agent of white civilization. It was through this metonymic transfer that Chilean newspapers could argue, for example, that soldiers should annihilate Peruvian and Bolivians in the same manner as the British were annihilating the Zulus in South Africa (qtd.

in Sater, 31–32). Theaters of the war such as the Atacama Desert and Lima became stages for impersonation techniques, with agents garbed in the pomp of European empire. In another article by Vicuña Mackenna, the historian culls lessons from the French experience in Algeria to properly protect Chilean soldiers in the inhospitable desert climate of Southern Peru. One of his recommendations is that Chilean soldiers be fed, like their French counterparts, a diet of café noir and rice (Vicuña 1879b: 1). Throughout the occupation of Lima, Chilean correspondents marked this city as “tropical” and degenerate (in contrast with the more temperate climes of Chile), and markedly “Oriental.” Erasing more than three centuries of shared history, Vicuña Mackenna compares Lima—the center of Spanish colonial power in South America—with Cairo, awaiting colonization by whites (Vicuña 1880b: 2). Figure 2. “Fisonomias del ejercito aliado.” El Nuevo Ferrocarril. 4 December 1879: 3.

These strategies of imperial impersonation were buttressed by specific claims about the racial inferiority of Peruvians and Bolivians.2 In “The Army of Tupac Amaru,” Vicuña Mackenna writes that the Peruvian army is “completely Indian, entirely indigenous and quechua,” for the historian clear evidence of its inability to withstand Chilean aggression (2). In addition to familiar characterizations of Indians as “inert” and “passive,” Vicuña’s racist discourse constantly animalizes and feminizes. The Peruvian Indian, for example, is characterized as not a man (macho), but a mule (mula). And the racial “variety” of Lima, including mestizos, blacks, and Chinese (a constant theme in wartime reports), is in turn characterized as akin to the collection of animals at a Barnum and Bailey circus (Ibid). An engraving appearing in Vicuña Mackenna’s newspaper takes racialized degradation into the field of visual representation.

Following the outlines of European racial “types,” “Physionomies of the Allied Army” depicts the heads of Peruvian and Bolivian soldiers from a side view, drawn with flat foreheads and noses, protruding lower lips, slanted eyes, and either iron-straight or tightly curled hair (Figure 2). The accompanying text reads: “That army is quite notable, most of all, for its variety of races, which are almost a variety of species and which almost authorizes the assumption that man comes from the ape or from…the elephant” (Vicuña 1879c: 3). Like all racist discourses, Chile’s imperial-inspired version was rife with contradictions, within the nation, but also vis-à-vis the European examples it sought to imitate. Chilean racism obliged creole elites to “impersonate” metropolitan authorities at the same time as the very act of impersonation could easily become a site of inferiority or artificiality (a logic defined in larger terms by Carlos Alonso [1998] as “the burden of modernity”).

This is not to say that Chilean whiteness fell short of “the real thing”—as if such a thing existed outside of racist fantasy—but rather that the very categories established by European empire might be used to uphold or undermine peripheral claims to authority. Chile’s imperial self-image was upheld by some important material results: following the annexation of Peruvian and Bolivian nitrate fields, the state mobilized to “pacify” its racialized internal enemies, the Mapuche Indians of the South. The maximum expression of post-War imperial optimism was the state’s acquisition of an economically unimportant but symbolically significant South Seas colony, Easter Island.3 Yet the verisimilitude of Chilean “empire” could not endure for long: the opening of the Panama Canal, along with the invention of synthetic nitrates in Europe, relegated Chile once again to the distant periphery of capitalist world production by the early twentieth century. As a vestige of imperial victories in the War of the Pacific, Chileans would proudly remain “the British of South America,” but citizens of South America nonetheless. The lasting power of Chilean empire matters less than the continuing effects of its claims about racial difference and belonging.

In the past decade, Peruvian immigrants in Chile—employed mainly as service workers—have been constant targets of racism, often phrased in the same dehumanizing terms as those rehearsed during the War of the Pacific. Projecting outside the nation, Chilean identity remains deeply embedded within claims to Europeanness. Appeals to the country’s “racial homogeneity,” temperate climate, industriousness, and institutional stability are fundamental to national identity, and have proven quite useful when courting foreign capital. The problem here is not, again, that the Chilean nation might only imperfectly or incompletely wield the discourse of white supremacy, but rather the extent to which this discourse retains legitimacy today, in Latin America and beyond. A related article, "The Creolization of Imperial Reason: Chilean State Racism in the War of the Pacific," is forthcoming from the Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies. 2009 (18: 1). Ericka Beckman is Assistant Professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

She is currently completing a book manuscript entitled Capital Fictions: Writing Latin America’s Export Age (1870–1930), a study of the ideologies and literary forms that emerged during the region’s first major experiment with economic liberalism and globalization. Notes 1 All references from El Nuevo Ferrocarril were collected at the library of the Museo Nacional Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna in Santiago, Chile. Translations are my own. 2 It is important to note that Chilean elites did not have a monopoly on racist discourse; nineteenth-century elites in Peru and Bolivia had themselves relied upon notions of white supremacy to establish their right to rule. Thus part of the effectiveness of racism as wielded during the War of the Pacific was that it was common currency of post-Independence Latin American elites. In the War of the Pacific, Chilean elites were able to manipulate European racial hierarchies to their advantage, turning them against their creole counterparts in Peru and Bolivia. 3 For centuries, Spanish colonizers and creole elites had not been able to gain control of the Mapuche-dominated Araucanía.

It was only in 1883, as Chile was still embroiled in the War of the Pacific, that the region was finally brought under state control; as in the United States and Argentina, this campaign was made possible by the genocidal combination of state armies, railways, and firearms. Easter Island, in turn, was claimed by Chile in 1888. At this time, Easter Island was the only South Seas island to remain unclaimed by a European power. Since then, the island has carried mainly symbolic significance for Chile, captured in the image of the moais (ancient Rapa Nui sculptures), which today decorate everything from Chilean tour guides to advertisements for airlines and telephone companies. Works Cited Amayo, Enrique. 1998. La política Británica en la Guerra del Pacífico. Lima, Perú: Editorial Horizonte. Alonso, Carlos J. 1998. The Burden of Modernity. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. Diego Barros Arana. 1914. Obras Completas, v. XVI.

Historia de la Guerra del Pacífico (1879–1881). Santiago: Imprenta, Litografía i Encardenación Barcelona. Sater, William. 1986. Chile and the War of the Pacific. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. Vicuña Mackenna, Benjamin. 1879a. “Aullagas.” El Nuevo Ferrocarril, 28 July: 1. -----. 1879b. “¡En el Desierto! La Guerra en Africa.” El Nuevo Ferrocarril, 6 October: 1. -----. 1879c. “Fisonomias del ejercito aliado.” El Nuevo ferrocarril. 4 December 1879: 3. -----. 1880a. “El ejército del Tupac-Amaru.” El Nuevo Ferrocarril, 18 October: 2. -----. 1880b. “El Clima de Lima. Con relación al organismo i hábitos del soldado chileno.” El Nuevo Ferrocarril, 4 November: 2. -----.

1880c. “El roto en su cuna histórica.” El Nuevo Ferrocarril, 9 December: 2. Vitale, Luis. 1993. Interpretación Marxista de la Historia de Chile. Vol. IV. Ascenso y declinación de la burguesía chilena (1861–1891). Santiago: LOM, Liberarte Chile y Ediciones Cela. Andean Tragedy: Wargame - War of the Pacific - 1878 to 1883 Wargame - War of the Pacific - 1878 to 1883 Publisher : Strategy and Tactics #282 Game Designer : Javier Romero Strategic view Contrary to my expectation, the game doesn’t cover the whole period of the war. The game covers the last 2 years of the war. Antfangusta is already controlled by Chile at the start. Anyway, Chile has initiative throughout the game. Their targets are roughly divided into 3 groups, Iquique area, and its adjacent mountainous area including La Paz, and Lima area.

Roughly speaking, Chile can win the game if he conquers two of these three areas. So, I think that Iquique looks appropriate first target. In this war, the map is really long in North to South direction. And land area is tough. In this game, there’s no plain hex at all. The mildest terrain is rough and it has movement cost of 2 and +1 drm for the defender. Though invasion by land is not impossible, it doesn’t look a good idea. So, naval transfer has higher possibility in this game. But, Peru has smaller but higher quality Navy at the start. So, the control of ocean is contested. Thus, naval transfer is possible but Chile must take care of Peruvian intercept. I’ll talk about this topic later again. Another big factor is Bolivia. Though Bolivia is main combat zone, Bolivia is weaker country. And Bolivia will withdraw when Chile get 7 VPs or control area around La Paz. Since La Paz area is defended by Bolivia, the latter case is not a big problem. After the fall of La Paz, there will be no important defending area for Bolivia. But, if Chile can get 7VPs from other area, this will be a disaster for allied force.

It will result in fall of La Paz area and gives Chile sudden death victory. But, Iquique area is not enough for 7 VPs. So, Chile must find another VP area over Iquique. Amphibious invasion to Lima, or land invasion to Arica. This is a crucial part of the strategy in this game. So, this is a grand design game for Chile. And this design must be strongly related to outcome of the naval battles. Naval combat AS described above, naval combat assumes an important role in this game. But, naval combat system is not very detailed. It still has a good amount of historical atmosphere. Naval units are moved by stacks. Sea hexes are grouped into several sea zones. In this game, movement must be plotted one turn earlier by placing a marker of target zone in secret. Then, it must be moved to the plotted zone by tracing a path of hexes. So, there is a time rag between plotting and execution. The opponent can intercept the moving stack and check by dr. If succeeded, the combat takes place. Probably, the first Chilean target is Iquique and it is highly possible that Peruvian fleet is waiting around this area.

So, the first military action might be a naval combat off Iquique. In case of being intercepted, Chilean fleet which might have advantage of quantity can match the same number of ships against the intercepting fleet and then continue movement with the excess ships. That means with appropriate careful plot enables Chile to conduct amphibious attack on Iquique area without serious disaster. I think the first turn is okay as above. But, in most cases, the Chilean damage might be higher in naval combat. That means there’s a risk for Chile he will lose advantage of quantity in the middle of the game. So, Chile must carefully consider the repairment of damaged ship before they really sunk. Or, he can bull the amphibious invasion with increasing risk. Or, he gives up naval actions and tries another hard way along rough terrain. Though the naval battle and grand strategy is not strongly related as “Chennault’s first fight”, it is still strongly related and proposed interesting strategic decisions especially for Chilean player. A naval combat procedure is really simple. Check initiative by fastest ships. And a fleet with initiative fires first. Then, survived opponent fires back. Only one round per turn and they all cannot move further during the turn.

Since Chile is the first player of the turn, intercepting Peruvian fleet will lose a chance of her own movement. But, this is not a big problem, since her main role is interception. To fire, the player decides firing ship and its target, and roll 1d modified with target’s armor. If the result is equal or lower than firing ship’s fire value, it will get a hit. Usually armored ships have 2 steps. So usually, one round combat is not enough to eliminate a fleet. Damaged ships can be repaired in docks. For Chileans it is worth of considering since they have an advantage of quantity. On the other hand, it is hard for Peruvians to repair the damaged ships since they usually need all available ships in its front line. Once sunk, there’s no chance of rebuilding. And there's no reinforcement of newly built ships in this game. Due to this situation, though Peruvian navy is stronger, it tends to be ground by waves of Chilean attack. But, Chilean also has time limit of 12 turns, so it is difficult to judge this erosion strategy is really useful or not.

Land combat This war is fought after the Civil war before the WW1, but closer to the Civil war and classified as war of the 19th century. As described above, tough terrain is a key of this war. In addition, there’s no promised movement allowance in this game. Every time a stack starts movement, the player rolls 2d and picks the higher roll as its movement allowance. If you roll a pair of one, you cannot move at all since the mildest terrain is rough of 2 mps. In mountain area, since it costs 4 mps, a stack often cannot move at all. Instead, a stack can move more than once in one turn. But, when rolling a double, that stack must lose a step. So, theoretically it is possible to go over Andean mountains in one turn. But, usually the stack will be dissolved before arriving. I feel the good 19th century’s atmosphere around these rules. Combat procedure is similar to the naval ones. Combat is limited to only one round, and each force fires each other. If a unit rolls a 6, it will get one hit on the enemy stack. Terrain modifier is used by defender and applied all units.

Since even the mildest terrain, rough can give +1 modifier, the defender is usually fairly favored. In case of forts, defender can get +3. So, the attacker must expect heavy losses against them. Most of Chilean and Peruvian units have 2 steps. So, it is difficult to eliminate the opponent in one combat. Very often, each side reinforces the surviving force and combat continues for several player turns. In this situation, Chilean who usually has longer supply line will have a problem. So, Chilean would like to put big force as possible as he can at once. But, as described before, this is not an easy job considering the control of sea and limited number of vessels. Though this is not specifically land combat topic, supply is critical in this game. There is variety of use for supply. Reorganization of damaged land unit, rebuilding of eliminated land unit, placement of reinforcement, repair of damaged ship. In this game, reinforcement come to the available box and not placed on the map automatically. Additionally, you can sacrifice supply instead of unit for movement attrition, and supply can give additional dr in combat. So, supply is very useful and in other words without supply everything cannot go smoothly.

For Peruvian who basically acts inside his territory, supply is not a serious problem. But, for Chilean who must fight front line inside enemy territory, it is an important problem to supply the acting units continuously. It needs the same procedure to transport supply as the military units. This problem will remind many gamers North African game of WW2. And privately, it reminds me of "Chaco war" on Command magazine, another Latin-American war. And in this case, sea transport has time lag and problem of sea control. Conclusion For gamers accustomed with Blitzkrieg games, this game looks slow-going and possibly boring. But, in my honest opinion, this is not a flaw of the game. The reason why this game is alike is that this is a real nature of the war of 19th century. With long battlefield, problem of sea control, and problem of supply, this game is still very playable and not difficult. I think this is really a good design. Speaking about other Mr. Romero’s design, I really like “Guera a muerte”, too. “Triple alliance war” and “Hongrie” were a little bit disappointing. So, this game is my second favorite Romero’s game.

I would like to try “Partizan” if I have time soon. And, I’m really looking forward to see “Waters of Oblivion” from Legion games soon. Currently the definitive uniform guide for the three warring armies ( UNIFORMES DE LA GUERRA DEL PACIFICO 1879 – 1884 ). The land and sea battles that were fought were all quite small, and could easily be re-created using the TABLE TOP BATTLES rules. Although there are no figure ranges available for the Bolivians, Chileans, and Peruvians, the uniforms are very similar to the French, German, and US uniforms of the period, and could be reproduced with a reasonable degree of accuracy using paint ‘conversions’. Posted by

Question: Against which Sout American country was Bolivia fighting during 'The War of the Pacific'?
Answer: CHILE