Timeline of the Saltpeter War

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The Saltpeter War (also Pacific War , Spanish Guerra del Pacífico ) was waged between Chile, Peru and Bolivia around the regions of Arica y Parinacota , Tarapacá and Antofagasta regions , in what is now northern Chile, between 1879 and 1884.

The colored areas show the borders before the war.

1866

  • August 10
Chile and Bolivia sign the border treaty of 1866, the border is the 24th parallel south. Between the 23rd and 25th parallel, the tax revenue is shared between the two states.

1872

  • August
Quevedo Affair: The Bolivian General Quintin Quevedo (1823–1876) tries to take the Bolivian port city of Antofagasta from Chile ; he later escapes in a Chilean warship.
  • November 11th
Peru decides to consolidate its position of power on the Pacific. The Peruvian Foreign Minister José de la Riva Aguero declares that Peru will not be idle if Bolivian territory is occupied by foreign powers.

1873

  • February 6th
Peru and Bolivia sign a secret alliance agreement. Argentina is expected to join the pact later.

1874

Chile and Bolivia sign the border treaty of 1874, the border remains the 24th parallel, but the entire tax income now falls to Bolivia. In return, Bolivia is not allowed to levy a new tax on the Chilean saltpetre industry for the next 25 years .

1875

Peru nationalizes the nitrate industry and forms a monopoly .

1876

  • May 4th
Hilarión Daza is taking power in Bolivia.

1877

  • 31 January
Chile protests against attacks on Chilean citizens in Bolivia.

1878

  • February 1st
Bolivia levies a new tax on every hundredweight of saltpeter extracted.
  • November 8th
Chile protests and sees the border treaty of 1866/1874 in danger.
  • December
Bolivia declares that it sees the case of the ANRC (Antofagasta Nitrate and Railroad Company, a Chilean saltpetre mining company) as a purely Bolivian problem.
  • 6th of December
Chile and Argentina defuse their border dispute by signing the Fierro-Sarratea Treaty .

1879

  • January 7th
The Chilean warship Blanco Encalada is anchored in front of the Bolivian port of Antofagasta.
  • February 1st
Bolivia revokes the mining license of the Chilean ANRC and sets February 14th as the date for the ANRC to be auctioned if the ANRC has not paid the outstanding tax.
  • February 8
Bolivian President Daza appoints Serapio Reyes Ortiz as Foreign Minister.
  • 14th of February
Chilean units occupy the port of Antofagasta without resistance. 95% of the population are Chileans.
  • February 16
The Bolivian Foreign Minister Reyes Ortiz arrives in Lima to demand support from Peru against Chile.
  • February 22
Peru sends José Antonio de Lavalle to Chile to mediate in the crisis.
  • 27th of February
The Bolivian parliament authorizes the government to wage war against Chile.
  • 1st March
President Daza declares war on Chile.
  • 5. March
Arrival of José Antonio de Lavalle in Santiago de Chile .
  • the 14th of March
Bolivia's Foreign Minister Serapio Reyes Ortiz hands over the declaration of war on Chile to the countries accredited in Lima from Lima.
  • March, 15
The Bolivian declaration of war is known in Santiago (published in Diario Oficial ).
  • March 21st
Chile's President Aníbal Pinto Garmendia is demanding a declaration of neutrality from Peru.
  • March 23
After the Battle of Topater , Bolivia loses control of the Antofagasta province and the Salitreras .
  • April 5th
Chile declares war on Peru and Bolivia.
  • April 6th
Peru declares war on Chile and the casus foederis with Bolivia.
  • May 21
The Chilean ship Esmeralda and the Peruvian ship Independencia are sunk in the naval battle of Iquique .
  • 23rd June
The Peruvian ship Huáscar arrives at the Chilean troop carrier Rimac . The Chilean Minister of War and the chief of the fleet, Juan Williams Rebolledo , resign.
  • 8th October
The Peruvian ship Huáscar surrenders after the battle of Angamos .
Chilean landing operations
  • November 2
Chilean troops land in Pisagua and start the Tarapacá campaign.
  • November 27th
Battle of San Francisco . Perú loses control of the Salitreras -
  • December 18th
Peruvian President Mariano Ignacio Prado flees Peru.
  • 23rd of December
Nicolás de Piérola takes power in Lima.

1880

  • February 18
Chilean troops land in Ilo and start the Tacna campaign.
  • June 7th
Storm and capture of the port city of Arica .
  • May 26
Battle of Campo de Alianza. Peru loses control of Arica and Tacna.
  • September
Expedition of the Chilean Vice Admiral Patricio Lynch to the Peruvian port city of Chimbote .
  • October 22nd
A peace conference on the US warship USS Lackawanna in Arica fails. The Allies refuse to accept the Chilean peace terms: 1) cession of the provinces of Antofagasta (Bolivia) and Tarapaca (Peru); 2) Allied payment of US $ 20 million to Chile, including US $ 4 million in cash; 3) return of confiscated Chilean property; 4) return of the ship Rimac ; 5) cancellation of the secret alliance contract; 6) Chilean occupation of the territories of Arica , Tacna and Moquegua until the previous conditions have been met; 7) Arica is supposed to remain demilitarized forever.
  • November 19th
Chilean troops land in Pisco and start the Lima campaign.

1881

  • 13th January
Battle of Chorrillos
  • 15. January
Battle of Miraflores (near Miraflores )
  • 22nd of January
Chilean troops occupy Lima. Piérola flees to the Andes and the unoccupied Peruvian state falls into regional centers of power: Arequipa under Lizardo Montero ; the center of the country under Piérola and his general Cáceres ; Trujillo under Miguel Iglesias .
  • July 23
Chile and Argentina sign a definitive border treaty .

1882

  • 10th of July
The entire Chilean garrison of 77 soldiers was killed in the Battle of Concepción .

1883

  • 10th of July
In the Battle of Huamachuco , the last of the Saltpeter War, the Peruvian troops under General Cáceres are defeated.
  • the 20th of October
Miguel Iglesias signs the Treaty of Ancón with Chile for Peru . Perú will cede Tarapacá to Chile, Tacna and Arica will remain under Chilean occupation for ten years, then a vote will decide whether these regions should belong to Chile or Perú.
  • 23rd October
The Chilean troops leave Lima, which is occupied by troops from Miguel Iglesias that same day.
  • October 29th
Chilean troops occupy Arequipa, Montero's last bastion, without a fight.

1884

  • April
Bolivia cedes Antofagasta to Chile and signs an armistice with Chile.

1904

  • the 20th of October
Bolivia signs a definitive border and peace treaty with Chile.

1929

  • 3rd of June
Chile and Peru sign a friendship and border treaty in Lima. Tacna is returned to Peru and Arica is ceded by Peru to Chile.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ La cadena que llevó a la contienda
  2. ↑ Jose Antonio de Lavalle (Félix Denegri Luna), Mi misión en Chile, 1979 , Lima, Peru, 1979, Instituto de estudios historico-maritimos del Peru
  3. ↑ Farcau, "The Ten Cents War"
  4. ^ Herbert Millington, "American Diplomacy and the War of the Pacific," 1948, Oxford University Press, London and Bombay