The military history of Chile spans several centuries beginning in the 16^th century with the Araucanian Wars involving many battles between the Spanish conquistadors and the Araucanian Indians of Chile. The first of these battles involved Pedro de Valdivia, a Spanish conquistador stumbling on to the Araucanians and being met with strong resistance. Sometime after these first engagements Chile fought to gain political and economic independence from the Spanish. Post Chilean independence, Chile was involved in many battles between neighbouring countries such as Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. Chile has also been involved in multiple civil wars since its independence. Chile’s more modern military history involves military coups and dictatorships.

Military History of Chile[edit]

Araucanian wars[edit]

The Araucanian wars was a long running series of battles and skirmishes between the Spanish conquistadors and the Araucanian Indians, a group of people consisting of the Mapuche, Picunche and Huilliche. the first meeting between these two groups was in 1536 when the Spaniard Diego de Almagro’s expedition into the Chilean region uncovered the Araucanian people. Part of these early skirmishes between the Araucanians and the Spanish was the conquest of Pedro de Valdivia, one that would eventually be on a much larger scale than the first meetings between the Araucanian’s and the Spanish. Valdivia’s final goal was the city of Santiago. Valdivia’s conquest lasted for over nine years and in 1541 Santiago was founded by Valdivia.

In 1544, and 1546 further expeditions were commenced, the latter of which was led by Valdivia however it was met by considerable opposition from the Mapuche natives forcing Valdivia to return to Santiago. In 1550, Valdivia continued his expeditions southward and founded the city of conception just north of the Bio Bio River. However, Valdivia and his company were attacked and forced to retreat by the Araucanians led by chief Lautaro, who had learned the Spanish tactics and how to manufacture gunpowder in his time spent working under Valdivia.

After Lautaro’s victory the Araucanian chief moved towards Santiago and were almost successful in capturing the now capital from the Spanish, but an outbreak of smallpox among the Araucanians and the death of the chief Lautaro stopped their attacks. Subsequently, chief Caupolicán continued the fight in place of chief Lautaro but was captured and executed leading the loss of the Araucanian’s in 1558. After their defeat at Santiago the Araucanians were forced back to a region south of the Bio Bio river in which they stayed till the end of the 19^th century. In this time the Spanish managed to assimilate large parts of the Picunche and Huilliche into their culture.

19th century[edit]

Chilean war of of independence[edit]

In 1808, due to the action of Napoleon in Spain, Chile and many other Spanish colonies in central and south America were thrown into disarray as their supplies form Spain were cut off. This left Chile on its own to resources, a huge milestone for Chile in gaining its own autonomy. This had also been foreshadowed by other major European powers withdrawing from their colonies and the British invasion of the La Plata region in Argentina.

On September 18^th, 1810 the first steps were made by the Chilean people towards full independence from Spain. A town meeting was held in Santiago in which the President-Governor resigned. In his place a council composed of local leaders was made in order to take the first step towards autonomy.

In the period between 1810 and 1813 Chile made huge steps forward in relaxing trade restrictions, founding the national institute, abolishing slavery and establishing a newspaper the solidify beliefs within the country. However, Spain had been making preparations to regain its control over Chile and on October 1^st, 1814 at the battle of Rancagua Spain made its move towards regaining control. The battle lasted 2 days but eventually Spain re-established its control over Chile prompting the term la patria vieja or the old fatherhood.

The following years served to cement the belief in Chile that independence from Spain was necessary. In February 1817, San Martin’s army led by commander O’Higgins fought against the Spanish forces on the hill of Chacabuco after a long march across the Andes. On February 12^th, 1817 O’Higgins and his forces defeated those of the Spanish freeing up the way to Santiago. This resulted commander O’Higgins being named the supreme director of Chile. Chile independence was announced a year later, on the anniversary of the victory at Chacabuco. In Subsequent years after Chile’s independence O’Higgins created the Chilean navy which in 1818 began clearing the residual Spanish vessels from the Chilean coast.

War of the pacific[edit]

In 1879 conflict arouse between Chile, Bolivia, and Peru due to a dispute between Chile and Bolivia over the ownership of the Atacama Desert between the 23^rd and 26^th parallels. The reason for this dispute was due to the large amount of mineral resources that existed in the region, in particular sodium nitrate.

The Borders between Chile and Bolivia had never been clearly established. Prior to this dispute Chile and Bolivia had signed a treaty in 1866 declaring that Chile’s border ended at the 24^th parallel however both countries had access to the minerals from the 23^rd to the 25^th parallels. This treaty was in Chile’s favour as they had superior financial resources and access to the sea. Bolivia became disillusioned with the agreement as they feared that Chile would take control of the whole region.

Peru’s involvement in the conflict came from a secret treaty that Peru signed with Bolivia agreeing to a mutual guarantee of their territories along with independence. In 1874 relations between Chile and Bolivia were momentarily healed with a revised treaty however, this was short lived as Bolivia increased taxes on the Chilean nitrate company. This caused Chilean armed forces to arrive at the Antofagasta province, the port that Chile was exporting from. This prompted Bolivia to declare war on Chile and call for aid from Peru. Subsequently, Chile declared war on both Peru and Bolivia.

Chile swiftly occupied the Bolivian coastal province of Antofagasta and turned its attention to Peru. Peru suffered two naval defeats at Iquique and Angamos allowing Chile to invade Peru from the coast. Chilean forces proceeded to invade the Peruvian capital of Lima in 1880 after an attempt by the US to mediate the conflict. In 1883 Peru and Chile signed the Treaty of Ancón. This treaty stated that Chile would occupy the provinces of Tacna and Arica for 10 years after which a plebiscite would be held to determine which country the provinces would belong to. The two countries could not agree until 1929 when it was agreed upon that Chile would retain control of Arica and Peru received Tacna and $6 million. In 1884, Chile and Bolivia signed an agreement giving Chile control of the whole of the Antofagasta province which became permanent in 1904. In return for this agreement Chile built a railway from the Bolivian capital La Paz to Arica on the coast of Chile and granted Bolivia free transit on said railway.

Military Dictatorships Chile[edit]

On September 11, 1973, a coup d’état was performed resulting in the death of the President Salvador Allende. A junta was then created and comprised of three Generals and one admiral from the Chilean army with General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte being named as the new president. The new junta created due to the military coup was supported by both the oligarchy and the middle class. Many believed that a military dictatorship would lead to a restoration of the status quo. However, it was soon evident that those in power had their own political agenda. These including suppressing and central and left wing political parties. Parties such as the Christian Democratic party, National party and Radical Democracy party were all declared to be in “indefinite recess”. Following this, in 1977, many parties were dissolved, and a private enterprise economy was installed.

The New military government caused an increase in unemployment, a decline in real wages.in 1980 a plebiscite was held resulting in President Pinochet’s term being extended by eight years and a new constitution being written. The plebiscite also stated that in that eight-year period there must be a referendum to see if the president should remain in power. The plebiscite also fostered the conditions to transition to civilian government. In 1983, protests began against the junta and the Christian Democratic Party formed a new party called the Democratic Alliance which had the support of the Roman Catholic Church. In August 1984, 11 political parties signed an agreement with the supervision of the archbishop of Santiago calling for elections before the end of the eight-year period. This agreement was also backed by the US which had previously supported Chile economically before Pinochet’s rule.

On October 5^th, 1988, Pinochet was rejected by the voters. A national referendum was held in July 1989 resulting in banning of Marxist parties. Political exiles were also allowed to return to the country. In December 1989 Patricio Aylwin Azócar, a member of the Christian Democrat party was voted the new President by a large margin. Azócar was in support of the existing free market system put in place by Pinochet but also demanded social and political change.

Pinochet was involved in much controversy after stepping down from the presidency. Just before he stepped down Pinchet was able to claim a lifetime seat in the senate. In 1998 while in London Pinochet was detained as Spain accused him of the torture of many Spanish citizens during his rule. Following this there were many cases that rose to the surface detailing someone who had mysteriously disappeared during Pinochet’s dictatorship. Pinochet was released on medical grounds and allowed to return home to Chile. Pinochet died on December 3^rd, 2006.

References[edit]

Cruz, C. (2010). The Grand Araucanian Wars (1541-1883) in the Kingdom of Chile. Xlibris, Bloomington. http://www.memoriachilena.cl/archivos2/pdfs/MC0054412.pdf

Hudson, R. (1994). Chile – Wars of Independence 1810-1818 retrieved 9^th November, 2018, from http://countrystudies.us/chile/8.htm

Pike, F. (1977). The United States and the Andean Republics: Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador. Harvard University Press. https://books.google.com.au/books?id=QgULb58ac_kC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Collier, Simon (1996). A History of Chile, 1808-1994. Cambridge University Press

Read, P. (2018) World politics explainer: Pinochet's Chile. Retrieved 9^th November, 2018, from https://theconversation.com/world-politics-explainer-pinochets-chile-100659

Carmagnani, M., Johnson, J., Caviedes, C., Drake, P., (2018). Chile. Retrieved November 9^th, 2018, from https://www.britannica.com/place/Chile

Kendall, J. (2006). Augusto Pinochet, Dictator Who Ruled by Terror in Chile, Dies at 91. Retrieved November 9^th, 2018, from https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/11/world/americas/11pinochet.html

This is Chile. Retrieved November 9^th, 2018, from https://www.thisischile.cl/history/independence/?lang=en

Bethell, L. (1993). Chile – Since Independence. Cambridge university press, Cambridge.