Peru Army - Postindependence
The military's role in Peruvian affairs during most of the nineteenth century was a large one, owing both to the difficulties of building a domestic political consensus and significant foreign military threats. However, until the establishment of the army's Military Academy (Escuela Militar) in Lima's southern district of Chorrillos in 1896, Peru's armed forces tended to be more the personal, noncareer armies of local and regional caudillos than a true national and professional force.
Disputes over boundary and sovereignty issues provoked conflicts between Peru and Colombia (1828), Chile (1836-39), and Bolivia (1841), all with outcomes unfavorable to Peruvian interests and objectives. Domestically, military leaders occupied the presidency almost continuously from 1821 to 1872, when the first elected civilian president, Manuel Pardo (1872-76), took office. The most successful of Peru's early military presidents, General Marshal Ramon Castilla (1845-51, 1854-62), brought some degree of stability and order and a more disciplined military force.
From 1842 to 1866, the Army was consolidated and became one of the main forces on the continent. In this period the figure of Mariscal Ramón Castilla emerged, whose work on behalf of Defense marked him as one of the finest statesmen of Peruvian history. This consolidation can successfully confront the Spanish colonialist last attempt. The Second of May, 1866, Peru and its allies: Chile, Ecuador and Bolivia, joined the American spirit and forever sealed the independence of South America.
Peru began, also exploring the jungle region, was built the fort of San Ramon , opened up roads and pathways to a better understanding of the country, which is closely related to Army life. Military units were sent to all departments to ensure the presence of the state. It opened the Military Hospital of St. Bartholomew, were encouraged to buy modern weaponry and gave a big boost to the Military Factory Bellavista and Gunpowder Factory. It was build in powerful howitzers country.
During the following years, from 1867 to 1878, the governments neglected Defence. Military technology reached, by then, remarkable progress, leading to rethink the current war doctrine in the Western world. Meanwhile, in Peru, the Army is experiencing a delay, as a result of severe political and economic crisis. However, in 1873 the Army created the School of Army School, also called "The Cabitos", which ran in a room attached to the headquarters of Chorrillos. It were corporals and sergeants in the functions of each weapon. Instruction in the infantry and cavalry was two years in the artillery, three.
Castilla' s force was successful in a brief border conflict with Ecuador and a naval blockade of that country in 1859, as well as in a more serious attempt by Spain to reassert its influence in Peru, Ecuador, and Chile in the mid- 1860s. Spain had not yet recognized Peru's independence, and its naval forces blockaded Peruvian ports and occupied the economically vital Chincha Islands off the Peruvian coast in April 1864. These islands held rich deposits of guano, which became a Peruvian government monopoly that was largely responsible for Peru's growing prosperity in the 1850s and 1860s. When the Spanish fleet attacked Callao on May 2, 1866, Peruvian forces repulsed the invaders in a significant military victory and brought about the lifting of the Spanish blockade along with the withdrawal of Spanish ships. This defeat ended Spain's last attempt to regain dominance in its former colonies. Extension of diplomatic recognition was to follow, but not until 1879.
Peru's military preparedness did not keep pace with its increasing economic prosperity in the 1870s. President Pardo reduced military expenditures sharply as part of his Civilista Party's (Partido Civilista—PC) policy of trying to downgrade the historically dominant role of the armed forces. His elected successor, General Mariano Ignacio Prado (1865-67, 1876-79), found his military options limited indeed when he attempted to deal with the growing problem of Chilean investment and ownership of the nitrate workings in Peru's arid, southernmost province of Tarapaca and, at the same time, with Chilean military threats against Bolivia to protect its equally significant nitrate investments in Bolivia's coastal province of Antofagasta.
In 1879, suddenly, Peru was in a war against an enemy that had been prepared for it in advance. Since the early 1870s, Chile showed that it was preparing for a war. Acquired modern weaponry, Comblain rifles for infantry and artillery guns to Krupp. Yet Peru was right not to deter potential rival and neglected his National Defense.
Despite its discouraging military options, Peru felt obliged to honor its secret treaty obligations with Bolivia when Chile declared war on Bolivia on April 5, 1879. Thus ensued the War of the Pacific, a military, political, and economic disaster unprecedented in Peruvian history. Although Bolivia resigned itself to defeat within months and gave up its coast to Chile, Peru fought on. Peruvian naval forces were soon overwhelmed, even though Admiral Miguel Grau, aboard the iron-clad monitor Hudscar, acquitted his outclassed forces brilliantly in defeat and death (to become a Peruvian national hero after whom the cruiser Almirante Grau of today's Peruvian Navy is named).
Peru's people knew how to respond to the demands of the moment and, together with his army, amply demonstrated that in the face of logistical superiority, courage and patriotism of the men remains unchanged will to fight. How to forget Tarapaca Marcavalle Pucara and Concepcion, where officers and soldiers fought with honor. But the face of defeat, this war also left Peru with great examples. There is the immortal figure of Colonel Francisco Bolognesi, Andrés Avelino Cáceres and Leoncio Prado, who symbolize the line of duty in sublime degree.
Chile's army advanced northward to occupy much of southern Peru, including Iquique in 1879, Arica in 1880, and although slowed and harassed by the courageous actions of General Andres Avelino Caceres and his troops, began a more than two-year occupation of Lima in January 1881.
Bolognesi Francisco was tall and proud in front of the enemy with a full conviction and sense of honor. He left for posterity that immortal phrase "I have sacred duties to fulfill and abide to burn the last round." In it Peruvians found the beginning of what should be the core mission of the soldier, the line of duty. And, until today this phrase remains alive and victorious flutters like a flag in the wind of history and in the hearts of all Peruvians.
In the heroic deeds of the forest, the Army, under the leadership of General Caceres became the symbol of national dignity and showed how a soldier never daunted at the enemy, or in defeat, nor to disunity. When all seemed lost, a new fight resumed Cáceres. Powered by an indomitable will to not give up, did the craggy Andean trepidar covering them with light and triumphant footsteps. Thus, the country's honor was saved.
By the Treaty of Ancon of October 1883, Peru accepted defeat, giving up all of Tarapaca Province (which included Iquique) and agreeing to Chilean occupation of Tacna and Arica for ten years, until a plebiscite was to be held. (This provision was not honored and was the source of much bitterness between Chile and Peru before a solution was reached in 1929 with United States arbitration, giving Tacna back to Peru and awarding Arica to Chile. Chilean forces finally withdrew from Lima in August 1884.
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