Army of Chile in the 19th Century (Latin American Studies)

Introduction

To define the concept of armed forces in 19th-century Chile is a complex task, as their evolution is embedded in the process of state-building, originally characterized by the underdevelopment of its bureaucratic apparatus. Moreover, there were times in which ideological conceptions and political interests were critical of the presence of standing armies and tried to reduce their level of influence. This article, therefore, uses a minimal definition of the concept, considering the military as organized groups of people who, through the use of weapons, aimed at taking part in international wars, assumed functions of national defense or played an important role in its internal conflicts. Under this category can be found a multiplicity of armed bodies with different degrees of organization, stability, and dependence on the state. Hence, when speaking of armed forces, standing armies are considered to be both the regular army and the navy, and as irregular forces, the National Guard and the militias. Also, boundaries between these armed forces were porous and often tended to blur, as can be inferred from Sater 1986 (War of the Pacific), Fernández Abara 2004 (Chilean Civil Wars), Ossa 2008 (Chile’s Struggle for Independence), and Zauritz Sepúlveda 2009 (International Wars). In so doing, the historiography related to the Chilean armed forces during the period 1810–1900 is discussed, thus covering the process started when Chile became an independent state from Spain and finished with the consolidation of a professional army through the “Prussianization” of its forces and the adoption of compulsory service. There are different historiographical currents that have studied this subject. The 19th-century positivist historiography focused primarily on the narrative of the military operations that took place in armed conflicts, considering the role of senior officials and national political figures. Marxist historiography, especially after the 1973 coup, tried to understand the characteristics of the military and their relationship with the ruling classes and social conflicts that had plagued the country. Also, since the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, modern variants of the nationalist-conservative historians have analyzed civil-military relations, seeking to legitimize political actions of the armed forces through the exhibition of historical examples that aimed to demonstrate the assiduity of their public interventions. More recently, the influence of the new social history and the history of private life has been perceptible in the study of the armed forces. They have focused on the role the army played within subordinate sectors. Cultural historians, for their part, have presented studies on nationalism and how this has permeated the history of the armed forces. Their main concern has been to see soldiers and officers as important actors in the formation of citizenship and the construction of national identity. Finally, work by historians linked to the armed forces, who have written a significant number of institutional histories, is also included here.

General Overviews

Most general works on the Chilean armed forces are institutional histories written at the request of military entities. That is the case of Historia del Ejército de Chile (1985), a detailed work whose aim was to reach an audience interested in specific aspects of military history. More recently, works such as Arancibia Clavel 2007 on the army, and Arancibia Clavel, et al. 2005 on the navy, maintain the institutional and general character, but in a shorter length and in an entertaining format accessible to the general public. Since the 1973 military coup and the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, which lasted until 1989, historical studies on the armed forces have analyzed civil-military relations and the links between the military and politics. While most of this historiography addressed issues related to the 20th century, a few general works have paid attention to the 19th century. A pioneer work is Nunn 1976, which studied civil-military relations throughout the 19th and 20th centuries from a political and social perspective. From an authoritarian and nationalist perspective (and supportive of the Pinochet regime), works such as Molina Johnson 1989 and Bravo Lira 1996 tried to identify the role of the military as political actors, especially in situations of disorder and absence of civil authority. From a Marxist perspective, on the other hand, see Ramírez Necochea 1984, a posthumous and unfinished work written in exile. Ramírez Necochea studied the presence of militarism in Chile and the levels of autonomy or dependence of the army in regards to the state and the ruling classes. An exception to the dominant trend in general works on the armed forces is Vergara Quiroz 1993, which discusses the history of the army from a social perspective. Finally, the lack of general works related to the history of the National Guard throughout the 19th century is remarkable. The studies referring to that institution have addressed only specific periods, and the longest one, Hernández Ponce 1984, finishes in 1848.

Arancibia Clavel, Patricia, ed. El Ejército de los Chilenos (1540–1920). Santiago: Editorial Biblioteca Americana, 2007.
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Even though Arancibia Clavel provides a general overview of the evolution of the Chilean army from the Conquest to the early 20th century, most of the text is devoted to the 19th century. It does not give a central thesis, but it provides systematized information about its organization and involvements in armed conflicts. This is useful for anyone wishing to get started in the theme.
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Arancibia Clavel, Patricia, Isabel Jara Hinojosa, and Andrea Novoa Mackenna. La Marina en la historia de Chile. Vol. 1, Siglo XIX. Santiago: Sudamericana, 2005.
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Arancibia Clavel, Jara Hinojosa, and Novoa Mackenna offer a general overview of the Chilean navy in the 19th century. This book provides interesting information about its institutional organization, its participation in military conflicts, and its contribution to the maintenance of state sovereignty in remote areas of the country.
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Bravo Lira, Bernardino. “Ejército y estado de derecho en Chile (Siglos XVI al XX).” Estudios Públicos 61 (Summer 1996): 197–268.
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Bravo Lira addresses the relationship between the rule of law and the armed forces in the history of Chile. According to the author, after independence the military emerged as an alternative to what the he calls disorder and political anarchy. After 1830 the armed forces focused on “external security” and the levels of militarism were successfully restrained. This changed only in the 20th century.
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Hernández Ponce, Roberto. “La Guardia Nacional en Chile: Apuntes sobre su origen y organización.” Historia 19 (1984): 53–113.
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Hernández Ponce explores the transformations experienced by the National Guard, arguing that this institution restrained militarism and inculcated notions of civil responsibilities in the population. Taking into account the colonial background of the National Guard, the author traces its history until the regulation of 1848, which reformed its organization.
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Historia del Ejército de Chile. 7 vols. Santiago: Estado Mayor del Ejército, 1985.
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This book is a general history that focuses on the military campaigns and the organizational transformations of the army. Between Volumes 2 and 7, this work studies the 19th century, from independence until the Prussianization. Even though this collection is of an institutional character and does not present a thesis, it is very useful for anyone interested in military subjects.
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Molina Johnson, Carlos. Chile: Los militares y la política. Santiago: Editorial Andrés Bello, 1989.
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Molina Johnson studies the relationships between the military and politics. The book addresses the role assigned by the state to the military, both individual and corporate, and the political actions of the latter. The author argues that the “Portalian state” took the military out from the political scene and subordinated the army to the executive.
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Nunn, Frederick. The Military in Chilean History: Essays on Civil-Military Relations, 1810–1973. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1976.
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Nunn studies civil-military relations in Chile in the 19th and 20th centuries, focusing primarily, albeit not exclusively, on the army. The author argues that military caudillism was not a characteristic of the period from 1830 to 1891 as it was in other Latin American countries. Such tendency reversed at the end of the 19th century, when the professionalization of the army allowed military men to enter the political arena.
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Ramírez Necochea, Hernán. Las fuerzas armadas y la política en Chile (1810–1970): Antecedentes para una historia. Mexico City: Cultura SEP, Casa de Chile en México, 1984.
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Ramírez Necochea studies the relationship between the army and politics. He claims that in the 19th century the military lacked autonomy and was subordinated to the state. This tendency was reversed at the end of the century thanks to the Prussianization of the army, which grew in autonomy and was able to consolidate its corporative spirit.
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Vergara Quiroz, Sergio. Historia social el Ejército de Chile. Vol. 1, Ejército, sociedad y familia en los siglos XVIII y XIX; Vol. 2, Los oficiales y sus familias en el siglo XIX. Santiago: Universidad de Chile, Vicerectoria Académica, departamento técnico y de investigación, 1993.
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Vergara Quiroz analyzes the social composition and family ties of the officers of the army. He claims that the Santiago elites had only an occasional presence in the army. Most of the time the army was led by officers from the south, to whom were added men of modest origins after 1850.
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Compilations of Sources, Bibliographies, and Biographic Dictionaries

During the 19th century a significant number of compilations of sources, mainly of an official and legal character, were published to facilitate the legal and legislative work. These collections became an important source of material for historians. This is the case for Nolasco 1890, which systematized much of the legislation relating to the National Guard. It also the case for the Documentos parlamentarios 1831–1861, which commissioned the publication of ministerial memoirs, including those of the army and navy, as well as for Saavedra 1870, which in order to influence the parliamentary debate on the occupation of the Araucanía compiled primary sources from the south of Chile. Following the tradition of the great positivist historians, late-19th- and 20th-century collections of sources had a monumental character. They were designed to make available to researchers the greatest possible amount of primary materials so they could write their historical works. Ahumada Moreno 1884–1891 compiled sources about the War of the Pacific; and Matta Vial and Feliú Cruz 1900–1966 collected documents on the independence period. More recently, some works, like Rodríguez Rautcher 1991, have included annotated bibliographies that are helpful for the researcher. Other important sources are the biographical military dictionaries. Some of them, like Héroes y soldados ilustres del Ejército de Chile 1810–1891 (1981), were thought to popularize heroic portraits of soldiers. However, others, such as Puigmal 2013, provide information of a prosopographic character.

Ahumada Moreno, Pascual. Guerra del Pacífico: Recopilación completa de todos los documentos oficiales, correspondencias y demás publicaciones referentes a la guerra que ha dado a la luz la prensa de Chile, Perú y Bolivia, conteniendo documentos inéditos de importancia. 8 vols. Valparaíso, Chile: Imprenta del Progreso, 1884–1891.
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In his eight-volume work, published between the late 19th and the early 20th century, Ahumada Moreno offers the most complete collection of sources relating to the War of the Pacific. Although the work includes political and diplomatic aspects of the conflict, it pays special attention to its military dimension.
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Congreso Nacional. Documentos parlamentarios 1831–1861. 9 vols. Santiago: Imprenta del Ferrocarril, 1858–1861.
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This is a compilation both of the presidential speeches delivered for the opening of chambers and the memories of the ministries during the conservative governments. This includes reports of the Ministry of War and Navy—which account for the situation of the army, navy, and National Guard—and projects related to these institutions. These documentos have important quantitative information.
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Héroes y soldados ilustres del Ejército de Chile 1810–1891. Santiago: Estado Mayor General del Ejército, 1981.
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In a brief work, full of a hagiographic tone, the authors discussed the biographies of sixty soldiers who had outstanding performances during the 19th century. The book is divided into six chapters, referring to independence, the war against the Peru-Bolivian Confederation, the occupation of the Araucany, the War of the Pacific, the civil war of 1891 and the Prussianization.
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Matta Vial, Enrique, and Guillermo Feliú Cruz. Colección de historiadores y de documentos relativos a la independencia de Chile. Santiago: Biblioteca Nacional de Chile, 1900–1966.
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The Colección de historiadores is the most comprehensive compilation of sources relating to the independence of Chile. Includes chronicles and documents on a variety of topics, containing a large number of sources related to military issues of the revolutionary period. It includes letters of soldiers, military plans, military reports, recruitment laws, lists of militiamen, etc.
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Nolasco, José Antonio. Recopilación de leyes, decretos, reglamentos, órdenes y circulares de carácter general que se refieren especialmente a la Guardia Nacional de Chile, desde abril de 1823 hasta marzo de 1890. Santiago: Imprenta Cervantes, 1890.
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This book compiles the rules followed by the National Guard throughout the 19th century. Topics covered include recruitment laws, salaries, textbooks, rights and duties of officers, list of members of the militia and the regular army, relations with the military justice system, and lists of emblems, badges, and uniforms.
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Puigmal, Patrick. Diccionario de los militares napoleónicos durante la independencia: Argentina, Chile y Perú. Santiago: Centro de Investigaciones Diego Barros Arana, DIBAM, 2013.
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Puigmal elaborated a dictionary with over 300 biographies of Napoleonic soldiers and officers who participated in the independence of Argentina, Chile, and Peru. The dictionary is preceded by a prosopographical study (following political, social, and military lines) and a study of the political and military contexts of the countries in question between 1806 and 1852.
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Rodríguez Rautcher, Sergio. Bases documentales para el estudio de la Guerra del Pacifico con algunas descripciones, reflexiones y alcances. 2 vols. Santiago: Talleres Gráficos del Instituto Geográfico Militar, 1991.
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In two volumes, Rodríguez Rautcher offers a comprehensive guide for researchers interested in the War of the Pacific, with emphasis on military affairs. The author included bibliographies, historical works, and primary sources. The latter consider contemporary accounts, printed documentation, original and unpublished documentation files, and the press of that time. The text includes comments by the author.
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Saavedra, Cornelio. Documentos relativos a la ocupación de Arauco que contienen los trabajos practicados desde 1861 hasta la fecha por el Coronel D. Cornelio Saavedra y demás antecedentes que pueden contribuir a ilustrar el juicio de los señores diputados en la próxima discusión sobre el último proyecto del Ejecutivo. Santiago: Imprenta de la libertad, 1870.
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In order to inform members of Parliament when they were discussing the allocation of quotas and resources to the campaigns of the occupation of the Araucany, in 1870 Saavedra compiled a set of documents related to the issue. The text includes communications, notes, and memoirs and accounts written by government and military officials, plus excerpts from congressional sessions and maps.
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Memoirs and Biographies

The biographical genre experienced significant changes between the 19th and 20th centuries. This is especially noticeable in military biographies. The biographies of the military in the 19th century tended to have a nationalistic purpose, focusing on the description of the operations in which their protagonists participated and highlighting their heroic characteristics. This is the case of Holley Ovalle 1892. In the second half of the 20th century, with the professionalization of the historical discipline, the emphasis of the biographies changed. On the one hand, the biographies tried to understand their characters in their social contexts and the narrative incorporated aspects of their private life, as Vial 1995 did. Some authors like Sater 1973 focused on the study of images and social representations of heroic soldiers, their uses and transformations. With regard to military memoirs, it should be noted that most of them have been written by enlisted military or recruited civilians who took part in the War of the Pacific and, to a lesser extent, the civil war of 1891. One such case is that of Olid Araya 2001, which bequeathed memories of both wars. Most of the texts were made by war veterans with high formal education, but there are exceptional cases, such as Gutierrez 1976. This provides evidence on the experiences of the popular sectors during the War of the Pacific. There are only a few reports that address the civil wars of the mid-19th century. One of them is del Canto 1927, which studies the civil war of 1859. With regard to the independence period and the civil war of 1829–1830, a source of great value are the memories and biographical studies of foreign military in Chile, like Tupper 1972 and Puigmal 2005. These allow us to understand the influence of foreign military models in Chile, also addressing interesting descriptions of the country during this period.

Del Canto, Estanislao. Memorias militares del General D. Estanislao del Canto con un prólogo de D. Carlos Silva Vildósola. Vol. 1, Dese enero de 1856 hasta agosto de 1891. Santiago: Imprenta la Tracción, 1927.
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After briefly narrating his entrance to the army and his training at the Military School, del Canto describes his performance in the civil war of 1859, as well as his role in the occupation of the Araucany, the War of the Pacific, and the civil war of 1891. The text provides relevant information on internal affairs of the army and its relationship with politics.
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Gutierrez, Hipólito. “Crónica de un soldado de la Guerra del Pacífico.” In Dos soldados en la Guerra del Pacífico. Edited by Abraham Quiroz and Hipólito Gutiérrez, 143–230. Buenos Aires: Editorial Francisco de Aguirre, 1976.
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This is an exceptional text, as it is the testimony of a poorly educated peasant who recounts his experiences of war from his enlistment as a volunteer in 1879 until his return to Valparaíso in 1881. The text helps when studying the experiences of ordinary soldiers and popular nationalism during the period.
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Holley Ovalle, Gustavo Adolfo. Vida del Vicealmirante Patricio Lynch. Santiago: Imprenta Cervantes, 1892.
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Holley Ovalle studies the life of Patrick Lynch, focusing on his participation in the war against the Peru-Bolivian Confederation, his time in the Royal Navy and the Opium War, and its action in the War of the Pacific. The author devotes a significant proportion of the text to describe the campaigns and battles in which Lynch took part.
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Olid Araya, J. Arturo. Crónicas de guerra: Relato de un ex combatiente de la Guerra del Pacífico y la Revolución de 1891. Santiago: RIL Editores, 2001.
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This work gathers the chronicles of the wars in which Arturo Olid Araya participated. In the case of the War of the Pacific, the author focuses on the naval combat of Punta Gruesa, the Battle of Tarapacá, and the invasion of Lima. In the case of the civil war of 1891, he recounts the formation and performance of the naval squadron that remained loyal to the constitutional government.
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Puigmal, Patrick. Memorias de Jorge Beauchef. Santiago: Centro de Investigaciones Diego Barros Arana, DIBAM, 2005.
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Beauchef recounts his experiences as a prisoner in Spain in the Napoleonic Wars and his journey to America. Then, Beauchef analyzes his role in Chilean independence, from his arrival in Santiago after the Battle of Chacabuco until the defeat of the Pincheira brothers in the early 1830s. The text is preceded by two preliminary studies by Patrick Puigmal: one biographical, the other contextual.
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Sater, William F. The heroic image of Chile: Arturo Prat secular saint. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973.
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Sater studies the formation of the heroic image of Arturo Prat during and after the War of the Pacific. The author argues that the growth of the cult of Prat was a response to the sense of crisis that Chile faced during certain periods. He also notes that Prat’s image was altered according to the needs of different sectors.
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Tupper, Ferdinand B. Memorias del Coronel Tupper. Buenos Aires: Editorial Francisco de Aguirre, 1972.
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Ferdinand B. Tupper wrote the biography of his brother, Colonel William Vic Tupper, using letters, documents, and contemporary testimonies. After narrating his origins, Tupper’s biography goes covers from his brother’s arrival in Chile and his participation in the campaigns against the royalists in Valdivia until his death at the Battle of Lircay. The text includes his campaign diary and other documents.
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Vial, Gonzalo. Arturo Prat. Santiago: Editorial Andrés Bello, 1995.
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In this biography of Prat, Vial takes into account the social context in which his character lived. The author not only discusses his career in the navy and its participation in the War of the Pacific, but also deals with his private life, including his family background, his participation in politics, and his work as a lawyer.
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Chile’s Struggle for Independence

The classic positivist tradition studied independence from the point of view of the organization of military units and military operations. Espejo 1882 and Bulnes 1887 are the best examples. In both cases, the linking of the writers with the process of independence influenced their knowledge and judgments. This because Espejo served under the command of José de San Martín, being part of the Army of the Andes, and because Bulnes was the nephew of Francisco Antonio Pinto, who played a leading role in the Chilean forces who fought in the Peruvian war of independence. In the 1970s, works such as Worcester 1971 discussed the history of the wars of independence from a perspective that combined military and geopolitical factors. Since the 1990s, historiographical trends have used the military aspects of the war of independence from a social perspective, considering the presence of subaltern actors who had scarcely been mentioned in previous works. Following Eric Hobsbawm’s categories, Contador 1998 studied the resistance of royalist guerrillas, associating this phenomenon with social banditry. Labarca 2004, from a class perspective, has studied popular presence in the army of José Miguel Carrera in the early stages of independence. She has emphasized their disaffection to the political projects of the creole elites. More recently, Contreras 2011 has incorporated the prism of race and ethnicity, traditionally relegated to a secondary role in the historiography of Chile. This work addresses the participation of artisans in African American military units during independence. The political role of the military in the independence process has been treated by Rolle 1990 and Ossa 2008, the former considering the political and military transformations promoted by revolutionary ideas in Europe, and the latter considering the growing power acquired by the military as a result of the militarization of politics brought about by the revolution.

Bulnes, Gonzalo. Historia de la Expedición Libertadora del Perú. Santiago: Rafael Jover Editor, 1887.
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In these two volumes, Bulnes traces the history of the Ejército Libertadora del Perú, an army which was formed by contingents from Chile, the River Plate, and eventually Peru. Employing the correspondence of Francisco Antonio Pinto, general of the Chilean division, Bulnes concludes that the army of Chile became estranged from the liberating army after suffering the “arrogance” of their comrades in arms from the River Plate.
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Contador, Ana María. Los Pincheira: Un caso de bandidaje social. Chile, 1817–1832. Santiago: Bravo y Allende Editores, 1998.
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This book traces the history of the Pincheiras, a family of peasants turned into guerrilla fighters who fought against the revolutionaries and later confronted the republican army. Contador claims that their case is an example of royalist “social banditry,” showing at the same time the difficulties faced by the new Chilean state to legitimize its political project outside the ruling classes.
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Contreras, Hugo. “Artesanos mulatos y soldados beneméritos: El Batallón de Infantes de la Patria en la Guerra de Independencia de Chile, 1795–1820.” Historia 44.1 (June 2011): 51–89.
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This work traces the history of the Batallón de Infantes de la Patria in the period 1795–1820. This battalion was formed by artisan groups of free Afro-Americans of Santiago, who had links with other artisans who lived in the city during Chile’s struggle for independence. After the outbreak of the war in 1813, they generally became involved in the revolutionary army, creating a sort of esprit de corps that allowed them to be recognized as “loyal citizens” and “soldados beneméritos” by the authorities.
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Espejo, Gerónimo. El Paso de Los Andes: Crónica histórica de las operaciones del Ejército de Los Andes, para la Restauración de Chile en 1817. Buenos Aires: Imprenta y Librería de Mayo, 1882.
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Although this work could be considered a primary military source, it is also a book filled with anecdotes written by a former officer of the Army of the Andes. From this book, the historian can get a good idea of how the army was organized, fed, and trained. Espejo, who was born in the River Plate, had a clear preference for his compatriots, the future Argentines.
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Labarca, Mariana. “José Miguel Carrera y las clases populares, 1811–1813.” In Seminario Simon Collier 2004. Edited by Nicolás Cruz e Iván Jacsic, 91–114. Santiago: Instituto de Historia de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 2004.
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This article studies the relationship between José Miguel Carrera and Chile’s lower classes. Labarca’s hypothesis is that Carrera did not have a real interest in creating a strong connection with the plebe. Popular “indifference” to the revolutionary army, Labarca argues, shows the lack of “patriotism” of the rank-and-file soldiers, especially when Carrera introduced forced conscription in order to face the royalist menace.
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Ossa, Juan Luis. “Ejército, política y revolución en Chile, 1780–1826.” Rivista italiana di studi napoleonici. 61 (Nuova Serie, 2008): 1–2.
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This article summarizes the main political events in which military men were involved during the period 1780–1826. The author argues that officers and soldiers became powerful political figures as a consequence of the militarization of politics after 1810. The author proposes that officers like Carrera, O’Higgins, Freire, and Pinto became undisputed masters of the Chilean territory, and that they built their political bases upon the loyalty of their military comrades.
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Rolle, Claudio. “Los militares como agentes de la revolución.” In La Revolución Francesa y Chile. Edited by Ricardo Krebs and Cristián Gazmuri, 277–301. Santiago: Editorial Universitaria, 1990.
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Rolle presents the hypothesis that the Chilean military of independence were influenced by the French revolutionary and Napoleonic armies when facing the royalist menace. Also, Rolle claims, the military were “agents of the revolution,” as many of them introduced profound changes in the political system during their respective times in office.
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Worcester, Donald E. El poder naval y la Independencia de Chile. Buenos Aires: Editorial Francisco de Aguirre, 1971.
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This book summarizes the main events related to the creation of Chile’s first national navy. The author dedicates various chapters to analyze the role of Thomas Cochrane in the maritime campaigns of the early 1820s, finishing with the capitulation of the Island Chiloé, the last royalist stronghold in Chile, in 1826. This edition includes a useful list of short biographies of the principal figures of Chile’s struggle for independence.
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The Chilean Civil Wars

While the civil war of 1891 has received considerable historiographical attention, this cannot be said of the other civil wars that happened in Chile during the 19th century. Recently, some studies have revisited the 1829–1830 civil war from a political and social point of view. This is the case of Fernández Abara 2004 and Salazar 2006. Fernández Abara studies the participation of the militia in the civil war of 1829–1830, arguing that these institutions became important elements of popular politicization. More recently, Salazar has argued that in the independence period and the civil war of 1829–1830 a dispute broke out between the financial capital of Santiago and the local productive capitals of the provinces. The latter sector was, in his view, supported by liberal military officers. The civil wars of 1851 and 1859 were treated by the classical liberal historiography as antiauthoritarian and decentralization reactions. This is the case of Vicuña Mackenna 1862–1863, which studied the civil war of 1851, presenting a heroic narrative of military strategies made by protagonists. From the 20th century, Díaz Valderrama 1942 was a detailed chronicle of the military conflict. Since the 1970s, Marxist historiography has studied these wars as conflicts between regional elites. Some of these works, like Vitale 1971, analyzed military mobilization adopted by the confronting factions. With regard to the civil war of 1891, 20th-century historians did not pay enough attention to the armed forces and its internal complexity. Thus, military aspects of the conflict focused on the strategic and organizational areas of the opposing forces. This is clear in Díaz Valderrama 1942. More recently, some authors, like those of Víal Correa 2004 and San Francisco 2010, have studied the participation of the armed forces on the eve of the conflict and the consequences this had on them. Víal Correa studied the consequences of the war in the organization, the political attitudes, and the social composition of the army. San Francisco, meanwhile, examined the process of politicization of the military that preceded the war, its involvement in partisan struggles, and the subordination of civilians to the participation of officers in the conflict.

Díaz Valderrama, Francisco Javier. La guerra civil de 1891: Relación histórica militar. 2 vols. Santiago: Imprenta La Sud Americana, 1942.
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Diaz studies the civil war of 1891 from a strictly military point of view. The author discusses in great detail the state of the contenders when they began to organize their forces at the start of the conflict. The work also presents overviews of the characteristics of battlefields and the major campaigns and battles. The book includes detailed drawings and documents of the theaters of operation.
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Fernández Abara, Joaquín. “Los orígenes de la Guardia Nacional y la Construcción del ciudadano soldado (Chile 1823–1833).” Mapocho: Revista de Humanidades 56 (2004): 313–327.
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Fernández Abara claims that between 1823 and 1833 there was a tension between elite members who sought to preserve the corporate and class character of the militias, and the state, which aspired to modernize and industrialize the ideal of the “citizen-soldier.” According to the author, the participation of the militias in civil conflict contributed to the politicization of the popular classes.
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Salazar, Gabriel. Construcción de Estado en Chile (1800–1837): Democracia de los pueblos, militarismo ciudadano, golpismo oligárquico. Santiago: Editorial Sudamericana, 2006.
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Salazar contends that during the independence period a process of citizen militarism crystallized under the “militia generation of 1822.” The group, which was heir to the tradition of Cabildo meetings and colonial militias and was composed of civilians who joined the army following republican and democratic ideals, was defeated in 1829–1830 by the Army of the South and what Salazar calls the “mercantile patriciate.”
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San Francisco, Alejandro. La Guerra Civil de 1891 Chile: Un país, dos ejércitos, miles de muertos. 2 vols. Santiago: Centro de Estudios Bicentenario, 2010.
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San Francisco studies the civil war of 1891 focusing on the political role of the Chilean armed forces. The author notes that on the eve of the war the military experienced a growing process of politicization. In fact, they began to deliberate political matters and, while both sides required their intervention, assumed administrative responsibilities.
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Víal Correa, Gonzalo. “El ejército en la Guerra Civil de 1891.” In Primera Jornada de Historia Militar: Siglos XVII-XIX, 183–193. Santiago: Departamento de Historia Militar del Ejército, 2004.
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Víal Correa discusses the effects of the civil war of 1891 in the Chilean army. He argues that the war altered the social composition of the officer corps, displacing the former provincial military families from their leading position, accelerating the process of Prussianization and generating an attitude toward political intervention within the army.
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Vicuña Mackenna, Benjamín. Historia de los diez años de la administración de don Manuel Montt. 5 vols. Santiago: Imprenta Chilena, 1862–1863.
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Although the title of this work suggests an analysis of Manuel Montt’s entire government, Vicuña’s book focuses on the civil war of 1851. In a highly documented, yet dynamic work, the author addresses the conflict from a political and military perspective, emphasizing the different alternatives faced by the rebel commanders.
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Vitale, Luis. Las Guerras Civiles de 1851 y 1859 en Chile. Instituto Central de Sociología. Concepción: Universidad de Concepción, 1971.
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From a Marxist perspective, Vitale argues that the civil wars of the mid-19th century were violent expressions of social contradictions generated by the capitalist development in Chile. The author addresses the role these expressions played in the conformation of the Army of the Frontier, and the militias and rural guerrillas of the south of the country.
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The Occupation of the Araucany

The traditional view of the process of occupation in the Mapuche Frontier (sometimes known also as the pacification of the Araucany) emphasized the role played by the military in the design and implementation of the strategy of domination through the advancement of defensive lines. This vision was established by pioneering works such as Navarro Rojas 1909, an army officer who participated in military campaigns in the Araucany and made a thorough job of collecting documentary sources that complemented his experiential knowledge. Later, works such as Ferrando Keun 1986 and Ravest Mora 1997 gave continuity to this vision. These are essentially military chronicles that described battles and the participation of the high commands of the army in different periods of the conflict. Since the 1980s, historians influenced by anthropology, ethnohistory, and “frontier studies” have studied the role played by officers in the Araucany, especially given their role as mediators with the indigenous world. Some aspects of these new trends were already noted in Leiva 1984, which shows the influence of anthropology. This is even more evident in Bengoa 1985 and Pinto Rodríguez 2000, which have argued that until the 1850s the military had a rather pragmatic and transactional attitude toward the indigenous communities, using mediation institutions and practices that were inherited from the colonial period. This vision of the conflict changed in the middle of the 19th century, when the military took a leading role in the occupation of the Araucany and in the process of incorporation of the frontier to the national state, a process that acquired warlike and violent characteristics as the conflict deepened. More recently, León 2005, within the logic of frontier studies, has refuted the latter historians, arguing that during the occupation of the Araucany military commanders were concerned with preventing illegal land requisitions and maintained communication and partnerships with indigenous leaders, who, in turn, had pragmatic relationships with the officers of the Chilean army. At present, new perspectives, such as Vilaboa Blome and Schiappacasse Retamal 2007, have analyzed the occupation considering how military decisions influenced urban architecture and the landscape of the frontier.

Bengoa, José. Historia del pueblo mapuche: Siglos XIX y XX. Santiago: Ediciones SUR, 1985.
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Bengoa argues that until the pacification, the army of the frontier was small and poorly equipped, its main task being to secure the correct functioning of trade activity. The army used a system of local mediators inherited from the colonial period. In the 1860s, the military participated in the discussion and implementation of strategies for frontier expansion.
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Ferrando Keun, Ricardo. Y así nació la Frontera. . . Conquista, guerra, ocupación, pacificación, 1550–1900. Santiago: Editorial Antártica, 1986.
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Ferrando Keun wrote a general history of the frontier. However, most of it, from the fourth to the ninth chapter, is devoted to the 19th century and the occupation of the Araucany. The author pays great attention to the role played by the army and navy in advancing frontier lines as well as to the help given by the state to settlers coming from outside the region.
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Leiva, Arturo. El primer avance a la Araucanía: Angol 1862. Santiago: Ediciones Universidad de la Frontera, 1984.
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Leiva addresses the causes that led to the refounding of the city Angol in 1862. In the author’s opinion, this process marked a turning point in the history of the frontier, as it allowed the Chilean state to begin the occupation of the Araucany. The author highlights the role played by the military, especially by Cornelio Saavedra, in the planning and conducting of the event.
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León, Leonardo. “Lonkos y generales: Epistolario de la pacificación de la Araucanía.” In Segunda Jornada de Historia Militar. 95–107. Santiago: Departamento de historia militar, 2005.
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León argues that the pacification of the Araucany has been little studied, and that in general propagandistic analyses have prevailed over historiographical reflection. Studying epistolary sources between “lonko” Mapuche and Chilean military authorities, he provides a revisionist interpretation, arguing that the latter were especially concerned with preventing fraudulent dispossession of indigenous lands.
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Navarro Rojas, Leandro. Crónica militar de la conquista y la pacificación de la Araucanía desde el año 1859 hasta su completa incorporación al territorio nacional. Santiago: Imprenta y Encuadernación Lourdes, 1909.
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Navarro Rojas studies the occupation of the Araucany from 1859 to the end of military rule in the frontier in 1887. The author analyzes the strategies and projects that led to the domination of the Chilean state in the frontier, recounts the progress and confrontation between the regular army and the Mapuche people, and includes biographical profiles of the principal military commands.
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Pinto Rodríguez, Jorge. La formación del estado y la nación, y el pueblo Mapuche: De la inclusión a la exclusión. Santiago: Instituto de Estudios Avanzados, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, 2000.
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Pinto Rodríguez argues that since independence the state assigned the army the role of an intervention agent in the frontier. Until the mid-19th century the military acted with great autonomy in stipulating agreements with the Mapuches. Since the 1850s, the military and state bureaucracy led the incorporation of the territory into the national state.
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Ravest Mora, Manuel. Ocupación militar de la Araucanía (1861–1883). Santiago: Editorial Licanray, 1997.
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Ravest Mora addresses the process of occupation and incorporation to the Chilean state of the so-called high frontier. He argues that indigenous participation in the civil war of 1859 broke the precarious balance of the frontier, forcing the governments to opt for military occupation. The author emphasizes the role played by Cornelio Saavedra in that strategic decision.
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Vilaboa Blome, Wilma, and Gino Schiappacasse Retamal. “Ocupación territorial de un fragmento: Estrategia militar en la frontera de Chile en el siglo XIX.” Urbano 10.15 (May 2007): 36–40.
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Schiappacasse Retamal and Vilaboa Blome study the process of military occupation of the frontier considering its territorial effects. The authors argue that the establishment of defensive lines, combined with the geography of the frontier, created a fragmented settlement pattern, which was overcome only in the late 19th century.
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International Wars

While the War of the Pacific has received the greatest attention from historians, reflected in a rich historiography, other international conflicts that involved Chile during the 19th century have not received the same attention. With respect to literature on the subject, the 19th-century positivist historiography focused primarily on the narrative of military operations. This is the case of Bulnes 1878, which studied the war against the Peru-Bolivian Confederation, and Williams Rebolledo 1901, which studied the war with Spain. The authors of both combined personal knowledge of the conflicts and actors with documentary research: Bulnes because was the son of Manuel Bulnes, who led the campaign of Peru in 1838; and Williams Rebolledo because of his leading role in naval operations during the war with Spain. Subsequently, between 1950 and 1970, works by American authors, such as Davis 1950 and Burr 1974, addressed some of these conflicts from the point of view of international relations. For this purpose they focused on the military and naval power of Chile during the 20th century. More recently, studies have taken up the interest in the study of the war against the Confederation from new perspectives. Rubio Araya 2009 and Cid 2011 have studied the way in which the conflict was linked to national identities. Rubio Araya takes into account the problem of recruitment and training, while Cid addresses the building of a heroic pantheon of military men. Historians belonging to the army, such as the author of Zauritz Sepúlveda 2009, have also examined this war, especially in regards to the organization of the armed forces. However, it is clear that international wars in the 19th century have not received a level of attention commensurate with their importance. This is all the more true in the case of the war against Spain.

Bulnes, Gonzalo. Historia de la campaña del Perú en 1838. Santiago: Imprenta los tiempos, 1878.
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Bulnes addresses the Chilean campaign in Peru in 1838, as part of the war against the Peru-Bolivian Confederation. Using a large corpus of archival sources, private correspondence, newspapers, and memoirs, his work is primarily a military chronicle, which begins with the first naval operations and ends with the triumphant reception of the army back in Santiago.
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Burr, Robert N. By Reason or Force: Chile and the Balancing of Power in South America (1830–1905). Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974.
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Burr examines the effort of Chile to maintain a balance of power in South America considering diplomatic and military issues. This work analyzes the participation of Chile in South American wars, like the wars against the Peru-Bolivian Confederation, the war against Spain (1865–1866), and the War of the Pacific, addressing also the state of their naval forces.
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Cid, Gabriel. La guerra contra la Confederación: Imaginario nacionalista y memoria colectiva en el siglo XIX chileno. Santiago: Ediciones Universidad Diego Portales, 2011.
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The author analyzes the war against the Peru-Bolivian Confederation from a sociocultural approach, focusing on national identities. Among other things, the author discusses and debates on the legitimacy of the war and the role of the formation of a “heroic pantheon” composed of military figures in what he calls Chile’s “nationalist imaginary.”
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Davis, William Columbus. The Last Conquistadores: The Spanish Intervention in Perú and Chile. 1863–1866. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1950.
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Davis discusses the war of Spain against Peru and Chile between 1863 and 1866. The author addresses the diplomatic and economic aspects of the conflict and analyzes the naval operations of the war. He refers to the state of the opposing forces and describes the main strategies followed by the contestants and their confrontations in the battlefield.
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Góngora, Mario. Ensayo histórico sobre la noción de estado en Chile en los siglos XIX y XX. Santiago: Editorial Universitaria, 1986.
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In this book, Mario Góngora argues that the war of independence acted as the first catalyst of a “properly national sentiment.” For him, independence was the first of a series of military conflicts that gave Chile its actual political character, a process much more deepened as a consequence of the involvement of the army in the war against the Peru-Bolivian Confederation and the War of the Pacific.
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Rubio Araya, Mariel. “Por la razón o la fuerza: Reclutamiento militar durante la Guerra Contra la Confederación Perú-Boliviana.” In Guerra, región y nación: La Confederación Perú-Boliviana. Edited by Carlos Donoso Rojas and Jaime Rossenblit, 285–307. Santiago: Universidad Andrés Bello, Centro de Investigaciones Diego Barros Arana, 2009.
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Rubio studies the process of nation-building in Chile through military drafting in the war against the Peru-Bolivian Confederation. To that end, he looks into the changing mechanisms of recruitment and patriotic speeches throughout the war, arguing that this situation helped the state to dialogue with the masses.
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Williams Rebolledo, Juan. Breve narración histórica de la contienda de Chile y Perú contra España. Santiago: Imprenta elzeviriana, 1901.
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Williams Rebolledo narrates the war from the point of view of naval operations, focusing on war plans, status of military commanders, and battles. The author draws from his personal recollections of the war as well as from official documents, some of which are exposed in a documentary appendix.
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Zauritz Sepúlveda, Waldo. “Organización del Ejército Restaurador para la Guerra contra la confederación Perú Boliviana.” In Guerra, región y nación: La Confederación Perú-Boliviana. Edited by Carlos Donoso Rojas and Jaime Rossenblit, 253–284. Santiago: Universidad Andrés Bello, Centro de Investigaciones Diego Barros Arana, 2009.
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Zauritz Sepúlveda studies the organization and composition of the Ejército Restaurador del Perú. The author emphasizes the role played by Diego Portales in this task, arguing that after his death, the government gave continuity to his guidelines. He also argues that 38 percent of the forces was made up of soldiers belonging to the regular army, with the rest of soldiers forcibly recruited.
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The War of the Pacific

Although the War of the Pacific could be included among the international wars the Chilean state fought throughout the 19th century, given the significant amount of works dedicated exclusively to this conflict, the literature on the conflicts deserves its own section. Following a diachronic character, the classic works on the War of the Pacific explained the causes of the conflict by focusing on diplomatic aspects and military campaigns. This trend was inaugurated by works such as Barros Arana 1880–1881 and had its fullest expression in Bulnes 1912–1919, which has become recognized as the most complete and documented treatment of the subject. These works were crossed by a strong nationalism and triumphalism, trends that in the case of Barros Arana were more acute than in Bulnes due to its propaganda character. Late in the 20th century, historians like Sater 1986 did not abandon the concerns of 19th-century authors but enriched them with the treatment of internal political conflicts provoked by the war and with the analysis of the complexity of civil-military relations. In a similar manner, and as can be seen in the work of Sater, the nationalist approach has given way to a critical analysis that problematizes the difficulties and shortcomings with which Chile fought the war. More recent research has focused on the actors and their experiences, exploring dimensions of everyday military life during the conflict. Rodríguez Rautcher 1986 was a pioneer in addressing the situation of the troops who fought in the War of the Pacific, both from the standpoint of military administration and from the experiences of regular soldiers. In the 2000s, new studies have reinforced this line of research, denoting the influence of the history of private life and social history. This is the case of Méndez Notari 2004, which studies the situation of war veterans, and Donoso and Couyoumdjian 2005, which treats the experiences of common soldiers. Ibarra Cifuentes 2011, meanwhile, has studied the situation of prisoners of war. Finally, it is worth mentioning the contributions of McEvoy 2011, which addresses the war from a culturalist view, considering the different political and cultural discourses employed by the Chilean government to justify the intervention of the army in Peru.

Barros Arana, Diego. Historia de la Guerra del Pacífico 1879–1881. 2 vols. Santiago: Imprenta Guntemberg, 1880–1881.
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Barros Arana studied the causes of the war, the first military operations, and the campaign of Lima in a diachronic and descriptive narrative, centered in diplomatic and military affairs. It was written during the war to defend Chile’s position before Europe’s public opinion.
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Bulnes, Gonzalo. La Guerra del Pacífico. 3 vols. Valparaíso, Chile: Imprenta Universo, 1912–1919.
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Bulnes bequeathed the most comprehensive and scholarly works on the War of the Pacific. This is his three-volume story, ranging from the origins of the war to the peace with Peru. It focuses on political, diplomatic, and military aspects. The author consulted an enormous corpus of archival sources and interviewed players in the conflict.
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Donoso, Carlos, and Juan Ricardo Couyoumdjian. “De soldado orgulloso a veterano indigente: La Guerra del Pacífico.” In Historia de la vida privada en Chile, volume II. El Chile moderno de 1845 y 1925. Edited by Rafael Sagredo and Cristián Gazmuri, 237–273. Santiago: Taurus, 2005.
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Donoso and Couyoumdjian study the Chilean soldiers deployed in the War of the Pacific from the perspective of their daily experiences from recruitment to the postwar period. The authors address the problems faced by soldiers both in campaigning and in periods of peace, presenting the army’s strategies to take care of them.
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Ibarra Cifuentes, Patricio. “Vivir la guerra en cautiverio: Prisioneros en la Guerra del Pacífico (1879–1883).” In Chile y la Guerra del Pacífico. Edited by Carlos Donoso Rojas and Gonzalo Serrano del Pozo, 155–174. Santiago: Universidad Andrés Bello, Centro de Estudios Bicentenario, 2011.
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Ibarra Cifuentes’s chapter studies the treatment given to prisoners by both sides. He notes that prisoners received treatment according to international law, although this situation changed during the Campaign of the Sierra. He also argues that the murder of prisoners and wounded took place only in specific situations.
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McEvoy, Carmen. Guerreros civilizadores: Política y sociedad en Chile durante la Guerra del Pacífico. Santiago: Ediciones Universidad Diego Portales, 2011.
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From a culturalist perspective, McEvoy argues that Chilean elites developed a civilizing discourse during the War of the Pacific. She also examines the experiences of the soldiers through chronicles and letters, arguing that they generated a “memory industry” of a patriotic character.
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Méndez Notari, Carlos. Héroes del silencio: Los veteranos de la Guerra del Pacífico (1884–1924). Santiago: Centro de Estudios Bicentenario, 2004.
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Méndez Notari presents a study of the veterans of the War of the Pacific through quantitative and qualitative methods. The author focuses on the characterization of veterans, describing their organizations, accounting the policies implemented by the state to face their demands, and analyzing the role of the Catholic Church when addressing their situation.
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Rodríguez Rautcher, Sergio. Problemática del soldado durante la Guerra del Pacífico. Santiago: Estado Mayor General del Ejército, 1986.
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Rodríguez Rautcher studies the role of the Chilean troops during the War of the Pacific, emphasizing their main problems, from the time they were listed until they were licensed. He discusses how the authorities faced these challenges and describes the administration system of the staff of the army.
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Sater, William F. Chile and the War of the Pacific. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1986.
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Sater analyzes the situation in Chile during the War of the Pacific from a primarily military and political perspective. He notes that at the time of declaration of the war, the army was ill prepared, while treating the conflicts between career officers and civilian politicians over the best method to conduct the offensive.
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Foreign Influences

Studies on foreign influences in the Chilean armed forces have primarily concentrated on the so-called Prussianization that took place in the country since 1885. Authors have emphasized the causes and consequences of this phenomenon, both in the organization of the army and in its relations with politics. Most of these studies have argued that the Prussianization helped to modernize and professionalize the army. Works as different as Nunn 1970, Quiroga and Maldonado 1988, Fischer 1999, and Brahm García 2003 agreed in this respect. However, a few books have challenged this interpretation. Sater and Herwig 1999, for example, stressed the difficulties and limitations of this process. Others like Nunn and Fisher showed the links between Prussianization and politics. Thus, Nunn has argued that the effects of the professionalization of the army explain the reformism and political discontent of the young officers at the end of the Parliamentary period that led to the military interventions of the 1920s. On the other hand, Fisher has analyzed the role of the Prussianization in the transformation of the army into an active agent for the preservation of social order, especially due to the police functions adopted by the army. From a Marxist perspective, Quiroga and Maldonado have seen the effects of the Prussianization in the relationship between the army and the ruling classes, as well as their view of the social conflicts of the period. More recently, Puigmal 2005 and Puigmal 2007 have again highlighted the importance of the French influence in the Chilean army during the early years of the Republic, a topic that has not received much attention from historians in the last decades. Puigmal’s work has focused on the role played by Napoleonic officers in the establishment of a French military model in the aftermath of Chile’s struggle for independence.

Brahm García, Enrique. Preparados para la guerra: Pensamiento militar chileno bajo influencia alemana 1885–1930. Santiago: Ediciones Universidad Católica de Chile, 2003.
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Brahm García discusses the German military influence in the Chilean army. After analyzing the process of military professionalization associated with the Prussianization, Brahm García emphasizes the influence of the German strategy in Chile’s warfare plans. The author studies particularly the analysis of the plans prepared by the Chilean army against a possible war with Argentina.
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Fischer, Ferenc. El modelo militar prusiano y las Fuerzas Armadas de Chile 1885–1945: Ensayos. Pécs, Hungary: University Press, 1999.
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In a series of essays, Fischer studies the process of Prussianization, its avatars, and its effects, both doctrinal and formal, in the Chilean army. He claims that the Prussianization allowed the modernization of the army and that this influenced the new police functions the army began to exercise at the end of the 19th century.
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Nunn, Frederick M. “Emil Körner and the Prussianization of the Chilean Army: Origins, Process, and Consequences, 1885–1920.” Hispanic American Historical Review 50.2 (May 1970): 300–322.
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Nunn analyzes the process of Prussianization of the Chilean army, emphasizing the role of Emil Körner. The reforms of the German instructors modernized the army, while they helped to generate a group of highly trained officers who came into conflict with their superiors and political authorities, creating the conditions for the military intervention of 1920.
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Puigmal, Patrick. “Influencia francesa durante las guerras de Independencia de Chile: De lo militar a lo político.” In Segunda Jornada de Historia Militar: Siglos XIX y XX, 17–25. Santiago: Departamento de Historia Militar, 2005.
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According to Puigmal, the French influence on the army during the independence period has been little studied. The author argues that the Napoleonic officers responded to a republican political project when they got involved in Chile’s struggle for independence. He also argues that their influence was felt in different areas, instructional models and uniforms being the most important.
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Puigmal, Patrick. “La influencia francesa en la política militar del Gobierno de O’Higgins 1817–1818.” Revista del Libertador Bernardo O’Higgins 24.24 (2007): 141–155.
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Puigmal’s hypothesis is that the Napoleonic officers who arrived in Chile during the independence period influenced Bernardo O’Higgins’s government. The author notes that this influence can be seen in the creation of the Military Academy, the organization of the Nautical School, and the establishment of the Legión de Mérito.
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Quiroga, Patricio, and Carlos Maldonado. El prusianismo en las Fuerzas Armadas chilenas. Santiago: Documentas/Estudio, 1988.
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Maldonado and Quiroga study the effects of the Prussianization of the Chilean army from a Marxist perspective, arguing that this process introduced in the army an ideological rationality that reacted against a social change of an anti-capitalist character. Although such thinking was consistent with that of the ruling classes, the officers reached a significant degree of autonomy with respect to the interests of their original social class.
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Sater, William F., and Holger H. Herwig. The Grand Illusion: The Prussianization of the Chilean Army. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1999.
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Sater and Herwig argue that the Chilean army absorbed only superficial aspects of Germany’s military culture. The causes of this failure would lay in the unwillingness of the state to spend resources in military training, in the absence of adequate social and political institutions and in the corruption generated by the economic interests of the German military industry and Emil Körner himself.
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