Consequences of the War of the Pacific

The War of the Pacific had a profound impact on the societies of the involved countries.

Diplomatic changes
After the war Chile had obtained military hegemony in Pacific coast of South America. Chile's expansion was seen with concern across the continent and Chilean diplomats responded to this by fomenting rivalries Chile's neighbors and other South American countries while promoting friendly relationships between countries with disputes with Chile's neighbors. Examples of this are the Chilean attempts to establish friendly relationships between Ecuador and Colombia, both were countries that had serious territorial disputes with Peru in the Amazon. Military cooperation with Ecuador grew considerably with Chile sending instructors to the military academy in Quito and selling superfluous arms and munitions to Ecuador.

Territorial disputes arising from the war
During the war Chile dropped its claims on more than 1000000 km2 of Patagonia in the 1881 Chile/Argentina treaty, to ensure Argentina's neutrality. After the war, the Puna de Atacama dispute grew until 1899, since both Chile and Argentina claimed former Bolivian territories. On August 28, 1929, Chile returned the province of Tacna to Peru. In 1999, Chile and Peru at last agreed to fully implement the Treaty of Lima (1929), providing Peru with a port in Arica.

Bolivia as a landlocked state
For Bolivians, the loss of the Litoral (the coast) remained a deeply emotional and practical issue, as was particularly evident during the 2003 natural gas riots. Popular belief attributed many of the country's problems to its landlocked condition; recovering the seacoast was seen as the solution to these difficulties. Numerous Bolivian Presidents pressured Chile for sovereign access to the sea. Diplomatic relations with Chile were severed on March 17, 1978, in spite of considerable commercial ties. The leading Bolivian newspaper El Diario featured at least a weekly editorial on the subject, and the Bolivian people annually celebrated a patriotic "Dia del Mar" (Day of the Sea) to remember the crippling loss. More recently, former Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez brought up the issue and his support for Bolivian irredentism by declaring "Quiero nadar en mares bolivianos." (I want to swim in Bolivian seas). Chile for its part has said that there is no question of returning any part of Bolivia's Pacific coast, stating that wars of conquest were normal at that time, that the area has been completely assimilated racially and culturally into Chile, and that Bolivia should accept the outcome of the war as a fait accompli.

Politically, Narciso Campero ushered in a new era of civilian constitutional government that would last under the 1880 Constitution until defeat in the Chaco War with Paraguay radicalized opponents of the ruling elite.

Fate of war loot
In 2007 the Chilean government returned almost 4,000 books to Peru's national library, more than a century after they were taken by Chilean soldiers in hopes that the return of the books may go some way to improving the two nations’ relations.

Chilean economic boom and decline
As the victor and possessor of a new coastal territory following the War of the Pacific, Chile benefited by gaining a lucrative territory with significant mineral income. The national treasury grew by 900 percent between 1879 and 1902, due to taxes coming from the newly acquired lands. British involvement and control of the nitrate industry rose significantly, but from 1901 to 1921 Chilean ownership increased from 15% to 51%. The growth of Chilean economy sustained in its saltpetre monopoly meant, compared to the previous growth cycle (1832–1873), that the economy became less diversified and overly dependent on a single natural resource. In addition the Chilean nitrate, used world-wide as fertilized, was sensitive to economic downturns as farmers made cuts on fertilizer use one of their earliest economic measures in the face of economic decline. It has been questioned on whether the nitrate wealth conquered in the War of the Pacific was a resource curse or not. During the Nitrate Epoch the government increased public spending but was however accused of squandering money.

Rise of national superiority ideas
Ericka Beckman argued that during and after the war there was a rise of racial and national superiority ideas among the Chilean ruling class. Chilean historian Gonzalo Bulnes (son of president Manuel Bulnes) once wrote, "What defeated Peru was the superiority of a race and of a history". During the occupation of Tacna and Arica (1884–1929) the Peruvian people and nation were treated in racist and denigrating terms by the Chilean press. During the war Peruvians were despectivly referred to as "cholos" by Chilean officers.

Consequences for indigenous peoples
After the occupation of Lima Chile diverted part of its war efforts to crush Mapuche resistance in the south. Chilean troops coming from Peru entered Araucanía where they in 1881 defeated the last major Mapuche uprising. Chile's newly acquired Aymara population was seen after the war as a "foreign element" contrasting with the also newly conquered Mapuches who were seen as "primordial" Chileans.

In the aftermath of the war, the indigenous populations of Peru became scapegoats in the narratives of Peruvian criollo elites, exemplified in the writing of Ricardo Palma:

"The principal cause of the great defeat is that the majority of Peru is composed of that wretched and degraded race that we once attempted to dignify and ennoble. The Indian lacks patriotic sense; he is born enemy of the white and of the man of the coast. It makes no difference to him whether he is a Chilean or a Turk. To educate the Indian and to inspire him a feeling for patriotism will not be the task of our institutions, but of the ages."

Unrest and war trauma in Peru


According to Bruce W. Farcau, "in Peru, the wounds run less deep than in neighboring Bolivia". After the War of the Pacific, Peru was left without saltpeter production, the Chilean controlled production decreased to 15%, and production controlled by British investors rose to 55%. According to military historian Robert L. Scheina, the Chilean plunder of Peruvian national literary and art treasures contributed to "demands of revenge among Peruvians for decades." Scholar Brooke Larson pointed out that the War of the Pacific was the "first time since independence wars" that "Peru was invaded, occupied and pillaged by a foreign army" and that "no other Andean republic experienced such a costly and humiliating defeat as Peru did in the hands of Chile".

The war and post-war period was one of profound political and social instability for Peru. The war shook the whole social order of Peru: armed indigenous peasants sacked and occupied haciendas of landed elite criollo "collaborationists" in the central Sierra, Chinese coolies revolted and even joined the Chilean Army, indigenous and mestizo Peruvians murdered Chinese shopkeepers in Lima, black slaves rose against their masters and fought equally the Chinese, Peruvian mobs sacked Chiclayo at the same time different criollo elite remained deeply divided in opposing camps. The fear of disorder, opposing factions and armed peasants was for many Peruvians larger than that of the Chilean invaders. In some cases, the delegations of European countries and the United States provided safety during riots and persecutions.

The War of the Pacific also sparked an indigenous peasant guerrilla movement throughout the central Sierra against Chileans and collaborationist landlords. In 1884 Cáceres turned against his former guerrilla allies in order to defend the old order. In 1886 and 1888 the Cáceres sent troops to the central sierra to disarm the peasants. The lack of rule of law in central sierra was such that, in one particular case, a landowner was only able to recover his occupied estate in 1902 after a massive mobilization of military, police and gunmen.

Rise of war heroes
Miguel Grau became an important figure in Peru due to his alleged gallantry during the conflict, especially his treatment of Prat's family and rescue of Chilean sailors in Iquique, which gained him recognition as the Caballero de los Mares ("Gentleman of the Seas").