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56-636: Possessing a great sense of strategy and analysis in battle, he was always underestimated by the contemporary media due to his Peruvian origin (on his mother's side). His victories in unbalanced conditions were decisive to the triumph of Chile in the War of the Pacific . Carlos Condell was born August 14, 1843, in Valparaíso , Chile . His father was the Scottish merchant marine Federico Condell, and his mother

112-573: A Chilean founder of the Banco de Bolivia and a prominent member of the National Party . A Santiago newspaper claimed that Melchor de Concha y Toro offered President Pinto 2,000,000 Chilean pesos to end the dispute and to return to the 1874 border. "In other words," writes W. Sater, "there were as many powerful interests opposed to helping the Compañía de Salitres as there were those seeking to aid

168-618: A dispute with Chile over the Strait of Magellan and Patagonia , was secretly invited to join the pact, and in September 1873, the Argentine Chamber of Deputies approved the treaty and 6,000,000 Argentine peso for war preparations. Eventually, Argentina and Bolivia did not agree on the territories of Tarija and Chaco , and Argentina also feared an alliance of Chile with Brazil. The Argentine Senate postponed and then rejected

224-689: A marine resupply corridor for its forces in the world's driest desert. Afterwards, Chile's land campaign overcame the Bolivian and Peruvian armies. Bolivia withdrew after the Battle of Tacna , on 26 May 1880, leaving allied Peru fighting alone for most of the war. Chilean forces occupied Peru's capital Lima in January 1881. Remnants and irregulars of the Peruvian army waged a guerrilla war but could not prevent war-weary Peruvian factions from reaching

280-493: A merchant. He opened a store in Valparaíso which only lasted for 7 months: he returned to the navy and was assigned to the ship Esmeralda . In December 1868, he participated in the honorable mission to return the remains of Bernardo O'Higgins back to Chile. Later, he served in the ships Abtao and Chacabuco . In the following years, he sailed to the islands of Juan Fernández and to the south of Chile. Ending 1876, aboard

336-528: A peace deal with Chile involving territorial cessions. Chile and Peru signed the Treaty of Ancón on 20 October 1883. Bolivia signed a truce with Chile in 1884. Chile acquired the Peruvian territory of Tarapacá , the disputed Bolivian department of Litoral (turning Bolivia into a landlocked country ), and temporary control over the Peruvian provinces of Tacna and Arica . In 1904, Chile and Bolivia signed

392-592: A well-known enemy ship captured in the Battle of Angamos : The Huáscar . He used the monitor to siege and block the port of El Callao and other conflicts of the War of the Pacific. The rejection and animosity among the Peruvian people was on the rise due to several combat encounters in which Condell emerged triumphant. Exactly three years after the battles of the Iquique and the Punta Gruesa (May 21, 1881), Condell

448-681: Is now Mexico, nor the "Guano War" as the Chincha Islands War is sometimes named. The war largely settled (or set up, depending on one's point of view) the "Tacna-Arica dispute", and is sometimes known by that name as well, although the details took decades to resolve. Wanu ( Spanish : guano ) is a Quechua word for fertilizer. Potassium nitrate (ordinary saltpeter) and sodium nitrate (Chile saltpeter) are nitrogen-containing compounds collectively referred to as salpeter, saltpetre, salitre, caliche, or nitrate. They are used as fertilizer, but have other important uses. Saltpeter

504-571: Is used to make gunpowder. Atacama is a Chilean region south of the Atacama Desert , which mostly coincides with the disputed Antofagasta province, known in Bolivia as Litoral . When most of South America gained independence from Spain and Portugal in the 19th century the demarcation of frontiers was uncertain, particularly in remote, thinly populated portions of the newly independent nations. Bolivia and Chile's Atacama border dispute , in

560-666: The Colegio de los Sagrados Corazones ( School of the Sacred Heart ) between 1849 and 1854, and then at the Colegio Inglés ( English School ). At the age of fifteen (July 29, 1858), Condell joined the navy as a cadet , forming part of the renowned Curso de los Héroes ( Class of the Heroes ) together with Arturo Prat , Juan José Latorre , Jorge Montt and Luis Uribe . Three years later (July 15, 1861), Condell achieved

616-476: The Treaty of Peace and Friendship , which established definite boundaries. The 1929 Tacna–Arica compromise gave Arica to Chile and Tacna to Peru. The conflict is also known as the " Saltpeter War", the "Ten Cents War" (in reference to the controversial ten- centavo tax imposed by the Bolivian government), and the "Second Pacific War". It is not to be confused with the pre-Columbian Saltpeter War , in what

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672-571: The ironclad Atahualpa to Peru. The monitor sailed from New Orleans, La. in early January 1869 arriving in Peru in June 1870. As a reward, he was appointed as commander of the frigate Independencia and in 1877, General Commander of the Southern Fleet. As such he directed the actions to recapture the monitor Huáscar which had been captured by Nicolás de Piérola and had rebelled against

728-1356: The national navy , a position he had to leave due to a serious disease. Nevertheless, on August 17 he was promoted to the rank of rear admiral ( Contraalmirante in Spanish). Carlos Condell died in Quilpué , on November 24, 1887, at the early age of 44. His remains were carried to the Crypt of the Naval Heroes ( Cripta de los Héroes Navales ) in Valparaíso . War of the Pacific Chilean victory [REDACTED]   Bolivia 1879 (prewar) Bolivian Army : 1,687 [REDACTED]   Peru Peruvian Army : 5,557 Peruvian Navy : 4 ironclads 7 wooden ships 2 torpedo boats 1880 [REDACTED]   Chile 1879 (prewar) Chilean Army : 2,440 men Chilean Navy : 2 ironclads 9 wooden ships 4 torpedo boats Loa Line and Altiplano campaign Tarapacá campaign Tacna and Arica campaign Lynch Expedition Lima campaign Chilean occupation of Peru Breña campaign 1881 1882 1883 Arequipa-Puno Line The War of

784-530: The Bolivian government, presided by Hilarión Daza , considered this an internal issue subject to the jurisdiction of the Bolivian courts. Chile insisted that the breach of the treaty would mean that the territorial borders denoted in it were no longer settled. Despite this, Hilarión Daza rescinded the license of the Chilean company, seized its assets and put it up for auction. On the day of the auction, 14 February 1879, Chile's armed forces occupied without resistance

840-551: The Bolivian port city of Antofagasta , which was mostly inhabited by Chilean miners. War was declared between Bolivia and Chile on 1 March 1879, and between Chile and Peru on 5 April 1879. Battles were fought on the Pacific Ocean , in the Atacama Desert, the Peruvian deserts , and the mountainous interior of Peru. For the first five months, the war played out in a naval campaign , as Chile struggled to establish

896-710: The British Navy as an ensign in 1854. Later he returned to Peru and was commissioned in the Peruvian Navy . He served in the frigates Apurímac , Izcuchaca and Huaraz , as well as the Guise and the pontoon Iquique . In 1866, during the Chincha Islands War , he was appointed commander of the corvette Unión . A few months later, Captain Moore took a Peruvian Navy crew to the United States to bring

952-506: The British minister in Lima, Spencer St. John: "the rival parties may try to make political capital out of jealousy for the national honor, and His Excellency [Peruvian President Prado] may be forced to give way to the popular sentiment." Chilean President Pinto was under similar pressures. Bruce Farcau considers that to be the main cause for the war outbreak: "The argument that the attitude of

1008-596: The Chincha Islands and other guano islands were depleted or nearly so. William Edmundson writes in A History of the British Presence in Chile , "Peru has its own reasons to enter the dispute. Rory Miller (1993) argues that the depletion of guano resources and poor management of the economy in Peru had provoked a crisis. This has caused Peru to default on its external debt in 1876.... In that year [1875]

1064-534: The Corvette Esmeralda , he travelled to Easter Island and Tahiti . In March 1872, Carlos Condell again decided to withdraw from the navy, seeking again the merchant life of his father, but his business never achieved good results. In Valparaíso, he met a young woman of only 16 who became his future wife, Matilde Lemus Valdivieso. They married on September 26, 1877. They had four children. In March 1876, after four years of civilian life, he returned to

1120-406: The Pacific (Spanish: Guerra del Pacífico ), also known by multiple other names , was a war between Chile and a Bolivian–Peruvian alliance from 1879 to 1884. Fought over Chilean claims on coastal Bolivian territory in the Atacama Desert , the war ended with victory for Chile, which gained a significant amount of resource-rich territory from Peru and Bolivia . The direct cause of the war

1176-401: The Peruvian government decided to procure a loan of seven millions pounds of which four millions pounds were earmarked to purchase privately owned oficinas [salitreras]... and Peru defaulted again in 1877." To increase guano revenue, Peru created a monopoly on nitrate commerce in 1875. Its aims were to increase prices, curb exports and to impede competition, but most larger nitrate firms opposed

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1232-515: The Spanish Empire between Chile and Peru, leaving Charcas without sea access. The dry climate of the Peruvian and Bolivian coasts had permitted the accumulation and preservation of vast amounts of high-quality guano deposits and sodium nitrate. In the 1840s, Europeans knew the value of guano and nitrate as fertilizer and the role of saltpeter in explosives. The Atacama Desert became economically important. Bolivia, Chile, and Peru were in

1288-450: The approval, but in 1875 and 1877, after border disputes with Chile flared up anew, Argentina sought to join the treaty. At the onset of the war, in a renewed attempt, Peru offered Argentina the Chilean territories from 24° to 27° S if Argentina adhered to the pact and fought in the war. Historians including G. Bulnes, Basadre, and Yrigoyen agree that the real intention of the treaty was to compel Chile to modify its borders according to

1344-541: The area of the largest reserves of a resource demanded by the world. During the Chincha Islands War (1864–1866), Spain, under Queen Isabella II , attempted to exploit an incident involving Spanish citizens in Peru to re-establish its influence over the guano-rich Chincha Islands . Starting from the Chilean silver rush in the 1830s, the Atacama was prospected and populated by Chileans. Chilean and foreign enterprises in

1400-421: The boundary at 24° S but granting Bolivia the authority to collect all tax revenue between 23° and 24° S. To compensate for the relinquishment of its rights, Chile received a 25-year guarantee against tax increases on Chilean commercial interests and their exports. Article 4 explicitly forbade tax increases on Chilean enterprises for 25 years: The duties of exportation that may be levied on minerals exploited in

1456-492: The business stagnation that had begun in 1878 since the war provided Chile with the economic means to come of age. Sater states that that interpretation overlooks certain important facts. The Chilean investors in Bolivia correctly feared that Daza, the Bolivian dictator, would use the war as an excuse to expropriate their investments. Among them were Melchor de Concha y Toro , the politically powerful president of Chile's Camara de Diputados , Jerónimo Urmeneta , and Lorenzo Claro,

1512-535: The central government. During the War of the Pacific between Chile and Peru , he was appointed commander of the strongest unit of the Peruvian Navy, the armoured frigate Independencia . As such, he participated in the Battle of Punta Gruesa on 21 May 1879, when his ship crashed with a submarine rock while pursuing the Chilean schooner Covadonga , commanded by Captain Carlos Condell . He

1568-579: The coastal territories between approximately the 23° and 24° South parallels, was just one of several longstanding border conflicts that arose in South America. Cobija , Paposo , Mejillones and the territory of Antofagasta appears on a 1793 map of Andrés Baleato and the 1799 map of the Spanish Navy as inside the jurisdiction of Chile, pointing out the Loa River as an internal limit of

1624-496: The conflict since they were owned by Chilean and European merchants. As the Chilean company was to be auctioned on 14 February 1879, in Antofagasta, it was considered that the Peruvian consul would be the highest bidder. However, some sources, according to Sater, see the declarations of war between Chile and Peru as a product of popular domestic forces. The Peruvian President had to declare war to keep his position. Sater cites

1680-402: The corporation." Also, B. Farcau objects to the argument: "On the other hand, the sorry state of the Chilean armed forces at the outbreak of the war, as will be discussed in the following chapter, hardly supports a theory of conscious, premeditated aggression." Sater cites other sources that state that the true causes of the conflict were not economic but geopolitical, a struggle for control of

1736-727: The geopolitical interests of Argentina, Peru, and Bolivia, as Chile was militarily weak before the arrival of the Chilean ironclads Almirante Cochrane and Blanco Encalada . Chile was not informed about the pact until it learned of it, at first cursorily by a leak in the Argentine Congress in September 1873, when the Argentine Senate discussed the invitation to join the Peru-Bolivia alliance. The Peruvian mediator Antonio de Lavalle stated in his memoirs that he did not learn of it until March 1879, and Hilarion Daza

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1792-472: The monopoly on sales of nitrate. When they were unsuccessful, Peru in 1876 began to expropriate nitrate producers and to buy nitrate concessions such as that of Henry Meiggs in Bolivia ("Toco", south of the Loa River ). However, the CSFA was too expensive to be purchased. As Peruvian historian Alejandro Reyes states, the Bolivian salitreras needed to be controlled, which resulted in the internationalization of

1848-427: The navy and again was assigned to the ship Esmeralda  (1855) . At the beginning of the War of the Pacific (April 5, 1879), Condell was already promoted to corvette captain in charge of the corvette Abtao , and was commissioned the blockade of the port of Iquique , a Peruvian possession at that time. The next month, Condell was in charge of the schooner Covadonga , together with Arturo Prat , in charge of

1904-462: The peoples of the region was just ripe for war seems best to fit the bill." Juan Guillermo More Juan Guillermo Moore Ruiz (27 February 1833 - 7 June 1880) was a British Peruvian navy officer. He was killed during the Battle of Arica . Moore (sometimes spelled More in some texts) was born in Lima , the son of John Moore, a Scottish sailor and of Dolores Ruiz, a Peruvian lady. He joined

1960-546: The rank of officer cadet ( guardiamarina in Spanish). His first naval engagements were the Battle of Papudo (November 26, 1865) and the Battle of Abtao (February 8, 1866) in the Spanish-Chilean War , in which he fought allied with Miguel Grau and other Peruvian officers, who would become Condell's enemies the next decade. In April 1867, Condell decided to withdraw from the Chilean Navy and become

2016-427: The region eventually extended their control to the Peruvian saltpeter works. In the Peruvian region of Tarapacá , Peruvians were a minority, behind both Chileans and Bolivians. Bolivia and Chile negotiated the "Boundary Treaty of 1866," or the "Treaty of Mutual Benefits," which established 24° S "from the littoral of the Pacific to the eastern limits of Chile" as the mutual boundary. Both countries also agreed to share

2072-429: The services of one of the country's newspapers to push their case. Another US American historian, David Healy, rejects that thesis, and Fredrick B. Pike calls the allegation "absurd." The economic development that accompanied and followed the war was so remarkable that Marxist writers feel justified in alleging that Chile's great military adventure was instigated by self-seeking capitalists to bring their country out of

2128-445: The slightly larger corvette Esmeralda , two of the older ships in the Chilean navy. They were left behind by the rest of the fleet heading to the main Peruvian port of El Callao to attempt a definitive assault. On May 21, these small ships engaged the Peruvian armoured frigate Independencia and the monitor Huáscar (respectively). While Prat lost his battle and died heroically in Battle of Iquique , Condell managed to escape to

2184-462: The south, pursued by the Independencia (captained by Juan Guillermo More ), which possessed size and firepower in this encounter. Nevertheless, Condell managed to pin the enemy ship into the coastal reef, bombard back, and get away while the monitor Huáscar showed in the shipwreck scene to assist the trapped crew of Independencia . After this battle, the balance in the War of the Pacific

2240-629: The southeastern portion of the Pacific Ocean . In 1836 the Peruvian government tried to monopolize commerce in the South Pacific by rewarding ships that sailed directly to Callao, to the detriment of Valparaíso. Peru tried to impede the agreement that had been reached between Spain and Chile to free its new warships built and embargoed in Britain during the Chincha Islands War. Sater cites Germany's minister in Chile, who argued that

2296-416: The tax revenue from mineral exports from the territory between 23° and 25° S. The bipartite tax collecting caused discontent, and the treaty lasted for only eight years. In February 1873, Peru and Bolivia signed a secret treaty of alliance against Chile. The last clause kept it secret as long as both parties considered its publication unnecessary, until it was revealed in 1879. Argentina , long involved in

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2352-522: The true reasons for the Chilean elite to go to war against Peru and Bolivia. The holder of the Chilean nitrate companies, according to Sater, "bulldozed" Chilean President Aníbal Pinto into declaring war to protect the owner of the Compañía de Salitres y Ferrocarril de Antofagasta (CSFA) and then to seize Bolivia's and Peru's salitreras (saltpeter works). Several members of the Chilean government were shareholders of CSFA, and they are believed to have hired

2408-403: The very onset. Conversely, some Chilean historians assess the treaty as aggressive against Chile, causing the war, designed to take control by Peru of the Bolivian nitrate and hidden from Chile. The reasons for its secrecy, its invitation to Argentina to join the pact, and Peru's refusal to remain neutral are still discussed. In 1874, Chile and Bolivia replaced the 1866 boundary treaty by keeping

2464-484: The volatility of Peru and Bolivia. In February 1878, Bolivia increased taxes on the Chilean mining company Compañía de Salitres y Ferrocarril de Antofagasta  [ es ] (CSFA), in violation of the Boundary Treaty of 1874 which established the border between both countries and prohibited tax increases for mining. Chile protested the violation of the treaty and requested international arbitration, but

2520-516: The war and also from the Bolivian side at least six times. On 26 December 1874, the recently built ironclad Cochrane arrived in Valparaíso and remained in Chile until the completion of the Blanco Encalada . That threw the balance of power in the South Pacific toward Chile. Historians disagree on how to interpret the treaty. Some Peruvian and Bolivian historians assess it as rightful, defensive, circumstantial, and known by Chile from

2576-401: The war with Peru and Bolivia would "have erupted sooner or later, [and] on any pretext." He considered that Bolivia and Peru had developed a "bitter envy" against Chile and its material progress and good government. Frederik B. Pike states: "The fundamental cause for the eruption of hostilities was the mounting power and prestige and the economic and political stability of Chile, on one hand, and

2632-415: The war. He considers the causes to be domestic, economic, and geopolitical. Several authors agree with them, but others only partially support his arguments. Some historians argue that Chile was devastated by the economic crisis of the 1870s and was looking for a replacement for its silver, copper and wheat exports. It has been argued that the economic situation and the view of new wealth in nitrate were

2688-444: The weakness and the political and economic deterioration of Bolivia, on the other.... The war—and its outcome—was as inevitable as the 1846—1848 conflict between the United States and Mexico. In both instances, a relatively well-governed, energetic, and economically expanding nation had been irresistibly tempted by neighboring territories that were underdeveloped, malgoverned, and sparsely occupied." Another reason, according to Sater,

2744-436: The zone referred to in the preceding articles shall not exceed those now in force, and Chilean citizens, industry, and capital shall not be subjected to any other contributions what ever except those now existing. The stipulations in this article shall last for twenty-five years. All disputes arising under the treaty would be settled by arbitration. The historian William F. Sater gives several possible and compatible reasons for

2800-491: Was Peru's desire to monopolize and appropriate the nitrate works to strengthen its nitrate monopoly, which required the Bolivian and Chilean salitreras to be controlled by Peru. As unenviable as Chile’s situation was in the 1870s, that of Peru was much worse. The 1870s was for Peru's economy "a decade of crisis and change". Nitrate extraction rose while guano exports, the source of substantial revenue for Peru, declined from 575,000 tons in 1869 to less than 350,000 tons in 1873, and

2856-405: Was a nitrate taxation dispute between Bolivia and Chile, with Peru being drawn in due to its secret alliance with Bolivia. Some historians have pointed to deeper origins of the war, such as the interest of Chile and Peru in the nitrate business, a long-standing rivalry between Chile and Peru for regional hegemony, as well as the political and economical disparities between the stability of Chile and

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2912-475: Was broken, since only the Huáscar remained as a menace to the Chilean naval power. Condell was promoted to frigate captain and set in charge of the gunboat Magallanes . On November 2, 1879, Condell participated in the assault and takeover of the port of Pisagua , the blockade of Arica , and afterwards, the combat against the fortresses of the same city and the ship Manco Capac . In 1880, he took charge of

2968-457: Was not informed of the pact until December 1878. The Peruvian historian Basadre states that one of Peru's reasons for signing the treaty was to impede a Chilean-Bolivian alliance against Peru that would have given to Bolivia the region of Arica (almost all Bolivian commerce went through Peruvian ports of Arica before the war) and transferred Antofagasta to Chile. The Chilean offers to Bolivia to change allegiance were made several times even during

3024-583: Was promoted to captain , and sent to Europe in December. He returned in 1884, when the War of the Pacific ended in Chile's favor. In 1884 Condell was designated as an aggregate of the Ministry of the Seas ( Ministerio de Marina ) and put in charge of the armoured frigate Cochrane as Commodore . Starting in 1887 he was transferred to the frigate Blanco (on April 4), where he assumed the position of chief of

3080-693: Was rescued from his sinking ship, imprisoned in Arica and court martialled by his own comrades. He was dismissed from the navy and forbidden to ever wear his uniform again. He decided to continue the war as a simple civilian, in order to regain his lost honor. On 27 February 1880, during the Naval Battle of Arica , while in command of the Manco Capac , he successfully disabled the captured Huascar killing her commander Captain Manuel Thomson. During

3136-449: Was the Peruvian aristocrat Lady Manuela De la Haza. His uncles were Diego and Antonio de la Haza , both rear admirals of the Peruvian Navy . Therefore, he had several cousins who were Peruvian naval officers. Condell did not have familial ties to Chile, and this fact resulted in ostracism and criticism during his life. He was the sixth of ten children. His first and second brothers were born in Peru. He studied in Valparaíso, first at

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