HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:

The Independence War, arrived to Peru in 1820 with the so called "Ejercito Libertador del Peru" (Liberation Army of Peru) which was formed by Argentine and Chilean troops under the leadership of General San Martin. The main effort for organizing this army and powerful fleet that transported it was made by Chile, who used a loan of 1 million pounds obtained from Britain to pay for it. The naval forces, all of which were Chilean under the able Lord Thomas Alexander Cochrane, Commander in Chief of the Chilean Navy, managed to deliver their valuable cargo of men and equipment in September 1820 in Paracas, to the south of Lima. After several campaigns and operations that saw the eclipse of San Martin for Simon Bolivar in 1823 and the Royalist forces final defeats at Junin and Ayachucho in the following year, this traumatic episode closed.

In 1825 a new Republic, formally called Alto Peru, secessioned from the old Peruvian Viceroyalty and came into being as the Republic of Bolivia, named in honour of Simon Bolivar. In 1829, after several cases of internal unrest and frontier clashes with Peruvians, this young republic saw the able and ambitious General Andres de Santa Cruz take power. He was an excellent statesman who soon reorganized Bolivia and began to search for possible ways that would allow expansion into Peru. Using the internal struggle that was current in Peru with opposing forces under Orbegoso, Salaverry and Gamarra helped Santa Cruz's plan. By March 1836, having allied himself with Orbegoso, Santa Cruz had defeated both Gamarra and Salaverry.

In this situation Santa Cruz was the de facto head of both Bolivia and the two Peruvian States of North Peru and South Peru which Orbegoso had organized. A Congress was held in Tacna and Santa Cruz was, by unanimous vote, elected "Protector" of this new Confederacy of the three states. As a man who claimed to being a heir of the old Inca Empire, Santa Cruz with his new government represented future trouble for the smaller neighbours of Ecuador (at this period part of the crumbling Republic of Gran Colombia) in the north and Chile to the south.

In Chile, the influential Secretary of State, Diego Portales saw clearly that this reconstruction of the old colonial Peru, although fashioned as a Republic, could well degenerate into a dictatorship that would become a serious menace directly to Chile's own independence and existance. He managed to convince the Chilean President Joaquin Prieto to declare war on this Confederation before it had time to become an organized fighting force that Chile would be unable to defeat.

The formal declaration of war was made in November 1837, but while troops were being assembled for the coming campaign, Portales was killed in a military mutiny (6th June 1837). Rumours of the period said that Santa Cruz had a part to play in the assasination of his main adversary. This was never proven, although other underground activities and plots, with the same finality have been discovered, so Chile, rightly or wrongly, decided that only the overthrowing of Santa Cruz could repay for President Portales demise.

Other Installments:

War Between the Peru-Bolivian Confederation and Chile (Part 2)
War Between the Peru-Bolivian Confederation and Chile (Part 3)
War Between the Peru-Bolivian Confederation and Chile (Part 4)

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