Although Bolivia provoked politically this war, Bolivia was the country that most needed weapons of all sorts:

NAVY

It seems that none of the few small coastguard ships in service in the Pacific were still existing in 1879 and such shipping which was under the Bolivian flag was almost immediately seized or destroyed by the Chileans. The Bolivian Coastguard vessels were the "General Sucre", a sidewheeler, commissioned in 1844 but was sold some years later, the steam-bergantine "Maria Luisa" of 240 ton, built in 1872, this ship was lost through being stranded near Constitucion on the 10th September 1875, and the sidewheeler-gunboat "El Morro" purchased in 1875 and whose fate is unknown. Most of the 12 Bolivian sailing vessels of around 250 tons were owned by foreign companies.

ARMY

When war broke out in February 1879, Bolivia had only 12 Winchesters, 601 Remingtons, 58 Martini rifles plus 79 different types of other rifles or carbines, there were 229 obsolete firearms with 354 bayonets, 6 old field guns and 2 machine guns, some sources say that President Daza had altogether 30 field pieces with 6 machine guns, I believe that is an overstatement and may include vintage cannon sited at various forts, that would to be a hazard and unsafe if required to be fired. Bolivia received from Peru 1,500 Comblain rifles "on loan" and ordered 6 new Krupp field guns and 4 machine guns from abroad. Bolivia promised to field an Army of 12,000 men, while Peru had to provide only 8,000 and a Navy.

Actually Bolivia mobilized about 12,000 men. Of which almost 10,000 were in action, while Peru mobilized almost 80,000, of these over 70,000 would be involved in the fighting during the war. The Bolivian peacetime army consisted of 2,175 men ( Chilean sources say only 1,300 men ), of which 16 were Generals, 219 Colonels and Lt. Colonels, 215 Majors, 100 captains and 256 Subaltern Officers, altogether 808 professional officers. These troops were formed into 3 Battalions, the first being the "Colorados" of 600 men this unit formed the guard of President Daza, it was organized; 1 Colonel, 3 Lt. Colonels, 1 Surgeon, 4 Majors, 7 Captains, 22 Subalterns, 1 Priest, 189 Sergeants (of these 64 were paid Subalterns wages), 21 Cadets, 116 Corporals and only 173 Soldiers, altogether 538 men, their wage bill amounted to 300,000 pesos per year! This Battalion was also know as the "1st Colorados de Daza", or the "Granaderos de Guardia" and after 1879 as the "Alianza". The second Battalion was named "Sucre" but also known as the "Amarillos" (Yellows) and the 3rd was called "Illimani" or the "Verdes" (Greens), yellow or green being the colour of the tunic worn by each Battalion.

There was also 2 Squadrons of Cavalry, the "Coraceros" and the "Husares de Bolivia" and one Artillery Battery. President Daza ordered the mobilisation of all White and Mestizo males but not the Indian males, this allowed for the formation of over 30 Infantry Battalions with between 200 and 700 men in each, also 3 Cavalry Units were organized but were mounted on inferior horses, they were the "Libres Del Sur" of 300 men, "Murillo" 300 men and the "Escadron Velasco" of 100 men, while two other mounted units were raised, a detachment called "Vanguardia" and a squadron named "Bolivar" strength unknown. A Sapper Battalion named "Zapadores" and an additional Artillery Battery managed to become organized, it would seem that this Artillery unit was named "Santa Cruz". A Colonel Andres Amarayo was sent to the U.S.A. to purchase weapons, these would be paid for by Peru, while Bolivia promised to repay Peru after the war.

The Bolivians formed 5 Divisions, of these three left La Paz with 6 Generals, 124 Jefes, 383 Subalterns, 15 Surgeons, 2 Priests and 5,451 NCO's and other ranks, the 1st Division was commanded by General Casto Argüedas, the 2nd by General Pedor Vilamil, the 3rd by General Luciano Alcoreza, the 4th Division followed later from Cochabamba while the 5th Division never reached the front. This was commanded by General Narciso Campero and composed of the Infantry Battalions "Tarija", "Bustillo", "Ayacucho" and "Chorolque", this Division was unable to find a way to the front and was nicknamed the "Invisible Division"

In order to arm these 7,000 men, President Daza ordered that all rifles and carbines in the hands of Bolivian civilians to be bought or failing that seized, this amounted to some 3,500 weapons, mostly of the Remington type, but only 1,900 bayonets were found, most of these were in bad condition, ammunition was also scarce. President Daza dispatched Dr, Carrera to Buenos Aires to acquire munitions and weapons using mostly Peruvian credits to purchase these items. When these weapons were ready for shipment Chile protested to the Argentine Government about such trading and managed to have this order for weapons and munitions stopped before it reached the Argentine town of Jujuy, only in December 1880 were these items allowed to continue their passage to Bolivia, reaching Bolivia in February 1881, after the fall of Lima.

By the end of 1880, after the defeat of Alto de la Alianza, the Bolivians had only some 4,000 men with 2 unserviceable Krupp field guns and no Cavalry, the Bolivian having retired from the coastal region had left Peru alone to fight against Chile. With the front against Chile being some 3,000 Km. from La Paz the logistic nightmare and lack of resources proved too much to overcome for the Bolivians, although two new Divisions were organized by the end of 1881 consisting of 8,000 men but by the end of the year over half of these troops had to be discharged as they could not be paid or fed and the Army was reduced to 3,000 men.

The last Bolivian unit which fought with their Peruvian Allies was probably the Battalion "Loa", this was formed from miners and boatmen from the Bolivian Province of Antofagasta, that was now under the control of the Chilean Army. In January 1883 Bolivia returned 2,000 ex-Peruvian rifles to the Peruvian Admiral Montero who was waging a guerrilla war against the Chilean Army still in Peru, while plans for combined operations against Chile never materialised.

The Bolivian national income was 2,000,000 pesos per year, much of this was from the taxes produced via the nitrate production in the coastal region, when in February 1879 this region became under Chilean occupation this source of revenue stopped. President Daza tried to float a loan of one million pesos, but less than half was subscribed, he then launched an obligatory loan of 1 1/2 million pesos, but I have no idea how much was actually collected. Peru paid for much of what Bolivia was able to purchase from abroad, although I have never found out how or if these loans were ever repaid by Bolivia?

The three books by the Italian historian Tomas Caivano (who was during the Pacific War the Italian Consul in Peru based at Callao), written and published in the year 1883 and entitled, "La Guerra de America entre Peru, Chile y Bolivia" contain not many exact figures, but much political background. According to Caivano;

Peru did certainly not sell or loan any guns or rifles to Bolivia, for the simple reasons that Peru did not have enough to arm its own army. He also states that Bolivia issued on the 26th March 1879 some "lettres of marque" to unidentified adventurers and contemplated purchasing one or two armoured vessels from Europe, for which they had neither the money, the crews or the port. The Bolivian Army that reached Tacna on the 2nd March 1879 was only 4,500 - 5,000 men strong and very badly armed, with only two servicable fiels guns, not sufficient ammunition for the troops and an ineffective Cavalry Corps.

If Bolivia received no rifles from Peru, then the Bolivian Army had only 972 old rifles mentioned in various publications, plus 3,500 rifles of dubious quality acquired from private owners, just less than 4,500 firearms that could outfit an Army of 4,500 men. But as Bolivian sources state that the first three Divisions which left La Paz in April were composed of 5,981 men, while the 4th and 5th Divisions would bring the total to some 9,000 - 10,000 men twice the number of firearms that were available, unless Peru did somehow manage to provide the missing rifles or at least a part of them?

Additional Notes:

3,000 Bolivians participated in the Battle of San Francisco-Dolores. The Peruvian garrison of Iquique, 1,500 men evacuated the port on the 22/11/79, this port was then occupied by 60 Chilean sailors from the "Almirante Cochrane" without having to fight for its capture. At the battle of "El Alto de la Alianza" there were about 3,000 Bolivians and 6,000 Peruvian present with altogether 23 mostly old field guns, against a force of 15,000 Chileans with over 50 modern Krupp field guns and machine guns, plus a well horsed Cavalry Corps. In the 4 hour battle on the 26th May 1880, the Allies lost 3,000 men killed, wounded and taken prisoner amongst these were 7 Peruvian Jefes, while the Bolivian Colonel Camacho was wounded and "Jefe de Estando" Major General Pérez was killed.

( another interesting collection of notes made by Jürg Meister, many thanks. T.D.H. )