The South American Pacific War (Warofthepacific in Southern America), also known as the saltpeter war and guano war, was a war between Chile and Bolivia and Peru from 1879 to 1883 for the production of saltpeter and guano in the Atacama Desert on the South Pacific coast. On February 14, 1879, Chile, with the support of British capitalists, sent troops to occupy the Bolivian territory of Antofagasta, and the South American Pacific War broke out. On October 20, 1883, Peru and Chile signed a treaty in Ciudad Ancon, north of Lima, ending the war in the Pacific. After the war, Bolivia lost its access to the sea and became a landlocked country.

This is Lin Hong's impression of the saltpeter war, the time is a few years ahead Lin Hong can understand that history has changed. But what he didn't understand was that the initiator of the war became Peru. Historically, on February 14, 1879, Chile, with the support of British capitalists, sent troops to occupy the Bolivian territory of Antofagasta, leading to the outbreak of the Pacific War in South America. And now the British capitalists have no spare time to take care of South American affairs, and their own domestic affairs are in a hurry.

Located on the border between Bolivia, Chile and Peru, the Atacama Desert was never clearly defined during Spanish colonial rule. After the three countries**, Bolivia occupied the Antofagasta region in the central Atacama desert, Peru occupied the Tarapacá region in the northern part of the desert, and Chile acquired the southern part of the desert. All three countries consider themselves sovereign over desert areas.

The dispute between the three kingdoms was sharpened by the discovery of rich saltpeter deposits in the central and northern parts of the Atacama Desert. What is saltpeter? It is the raw material of gunpowder, even if it is now invented and popularized by the empire and used throughout the country for the high ** (that is, Nobel's ****), it is inseparable from saltpeter, and saltpeter is used in all weapons before chemical synthesis can replace nitrate and nitride. Saltpeter mines in South America account for more than 80% of the global saltpeter market. It's a great asset. In 1866, Chile and Bolivia signed a border treaty, stipulating that the two countries should be bordered by the 24° south latitude, and that the tariffs on all minerals and exports between the 23° and 25° south latitudes would be divided equally between the two countries. In the same year, a joint venture between Chile and the United Kingdom signed a contract with Bolivia to acquire mining rights in the Antofagasta region.

But Peru, and more precisely Peruvian saltpeter companies, are extremely hungry for saltpeter mines in the middle of the Atacama Desert, even though Peru already has an equally saltpeter-rich north. In fact, it would be more accurate to say that it was the Chinese capitalists in Peru who were extremely greedy for the saltpeter mines in the middle of the Atacama Desert.

Since 1851, when Chinese capital entered South America, coastal businessmen led by the Zhejiang consortium were keen on the development of Peruvian mining, and by 1868, the Zhejiang consortium had basically completed its monopoly on Peruvian saltpeter mines. Monopoly is such a lucrative word. Saltpeter, as a military supply, will not be easily affected by the world economic crisis, but the economic crisis of 1873 has bankrupted the economy of Chile and Bolivia, and the withdrawal of a large amount of foreign capital has made the two countries very sad, of course, Peru will not be much better, but at least the Chinese remain. It was in this context that the consortium, which had not been affected by the economic crisis, took action, and the Pacific Trading Company (a monopoly of the Peruvian saltpeter mines), based on the Zhejiang consortium and the Hui merchants, formally offered Bolivia and Chile the right to purchase the right to mine saltpeter in the Atacama desert. This request was rejected by the governments of the two countries, and they are not stupid to sell you the golden rooster that lays eggs, and there is no door. In fact, at the beginning, the Pacific Trading Company wanted to buy the saltpeter company of the British, but the British did not want to give up their interests in South America and refused to sell.

The Galapagos Islands were the closest territory to South America outside of the Panama Canal Zone. The archipelago, which had been purchased from Ecuador for a long time, was an important patrol area for the Imperial Pacific Naval Fleet. It is also considered by many aspirants in South America to be the frontline of China's invasion of South America. The branch of the Pacific Trading Company is located here.

Hu Xueyan was the leader of the operation, and he is now not only a representative of the Hui businessmen, but also the chairman of the Zhejiang Foundation. In fact, Hui merchants and Zhejiang merchants are a joint existence, after the establishment of the Chinese Empire, under the guidance and leadership of Lin Hong's commercial clones, the Zhejiang consortium was the first to form a Zhejiang consortium, the Zhejiang consortium is mainly engaged in foreign trade and shipping, and the Hui merchants are engaged in the Yangtze River trade, Hu Xueyan in the establishment of the Hui Chamber of Commerce and the Zhejiang consortium to jointly build the integrated operation of Zhejiang merchants and Huizhou merchants, becoming a hegemon in the imperial economic circles, as the historical red-capped businessman Hu Xueyan's political acumen is not low, just like the acquisition strategy of South American saltpeter mines, He knew that the Imperial Cabinet Government was absolutely supportive of such things. So, after the normal takeover failed, he began to persuade the Peruvian government to declare war on Bolivia and Chile in order to seize the Atacama Desert, the world's main source of saltpeter. The nature of the merchant made Hu Xueyan even though the Pacific Trading Company had taken control of the Peruvian provinces of Tacna and Alica, which made him want to obtain the right to mine saltpeter in the province of Tarapacá, the world's largest saltpeter producer, so as to monopolize the production of saltpeter mines.

At this time, Peru had just ended the dictatorship of Thomas Gutiérrez, and the current president, Manuel Pardo, was the country's first democratically elected president. In 1871, he founded the Plebeian Party and was elected president of Peru the following year, during which he was determined to improve the finances, reduce public spending, strengthen municipal self-government, reduce military interference in politics, encourage economic development, reform the education system, and focus on improving the cultural quality of the Indians. It can be said that Manuel Pardo is determined to reform, but reform needs money, where does the money come from, seized the Atacama desert Chinese give you money, Chinese support your reform. In addition to financial support, Manuel Pardo also wanted to build prestige through a war so that those in the military would be less involved in politics. The most important thing is that the strength of Peru's army, especially its navy, now gives Manuel Pardo the confidence to win the war.

Unlike in history, at the beginning of the war, Chile quickly blockaded the coasts of Peru and Bolivia with a navy twice the size of the combined fleet of Peru and Bolivia. In addition to the original ironclad ship "Huaasca", the current Peruvian Navy also has a Shanghai-class "**" Shanghai-class and a business-class "Gutierrez" purchased from China, in the history of the world's navy, the Shanghai-class is outdated, but it is much more powerful than the small low-freeboard turret ironclad Huasca, not to mention the other business-class He was purchased during the period of Peruvian dictator Thomas Gutierrez, which is the main force of the Peruvian Navy. In addition, there are three unprotected cruisers and eight mosquito boats, also purchased from China. At this time, Chile had only one medium ironclad ship and a few cruisers (Chile's purchase of ships from Britain was not yet completed), and the Bolivian navy was basically zero.

The strength is enough, and the money is also supported, and now there is a lack of a reason. The reason is the simplest, on Christmas 1873, the cruiser Thomas of Peru caught fire and sank on the way to Chile, and it is normal for an old ship launched in 1853 to fall into disrepair, and then the reason is that Peru accuses Chile of using extremely despicable means to sneak attack that caused the sinking of the ship, and demands compensation from Chile. Of course, Chile refused, Chile is not a fool, and it is tough enough to say that if you want to fight, you will fight.

On January 1, 1874, Peru first declared war on Chile. Immediately afterwards, Chile also submitted a declaration of war to Peru. Under the newly signed treaty of alliance between Peru and Bolivia in 1873, Bolivia was forced to declare war on Chile. The "New Year's War of Saltpeter" began