Parliament and Saltpetre: state policies before the War of the Pacific (1875-1879)

Abstract

The War of the Pacific is one of the most important war events in Latin America, as its impact generated a transformation in the geography of this part of the continent. There are several studies that have analysed this event focusing on its main causes. For the Peruvian side, the Chileans were the aggressors, nevertheless, in this work we set that Peru caused the military confrontation through the measures ordered by the National Parliament which accelerated the conflict and included Bolivia as a third actor.

Keywords: War of the Pacific, Peru, Chile, Peruvian history, Parliament