The Canadian Army Journal

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Finally, congressional leaders today should take heed. The Bush-led concentration
of power in the executive branch is far from unique, as US presidents have historically
played a major role as either instigators or defenders of regime change operations (from
William McKinley in the Philippines through to Ronald Reagan in Grenada). Indeed,
regime change sponsorship has been seized by presidents as part of their job
description since the late 19 th century, a sobering thought as the US enters primary and
election season this year.
ANDEAN TRAGEDY: FIGHTING THE WAR OF THE PACIFIC
1879–1884
SATER, William F. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 2007. 453 pgs.
Reviewed by Major Les Mader
Being the product of a Euro-centric education—with an
emphasis on the European experience in North Americas—
I am often startled to learn of major historical events that
occurred in other parts of the world. Some have been of
great significance in their times, and even in our own; yet
their existence figures nowhere in the books and films
commonly available in Canada. Even if some information
is available it tends to be in the language of the country or
ethnic group affected. Only when an effort is made to tell
the story in English or French does the story break into the
Canadian mainstream.
One such event is the War of the Pacific that saw Chile
defeat Peru and Bolivia in the last quarter of the 19th Century. This war changed the history and boundaries of
all three countries and has bedevilled their relations ever
since. It may have cost them a total of some 55,000 dead
and wounded. 1 The war saw the use of machine guns, breech-loading rifles and
cannons, ironclad warships, mines (land and sea) and naval torpedoes. If studied, its
experiences might have informed the European and American armies on the evolving
nature of combat in the lead-up to World War I.
William F. Sater has written what may become the classic one-volume, English
language history of this war. He is an academic and professor of history at the University
of Nebraska. His writing credits include two other books on the Chilean Army and the
history of Chile. The book’s bibliography fills 13 pages, including extensive belligerent
sources; another 60 pages are devoted to the endnotes.
The story is distributed through a lengthy introduction and 10 chapters. The first
three set the scene for the war by describing its causes and comparing the opposing
armies and navies. These chapters make clear how different the fighting forces involved
were from their European contemporaries, and what we would consider essential today.
By way of examples, none of the armies started the war with either a logistics corps or
a medical service and the Peruvian government so feared that its navy would mutiny or
support a rebellion that it hid parts of the ships’ engines to make them useless.
Chapters Four and Five cover the naval war that had to be won before Chile dared
to conduct serious land operations in the main theatre. The severity of the disputed
Atacama Desert region and the near non-existence of land based infrastructure and
communication networks meant that armies had to be moved and supported by sea.
Canadian Army Journal Vol. 11.1 Spring 2008