War of the Confederation

1836 39 conflict of Chile and Argentina against the Peru Bolivian Confederation

Dissolution of the Peru–Bolivian Confederation declarated be Agustín Gamarra and others peruvians conservatives. Exile of Andrés de Santa Cruz. Persecution of bolivians in Peru after of the Battle of Yungay. Peruvian reunification and re establishment of the Peruvian Republic by Peruvians conservatives and Chilean Restorators. Iquicha War of 1839. Tension between Peru and Bolivia until 1841
| territory = Argentina negotiates the recovery of its lost territory with Bolivia, Tarija later joins Bolivia by self determination
| combatant1 = United Restoration: Chile
Peruvian dissidents
La Fuente government (1837)
Gamarra government (1838–39)
Argentine Confederation
| combatant2 = Peru–Bolivian Confederation
Supported by:
France (during blockade)
United Kingdom (diplomatic) Unitarian Party
Uruguay
🏴󠁵󠁳󠁴󠁸󠁿 Chile Pipiolo Party

Orbegoso government (1838)
Supported by:
Iquicha
| commander1 = Joaquín Prieto Manuel Bulnes Manuel Blanco Encalada Carlos García Agustín Gamarra Antonio de la Fuente Ramón Castilla Manuel Ignacio de Vivanco Juan Buendía Juan Manuel de Rosas Alejandro Heredia
| commander2 = Andrés de Santa Cruz Otto Philipp Braun José Trinidad Morán Jean Blanchet Juan José Panizo Anselmo Quiroz Francisco Burdett O'Connor Luis José de Orbegoso Sebastián Ágreda

Luis José de Orbegoso Domingo Nieto
Juan Francisco de Vidal La Hoz
| strength1 = United Restoration Army:
Chilean Army:
2,898 (1837)
8,200 (1838–39)
Peruvian Army
402 (1837)
3,000 approx. (1838–39)

The War of the Confederation (lang es) was a military confrontation waged by the United Restoration Army, the alliance of the land and naval forces of Chile and the Restoration Army of Peru, formed in 1836 by Peruvian soldiers opposed to the confederation, and the Argentine Confederation against the Peru–Bolivian Confederation between 1836 and 1839. As a result of the Salaverry Santa Cruz War, the Peru Bolivia Confederation was created by General Andrés de Santa Cruz, which caused a power struggle in southern South America, with Chile and the Argentine Confederation, as both distrusted this new and powerful political entity, seeing their geopolitical interests threatened. After some incidents, Chile and the Argentine Confederation declared war on the Peru Bolivian Confederation, although both waged war separately. Chile since 1836 carried out the war with Peruvian dissidents who were enemies of Santa Cruz. During the war, one of Santa Cruz's subordinates, General Luis José de Orbegoso, rebelled against him in 1838 to restore Peru with a new government. However, by not allying with Chile, he ended up being defeated by Chilean forces. On the other hand, the Argentine Confederation did not achieve any significant advance between 1837 and 1838, paralyzing its war front and losing some territories north of Jujuy, notwithstanding the importance for the Rosas government of the war against Bolivia as an instrument of political cohesion at the level of the Argentine Confederation, Rosas had enemies and problems on many fronts, among which it is worth mentioning the intrigues of the unitary emigrants in the Banda Oriental (Uruguay) and Chile, and the problem posed to the commercial interests of Buenos Aires by the conflict with France, which would soon lead to the French blockade of the Río de la Plata. Due to the presence of these multiple conflicts, Rosas could not divert his attention or his resources in the war he had decided against Bolivia. Finally, Chilean Peruvian forces of the so called Restorative Army led by General Manuel Bulnes, obtain a decisive victory in the battle of Yungay in 1839 while Andrés de Santa Cruz had been overthrown from the post of President of Bolivia by general José Miguel de Velasco who betrayed him before knowing the result of the battle. At the same time the general José Ballivián leaving the battlefield and mutinied in La Paz along with Bolivian reserve battalions. Also Colonel Guilarte, who had 700 soldiers in command, had abandoned his position and deserted without firing any shots. This battle caused the dissolution of the Peru Bolivian Confederation, the exile of Santa Cruz, the restoration of Peru and Bolivia, among other consequences. Historians have proposed different long lasting effects of the war including the consolidation of the ideas of Peruvian and Chilean nationality.

In the meantime, the Chilean government was preparing an expedition to put a quick end to the conflict. In September 1837 it sent a fleet carrying a Chilean expeditionary force of approximately 2,800 troops under the command of Admiral Manuel Blanco Encalada. The Chilean army landed at Islay in southern Peru in October, 1837, occupying the city of Arequipa after a long and arduous march, during which the Chileans were decimated by disease. But the invading army failed to find the local support that they had been led to believe they would encounter against the Confederate government. While Admiral Blanco Encalada was immersed in never ending negotiations with the local leaders, Marshal Santa Cruz quietly surrounded the city with his army and effectively blockaded the invading army inside.

Surrounded and out manoeuvered, and following an encounter at Paucarpata with an army under the command of Santa Cruz, Admiral Blanco Encalada was forced to sign a peace treaty. The Treaty of Paucarpata was signed on November 17, 1837, and agreed to the devolution of all captured ships by Chile, the restoration of commercial relations between both nations, the withdrawal of all Chilean troops from Confederate territories and the payment by the Confederacy of the former Peruvian foreign debts with Chile. The Chilean troops were reembarked. When Admiral Blanco Encalada returned rather ignominiously to Valparaíso with the fleet and the army in December, 1837, the scandal was gigantic. The Chilean government and the Chilean public opinion repudiated the treaty in indignation. Admiral Blanco Encalada as was thrown into jail and tried for high treason, together with his advisor Antonio José de Irisarri, who had refused to even return to Chile. Both were eventually acquitted, though Irisarri never returned.

After the treaty of Paucarpata had been repudiated, the Chilean government again dispatched its fleet, composed of 5 ships (Aquiles and Arequipeño, the corvettes Libertad and Valparaíso and the Chilean frigate Monteagudo) under the command of Roberto Simpson, to disrupt Peruvian commerce. On January 12, 1838, they met a Confederate squadron near the Peruvian port of Islay, on what is known as the Naval Battle of Islay. The Confederate squadron was conformed by the Socabaya, Junín and Fundador under the command of commander Juan José Panizo. Simpson attacked but Panizo managed to hold him off for several hours until able to escape under the cover of darkness. Both sides claimed victory, but the result was mostly a stalemate that did not affect the course of the war.

By mid 1838 Chile had obtained naval superiority and dispatched General Manuel Bulnes Prieto heading a Chilean army.

Although their advance was delayed by harassment from small groups of Confederate forces, the Chileans were finally able to lay siege to Lima. The first encounter between the two armies was the Battle of Portada de Guías which took place right outside the city of Lima on August 21, 1838. The Chilean army, under the command of General Bulnes, defeated the Confederate garrison loyal to General Orbegoso. The Chilean force occupied Lima at the end of October, 1838 but abandoned it on November 3 on hearing of the approach of a large Bolivian army under General Santa Cruz. The Chileans withdrew by land and sea toward Huacho. In the meantime, the principal citizens had met and called an open congress that proclaimed General Gamarra as Provisional President of Peru.

On January 12, 1839, both fleets met in a naval battle at Casma, where the French corsairs fighting on the Confederate side were defeated by Admiral Simpson's Chilean fleet. On that day the Chilean fleet, which was protecting the transports used to mobilize the invading Chilean army, were attacked in the port of Casma by the Confederate fleet, composed of the Esmond, Mexicana, Arequipeño and Peru, under the command of French sailor Jean Blanchet. The battle lasted for several hours until the final repulse of the Confederate fleet. During the battle Blanchet was killed and the Confederate ship Arequipeño was sunk, but not before the Chilean fleet had been badly battered. Nonetheless, the resounding defeat of the Confederate fleet at Casma by the smaller Chilean squadron left Chile in absolute control of the southeastern Pacific.

Meanwhile, Santa Cruz failed to exploit the Chilean retreat fully, despite successes in several small skirmishes culminating in the first direct encounter between the bulk of both armies around the bridge of Buin on January 6, 1839. Santa Cruz' vanguard engaged Bulnes' rearguard at the margins of the Santa River, under a heavy storm. The battle ended in a draw, as Bulnes resumed their march north, and Santa Cruz continued to pursue them.

Marshal Santa Cruz occupied the town of Yungay with the intention to cut the provisions and to strangle the Chilean Expedition. After Buin, Santa Cruz was trying to finish off the Chilean Expedition in order to stabilize the internal situation in the country and to avoid any more uprisings against him. Here is where the boldness of General Bulnes could be observed, when instead of retiring and looking for a more suitable position, turned around against Santa Cruz ready to attack. The Battle of Yungay took place on January 20, 1839. In this battle, the Confederates, under the command of Marshal Santa Cruz, waited for Bulnes' offensive well defended on the Pan de Azúcar and Punyán hills, near the town of Yungay, and the rest were deployed over the Ancash River bank. The battle started very early on the morning and finished late in the evening. The Chileans first took the Punyán and Pan de Azúcar hills, and later attacked the bulk of the Confederates on the river. In the end, Bulnes crushed Santa Cruz' army. The Confederates had over 2,400 casualties (mostly dead) and more than 1,600 soldiers were made prisoners, while the Chilean army had about 1,300 dead and 400 injured. After the battle, General Manuel Bulnes was proclaimed as Grand Marshal of Ancash by General Gamarra.

General Bulnes again assumed the initiative. After the defeat of the Confederate army at Yungay on January 20, the Chileans commenced a second push southward, occupying Lima for the second time in April. Santa Cruz had already fled to Ecuador, and both the war and the short lived Peru Bolivian Confederation now came to an end. On August 25, 1839, General Agustín Gamarra after assuming as president of Peru, officially declared the dissolution of the Confederation and of the North and South Peruvian Republics, and the merging of these states back into one to be called again Peru. The Confederate defeat led to the exile of Santa Cruz, first to Guayaquil, in Ecuador, then to Chile and finally to Europe, where he died. The Chilean troops left on October 19, 1839, after having achieved the goal of dissolving the Confederation and affirmed General Gamarra as President of Peru. Nonetheless, General Gamarra decided to pursue the war against Bolivia on his own. He was not against the idea of merging Peru and Bolivia into one political unity, but against the idea of this union being led by Bolivia. He invaded this country, but the Peruvian army was decisively defeated at the Battle of Ingaví on November 20, 1841, where General Gamarra himself was killed. The Bolivian army under General José Ballivián then mounted a counter offensive managing to capture the Peruvian port of Arica. Later, both sides signed a peace in 1842, putting a final end to the war.