Peruvian–Bolivian War of 1841–42
The Peruvian-Bolivian War was a warlike confrontation between Peru and Bolivia in the years 1841 and 1842.
This article is about the 1841-1842 conflict. For other uses, see Peruvian–Bolivian War.
In 1841, Agustín Gamarra, President of Peru, tried to annex Bolivia[4] (the former colonial Charcas Audience), which cost the Peruvian president his life on November 18, 1841 at the Battle of Ingavi. The Bolivian Army, under the command of General José Ballivián, occupied the Peruvian provinces of Moquegua, Puno, Tarapacá, Tacna and Arica.
The eviction of Bolivian troops in southern Peru would be achieved by the increased availability of material and human resources in Peru.[5] At the end of the war, the Treaty of Puno was signed on June 7, 1842.
Occupation of La Paz[edit]
Peruvian troops led by President Gamarra began the march to Bolivia on October 1, 1841, crossing the border the next day. After advancing without encountering resistance, on October 15 they entered La Paz without fighting. Ballivián's manifesto to oppose the invaders, however, was soon applied by the population.
On October 21, in the town of Mecapaca, a battle occurred between the Peruvian and Bolivian forces, as that town was occupied by a Peruvian column under the command of Colonel San Román, who was later attacked by the Bolivian 5th Battalion and a detachment of cuirassiers. The Peruvians, taken by surprise, rallied and forced their enemies to retreat in disorder. Soon, however, a crowd from La Paz stormed the city's hospital, where the wounded soldiers and officers had been taken, in order to kill them.
Occupation of Southern Peru[edit]
At the end of 1841, after the battle of Ingavi, troops of the Bolivian Second Division under General José Ballivián occupied Peru from Moquegua to Tarapacá.
On December 9, 1841, a regiment under the command of Colonel Rodríguez Magariños occupied Tacna, another under the command of Colonel Bernardo Rojas occupied Arica, and another under the command of Colonel José María García occupied Tarapacá, while José Ballivián's forces occupies Moquegua and Puno.
Treaty of Puno[edit]
The two nations signed the Treaty of Puno on June 7, 1842, officially ending the war. Both countries agreed to remain as separate sovereign states and the retreat of the last Bolivian troops on Peruvian territory was accomplished eight days later.[8]
The Bolivian army that had invaded southern Peru was defeated by the Peruvian army and forced to withdraw. Bolivia also promised to deliver Gamarra remains to Peru.[9]
Bolivia unconditionally renounced all claims in southern Peruvian territory, but nevertheless, the treaty did not manage to solve the border problem between the two states.
The conflict ended with a return to the situation before the war. Despite this, Peruvian historiography argues that their victories in all the battles on Peruvian soil, overshadow the one defeat at Ingavi, leaving Peru in a more favorable outcome after the end of the war.[10]
Although in the document Bolivia and Peru agreed not to touch on the issue of unification as a single state, in 1880 Presidents Nicolás de Piérola and Narciso Campero began a project for the national union of the two countries known as the United States of Peru–Bolivia, which ended up never happening. With the re-emergence of nationalism and anti-Chilean sentiment as a consequence of the War of the Pacific, the prospect of unification again began to become more common in political discourse between both states.