well this is my first what if i was just curious to what people would think the world would be like if Chile lost the War of the Pacific or if it was even likely that they would?
Peru and Bolivia should have tried to ally with the Mapuche natives of Araucania.
chile is almost all coast lineand thank you every one for the responses
If Chile cedes any territory it would only be to the Copiapo River, but I cannot see Chile losing so badly that they would need to.
Agreed. The Copiapo River is the maximum southern extent of Bolivia from the War of the Pacific. More likely is that Bolivia holds Antofagusta and possibly a bit more is conquered.
The mention of Brazil threatening Argentina got me thinking: We might see a general south american war spill out of this conflict. think about it. Argentina intervenes on Peru/Bolivia's side (or Chile's, if the Mapuche rise and inadvertently cause an alliance between the two nations), and Brazil jumps on a distracted Argentina. Now throw in a Paraguay recovering from the war of the Triple Alliance (but, most likely filled with irredentist sentiment) and weged between two opposing combatants, both of which relieved it of territory 10 years before; an Uruguay on the rise yet still divided between Blancos and Colorados (after the war the tentative agreement was the Colorados held Montivideo and the coast, the Blancos the inland regions, but feuding was not uncommon); and an Ecuador troubled with internal turmoil (the military government supressed a rebellion in 1877, and was thrown out in 1883), which was embroiled in a territorial dispute with Peru since 1840 which would spark several wars (in fact, Peru had already intervened in ecuador several times), and the not to distant presence of Colombia and Venezuela hovering over each other's heads (COlombia would probably back ecuador, and venezuela would then oppose colombia), and we can see the entire continent on one side or another, especially with foreign intervention (and the Guyanas get sucked in). Perhaps irredentist sentiment in the defeated nations leads to a more polarized region, and conflict perhaps coinciding with World War One? Just a thought,
This might be enough to help Peru and Bolivia, but I'm not sure if this would be too advantageous.
If the Mapuche rise up in outright war against Chile more than likely the territory in Argentina that the Mapuche live in would also rise. The Mapuche would then have to contend with two nations, Chile and Argentina.
I think the threat of Brazil invading would still hinder Argentina from joining the fray as in OTL, but the Argentinians would crush those Mapuche living within their borders. While Peru and Bolivia may win, the Mapuche will be the real losers as the Chilean army and Argentinian army crush the Mapuche.
I remember hearing when I was in Chile that Peru and Bolivia wanted Argentina to declare war on Chile.
And btw I also heard that Chile had Britain's support.
I have also read that Bolivia offered Chile a deal that was: Bolivia would give it's coastline to Chile in exchange for help to conquer the South Parts of Peru.
Some of those links may be wrong but at least one is from a documentary filmed in chile about the war of the pacific.yes, that's right. As I said, Argentina gained a lot during the war without the need of entering. So, the most sensible position was probably not to enter the war. But, since the most sensible course of action is not allways adopted (in fact, it rarely is), it might not be that hard to have a TL in which argentina gets involved...
I didn't know this, but is likely.
Nor this. Interesting!
A good video, but... ¿los soldados de Chacabuco*? (The soldiers of Chacabuco?) Yeah, only in Chacabuco this soldiers where fighting side to side with Argentinian soldiers in order to free Chile from absolutist Spain. And here, well, these soldiers were fighting in orden to conquer its neighbours territory. A bit different, isn't it???
*That's the way the song refers to Chilenean soldiers
[...]Peru fought better at sea than Chile, at least in the first part of the war, but the problem was that they had very few units compared to the enemy. Once they lost their only ironclad (the Huáscar)with Captain Grau on board they were definitely screwed.
Some of those links may be wrong but at least one is from a documentary filmed in chile about the war of the pacific.
The one that says Batalla de La Concepción & Epopeya", La Guerra del Pacifico & POPEYA La Guerra del Pacifico 1de2
are from the documentary.