Chile

C

Conservative Rule

A liberal constitution, establishing a republican form of government, was adopted after O’Higgins’s departure. But political strife between Conservative and Liberal groups contending for power kept Chile in turmoil until 1830. In that year conservative elements, headed by General Joaquín Prieto, organized a successful rebellion and seized control of the government. In 1831 Prieto became president, but the leading person in the government was Diego Portales, who filled various cabinet posts during Prieto’s administration. A new constitution was adopted in 1833. It established a centralized government under a strong president who had absolute veto power. The vote was limited to literate male citizens who met a specified property qualification. Roman Catholicism was the official religion, and the practice of other religions was prohibited. Liberal groups launched armed attempts to remove the Conservatives from power in 1835, 1851, and 1859, but these attempts failed.

Despite its authoritarian character, the Conservative Party government fostered domestic policies that contributed substantially to the commercial and agricultural development of Chile. Steps were taken to exploit mineral resources, railroads were constructed, and immigration was encouraged. Foreign trade expanded, greatly facilitated by the steamship. A school system and cultural institutions were established. The chief development in Chilean foreign relations during this period of Conservative dominance was a series of conflicts with Bolivia and Peru, which were united in a confederation from 1836 to 1839. Fearing a powerful rival for dominance in the region, Chile invaded Peru in 1839 and defeated the Peruvian navy and the Bolivian army. The Chilean victories put an end to the Peru-Bolivia Confederation.

D

Liberal Rule and Foreign Wars

Conservative rule continued through the presidency of Manuel Montt, which ended in 1861. The remarkable economic progress during this 30-year period gave rise to a new and vigorous group of wealthy mining and merchant families, who, rebelling against the existing authoritarian system, began to demand reforms. During the 1850s the Liberal Party became more determined. President Montt yielded to them by abolishing entailed estates and by encouraging religious tolerance. By 1861 the Liberals were strong enough to detach moderate Conservatives from the ruling oligarchy.

Beginning in 1861 the liberal wing of the Conservative Party, in coalition with the Liberal Party, instituted a number of constitutional reforms. The constitution was amended to prohibit consecutive presidential terms, prevent presidents from exercising an absolute veto, and permit literate males to vote without regard to their wealth. Laws limiting the special privileges of the landed aristocracy and of the Catholic church were passed. Education was broadened, transportation and public services were improved and extended, and immigration and further colonization of the land were encouraged.

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In 1865 Chile became embroiled in an inconsequential Spanish-Peruvian war that continued sporadically until 1869. Of greater importance was the War of the Pacific (1879-1883), which broke out over control of nitrate. Nitrate found in the desert of northern Chile, coastal Bolivia, and southern Peru became immensely valuable in the 1860s. It was used in fertilizer and in explosives. The boundaries between the countries were poorly defined, and after a series of disputes over the extraction and taxation of nitrate, Chile sent a small army into Bolivian territory in 1879. A war with both Bolivia and Peru followed, which Chile won.

As a result of its victory in the War of the Pacific, which ended in 1883, Chile acquired considerable territory, including the province of Antofagasta from Bolivia and the province of Tarapacá from Peru. Peru also yielded Tacna and Arica to Chile, on condition that after ten years a plebiscite be held to determine their status. The plebiscite was never carried out satisfactorily from the standpoint of Peru, and Chile held the entire area until 1929. That year mediation by the United States finally ended the bitter and tedious dispute: Tacna became a possession of Peru and Arica went to Chile. See Tacna-Arica Dispute.

The importance to Chile of the nitrate industry can scarcely be overstated. Chile increased its territory by more than a third, and the income generated by the nitrate industry increased private wealth as well as public revenue. For years the export duty on nitrate supplied half or more of the national revenue. The War of the Pacific opened an era of prosperity that radiated to all the social classes but was concentrated in particular in the upper classes of society.

E

Civil War and a Parliamentary Republic

During the period of prosperity, resentment of presidential domination of the government grew, particularly in Congress. The contest for supremacy between the president and Congress reached a climax in 1891, when President José Manuel Balmaceda retained a cabinet opposed by Congress and declared he would adhere strictly to the constitution in spite of unwritten parliamentary theories. His defiance led to a civil war.

The rebels, who termed themselves Congressionalists, seized the Chilean fleet and the rich nitrate provinces in the north, under the leadership of naval officer Captain Jorge Montt. In August of 1891 they defeated a government army near Valparaíso. This city fell to the rebels, as did Santiago, virtually ending the civil war. More than 10,000 lives had been lost and considerable property destroyed. Balmaceda committed suicide in September 1891. Shortly thereafter Montt became president.

During the era of the democratic (or parliamentary) republic from 1891 to 1920, presidents were little more than figureheads. Their powers were restricted, and control of the government was vested in a cabinet of ministers responsible to Congress. Civil rights were generally respected, and a multitude of political parties flourished. Some progress was made in education. Manufacturing received considerable impetus, and copper and nitrate production gave a surface prosperity to the country.

However, the parliamentary experiment proved a failure as government efficiency decreased and many national problems were neglected. Congress was still dominated by the wealthy landowners. Although material progress was notable and the landed aristocracy lived elegantly, the farm workers lived little better than enslaved laborers and the wandering day laborers, or rotos (broken ones), were often destitute. As cities grew and light industries and copper mining developed, the new class of urban workers became restless, often through the influence of European radical teachings and the Mexican revolution of 1910.

The middle class began to acquire a class consciousness, and its members became the principal source of political agitation. Gradually, political forces among the workers and the middle class started to make electoral alliances, and the pattern of Chilean society began to change. It was no longer characterized by the existence of a small ruling elite and an ill-defined and indifferent mass. Now sections of society were demanding a fundamental redistribution of power. The impetus for change finally came with the collapse of Chile’s lopsided economy at the end of World War I when the prices paid for copper and nitrate fell. Demand for Chile’s nitrate never fully recovered.

In 1906 a disastrous earthquake virtually destroyed Valparaíso and extensively damaged Santiago, killing more than 3,000 people and leaving about 100,000 homeless. The damaged areas were rapidly rebuilt, however.

F

Between the World Wars

Chile was neutral in World War I (1914-1918). After the war, great strife developed between Liberals and Conservatives. The Liberals gained power with the election in 1920 of former minister of the interior Arturo Alessandri Palma, but the senate blocked nearly all of his proposals for reform. In 1924 Alessandri resigned at the demand of the army and navy. In 1925 he was recalled, however, and won approval of a new constitution that established the separation of church and state, made primary education compulsory, and made the cabinet responsible to the president rather than to the Congress.

Emiliano Figueroa, a Conservative, was elected president in 1925, but an army officer, Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, wielded governmental authority and ruled as president from 1927 until 1931. The Ibáñez administration was unable to cope with the effects of the world economic depression, however. With the drop of copper and nitrate prices, the economy of Chile virtually collapsed. A general strike spread rapidly and Ibáñez resigned in mid-1931. For more than a year Chile was in turmoil. The economy foundered, revolts flared, and a series of juntas and short-lived presidents attempted to rule.

Alessandri was once again elected president in 1932. His six years in office were notable for the reestablishment of order, often with strong methods, and for his alliance with the Conservatives. Chile had emerged from the period of depression by the time his term ended in 1938. However, the growing demand for increased social legislation started a new period of internal strife. The Radical Party, which had supported Alessandri, together with several leftist groups and the Communists, organized the so-called Popular Front. Pedro Aguirre Cerda, the Popular Front candidate, won the 1938 election by a narrow margin.

Aguirre had an ambitious program resembling the New Deal in the United States. He was able to carry out part of it despite vigorous opposition from the Conservatives. His reforms were also disrupted in 1939 by a devastating earthquake that killed about 28,000 people. This coalition was successful again in 1942, when Radical Party member Juan Antonio Ríos was elected president. Ríos governed moderately amid the conflicting political sympathies during World War II (1939-1945). Chile first followed a policy of neutrality and then entered the war on the side of the United States in 1944.

G

Postwar Governments (1946-1970)

The 1946 presidential election was won by Gabriel González Videla, a Radical Party leader who was supported by a left-wing coalition. Although the Communists had supported González Videla and he had given them cabinet posts, he broke with them because they organized demonstrations, precipitated and aggravated strikes, and created general unrest. Further troubles ensued, resulting in a break of relations between Chile and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the outlawing of the Communist Party in Chile in 1948. (The Communist Party remained underground until 1958, when it was again legalized.)

After World War II ended, Chile, like other Latin American nations, was eager to import goods the world struggle had long denied it. A catastrophic inflation began as money poured into imports. Subsequent economic dislocations caused riots and strikes. In spite of González Videla’s efforts, economic realities harassing the Chilean population were not alleviated. The old landed aristocracy still owned most of the productive land. Chile’s ability to import goods depended largely on the export to the United States of copper and nitrate, whose price depended almost entirely on the U.S. market.

A reaction against the traditional parties resulted in the surprising election of General Carlos Ibáñez the following year. The dictator, who was overthrown in 1931 and had led unsuccessful revolts with Nazi (National Socialism) support in 1938 and 1948, was known to be a reactionary nationalist and admirer of the Argentine dictator Juan Perón. Chilean voters apparently turned to him in the hope he would control inflation and labor violence and perhaps curb U.S. influence as well.

Ibáñez did not justify the uneasiness often expressed that he would govern as a dictator. He restored some order but did not effectively cope with Chile’s economic and social problems. Rapid inflation continued, and strikes and riots persisted. In 1958 Jorge Alessandri Rodríguez, a former senator and son of Arturo Alessandri Palma, heading a Conservative-Liberal coalition, was elected to the presidency on a platform favoring free enterprise and the encouragement of foreign investment. He undertook vigorous austerity measures and developed public works, schools, and housing. However, a series of earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions killed thousands and dealt a severe blow to the economy in 1960. An earthquake on May 22 of that year ranked 9.5 on the Richter scale, making it the strongest ever measured.

Strong popular sentiment for more thoroughgoing social and economic change made the presidential election of 1964 a contest between leading reform candidates. Former Senate member Eduardo Frei Montalva, candidate of the centrist Christian Democratic Party, defeated a leftist coalition. Frei’s administration began to acquire government ownership of the copper industry, and it also made important advances in agricultural reform, housing, and education. But by the end of the 1960s the middle class was becoming impatient with moderate reforms.

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