The MMP Maritime Series has been very successful and brought to print some fascinating and under-told stories of military history. The author has provided a very rare view of a significant South American naval war which the Navy of Chile once again triumphed in. – Very Highly Recommended

NAME:    Maritime Series No 3111, The Naval War of the Pacific, 1879-1884, 
Saltpetre War
FILE: R3268
AUTHOR: Piotr Olender
PUBLISHER: Mushroom Model Publications
BINDING: soft back
PRICE: £25.00                                                         
GENRE: Non Fiction
SUBJECT:   South American Navies, Chilean Navy, Peruvian Navy, Saltpetre War, 
post independence boundaries, natural resources, sailing warships, steam warships, 
armoured warships.

ISBN: 978-8365958-77-8

PAGES: 160 
IMAGE: B3268.jpg
BUYNOW: tinyurl.com/y7s8k7jv
LINKS:
DESCRIPTION: The MMP Maritime Series has been very successful and brought to 
print some fascinating and under-told stories of military history.  The author has 
provided a very rare view of a significant South American naval war which the 
Navy of Chile once again triumphed in.  –  Very Highly Recommended

The South American Wars of Independence saw the combined fleets of Chile, Peru and Brazil triumphing under the command of Admiral Cockrane, Earl of Dundonald. It left Chile with a formidable navy in the region. As with all colonies of European Empires, what became national boundaries were somewhat arbitrary. As a result, in the post-colonial period, there were a series of wars that rumbled on into the 1930s and where boundaries are still a point of friction.

Over the period, there were many changes of allegiance and Chile faced a Bolivian-Peruvian alliance in the Saltpetre War that lasted from 1879 to 1884. It was fought over the claims by Chile to coastal Bolivian territory in the Atacama Desert. When the war ended with Chilean victory, Chile gained a resource rich coastal territory, an important source of nitrate. It also saw the defeat of the Peruvian Navy by the Chilean Navy, making Chile the dominant naval power in South America.

The author has provided a clear and comprehensive review of the reasons for, and the conduct of, the war, filling a previous void in naval history. The tradition of catering in part for keen modellers has provided a very well illustrated work with images in the form of maps, drawings and photographs.

In naval history, this conflict is important in being the only significant series of naval actions between the American Civil War and the destruction of the Russian Fleet by the Japanese. Although sailing warships were involved, most also had steam power and the major units were steel ships powered by steam, including some specialized vessels.

A fascinating read.