War of the Pacific: The Battle of Topáter, the first battle of the war is fought between Chile and the joint forces of Bolivia and Peru.
The first battle lasted twenty minutes. At Topáter on March 23, 1879, 135 Chilean soldiers faced off against 548 Bolivian and Peruvian troops over something nobody could drink: sodium nitrate deposits in the Atacama Desert. Chile's commander, Colonel Emilio Sotomayor, charged uphill against fortified positions and won anyway. The victory gave Chile control of Calama and its critical water sources. Bolivia lost its entire coastline by war's end—434 kilometers of Pacific access, gone. Today, Bolivia's navy still trains on Lake Titicaca, practicing for an ocean they haven't touched in 145 years.
March 23, 1879
147 years ago
Key Figures & Places
Peru
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Chile
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Bolivia
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War of the Pacific
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Battle of Topáter
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War of the Pacific
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Battle of Topáter
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Chile
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Bolivia
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Peru
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Día del Mar
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Batalla de Calama
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Departamento del Litoral (Bolivia)
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Antofagasta
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Pacific War
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