The first phase of the war between Peru and Chile, that is to say the campaign of the South, concluded with the victory of this last country in the battles of the Alto de la Alianza and Arica, and the military occupation of the provinces of Tacna and Tarapacá (May-June of 1880). This allowed the Chilean government to undertake the preparations for the following phase: The invasion of Lima, the beautiful Peruvian capital, with the objective of forcing the end of the war by means of a capitulation that will include the cession to Chile of Peru's Southern provinces.
The city of Lima was founded by Spanish conqueror Francisco Pizarro in 1541, between the bank of the Rimac River and the Pacific Ocean. It was called the City of Kings in honor of the king and queen of Spain and because it was the capital of the Nueva Castilla government. As time went on it became the capital of the viceroyalty of Peru. Lima was also called the Garden City because of the fruit trees in bloom that surrounded the mansions and that at night perfumed the city. Between the 16th and 17th centuries it was the most important and powerful metropolitan area in Spanish America. It was also the viceroyalty center of the commercial, government and cultural activities. During the colonial era, geo-politically, Lima was more important than Madrid or Sevilla, due to its strategic position in South America and also due to the intense marine traffic that was going on between Europe and Callao port. During the republic, the city, the "Three times crowned villa", known also as the "Pearl of the Pacific", kept her beauty and importance as Peru's cultural and economic center.
In November of 1880, Chile disembarked in the beaches of Curayacu, at Lurin, South of Lima, an expeditionary force composed of nearly 30,000 men and one and a half month later it undertook the march on the Peruvian capital. The regular Peruvian army no longer existed and the remains of the "First Army of the South" were reinforced with units of volunteers coming from diverse parts of the country. This way, the Peruvians congregated a contingent of almost 16,000 men to defend their capital.
Peru's Supreme Director, Nicolas de Pierola, decided to handle himself the strategy of the defence, which will prove to be a terrible mistake. Pierola was a civilian, and as such, he obviously did not knew anything about military tactics, nor he wanted to listen to his military officers, among them the most capable Colonel Andres A. Caceres, who from the beginning proposed to march with the army and attack the Chileans at Lurin before they could organize their advance. Pierola rejected such an idea. In fact, weeks before the Chileans disembarked at Curayacu, Pierola insisted that they were going to attack Lima from the North, departing from Ancon, so he decided to build a fortress armed with heavy guns at the top of the Saint Cristobal Hill, facing an hypothetical attack from that point. Again Caceres proved to be right because he had insisted that the Chileans were going to disembark were they actually did.
Despite his previous mistakes, the Peruvian leader established a strategy that included the conformation of two defensive lines at the South of the city: One in San Juan and the other in Miraflores. In principle the idea of the location of the lines was not wrong because ahead of them there were no hills and no forests in which the enemy could protect itself during combat. The sandy dessert of that area also would make it very difficult for the Chileans to pull their heavy guns. In any case, if the first line, that is to say, San Juan, was broken, it seemed impossible that they could do the same at Miraflores.
The problem with this defensive strategy was that both lines were covering a long perimeter, about 5 miles-long each, which weaken their strength and make it very difficult the communications among each line and the mobilisation of the battalions from one point to the other. In fact, if the enemy decided to concentrate their attack on only one sector of the line, they could easily break it and attack the rest from the rear. And that was precisely what the Chilean General Manuel Baquedano did.
More than half of the 16 thousand men that the Peruvians had were civilians with just a basic training. Most of the officers had a brevet military rank. A great number of the soldiers were peasants from the Andean regions. Another big percentage was composed of professionals such as lawyers, doctors, engineers, as well as traders and businessmen. Students from the universities, blue-collar workers and artisans also joined the army in order to defend their sacred soil from the invaders.
The Chileans not almost doubled in number the Peruvians, but had the advantage of a excellent artillery including that provided by the guns of their squadron located at the coasts of Lima. Besides that, most of the soldiers were veterans of the Southern campaign, and as such had previous experience in combat.
San Juan, the first defensive line, was located from West to East, (Chorrillos to Ate). It was defended with three Divisions. The first one, at the right, in Chorrillos, was under command of Colonel Miguel Iglesias. The second, in the center, at Pamplona, was under orders of the gallant Colonel Andres A. Caceres, and the left flank, between La Molina and Ate, was placed under the valiant Colonel Justo Pastor Davila. Meanwhile, the reserve was under command of Colonel Belisario Suarez.
The Chileans decided to concentrate their main attack from the sector of Lurin, next to the ocean, towards Chorrillos. On January 12, 1881, at 18:00 hours, the Chilean troops start their advance against the Peruvian positions under the shadows of the night. At dawn, on January the 13th, the Division commanded by Navy Commodore Patricio Lynch was ready to attack the positions defended by Colonel Miguel Iglesias.
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