e and Peru over the
question of the nitrate fields, which were claimed by both countries.
Prado being both the President and General-in-Chief, took command of the
Peruvian army. Although a man of personal courage, he appears to have
been utterly hopeless of victory from the start; and in December, 1879,
when various disasters had overtaken the Peruvian arms, he abandoned the
country, and, taking ship at Callao, sailed for Europe.

The resistance to Chile was continued by Nicolas de Pierola, who, rising
in armed rebellion against the constituted authority of Peru, caused
himself to be declared President. His efforts, however, did not succeed
in stemming the Chilean advance, and the end of the war saw Peru
deprived of the nitrate provinces which she had claimed. Bolivia, who
had been associated with her as her ally in the struggle, was now
reduced to the position of an inland State, her strip of coast-line
having been taken away by the victorious Chileans.

The history of Peru following on the disastrous war with Chile is one of
internal strife, when a host of would-be leaders, each with a following
of greater or lesser importance, came into conflict and prevented any
settled political action. In 1886 President Andreas Caceres came into
power, and, seeing that the populace of the Republic was now exhausted
by the continuous state of conflict, he was permitted to rule unchecked
until 1890. Caceres established a species of military dictatorship, and
remained the power behind the throne until 1894, when, the acting
President having died, he found it necessary to come to the front again,
and after some confusion and fighting he was proclaimed President for
the second time.

In 1895 a revolution occurred, headed by the same Pierola who had
distinguished himself in the war against Chile. After some severe
fighting the party of Caceres was defeated, and Pierola, declared
President, began to govern in a constitutional fashion. His advent to
power marked the end of the political turbulence which had been so
prominent a feature of Peruvian history during the latter half of the
nineteenth century. Although the revolutionary movement continued, it
had lost its fierce and almost continuous character. Since that period
it has become merely intermittent, and thus of secondary consideration;
for, following the example of the neighbouring and progressive Republics
of South America, the political strife in Peru has, to a large extent,
g