Chilean Army

TheChilean Army(Spanish:Ejército de Chile) is the land arm of theChilean Armed Forces.This 80,000-person army (9,200 of which areconscripts)is organized into six divisions, aspecial operationsbrigade and an air brigade.

Chilean Army
Ejército de Chile
Chilean Army emblem
Active	1603, 1810– present
Country	Chile
Type	Army
Role	Land warfare
Size	80,000
Part of	Chilean Armed Forces
Headquarters	Edificio Ejército Bicentenario Santiago
Patron	Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Motto(s)	Siempre vencedor, jamás vencido( "Always Victorious, Never Defeated" )
Colors	Red,Field Grey
March	Los viejos estandartes( "Old Banners" )
Anniversaries	September 19th (Army Day)
Engagements	Chilean War of Independence Freedom Expedition of Perú Chilean Civil War of 1829–30 War of the Confederation 1851 Chilean Revolution Revolution of 1859 Chincha Islands War Occupation of Araucanía War of the Pacific 1891 Chilean Civil War Itata incident Chilean naval mutiny of 1931 1973 Chilean coup d'état Beagle conflict Operation Secure Tomorrow
Website	http://www.ejercito.cl/
Commanders
Minister of National Defense	Maya Fernández
Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Defence	Vice AdmiralRodrigo Álvarez Aguirre
Commander-in-chief of the Chilean Army	Army GeneralJavier Iturriaga del Campo
Notable commanders	Bernardo O'Higgins,José Miguel Carrera,José de San Martín,Manuel Bulnes,Manuel Baquedano,Carlos Ibáñez del Campo,Augusto Pinochet
Insignia
Flag
Flag of the Chilean Army chief
Fin flash

In recent years, and after several major re-equipment programs, the Chilean Army has become the most technologically advanced and professional army inLatin America.

The Chilean Army is mostly supplied with equipment fromGermany,theNetherlands,Switzerland,Sweden,theUnited States,Israel,France,andSpain.

History

Colonial warfare

Main article:War of Arauco

19th century

Independence War

See also:Chilean War of Independence

The National Army of Chile was created on December 2, 1810, by order of theFirst National Government Junta.The army was actively involved in the second Independence War, which was fought againstroyalisttroops in battles such asChacabucoandMaipúor others. During this period, national figures such asBernardo O'Higginscommanded the army and José de San Martín was allied with O'Higgins. The Army's first commander-in-chief was José Miguel Carrera.

After obtaining independence from Spain, the newly formed Republic reorganized its military structure by creating the Military Academy of Chile, which was founded by General O'Higgins in 1817.

Guardia Nacional

Diego Portalesset up a civil militia, the Guardia Nacional, to end one of the worst stages of militarism in Chilean history. The militia was created in 2005. Portales developed this parallel army to compensate the army's might.The ChileanConscriptionLaw of 1900 marked the beginning of the end of the Guardia Nacional.

War of the Confederation

Main article:War of the Confederation

Occupation of Araucanía

Main article:Occupation of Araucanía

War of the Pacific

Main article:War of the Pacific

Military emulation 1885–1914

See also:German influence in Chile

Noncommissioned Officers' School on parade, 19 September 2014

During the War of the Pacific, many high-ranking officers won valuable insights into the state of the army and became aware that the army required rebuilding. Losses, material destruction, and organizational flaws regarding strategic planning and officer training, were noted by officers likeEmilio SotomayorandPatricio Lynch,who approached PresidentSanta Maríaarguing the need of good schools and technical departments for the military. Other factor that supported the emulation, the deliberate systematic imitation of the military technology, organisation, and doctrine of one country by anotherwas the danger of war with Argentina. The emulation was backed by a broad coalition of civil and military leaders.

Chile hired a French military training mission in 1858,and the Chilean legation inBerlinwas instructed to find a training mission during the War of the Pacific in 1881. But large-scaleemulationof thePrussian Armybegan in 1886 with the appointment of CaptainEmil Körner,a graduate of the renownedKriegsakademiein Berlin. Also appointed were 36 Prussian officers to train officer cadets in the Chilean Military Academy. The training occurred in three phases; the first took place from 1885 to 1891 during the presidency of Domingo Santa María, the second was the post-civil-war phase, and the third was the 1906 reorganization.

The emulation was focused in armaments, conscription, officer recruitment and instruction, and general staff organization as well as military doctrine (adopted 1906). It was extended also into military logistics and medical services, promotions, retirement, salary regulation and even uniforms (adopted 1904), marching styles, helmets, parades, and military music.

Armaments:Prior to 1883, the army was equipped with a variety of rifles, mostly French and Belgian origin. From 1892 to 1902, the Chilean-Argentine Arms Race, marked the peak of Chilean arms purchase. 100,000Mauserrifles and newKruppartillery was bought for 3 millionGerman marks (ℳ︁)in 1893, 2 million marks in 1895 and 15 million marks in 1898. Ammunition factories and small arms manufacturing plants were established.

Conscription:Like other armies in South America, Chile had had a small army of long-term service officers and soldiers. In 1900 Chile became the first country in Latin America to enforce a system of compulsory military service, whereby training, initially five to eighteen months (Germany: three years), took place in zones of divisional organization in order to create a solid military structure that could be easily doubled with well-trained and combat-ready reserve forces. Budgetary restrictions prevented the full impact of the law: the service fell disproportionately on the lower classes, no more than 20% of the contingent was incorporated annually, and former conscripts were not retrained periodically.

Officer education and training:The beginning of the German mission was dedicated almost exclusively to the organization and implementation of a standardized, technically oriented military education with the essence ofMoltke's German military system of continuous study of artillery, infantry, cartography, history, topography, logistics, tactics, etc., for a modern, professional and technically trained officer corps. In 1886, the "Academia de Guerra" (War Academy) was founded"to elevate the level of technical and scientific instruction of army officers, in order that they be able, in case of war, to utilize the advantages of new methods of combat and new armaments."The best alumni were candidates for general staff service. By the mid-1890s Körner organized the courses for a Noncommissioned Officers' School (Escuela de Suboficiales y Clases).

During the1891 Chilean Civil WarKörner was removed from duty byJosé Manuel Balmaceda.He and his followers set sail north to join the Congressional forces inIquique.He became chief architect of the new army and, thoughEstanislao del Cantoformally was commander-in-chief, Körner led the rebel forces in the major clashes of the civil war.

Chile had had aGeneral Staffduring the War of the Pacific.Körner turned his attention to a permanent institution in 1893-94 that should replace the old "Inspector General del Ejército", but with control over military affairs in peacetime and wartime. It had four sections: Instruction and Discipline, Military Schools, Scientific Works (strategic and operational planning), and Administration.

20th century

Milicia Republicana

TheGuardia RepublicanaorMilicia Republicanawas created after the fall of theSocialist Republic of Chilein order to prevent anothercoup d'etat.On May 7, 1933, 20,000 militiamen marched past PresidentArturo Alessandriin the streets of Santiago. In theLas Mercedes' plotin 1933, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Pedro Vignola, called "to resist the Milicia Republicana by any means"; he was forced to resign from his post.In 1936, the militia was disbanded.

U.S. Influence

Main article:U.S. intervention in Chile

During the decades preceding the 1973 coup, the Chilean Army became influenced by the United States'anti-communistideologyin the context of various cooperation programs including theUS Army School of the Americas.

The Army under General Pinochet

Main article:1973 Chilean coup d'état

Chilean soldiers burning books considered communist after the coup d'état (1973)

On 11 September 1973, in a watershed event of the Cold War and the history of Chile, presidentSalvador Allendewas overthrown in a coup d'état by the Armed Forces. Paul W. Drake and Ivan Jaksic state inThe Struggle for Democracy in Chile:

The armed forces killed, imprisoned, tortured, and exiled thousands of Chileans. The military suppressed, dismantled, and purged not only political parties but also publication, unions, schools, and other bastions of the democratic opposition. Even such privileged constituencies as university professors and students encountered serious limitations on their traditional ability to voice opinions of national, or even institutional relevance.... The military regime viewed such activities [of the Catholic Church] with distrust, if not hostility. It launched a campaign of harassment against the Catholic Church...

Once the military had demobilized the polity and society, the regime began implanting its vision of a new order. It set out to replace not only democratic with authoritarian politics but also statist with market-driven economics.

The Army, with now Captain General Augusto Pinochet, leader of the coup, as commander-in-chief of both the Army and the Armed Forces, led the national mobilization effort in 1978 as theBeagle conflictbegan to hit the country. The Army was on full alert status during the duration of the crisis.

Patricio Aylwinwas electedPresident of the Republic on December 14, 1989. Although Chile had officially become a democracy, the Chilean military continued to be very powerful during Aylwin's presidency, and theChilean constitutionhad been amended by Pinochet's regime to ensure the continued influence of Pinochet and his commanders.

21st century

As a result of tensions with neighbors during the conflict-prone 1970s and early 1980s, the Chilean Army refined existing strategic concepts and eventually formulated a plan to restructure its forces. Though wars were avoided, the threats from the 1970s and 1980s encouraged the army to address more effectively its major defense disadvantage: lack ofstrategic depth.Thus, in the early 1980s it looked outward for a model of army organization that would best advance defensive capabilities by restructuring forces into smaller, more mobile units instead of traditional divisions. The resultingPlan Alcázarenvisions three military zones in Chile, with the bulk of forces concentrated in the north, and reinforces the center and south. The plan was implemented in stages, starting in 1994. Thus Alcázar, based on threat scenarios of the past, is one of the most durable "lessons" of the past.Even with the resolution of almost all remaining territorial disputes, the restructuring agenda continued, reinforcing a conflict-based mindset in the army.

Peacekeeping

See also:Chilean Joint Peacekeeping Operations Center

• 1964-2013UNFICYP
• 1969 El Salvador-Honduras conflict (OASmission).
• 1978-2013UNIFIL
• 1989-1992ONUCA
• 1991-1992UNIKOM
• 1992-1993UNTAC
• 1992-1995ONUSAL
• 1995-1999MOMEP(Military observer mission in theCenepa War)
• 1996-1998UNSCOM
• 1997-2002UNMIBH
• 2000-2002UNTAET
• 2000-2003UNMOVIC
• 2000-(2013)UNMIK
• 2001-(2013)UNFICYP
• 2002-2003UNMISET
• 2003-2006DPKO
• 2003-(2013)MONUC
• 2003-2004UNAMA
• 2004-(2013)EUFOR-ALTHEA
• 2004-(2013)MIFH(Multinational Interim Force forHaiti)
• 2004-(2013)MINUSTAH
• 2007-(2013)UNLOG(UN Logistics Base inBrindisi, Italy)

Organization

Main article:Chilean Army order of battle

Structure of the Chilean Army in 2014 (click on image to enlarge)

Order of battle

Army General Headquarters,inSantiago.

Land Operations Command,headquartered inConcepcion.

• 1st Army Division:Regions II and III, with headquarters inAntofagasta.
• 2nd Motorized Division:Regions IV, V, VI, VII andSantiago Metropolitan Regionwith headquarters inSantiago de Chile.
• 3rd Mountain Division:Serving Regions VIII, IX, XIV, and X with headquarters inValdivia.
• 4th Army Division:Region XI with headquarters inCoyhaique.
• 5th Army Division:Serving Region XII with headquarters inPunta Arenas.
• 6th Army Division:Serving Regions I and XV, with headquarters inIquique.
• Army Aviation Brigade:with headquarters inRancagua(Brigada de Aviación del Ejército). It is the Army's aviation force, composed of 4 battalions and a logistics company.
• Lautaro Special Operations Brigade:with headquarters inPeldehue.It is the Army's special forces brigade, named after one of Chile's national heroes.

Training and Doctrine Command(Comando de Institutos y Doctrina)

• Army Schools' Division(División Escuelas)
• Army Education Division(División de Educación)
• Army Doctrine Division(División de Doctrina)

Force's Support Command(Comando de Apoyo de la Fuerza)

• Logistics Division,with headquarters inSantiago(División Logística del Ejército)
• Engineers Command
• Telecommunications Command
• Infrastructure Command
• Military Industry and Engineering Command

Army Independent Commands

• General Garrison Commandin Santiago, serving the Santiago Metropolitan Region, reports directly to Army Headquarters
• Medical Commandin Santiago
• Administration Command

Army General Staff(Estado Mayor General del Ejército)

• Chilean Military Mission to Washington
• Directorate of Intelligence
• Directorate of Operations
• Finance Directorate
• Logistics Directorate

Military equipment

Main article:List of current equipment of the Chilean Army

The Chilean Army acquired a number of new systems with the goal of having a completely modernized and largely mechanized army by 2015. The military also modified its operational structure, creating armoured brigades throughout the entire territory and a new special operations brigade, while preserving the existing divisional scheme.

Personnel

In 2013, there were 3,900 officers, 17,300 NCOs, 3,600 professional soldiers, and 9,200 conscript soldiers. In military schools, 2,400 students. Civilian employees, 8,400.

Military ranks

Main article:Army ranks and insignia of Chile

Officers

Rank group	General / flag officers										Senior officers						Junior officers								Officer cadet
Chilean Army
			General de ejército		General de división		General de brigada		Brigadier		Coronel		Teniente coronel		Mayor		Capitán		Teniente		Subteniente		Alférez		Cadete

Enlisted

Rank group	Senior NCOs																						Junior NCOs						Enlisted
Chilean Army
	Suboficial mayor						Suboficial		Sargento primero								Sargento segundo						Cabo primero				Cabo segundo	Cabo							Soldado de tropa profesional

Drill and traditions

Ceremony for the Nativity ofBernardo O'Higginsin 2012

The Chilean Army is famous for its elaborate drill, exhibited in large scale during theDía de las Glorias Navaleson 21 May and theParada Militar de Chile(Great Military Parade of Chile) on 19 September. The early armed forces adopted many Prussian military traditions, and it was during this period that the Chilean military had many of its most famous victories. As a result, the drill features many 19th and early 20th century Prussian and German patterns.

Participating soldiers wear German-stylestahlhelm,andpickelhaubespiked helmets, and march in unalteredgoose step.Marching music consists of Central European marches, alongside several local compositions. EachParada Militaron 19 September ends with a playing ofPreussischer Präsentiermarsch(first played in 2018) andLos viejos estandartesby a mounted band playing in the German tradition.

Pickelhaubes have long been worn by the Military School, and later by the 1st Cavalry Regiment and the 1st Artillery Regiment. The stahlhelm is worn only by the NCO School.

This is also the case for parades held on 18 September, Independence Day, in the local level, whenever Army units take part.

Several Army units wear on parade historical dress uniforms from the time of 19th-century battles, but do not march in the German manner:

• 1st Infantry Regiment "Buin" - Grenadier uniform of the 1st Infantry Battalion "Chilean Grenadiers"
• 6th Reinforced Regiment "Chacabuco" - War of the Pacific French-styled uniform worn by the 4th Company, in recognition of its heroic final stand in theBattle of La Concepción
• 4th Motorized Infantry Brigade "Rancagua" - War of the Pacific French-styled uniform worn by the Historical Company, similar to those worn by the regiment during the 1880Battle of Arica
• 3rd Cavalry Regiment "Hussars" - black dress uniform with shako worn only by the Demonstration Troop "Cuadro Negro", similar to those worn by its predecessors during theChilean War of Independence

Military bands

A mounted military band of the Chilean Army in 2011

The Army Band Service is themilitary banddepartment of the army, operating through the Welfare Command. The massed bands of the capital are known as theGran Banda de la Guarnición de Santiago(Grand Band of the Santiago Garrison), which is involved every 19 September with theGreat Military Parade of Chile.When it was formed it had up to 550 musicians; since 1980 it has been reduced to about 295 musicians, with an attachedcorps of drums.The mainmilitary bandin the army is the Concert Band of the Chilean Army. It was founded in 1963, and is the most senior army band, but is more of aconcert band,some of its musicians being seconded to the Military Academy. It reports to the Chief of the Bands Service. In 2000, it appeared in Rome on the occasion of the Military Music Jubilee. In 2004 and 2012, it participated in theQuebec City International Festival of Military Bandsin Canada.It has also visited Germany, Scotland, Uruguay, France and the United States.

The Chilean Army has twomounted bands:

• Mounted Band and Bugles of the1st Cavalry Regiment "Grenadiers"- It is the most senior band of the cavalry and armoured regiments of the army
• Band and Bugles of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment "Hussars"

Other bands include the band of the Army NCO School and the Bernardo O'Higgins Military Academy. Military bands in Chile have aCorps of Drumsand theTurkish crescentpercussion instrument, similarly to German military bands. Departing from the German tradition is the presence of an added Bugle section behind the Corps of Drums, a tradition inherited from France and in the buglers of Imperial Germany, with the band's conductor being assisted by a bugle major who is placed either in front of the bugle section or if in a massed corps of drums behind the buglers.

Commanders-in-chief

Main article:List of commanders-in-chief of the Chilean Army

See also

• Chilean Navy
• Chilean Air Force
• Lautaro Special Operations Brigade

Bibliography

• Resende-Santos, Joao (2007).Neorealism, States, and the Modern Mass Army.New York: Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-521-86948-5.
• Bawden, John R (2016).The Pinochet Generation: The Chilean Military in the Twentieth Century.Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.ISBN978-0817319281.

External links

• Official Chilean Army site(in Spanish)
• Ranks of Chilean Army site,Chilean Army website: Chilean Army, archived fromthe originalon 28 August 2010,retrieved28 August2010
• Latin American Light Weapons National InventoriesArchived2016-03-15 at theWayback Machine