Tarapacá campaign

Tarapacá campaign
	Part of War of the Pacific
	; Movements and battles of the Tarapacá campaign.
Date	November – December 1879
Location	Tarapacá, Peru (present-day Chile)
Result	Chilean victory Chile obtains control of the Tarapacá Department.;
Belligerents
Chile	Peru; Bolivia
Commanders and leaders
Erasmo Escala	Juan Buendía

The Tarapacá campaign was a short stage of the War of the Pacific in the last months of 1879, after the Chileans won definitive naval superiority at Angamos. It took its name from the region where it was fought.

After Angamos, the Chilean government began the preparations for an invasion of the Tarapacá Department, a Peruvian territory rich in nitrates and whose exploitation quarrel began the war. In its favour, Chile had the advantage of mobility, since the Allies could only move supplies and troops by land. Along this campaign both armies had to endure the difficulties of fighting across the desert.

For the Chileans, the goal of the Tarapacá campaign was to secure the department and to hold it as ransom until war reparations were paid once the war ended.