Martiniano Urriola Guzmán was a Chilean colonel of the

War of the Pacific The War of the Pacific ( es, link=no, Guerra del Pacífico), also known as the Saltpeter War ( es, link=no, Guerra del salitre) and by multiple other names, was a war between Chile and a Bolivian–Peruvian alliance from 1879 to 1884. Fought ...

. He participated across many campaigns of the war as well as being one of the primary commanders of the Chilean North Operations Army.

Military career

Martiniano was born on 1823 as the son of Colonel Pedro Urriola Balbontín and ''Doña'' Rosario Guzmán Fontecilla at

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

. He entered the in 1832 before graduating in 1837 as a 2nd Lieutenant. He was then made an assistant as his father had to go to

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

to conduct operations against Marshal

Andrés de Santa Cruz Andrés de Santa Cruz y Calahumana (; 30 November 1792 – 25 September 1865) was a Bolivian general and politician who served as interim president of Peru in 1827, the interim president of Peru from 1836 to 1838 and the sixth president of B ...

. Martiniano then joined the ranks of

Alejandro Heredia Alejandro Heredia (1788 – 12 November 1838) was an Argentine soldier and politician. He fought in the war of independence, and in the subsequent civil war. He was governor and ''caudillo'' of Tucumán Province. Early career Alejandro Heredia ...

as he participated in the

War of the Confederation The War of the Confederation ( es, Guerra de la Confederación) was a military confrontation waged by Chile, along with Peruvian dissidents, and the Argentine Confederation against the Peru–Bolivian Confederation between 1836 and 1839. As ...

. He returned to Chile in 1838 and a year later, he joined the ranks of

Manuel Bulnes Manuel Bulnes Prieto (; December 25, 1799 – October 18, 1866) was a Chilean military and political figure. He was twice President of Chile, from 1841 to 1846 and from 1846 to 1851. Born in Concepción, he served as the president of Chile bet ...

and fought at the battles of Portada de Guías, Buin and Yungay. During the

1851 Chilean Revolution The Revolution of 1851 (or Civil War of 1851) was an attempt by Chilean liberals to overthrow the conservative government of president Manuel Montt and repeal the Chilean Constitution of 1833. After various battles and sieges, by late December 18 ...

, his father was killed and Martiniano had to flee for Peru in exile. While staying at

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

, he met ''Doña'' Carolina Eléspuru y Pinillos and they would proceed to get married. After the presidency of

Manuel Montt Manuel Francisco Antonio Julián Montt Torres (; September 4, 1809 – September 21, 1880) was a Chilean statesman and scholar. He was twice elected President of Chile between 1851 and 1861. Biography Montt was born in Petorca, Valparaíso R ...

, he returned to Chile with his family and settled at Colchagua and worked on the land there and also commanded the Civic Battalions of Rengo and San Fernando. He was then appointed Governor of the Caupolicán Department and the mayor of Colchagua. In 1874, the Civic Naval Artillery Battalion was founded and Urriola was given command of the Battalion. After the

broke out, Urriola was promoted to Colonel and given command of the I Division. During the

Tarapacá Campaign The Tarapacá campaign is a short stage of the War of the Pacific developed in the last months of 1879, after the Chileans won definitive naval superiority at Angamos, and takes its name from the region where it was fought. After Angamos, the C ...

, he occupied Junín as well as participating at the

Battle of San Francisco The Battle of San Francisco, also known as the Battle of Dolores (not to be confused with the Battle of Dolores River (1904) during the Philippine–American War), was a major battle in the Tarapacá Campaign of the War of the Pacific, fought on ...

and the

Battle of Tarapacá The Battle of Tarapacá occurred on November 27, 1879, during the Tarapacá Campaign of the War of the Pacific. Three Chilean columns of almost 3,900 soldiers attacked a numerically inferior Peruvian contingent of 3,046 troops at Tarapacá - 500 ...

. During the

Tacna and Arica campaign The Tacna and Arica campaign is known as the stage of the War of the Pacific after the Chilean conquest of the Peruvian department of Tarapacá, ending with Chilean domination of the Moquegua department in southern Peru. During this campaign Bo ...

, he was wounded during the

Battle of Tacna The Battle of Tacna, also known as the ''Battle of the Peak of the Alliance'' (Spanish: ''Batalla del Alto de la Alianza''), effectively destroyed the Peru-Bolivian alliance against Chile, forged by a secret treaty signed in 1873. On May 26, 188 ...

but despite that, he continued to serve as he commanded the III Division during the

Lima campaign The Lima campaign is the third land campaign of the War of the Pacific, carried out by Chile between December 1880 and January 1881. The campaign ended with the Chilean occupation of the Peruvian capital and the establishment of the Chilean aut ...

and participated in the

Battle of San Juan and Chorrillos The Battle of San Juan, also known as the Battle of San Juan and Chorrillos, was the first of two battles in the Lima Campaign during the War of the Pacific, and was fought on 13 January 1881. This battle is really a group of smaller, yet fierce ...

and

Battle of Miraflores The Battle of Miraflores occurred on January 15, 1881 in the Miraflores District of Lima, Peru. It was an important battle during the War of the Pacific that was fought between Chile and the forces of Peru. The Chilean army led by Gen. Manuel ...

. Urriola then participated in the

Occupation of Lima , common_languages = Spanish , religion = , stat_year1 = , stat_area1 = , stat_pop1 = , title_leader = President , leader1 = Aníbal Pinto , year_leader1 ...

along with the forces of

Patricio Lynch Patricio Javier de los Dolores Lynch y Solo de Zaldívar (Valparaíso 18 December 1825 – 13 May 1886) was a lieutenant in the Royal Navy and a rear admiral in the Chilean Navy, and one of the principal figures of the later stages of the War of ...

and returned to the Peruvian capital after briefly returning to Chile in 1882. In the Sierra campaign, Urriola joined

Marco Aurelio Arriagada Marco may refer to: People * Marco (given name), people with the given name Marco * Marco (actor) (born 1977), South Korean model and actor * Georg Marco (1863–1923), Romanian chess player of German origin * Tomás Marco (born 1942), Spanish co ...

's expedition against

Andrés Avelino Cáceres Andrés Avelino Cáceres Dorregaray (November 10, 1836 – October 10, 1923) served as the President of Peru two times during the 19th century, from 1886 to 1890 as the 27th President of Peru, and again from 1894 to 1895 as the 30th Preside ...

. After the Peruvian defeat at the Battle of Huamachuco, the General Headquarters in Lima ordered a expedition to

Ayacucho Ayacucho (, qu, Ayak'uchu) is the capital city of Ayacucho Region and of Huamanga Province, Ayacucho Region, Peru. During the Inca Empire and Viceroyalty of Peru periods the city was known by the name of Huamanga (Quechua: Wamanga), and it c ...

. Despite Urriola participating in previous engagements in the campaign, Lynch gave command of the expedition to José Antonio Gutiérrez because Urriola wouldn't be able to survive the hardships of the geography due to his age however Lynch eventually gave Urriola command of a Division consisting of the 3rd Pisagua Line Battalion, the Miraflores Battalion, 6 pieces of artillery from the 2nd Artillery Regiment, 90 Horse Grenadiers and 110 Yungay Carabineros. The expedition proved to be extremely deadly for the Chilean forces as the Peruvians enacted

Guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or Irregular military, irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, Raid (military), raids ...

against the Chileans, inciting indigenous uprisings as well as the continuous rains and snowfalls, the intense cold and the poor quality of clothing began to take a heavy toll on the Chilean forces but eventually, the Peruvians sued for peace in the

Treaty of Ancón The Treaty of Ancón was a peace treaty signed by Chile and Peru on 20 October 1883, in Ancón District, Ancón, near Lima. It was intended to settle the two nations' remaining territorial differences at the conclusion of their involvement in the ...

due to war exhaustion.

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Urriola, Martiniano 1823 births 1888 deaths Military personnel from Santiago People from Colchagua Province Chilean military personnel of the War of the Pacific Chilean Army officers Chilean colonels