So complicated were the internal affairs of the nations at this time that it would be impossible to follow them adequately without devoting various chapters to this purpose alone.  One of the blackest events of the period was the assassination of the ex-President Prado, who had proved himself a high-minded and efficient leader.  This, as a matter of fact, was the act of a dissatisfied non-commissioned officer, and not of any political party.

During Prado’s Presidency war broke out between Chile 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, given way to the practical considerations of industrial and commercial progress.