Imperial German influence on Republican Chile

German people, culture, science and institutions have greatly influenced Chile. Following the Chilean independence in 1818, German influence increased gradually with Imperial Germany effectively displacing France as the prime role model for Chile in the second half of the 19th century. Settlement by ethnic German settlers has had a long-lasting influence on the society, economy and geography of Chile in general, and South Chile in particular.

Intense German influence around the turn of the century faced also some criticism as exemplified when Eduardo de la Barra wrote disparagingly about a "German bewitchment". For this critique, de la Barra was himself labelled a "romanizer" by critics. Influence peaked in the decades before World War I, and the prestige of Germany and German things in Chile remained high after the war but did not recover to its pre-war levels.

Institutions like the Chilean Army and Instituto Pedagógico were also heavily influenced by Germany.

Science and education
In the 19th century, the scientific community of Chile had a strong presence of German expatriates, and Germans were the second most common group of foreign engineers after the British. German scientists had prominent roles in the National Museum of Natural History and the National Astronomical Observatory in addition to having a local all-German scientific society; the Sociedad Científica Alemana de Santiago. In 1883, Chile sent a delegation to study the educational system of Prussia, with the aim improving scientific education in the country and ultimately reduce Catholic influence in the education system as it was perceived as an obstacle for scientific education. These efforts culminated with the establishment of the Instituto Pedagógico de Santiago in 1899.

Military emulation of Imperial Germany (1885–1914)


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 like Emilio Sotomayor and Patricio Lynch, who approached President Santa María arguing the need of good schools and technical departments for the military. Another factor that supported the emulation, the deliberate systematic imitation of the military technology, organisation, and doctrine of one country by another was 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 in Berlin was instructed to find a training mission during the War of the Pacific in 1881. But large-scale emulation of the Prussian Army began in 1886 with the appointment of Captain Emil Körner, a graduate of the renowned Kriegsakademie in 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 in 1906). It was extended also into military logistics and medical services, promotions, retirement, salary regulation and even uniforms (adopted in 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. 100,000 Mauser rifles and new Krupp artillery was bought for 3,000,000 DM in 1893, 2,000,000 DM in 1895 and 15,000,000 DM in 1898. Ammunition factories and small arms manufacturing plants were established.

Conscription: Like others 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 of Moltke'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 the 1891 Chilean Civil War Körner was removed from duty by José Manuel Balmaceda. He and his followers set sail north to join the Congressional forces in Iquique. He became chief architect of the new army and, though Estanislao del Canto formally was commander-in-chief, Körner led the rebel forces in the major clashes of the civil war.

Chile had had a General Staff during 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.

Linguistic influence
The impact of the German immigration to southern Chile was such that Valdivia was for a while a Spanish–German bilingual city with "German signboards and placards alongside the Spanish". The prestige of the German language helped it to acquire qualities of a superstratum in southern Chile. The temporary decline in the use of Spanish is exemplified by the trade the Mann family carried out in the second half of the 19th century. The family's Chilean servants spoke German with their patrons and used Mapudungun with their Mapuche customers.

The word for blackberry, an ubiquitous plant in southern Chile, is murra instead of the ordinary Spanish word mora and zarzamora from Valdivia to the Chiloé Archipelago and some towns in the Aysén Region. The use of rr is an adaptation of guttural sounds found in German but difficult to pronounce in Spanish. Similarly, the name for marbles is different in Southern Chile compared to areas further north. From Valdivia to the Aysén Region, this game is called bochas contrary to the word bolitas used further north. The word bocha is likely derivative of the Germans bocciaspiel.