THE CHILEAN ARMY AND THE NATIONAL IDENTITY

Abstract

The military and civilian glories of the republic are melted through the history since the founding of the Chilean nation and the subsequent development of its culture and national identity. In that process the military dimension of its defense, as well as the civilian part of development, are inseparable constants in the building of its republican institutionalism. This is a consequence of the long war of Arauco; the isolation of the country of the main centers of world attraction and their migratory flows; the austerity of colonial life and the particularities of its political and social process until the 19th century. From the melting of the mapuche and Hispanic races arises a new nation that takes its own life in the person of Creole. Being he, the Creole, the one who consolidates, with the sword, the forge and the plough, a free, independent and sovereign Republican State that, after two centuries, remains the political expression of a society with a unique culture and identity.