Guerra a muerte
Encyclopedia
Guerra a muerte is a term coined by Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna
Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna
Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna was a Chilean writer, journalist, historian and politician. Vicuña Mackenna was of Irish and Basque descent.-Biography:...

 used in Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

an historiography
Historiography
Historiography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...

 to describe the irregular, no-quarter
No quarter
A victor gives no quarter when the victor shows no clemency or mercy and refuses to spare the life in return for the surrender at discretion of a vanquished opponent....

 warfare that broke out from 1819 to 1821 during the Chilean War of Independence. After that the royalists had been expelled from all cities and ports north of Bio-Bio River
Bío-Bío River
The Biobío River is the second largest river in Chile. It originates from Icalma and Galletué lakes in the Andes and flows 380 km to the Gulf of Arauco on the Pacific Ocean....

, Vicente Benavides
Vicente Benavides
Vicente Benavides Llanos was a Chilean soldier who fought in the Chilean War of Independence. He initially sided with the patriots but changed sides later to side with the royalists. He then led the resistance during the so called Guerra a muerte...

 organized royalist resistance in La Frontera
La Frontera (geographical region)
La Frontera is name given to a geographical region in Chile, between the Bío-Bío and Toltén Rivers, now part of the administrative regions of Bío-Bío and Araucanía...

 with the aid of Mapuche
Mapuche
The Mapuche are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina. They constitute a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who shared a common social, religious and economic structure, as well as a common linguistic heritage. Their influence extended...

 chiefs. The aid of the Mapuches was vital to the royalists since they had lost control of all cities and ports north of Valdivia
Valdivia, Chile
Valdivia is a city and commune in southern Chile administered by the Municipality of Valdivia. The city is named after its founder Pedro de Valdivia and is located at the confluence of the Calle-Calle, Valdivia and Cau-Cau Rivers, approximately east of the coastal towns of Corral and Niebla...

. Most Mapuches valued the treaties they had with the Spanish authorities, however many other Mapuches regarded the matter with indifference and played both sides against each other. The Pincheira brothers
Pincheira brothers
The Pincheira brothers was an infamous royalist outlaw group in Chile and Argentina active from 1818 to 1832. The gang fought initially in the Chilean War of Independence as royalist guerrillas during the Guerra a muerte phase...

, a future outlaw group, served Benavides in the Guerra a muerte by defending the Cordillera.
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