Baltimore Crisis

The Baltimore crisis was a diplomatic incident that took place between Chile and the United States, after the 1891 Chilean Civil War, as result of the growing American influence in Pacific Coast region of Latin America in the 1890s. It marked a dramatic shift in United States–Chile relations. It was triggered by the stabbing of two United States Navy sailors from the USS Baltimore in front of the "True Blue Saloon" in Valparaíso on October 16, 1891. The United States government demanded an apology. Chile ended the episode when it apologized and paid a $75,000 indemnity.

In 1884 Chile emerged from the War of the Pacific as a potential threat to the hegemony of the United States. The Chilean navy, then the strongest fleet in the Pacific, was able to confront American policy. In 1882 Chile refused US mediation in the War of the Pacific. During the Panama crisis of 1885, as the United States Navy occupied Colón, then part of Colombia, the Chilean government ordered its navy to occupy Panama City and not to leave until after the American forces evacuated Colon. Finally in 1888 Chile annexed Easter Island, located some 2,000 miles west of Valparaíso, and by occupying Easter Island, Chile joined the imperial nations.

But by 1891 the equation of power had changed. The United States possessed more naval power and, more significantly,Alfred Thayer Mahan's theories were needed to secure the growing influence of the United States in Latin America.

During the Chilean Civil War the American government supported the forces of President Jose Manuel Balmaceda and enforced a ban on exports for the insurgents that was supported partially by the United Kingdom. These and another circumstances troubled relations between the United States and the victorious former insurgents, who in 1891 defeated the presidential forces and were then in power in Chile.

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