Abstract

This article analyzes the Peruvian war discourse during the Pacific War (1879-1884). Special emphasis is placed on the implicit concepts and conventions that were observed in the war-hawking harangues which had the objective of legitimizing armed conflict. Attending to the conceptual distinction between patriotism and nationalism, the hypothesis proposes that the Peruvian war rhetoric stands out for initially having a strong Americanist and republican accent. In methodological terms, this study subscribes to the history of political language, a theoretic and methodological focus proposed by the Cambridge School. The sources that sustain this research are fundamentally newspapers and printed leaflets. It is concluded that the war discourse was characterized by being agile and changing, always subject to the happenings of the War.