The study of geography between 1885 and 1922: prussian roots of the Military Geographical Institute of Chile

Abstract

The modernization of Chile’s Army is a process that has taken place organically throughout the years, however, there exist events that have accelerated said process. As a result of the War of the Pacific, the need for the acceleration of the modernization process was stated, and to that end, the hiring of the prussian instructor Emil Körner was carried out after the war. The instructor’s vision led to a series of reforms and reorganization that brought the Army closer to the prussian model of organization and instruction, and pushed it to professionalization. Körner was one of the key players in the adoption of the prussian model in Chile’s Army under the so-called prussianization process, one that meant a constant looking towards Germany as a source of inspiration.

The effects of prussianization lasted for a long time, and even though they impacted a wide range of areas, ones that prove interesting to analyze are the ones from the academic and instructional levels. As such, the present analysis carries out a general review to later focus on academic reforms and how they made way to the creation of the Military Geographic Institute, and how it evolved with the passage of time.