However, this was a good thing for Chile, as their goal was only to defend and they had no intention of counterattacking.
For the Chilean side, their most important task was to hold their territory before British support arrived and to protect the British mining interests in Chile.
But for Argentina, a stalemate in the war was the last thing they wanted to see.
Once the war entered the attrition phase, it would not only consume a large amount of Argentina's domestic resources, but most importantly, it would waste Argentina's time.
If the battle couldn't be resolved quickly, would the Americans send troops to help Argentina?
Perhaps they would if the opponent were Italy. But the opponent was the British Empire, the world's first superpower, and even the German Empire wouldn't offend them easily, let alone the United States, which was generally despised by Europeans as nouveau riche.
