Great Military Parade of Chile


For more than a century the Military Parade of Chile or Great Military Parade of Chile has been a tradition within the Independence Day holidays in Chile. It is held in Santiago, Chile's O'Higgins Park on September 19 yearly in honor of the Glories of the Chilean Army with a military parade involving not just the ground forces but by the rest of the Chilean Armed Forces: the Chilean Navy, the Chilean Air Force, and the Carabineros de Chile. It is also in honor of the anniversary of the formal inauguration on that day in 1810 of the First Government Junta, which witnessed the first military parade of the independent nation at the Plaza de Armas, Santiago. It is the final act of the national independence celebrations, which are broadcast through TV and the Internet and radio.
Per Law 2977 of 1915, Army Day is celebrated on the 19th of September in honor of the Army's role in the defense of the Chilean nation, thus the date is dedicated to the Chilean Army and is a national holiday. The parade, however, dates back to 1896, and parades have been held annually in the capital beginning in 1819.

Brief history

During the long Spanish era in Chile, whenever a new governor-general took office in Santiago, a military parade was called by the troops of the city garrison under the Spanish Army.
On Sept. 19, 1810, the formal inauguration of the First Government Junta took place in Santiago which saw the first ever military parade of the new nation.
Another military parade was held on September 28, 1819, in honor of the formal victory in the Chilean War of Independence with units of the Army of the Andes taking part. The parade would move to its present home in 1830 under President Tomas Ovalle, albeit in the fields of La Pampilla in the Santiago area, where the parade was held with the ceremonies ending in the Plaza de Armas with a Feu de joie. The parades, nicknamed "despejes" by the people, would take a new form in the years ahead.
In 1831, a military exercise was ordered by the government of President Joaquin Prieto on the Pampilla fields, which would witness the first ever parade on September 19 in the following year with Diego Portales taking the salute. The Pampilla area became its permanent home in 1842 when President Manuel Bulnes acquired lands in the area for the annual parades and military exercises, and was transformed into a military installation in 1845. It was turned into the O'Higgins Park in 1873, thanks to the efforts of Luis Cousiño, who, inspired by the parks he had seen in Europe before, decided that he would help adapt it to the Chilean situation. He asked Manuel Arana to design it, who then added a Field of Mars to the design of the park for the annual military parades, and it has been held there ever since. Another big parade was held in 1884 as the War of the Pacific was then in its final months as the Army pushed on its final offensive.
The president day parade, in the Prussian manner, officially began on September 19, 1896, even through in the late 1880s the parades held at the Field of Mars at O'Higgins Park, thanks to the efforts of the Prussian military mission to Chile under Captain Emil Körner, showed signs of Prussianization and modernization little by little. With the victory in the Chilean Civil War, in which Körner and the pro-modernization officers supported the Congress, the Prussian practice began to be standardized. The parade of 1896 witnessed Chilean Army units parading in the German manner, per companies and troops at first, and later by battalions and squadrons. Two years later, as the German-trained artillery and cavalry made their walk, trot and gallop passes at the tribune one pass at a time, the goose step made its debut in the parade, with the Army NCO School being the first to adopt the practice that would later be the Chilean Army standard by the 1901 parade, which was also the first since conscription was formally introduced. The parade of 1902 was the first in which foreign contingents marched past; in celebration of the recently signed Pacts of May, representatives from the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic marched past at the tribune at the parade field for the first time. Despite the tragedies that happened in 1910 as the nation celebrated its centennial year, the parade that year went on as planned, with Emiliano Figueroa, then acting president, receiving the salute from the units of the army and the navy, in his first parade as chief executive.
The parade's September 19 date was officially sanctioned in 1915 as Chilean Army Day per a presidential decree by President Ramón Barros Luco and Interior and Public Security Minister Pedro Nicolás Montenegro, then confirmed by Law 2977 by the National Congress, celebrating the Army, the first full day of the full independent nation, and the 1810 inauguration of its first government. Barros Luco took the salute on that year's parade, the first since it was made official. It has remained the same ever since, with the latter additions of the Air Force and the Carabineros de Chile in the following years, and evolving with the changing times despite having cancelled twice in 1924 and 1973 and having been reduced to remote broadcasts in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Timeline of parades since 1925

  • 1925
  • * Parade held after a one-year break, celebrated the 1925 Constitution, Luis Barros Borgoño's last parade as President, preceded by a September 10 parade in honor of the visit to the country of the Prince of Wales
  • 1926
  • * President Emiliano Figueroa's 2nd and last parade as President, the last parade of the Carabineros as a part of the Army
  • 1927
  • * Carlos Ibáñez del Campo took the salute on his first parade as President
  • 1929
  • * First aviation flypast
  • 1931
  • * Chilean Navy contingent reduced due to the sailors rebellion weeks before, Manuel Trucco Franzani's only parade as President
  • 1933
  • * Arturo Alessandri Palma's 4th parade as President
  • 1936
  • * Horse Rifles Regiment Mounted Band makes debut appearance with the unique regimental drumhorse
  • 1939
  • * Pedro Aguirre Cerda's first parade as President
  • 1942
  • * President Juan Antonio Ríos takes the salute on his first parade
  • 1943
  • * Air Force Academy makes debut appearance
  • 1944
  • * Air Force NCO School makes debut appearance
  • 1962
  • * Parade first broadcast on television
  • 1968
  • * Reorganized Army NCO School, with its Dragoneantes en Desfile March, returns to the parade grounds months after its reopening, Naval Polytechnical Academy makes debut marchpast
  • 1970
  • * First parade without the horse artillery columns
  • 1971
  • * Helicopter segment of flypast makes formal debut
  • 1974
  • * Augusto Pinochet takes the salute at his first parade as President
  • * Carabineros contingents from NCO School and the Women's Police Corps march past for the first time
  • 1975
  • * Los Viejos Estandartes, the Chilean Army Hymn, played as the official march for the 1st time
  • 1978
  • * Parade broadcast for the first time in color on television in the midst of the Beagle conflict, 2nd Motorized Division regiments marched past
  • 1980
  • * Carabineros Basic Training School makes premiere march past
  • * Debut appearance of the M50 and M60 Super Sherman medium tank
  • 1981
  • * Regimentsgruss Marsch adopted by the Air Force Academy, which also converts to white uniforms and cavalry sabres, and the ENAER T-35 Pillán makes debut flypast
  • * Mounted column makes final appearance
  • 1982
  • * No mobile column and flypast appearance that year
  • * Air Force NCO School drops the bugles on the Corps of Drums after their parade that year
  • 1985
  • * Landgraf Marsch adopted as the official march past of the Army NCO School
  • 1986
  • * Parademarsch der langen Kerls adopted as the official march past of the Carabinier School
  • 1988
  • * M24 Chaffee light tanks make final drivepast in the capital
  • 1989
  • * Augusto Pinochet takes the salute for one final time as President in a 3 hour long parade which sees the national debut of the locally manufactured FAMAE MOWAG Piranha APC
  • 1991
  • * Return of mobile column after one year break as reduced formation
  • 1992
  • * The Air Force Academy converts to blue uniforms
  • * Ship detachments from Chilean Navy vessels and naval bases march past
  • * Return of armored segment of mobile column after two years
  • 1993
  • * See the conquering hero comes readopted as official march past by the Air Force Academy, bugles now reinstated in regimental cadet band
  • 1994
  • * Only time ever in parade Army segment command and staff drove past
  • * Final drivepast of the EE-11 Urutu APC
  • 1995
  • * Naval Polytechnical Academy makes first official march past within months after its formal renaming, Massed Naval Bands contingent return after an 8-year break
  • * Final drivepast of Super Sherman medium tanks as part of mobile column
  • 1996
  • * Bernaro O'Higgins Military Academy debuts first women cadets on parade
  • 1997
  • * Contingents from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay marched
  • * Sole drivepast of the nationally produced Rayo MRL
  • * Final marchpast of the Army Women's Military School and army parachute battalions
  • 1998
  • * Army Communications School makes debut march past
  • * The Army Special Forces School marches past for the first time singing the Chilean Army Hymn
  • 1999
  • * Final drivepast of the EE-9 Cascavel APC
  • * Mounted column and mounted band segment reinstated
  • 2000
  • * Leopard 1 makes second and final drive past and horse artillery segment reintroduced
  • * March past of first women cadets of the Air Force Academy
  • * Chacabuco Regiment Historical Company makes first ever march past
  • * First ever parade of National Service Cadets battalions of Chilean Army educational institutions
  • 2001
  • * Air Force NCO School reconverts to the dark blue uniforms, band stops use of the cavalry fanfare trumpet
  • * Color guard column and mobile column both make their final appearances
  • 2002
  • * Air Force NCO School Band reconverts to bugles
  • *Los Viejos Estandartes, the Chilean Army Hymn, played as the official march for the 1st time since the parade of 1994
  • * 2nd Engineers Regiment, on its final parade, and the 3rd Mountain Detachment on its first parade following the merger of the 3rd and 18th Infantry Regiments, marches past with the first mountain infantrywomen
  • 2003
  • * Mounted Band of the First Cavalry Regiment "Grenadiers" begins using the present two drum horses format
  • * First women's intake of Buin Regiment marches past for the first time
  • 2004
  • * UN peacekeepers sing the Army Hymn for the only time
  • 2005
  • * Guardia di Finanza cadets marched after Carabineros Academy contingent
  • 2006
  • * Michelle Bachelet, the first woman President of Chile, takes her first salute, together with the first ever lady Minister of National Defense, Vivianne Blanlot
  • 2007
  • * Army Services School makes debut march past, 1st parade for foreign cadets and NCO students of the Carabineros, Army segment command uses combat dress for the first time, the Royal 22e Régiment Band from the Canadian Army marched, Preußens Gloria is played by 1st Cavalry Regiment band during the end of parade
  • 2008
  • * Debut marchpast for the Carabiniers K-9 Training School
  • 2009
  • * Carabineros mounted contingents make their national debut, Army divisions nationwide featured for the 1st time
  • * 1st march past of the Marine Corps in combat uniforms
  • 2010
  • * Sebastián Piñera takes the salute as President at his first parade, 200 national flags take their march past in celebration of 200 years of nationhood, contingents from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, United States, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay are also marched
  • * Leopard 2 MBTs make national debut drivepast
  • 2011
  • * Dragonantes on Parade March readopted as parade marchpast of the Army NCO School which marches past the entire regiment of NCO cadets for the first time
  • 2012
  • * Military bands from Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and France marched, horse artillery segment and 1st Armored Cavalry Regiment switched to Prussian styled uniforms
  • 2014
  • * The Army Special Forces School marches past for the first time since 2002 singing the Chilean Army Hymn
  • 2015
  • * Mountain mules appear in marchpast of 3rd Mountain Division for the first time in years
  • 2016
  • * Horse artillery segment marched within Army historical segments
  • * Army Reserve unit marches past for the first time
  • 2017
  • * Military bands from Argentina, Columbia and Mexico marched, Landgraf Marsch played as march past of the UN Peacekeeping Force for Haiti, many Army segments wears sunglasses with new modern digital battledress uniforms
  • 2018
  • * First woman drum major for the Corps of Drums of the Carabineros NCO School
  • *"Preußischer Präsentiermarsch" is played by the band of the First Cavalry Regiment during the end of parade mounted column
  • * Army War College marches past for the first time featuring first women graduates of staff officer course
  • * Live coverage was refused by Canal 13 due to charges made by TVN Chile.
  • 2019
  • * Chilean Investigations Police makes debut marchpast as part of Carabineros Academy contingent, whose Corps of Drums debuts first women drummers and buglers
  • * Landgraf Marsch returns as marchpast of Army NCO School, Army Infantry marches past to Mi Fusil y Yo and Adios al Septimo de Linea
  • * Air Force Reserve officers march past for the first time
  • * Order of march of Carabineros units reversed, with the Training School marching out last
  • 2021
  • * Reduced parade returns after a one year break