Nicolás de Piérola
From Freepedia
| Term of Office: | 1879-1881 / 1895-1899 |
| Predecessor: | Mariano Ignacio Prado |
| Successor: | Francisco Morales Calderón |
| Date of Birth: | 1839 |
| Place of Birth: | Arequipa |
| Date of Death: | 1913 |
| Place of Death: | Lima |
| Profession: | Lawyer |
| Political party: | Independent |
Nicolás of Piérola (1839-1913) was twice the President of Peru, from 1879 to 1881 and from 1895 to 1899.
Nicolás de Piérola was born in Arequipa and received his early education there. He moved to Lima to study theology at the Seminario de Santo Toribio, and later obtained his law degree from the Faculty of Law. His parents died in 1857. From 1868 to 1871 he became Finance Minister under José Balta, signing with a French company the controversial contract "Hires Dreyfus," which granted the Dreyfus house of Paris the monopoly of the peruvian guano exportations. Some time later he was accused of misappropriating funds and was exiled to Bolivia and Chile. From 1874 to 1877 he intended to overthrow the established governments of Peru by unsuccessfully stirring up revolutions.
He was finally allowed to come back to Peru in 1879, taking advantage of the War of the Pacific (1879 – 1883) with Chile. During the course of these events, Piérola also took advantage of president Mariano Ignacio Prado's absence and he launched a successful coup d'etat, taking full power in December 23, 1879 and declared himself Peru's commander-in-chief. After Chilean forces invaded Lima in 1881, Piérola had to abandon the capital and leave for Ayacucho, yet was unsuccessful commanding Peruvian forces from there also. To make matters worse, Chile had not recognized his government since the beginning, and Piérola was soon forced to resign in the midst of the conflict on November 28 of that same year. However, this was not the end of Piérola as he would prove himself president of Peru years later as the leader of the Democratic Party of Peru, which he founded in 1882.
In 1894, after allying his party with the Civil Party of Peru to organize guerillas with fighters to occupy Lima, he ousted Andrés Avelino Cáceres and once again became president of Peru in 1895. His second term was successfully completed in 1899 and was marked with the reconstruction of a devastated Peru by initiating fiscal, military, religious, and civil reforms.
He passed away in Lima in 1913.
| Preceded by: Mariano Ignacio Prado | President of Peru 1879–1881 (Commander in Chief) | Succeeded by: Francisco García Calderón |
| Preceded by: Andrés Avelino Cáceres | President of Peru 1895–1899 | Succeeded by: Eduardo López de Romaña |
