As a result of this campaign, the Chileans established a collaborationist government headed by Francisco García Calderón with the intention of signing a peace treaty in their favor.

[1] The resistance was nominally in charge of Nicolás de Piérola, who had been President of Peru since 1879, establishing himself in Ayacucho, with figures such as Andrés Avelino Cáceres and Lizardo Montero joining his cause.

After Villavicencio's refusal, Erice's troops occupied Chincha on 7 January, starting a massive fire in the town, which was followed by the looting of the warehouses owned by foreign locals around midnight.

[5] Piérola proposed to continue the war against Chile and suggested reviving the Peru-Bolivian Confederation to attack the Chileans, travelling to Bolivia to coordinate said plan with Bolivian President Narciso Campero.

[6] Successive pronouncements made in Arequipa, Cajamarca and Chosica eventually forced him to resign from the presidency on 28 November 1881, being succeeded by Lizardo Montero.

Afterwards, he left for Europe, unsuccessfully attempting to convince the British and French to act as mediators for Peru, returning to Lima after the signing of the Treaty of Ancón in 1883.

He moved to Huaraz in June 1882, and left for Arequipa the same year, also refusing to accept the Chilean terms for a peace treaty, which included the transfer of territory in southern Peru.

Prior to and during this period, Cáceres and his troops, who had been organized to a lesser extent in comparison to Piérola's in Ayacucho,[8] located themselves in central Peru, carrying out their military campaign against Chile.

In late 1883, amid civil discontent at the news of the imminent occupation by Chilean troops, Montero left Arequipa for Puno to avoid its destruction, with the city being occupied on 29 October.

[14][15] By the time he reached Lake Titicaca, he put Cáceres in charge of the powerless government, who did not exercise power in the end, later recognizing the Treaty of Ancón.