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Augusto Pinochet was born in Valparaíso. He went to primary and secondary school at the San Rafael Seminary of Valparaíso, the Quillota Institute (Marist Brothers), the French Fathers' School of Valparaíso, and in the Military School, which he entered in 1933. After four years of study, he graduated from the latter with the rank of alférez ( Second Lieutenant) in the infantry.
In September 1937, he joined the "Chacabuco" Regiment, in Concepción. Two years later, in 1939, then with the rank of sub-lieutenant, he moved to the "Maipo" Regiment, of the Valparaíso garrison. He returned to the Infantry School in 1940. On January 30 1943, he married Lucía Hiriart Rodríguez, with whom he had five children: three daughters and two sons.
At the end of 1945, he joined the "Carampangue" Regiment, in Iquique. In 1948, he entered the War Academy, but he had to postpone his studies, because, being the youngest officer, he had to carry out a mission of service in the coal zone of Lota . The following year, he returned to his studies in the Academy.
After obtaining the title of Officer Chief of Staff, in 1951, he returned to teach at the Military School. At the same time, he worked as a teacher's aide at the War Academy, giving military geography and geopolitics classes. In addition to this, he was active as editor of the Institutional magazine Cien Águilas ("One Hundred Eagles"), an organ for the views of the officers.
During the beginning of 1953, with the rank of major, he was sent for two years to the Rancagua Regiment in Arica. While there, he was appointed professor of the War Academy, and he returned to Santiago to take up his new position. He also obtained a baccalaureate, and with this degree, he entered the University of Chile's Law School.
In 1956 Pinochet was chosen, together with a group of other young officers, to form a military mission that would collaborate in the organization of a War Academy of Ecuador in Quito, which forced him to suspend his law studies. He remained with the Quito mission for three-and-a-half years, during which time he dedicated himself to the study of geopolitics, military geography and intelligence.
At the end of 1959, he returned to Chile and was sent to General Quarters of the I Division of the Army, in Antofagasta. The following year, he was appointed Commander of the Esmeralda Regiment, 7th of the Line. Due to his success in this position, he was appointed Sub-director of the War Academy in 1963.
In 1968, he was named Chief of Staff of the II Division of the Army, in Santiago, and at the end of the year he was appointed Brigade General and Commander in Chief of the VI Division of the Iquique Garrison. In his new function, he was also appointed Intendant Representative of the Tarapacá Province.
In January 1971, he rose to Division General and was named Commander General of the Santiago Army Garrison. At the beginning of 1972, he was appointed General Chief of Staff of the Army.
With rising domestic strife in Chile, Pinochet was appointed Army Commander in Chief of the Army on 23 August 1973 by the elected socialist president, Dr. Salvador Allende.
General Pinochet came to power in a military coup d'état on September 11, 1973, in which rebels bombed the Presidential Palace with British-made Hawker Hunter fighter jets. Rebels also had eight Sherman tanks, two 75 mm cannons and some 200 infantry. Allende's diary claims that he committed suicide instead of surrendering, but others believe Allende was killed by military forces.
Since Pinochet was the chief of the oldest branch of the military forces (the Army), he was made head of the victorious junta's governing council; he immediately moved to crush Chile's left-wing opposition, arresting approximately 130,000 individuals in a three-year period. Internationally, Pinochet became the symbol of severe human rights abuse including many " disappearances".
In his memoirs, Pinochet affirms that he was the leading plotter of the coup and used his position as Commander of the Army to coordinate a far-reaching scheme that was coordinated with the other branches of the military. In recent years, however, high military officials from the time have said that Pinochet only reluctantly got involved in the coup a few days before it was scheduled to occur.
Once the Junta was in power, Pinochet soon consolidated his control, first retaining sole chairmanship of the Junta (originally agreed to be rotated among all members), and then was proclaimed President of the Republic on June 27, 1974. Also he became Capitán General (Captain General), evoking independence hero Bernardo O'Higgins.
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