It is not too soon for some firm judgments to be made regarding what has just transpired in Chile. We can consider not only some of the more important current causes for the bloody coup but some contributing events from the past. Some rough idea as to what we can expect from the present military regime—that is, the military dictatorship— will emerge from the examination.

How ironic that we use that ugly word “dictatorship“ to describe an institution that but a few weeks ago was winning praises as a model of an armed service that, recognized the doctrine of civilian supremacy, the chain of command, and was in itself— ostensibly to the end of the Allende Administration— the architrave of Chilean constitutionalism.