Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, better known to the rest of the world as Augusto Pinochet, was the dictator of Chile, reigning as president of the Government Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1990. He was the commander in chief of the Chilean army from 1973 through 1998. He assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973, overthrowing the Unidad Popular government of Salvador Allende and ending civilian rule a week before its 48th anniversary. In 1949, Pinochet entered the Academia de Guerra (war academy), the military school for officers. Over the next two decades, he worked writing tracts on military history and geography and rose steadily through the ranks. Though now known to have been an anti communist, he kept his political views
