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Podcast Transcript
In the 1860s, one of the bloodiest wars in the Western Hemisphere was fought…and it wasn’t the American Civil War.
It was a war between Paraguay and a coalition of Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil, and was one of the bloodiest wars ever fought in Latin America.
It was a conventional war that led to guerrilla warfare, causing famine and disease.
Learn more about the Paraguay War or the War of the Triple Alliance in this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Despite the seriousness of the Paraguay War, shockingly few people have heard of it. It took place in the aftermath of the American Civil War, a war that has attracted much historical attention because it occurred first and because the abolition of slavery was at its core.
The Paraguayan War was a more traditional war in that the basis of the war was territorial. I talked about this war before in one of my earliest episodes, where I explained why Rutherford B. Hayes was so popular in Paraguay.
The origins of the war can be traced to the original Spanish and Portuguese claims to the area. When they carved out the map, they were far away from South America and had no idea of the realities there.
These problems are not just between Spain and Portugal. When Spain divided its territory into different colonies, the boundaries between them were not very clear either.
As long as they were colonies of the same European country, this wasn’t a big deal. However, by the early 19th century, as these colonies became independent nations, these land claims suddenly took on a new urgency.
The lands in the Rio de la Plata basin are of particular interest. This basin is particularly fertile, and all four nations in this episode are located in it.
These land claims have led to political tensions between countries in the region.
For example, Brazil was the first country to recognize independent Paraguay, largely because Argentina did not do so because they claimed Paraguay was a renegade province.
One of the biggest areas where this conflict is taking place is Uruguay.
Uruguay has become a battleground in the proxy war between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. The first half of the 19th century saw numerous military and political interventions in Uruguay, especially by Brazil.
Such is the geopolitical situation in the region. Competing countries have overlapping territorial claims.
Another thing you need to know is what’s going on inside Paraguay.
Paraguay is a dictatorship. While other Latin American countries have had other strong leaders, the blueprint for Latin American dictators was arguably invented in 19th-century Paraguay.
After Paraguay became independent in 1811, it was led by dictator José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia. When I say he is a dictator, I mean a dictator in the most literal sense. His title is “Supreme and Permanent Dictator of Paraguay”.
He ruled from 1814 to 1840. During his reign, he executed most potential opponents and established a secret police force. He also built a prison similar to Paraguay’s Gulag in the middle of the forest, 70 miles from the nearest settlement.
In many ways he created the type of authoritarian government that characterized many countries in the 20th century.
After his death in 1840, he was succeeded by Carlos Antonio López, who eventually accumulated power equal to Francia’s. López became president and eventually appointed his son Francisco Solano López as vice president.
In 1862, Lopez Sr. died and his son took power.
Paraguay is much smaller than its neighboring countries. It is estimated that the population during the reign of Francisco Lopez was approximately 450,000. By comparison, neighboring Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay have a combined population of 11 million.
Although Paraguay has a much smaller population, its military is much stronger than any of its neighbors. There are various estimates of the size of the army, but current estimates put it at between 70,000 and 100,000 men.
For a population of this size, that’s huge. However, it has quantity but lacks quality. The weapons are poor. For comparison, these guns are smoothbore rifles that are decades old. Their artillery was equally bad.
Their officers were untrained, and the army’s food and medical conditions were poor.
Economically, Paraguay is protectionist, relatively isolated from its neighbors, and much poorer than its neighbors.
Before Francisco Lopez, Palauri was an extreme isolationist. However, Lopez is interested in the politics of the region.
His goal was to expand Paraguay’s influence and secure greater regional power. Paraguay feels threatened by the growing influence of Brazil and Argentina in the region, and Lopez sees himself as a protector of smaller countries, especially Uruguay, against their larger neighbors.
In all this context, the immediate cause of the war was political instability in Uruguay. Since the 1830s, Uruguay has been divided into two factions: the Blancos and the Colorados.
Los Blancos Represents rural landowners and is supported by Argentina. Coloradans represented city interests and were supported by Brazil.
In 1864, Brazil supported the Colorado rebellion in Uruguay, helping them overthrow the Blanco government.
Lopez believes that if Paraguay does not take action, it will eventually be squeezed by Brazil and Argentina.
Therefore, after Brazil intervened in Uruguay, Paraguay invaded the Brazilian province of Mato Grosso on December 14, 1864. It was nothing that Brazil had about 16,000 armed men at the start of the war, whose quality was comparable to that of Paraguay.
Paraguay then decided to occupy Uruguay in support of Los Blancos, but there was one small problem… Paraguay did not share a border with Uruguay.
If you look at a map, you’ll see that Argentina has a branch that stretches between Uruguay and Paraguay to the border with Brazil.
López asked Argentina for permission to cross the province of Corrientes into Uruguay, but was refused. Therefore, on March 25, 1865, Paraguay declared war on Argentina and subsequently invaded.
López thought he would have the support of the leader of Corrientes province, an opponent of Argentina’s central government, but that backfired.
On May 1, the governments of Brazil, Argentina and the State of Colorado in Uruguay signed the Tripartite Alliance Treaty.
While Paraguay had a stronger military to wage war against, the Triple Alliance countries had a population advantage of over 20 to 1. In the long run, Paraguay’s odds are overwhelming.
One of the most important battles of the war was the Battle of Riachuelo on June 11, 1865, when the Brazilian navy decisively defeated the Paraguayan fleet on the Paraná River.
Although landlocked Paraguay did not have much of a navy, the loss crippled Paraguay’s ability to transport troops and supplies along the river and marked a turning point in the war.
The war did not end quickly. This went on for several years, and for much of that time things were not going well for Paraguay.
The largest battle of the war, and one of the largest in South American history, was the Battle of Tuuti on May 24, 1866. The Allies launched a massive attack on Paraguay’s positions at Tuuti. Despite fierce resistance from Paraguayan troops, the battle ended in a decisive victory for the Triple Alliance.
from From July 1867 to August 1868, the Allied forces besieged Fort Jumaita, an important Paraguayan fortress that controlled the passage of the Paraguay River. The Brazilian navy blockaded the fort while Allied ground forces besieged it. After a long and difficult siege, Humaita fell in August 1868, opening the way to Asunción, the capital of Paraguay.
On January 1, 1869, Brazilian troops occupied Asuncion.
However, the war was not over. Francisco Lopez refused to surrender and continued his guerrilla resistance.
López retreated to the Paraguayan countryside, where he organized guerrilla resistance. The remnants of the Paraguayan army, now greatly reduced, continued to fight ruthlessly against the occupying forces. Lopez became increasingly paranoid, executing or imprisoning those he suspected of being disloyal.
The guerrilla war continued until March 1, 1870, when the final battle of the war, the Battle of Cora, saw the Brazilian army decisively defeat the Paraguayan army.
Lopez was killed in battle, effectively ending the war.
I’ve skimmed through most of the actual battles and battles that took place during the war, which might give the impression that this wasn’t really a war.
But that’s not the case. The war lasted for six years and was very cruel. In fact, I made this episode because of the extreme nature of the conflict.
Paraguay suffered the most devastating consequences of the war, with estimates ranging from 0 to 90 percent of the country’s population dying during the war.
The exact number is disputed because there was no reliable census before the war. Pre-war population estimates ranged from 400,000 to 525,000 people, but some estimates exceeded 1 million, which is now considered extremely unlikely.
Whatever the actual numbers before the war, the population declined sharply after the war. The most shocking estimates suggest that up to 90% of Paraguay’s male population died, resulting in a gender imbalance in the population, with a much smaller society dominated by women.
Losses are caused not only by fighting but also by disease, hunger and displacement caused by war.
In most wars of this era, armies faced off in open fields and fought at fixed points. Granted, the number of such incidents was considerable, but when the capital Asunción fell, civilians were plunged into violence.
Later, the war entered the guerrilla stage, the boundaries between military and civilians became blurred, and the battlefield became a civilian area.
Most of the population losses, especially in Paraguay, were due to non-combat factors such as disease, famine, and displacement. This complicates estimates of death tolls, as these deaths tend to be indirect consequences of war rather than battlefield casualties.
Most modern estimates, even the most conservative ones, claim that at least half of Paraguay’s population died in the war.
In addition to the shocking death toll, the failure of the war had other devastating effects on Paraguay.
Paraguay’s leadership was almost entirely wiped out during the war. After the war, Paraguay fell into political chaos, had a weak civilian government, and was occupied by Allied forces.
The Triple Alliance imposed harsh conditions on the country. Paraguay was forced to cede most of its territory to Brazil and Argentina. The Treaty of Asunción in 1872 formalized the new borders and established Paraguay as a semi-independent state influenced by Brazil and Argentina.
Paraguay’s modern borders are significantly different and smaller than the country’s pre-war borders.
Uruguay was the smallest participant in the Triple Alliance, and the Colorado faction achieved political dominance with the support of Brazil. However, Uruguay played a relatively minor role in the postwar settlement.
Although Brazil suffered heavy losses, it became the big winner and regional hegemon after the war. The war consolidated its influence in the Rio de la Plata basin and led to the centralization of the Brazilian Empire under Emperor Don Pedro II.
Argentina gained territory at the expense of Paraguay, but Paraguay was less influential than Brazil after the war. The war also helped to solidify Argentina’s internal cohesion, but it would continue to face political instability in the years to come.
The Paraguayan War was a transformative event in South American history, shaping the geopolitical landscape of the region for decades. Paraguay’s near-total devastation and its long recovery left lasting scars, and Brazil’s post-disaster dominance redefined power dynamics in the region.
