22 The Greqt Poroguqyqn Wor 1864-t 870 PortOne by lohn Sharples INTRODUCTION FranciscoSolano Lopez, President and dictator of Paraguay was to his o*n people an enlightened, brav€, dedicatedand fiercely patriotic man. Even today he is recognisedin his native land as a hero who gavehis life in a hopelessattempt 1oprotecr the rights, freedom and pdde of his country. To othen, especiallythe citizens of Argentina and Brazil, he is remem- bered as a blood-crazed megalomaniac,q/hose ambitions of empire plunged four natioDsinto prolonged and bloody war; who, when facedwirh total and inescapabledefeat, condemned to deaththousands ofhis own people and abandonedhis nation to the ravagesof war and dis€ase. The contradictionsin the reputation of this man are of the extremeand nobody studyingThe Great ParaguayanWar (also known as the War of the Triple Alliance) can fail to be unaffected by the man's character and motivation. One will either support and admire the man or find him truly r€pugDant. The truth, as always, is between these extremes. When compared to his contemporarieshis rule was not particularly excessivein its violence. ln fact features of his reim are positivelyenlighlened when measuredagainst the rigimes which precededhim. Most importantly he wasloved, fearedand admired by the majority of his people who saw in him the embodiment of his country. This was also rccognisedby the Allied leaders,*hose declaredintention wasthe destructionof the Lopez regime. It became clear that this could only be achievedby the total destruction of the Pamguayanpeople or the deathof Lopez. During the courseof the war they exercised both options. In the following article I hope to reveal somethingof the characterof the man Lopez and untangle the complex web o{ political intdgue, heroism, cowardice and slaughter which comprisedthe Great ParaguayanWar. I will provide detailsof battles,armies, weaponry and uniforms to enablethe dedicated wargamer to recreate the actions of this most fascinating of Msrshrl Fransisro SolatroInp€z waft. However, before recoding details of th€ vrar itself it is Frcn o lithogrcph bt H. Aitknd 1869. necessaryto review the history of the Brazilian Empire and the La Plata Republicsin order to gain someundeNranding of the eventuallymilitary action led to the overthrow of the missions. causesand courseof the war. The colonistswho moved in to take over the church landswere slowly integrated into the native population as Paraguayslowly declined into a Hispanic backwater. PARAGUAY With the ove(hrow of the SpanishEmpire and the growing Th€ history of Paraguayhas beeo guided by its geographical power of Buenos Aircs the population of Paraguaybecane location. Bordered on the west and south by navigablerivers it fearful for their independenceas avariciousArgentines called was natural that the early Spanishexplorers would coloniseits for the expansionof th€ir rul€ over the 'province' of Palaguay. fertile land. But the temptation of riches in the Ades and The reaction to this fear of foreign domination led the dictator attacksby hostile indiars soon led to the abandonmentof most Dr JoseFrancia to enforceth€ isolation of the countrv. SoaDish of thesesettlements. The vacuumresulting ftom this recedingof famii ies were pop;hdon 'civilization' imprisooedor disitrhe rited. l-he narive was filled by Jesuit mhsionaries, who spr€adthe were actively courted by 'El Supremo' and they in their tum Gospel amongstth€ natumly docile Guaiani Indian tribes. If rctumed a deep loyalty. Whil€ the rest of South America was you have seenthe filln Tre ,l4rrsror then you wil have a good hungrily adopting European ways and influenc€ Paraguay mental picture of th€ t}?e of society that developed. Soon closed its borders and no welcome mat was laid down for however the SpanishC-olonial authorities and the plantation intrusive diplomats or traders. ownerswho wished to exploit the Indians as a sourceof staves, On the deathof Francia in l8zl0 power passedinto the hands began to undermine the authority of the Jesuits ar court and of Carlos Antonio Lop€z who, whilst retaining an isolationist 23 With a large and eager amy, a sizeable naval force, an overestimationof his own diplomatic abilities and ambitionsto matchhis ego, it wasonly a matter of time beforeIrpez clashed with his powertul neighbours. BRAZIL Br^zil, at the tum ofthe nineteenthcentury, was the jewel in the Portuguese Imperial crcwn. The plantations of the north, a(ound Recife and Pernambuco,produced much sought after sugar and were meeting the increasing demand for coffee. Hady pioneen venturing into the junglesof the Amazon basin and the foothills of the Andes supplied gold, emeralds,silver, dianonds and precious hardwoods. In the rolling hills of the south in Minas Gerais and Rio Grande do Sul, huge estancias produced beef to feed the growing population and for foreign Natiotral nag of Pa$guay The international standing of the country was raised The ticolour (top to boiom rcd, white, blue), adoptedas the inordnately with the arrival of the Portugueseroyal family, nationalflag 1842.Stmbol on obvercerepresents the'May Star' refugeesfrom Napoleon'soccupation of the lberian peninsula. of Liberution. Reve6eshoh,s Stak Trcasut) Seal (seeove eaf) Rio de Janeiro becamethe centre of E[opean culaurein South on which a lion prctectsthe cap ofliberty. Thb fiaB is sn in use Am€rica.Theatres, opera houses, schools, military academies, today, the onlt nationalflag on which s differentpattern appears arsenalsand shipyads were foundedor expanded.Rio de on obveceand rcverce. Janeircand Sao Paulo became the powerhousesof theEmpire. With the €nd of the Napoleonic Wars and the retum to policy and a deep disfiust of Argentina, beganto open up the nation to foreign influenceswhich he thought would benefit the nation. Diplomatic relationswere shakily openedwith westem poweN,especially Great Bitain. In retumdomestic industries developedand a basicmanufacturing infrastructure as created under the watchful eyesand helping handsof British advisors. El Ciudadano(The Citizen), as the elder l-opez prefered to be known,sent his son and heir on anextended European tour to better prepare him for power, but he also continued the totalitadan rule that had marked the regime of Francia. Favouring the native and mixed blood population, whose improving standards of living depended on his continued sponsorship,Lopez graduallydrove from Paraguaymany of the originalSpanish families, who settledin BuenosAires, there engagingin typicallyamateur emig.6 plots to overthrowthe I-opez regime. On the deathof his father in 1862the youngLopez inherited a backward country and a bulging treasury. Fired by the innovationshe had witnessedon hh Europeantour, and inspiredby the spiit of his hero NapoleonBonaparte, he embarkedonafull scalemodemisation of the nation.A railway wasbuilt linking Asuncion wilh the military training gounds of Cero Leon- The arsenalwas modemisedand new foundry facilities constructed.Telegraph lines were raised and military shipyardsfounded. In lessmartial fields attempts were made to found a native cotton industry.Theatr€s, new govemment buildingsand a presidentialpalace were raised and, helped by his lrish 'ladfiriend', Elisa Lynch, chanseswere made in the socialand cultural life ofthe rulingclasses, as Lopez attempted to re-educatehis subjects, Politically Lopez wasnaive. His father had claspedthe reins of power tightly and Franciscoinherited the same autosatic powersunder which Paraguay had been held for thewhole of his lifetime. The singleparty statecontained no unified opposition, and serviceto the stat€ and total loyalty to Lopez, the living embodirnentof that state,was enJorced by the policeand their almy of undercover informers. His relations with the major powerswere decidedly clurnsy as in a relativelysho( time he managedto annoy Britain, the USA and France.It soon becameclear that lnpez would be taking a much more aggressivestance over foreign policy and it wasnot long before frontierdisoutes arose with both Arsentinaand Brazil. ment. Many of the leaders of the Rio Grandean revolt were destined to become the most effective of the officers of the Allied army in Paraguay, serving under Caxias, the man who suppressedtheir rebellion. It was the extent of Brazil's territorial expansion which was destined to bring the Empire into conflict with Paraguay. Border disputes over patches of jungle continuously arose, but Brazil's exploitation of the rich mineral resources of the Mato Grosso region and its insistenceon free navigation rights of the Parana and Paraguay rivers, in direct conflict to Lopez's own wishes were the main causesof the forthcoming war. The only practical way to supply Brazil's settlements in the Mato Grosso was by way of the rivers, and during the regimes of both Francia and the elder Lopez incidents had occurred as Paraguayrefused National flag of Imperial Brazil right of passageto both Brazilian and neutral steamers. To reinforce his control ofthe river the elder Lopez had the fortress Adopted 1822; in use until 1889,when thefamiliar flag of today replacedit. Field is green with yellow central diamond. Crown is of Humatai constructed, with large, but mainly obsolescent gold with red trim and gems. Central shield of green with white batteries, near the confluence of the Paraguay and Parana stars on a blue field, the centre being green with a red cross and rivers. The younger Lopez expanded and strengthened these white centre to its arms. (Originating in the coat of arms of the defences, creating a potential