Paraguayan War. Paraguayan Prelude Here is one of the moments of this war

August 27th, 2015

What did I know about the history of Paraguay? Well, if only that Paganel was looking for her in “The Search for Captain Grant.” But in fact, heartbreaking events unfolded on the Southern Continent.

The history of Latin America has many dark stories, one of the most terrible and bloody is the murder of an entire country, the “heart of America” (Paraguay). This assassination went down in history as the Paraguayan War, which lasted from December 13, 1864 to March 1, 1870. In this war, the alliance of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, supported by the then “world community” (the West), opposed Paraguay.

Let's remember where it all began.

The first European visited the land of the future Paraguay in 1525, and the beginning of the history of this Latin American country is considered to be August 15, 1537, when Spanish colonists founded Asuncion. This territory was inhabited by tribes of Guarani Indians.

Gradually, the Spaniards founded several more strongholds; from 1542, special managers began to be appointed in Paraguay (translated from the Guarani Indian language “Paraguay” means “from the great river” - meaning the Parana River). From the beginning of the 17th century, Spanish Jesuits began to create their settlements in this territory (the Society of Jesus is a male monastic order).
They create a unique theocratic-patriarchal kingdom in Paraguay (Jesuit reductions - Jesuit Indian reservations). It was based on the primitive communal tribal way of life of the local Indians, the institutions of the Inca Empire (Tauantinsuyu) and the ideas of Christianity. In fact, the Jesuits and Indians created the first socialist state (with local specifics). This was the first large-scale attempt to build a fair society based on the renunciation of personal property, the priority of the public good, and the primacy of the collective over the individual. The Jesuit Fathers studied very well the management experience in the Inca Empire and creatively developed it.

The Indians were transferred from a nomadic lifestyle to a sedentary one; the basis of the economy was agriculture, cattle breeding, and crafts. The monks instilled in the Indians the foundations of the material and spiritual culture of Europe, and in a non-violent way. If necessary, communities set up militias to fight off attacks from slave traders and their mercenaries. Under the leadership of the monastic brethren, the Indians achieved a high degree of autonomy from the Spanish and Portuguese empires. The settlements flourished, and the Indians' labor was quite successful.

As a result, the independent policy of the monks led to the decision to expel them. In 1750, the Spanish and Portuguese crowns entered into an agreement under which 7 Jesuit settlements, including Asuncion, were to come under Portuguese control. The Jesuits refused to comply with this decision; as a result of a bloody war that lasted 4 years (1754-1758), the Spanish-Portuguese troops won. The complete expulsion of the Jesuit Order from all Spanish possessions in America followed (it ended in 1768). The Indians began to return to their old way of life. By the end of the 18th century, approximately a third of the population was mestizos (descendants of whites and Indians), and two thirds were Indians.

Independence

During the process of the collapse of the Spanish Empire, in which young predators - the British - took an active part, Buenos Aires became independent (1810). The Argentines tried to start an uprising in Paraguay, during the so-called. "Paraguayan Expedition", but the Paraguayan militia defeated their troops.

But the process was started, in 1811 Paraguay declared independence. The country was led by lawyer Jose Francia, the people recognized him as a leader. Congress, elected by popular vote, recognized him as dictator with unlimited powers, first for 3 years (in 1814), and then as dictator for life (in 1817). Francia ruled the country until his death in 1840. Autarchy was introduced in the country (an economic regime presupposing the country's self-sufficiency); foreigners were rarely allowed into Paraguay. The regime of Jose Francia was not liberal: rebels, spies, and conspirators were mercilessly destroyed and arrested. Although it cannot be said that the regime was distinguished by monstrosity - during the entire period of the dictator’s reign, about 70 people were executed and about 1 thousand were thrown into prison.

Francia carried out secularization (the confiscation of church and monastery property, land), mercilessly eliminated criminal gangs, as a result of which, after a few years, people forgot about crime. Francia partially revived the ideas of the Jesuits, although “without excesses.” In Paraguay, a special national economy arose, based on public labor and private small business. In addition, such amazing phenomena arose in the country (this was the first half of the 19th century!), such as free education, free medicine, low taxes and public food banks. As a result, Paraguay, especially given its rather isolated position relative to world economic centers, developed a strong state-owned industry. This allowed it to be an economically independent state. By the mid-19th century, Paraguay had become the fastest growing and wealthiest state in Latin America. It should be noted that this was a unique state where poverty was absent as a phenomenon, although there were plenty of rich people in Paraguay (the rich stratum was quite peacefully integrated into society).

After the death of Francio, which became a tragedy for the entire nation, by decision of Congress, the country was led by his nephew Carlos Antonio Lopez (until 1844 he ruled together with the consul Mariano Roque Alonso). He was the same tough and consistent person. He carried out a number of liberal reforms, the country was ready for “opening” - in 1845, access to Paraguay was opened to foreigners, in 1846, the previous protective customs tariff was replaced by a more liberal one, the harbor of Pilar (on the Parana River) was open to foreign trade. Lopez reorganized the army according to European standards, increasing its strength from 5 thousand. up to 8 thousand people. Several fortresses were built and a river fleet was created. The country endured a seven-year war with Argentina (1845-1852); the Argentines were forced to recognize the independence of Paraguay.

Work continued on the development of education, scientific societies were opened, the possibilities of communications and shipping were improved, and shipbuilding was improved. The country as a whole has retained its originality; in Paraguay, almost all the land belonged to the state.

In 1862, Lopez died, leaving the country to his son Francisco Solano Lopez. The New People's Congress approved his powers for 10 years. At this time, the country reached the peak of its development (then the country was simply killed, not allowing it to follow a very promising path). Its population reached 1.3 million people, there were no public debts (the country did not take external loans). At the beginning of the reign of the second Lopez, the first railway, 72 km long, was built. More than 200 foreign specialists were invited to Paraguay to lay telegraph lines and railways. This helped in the development of steel, textile, paper, printing, gunpowder and shipbuilding industries. Paraguay created its own defense industry, producing not only gunpowder and other ammunition, but cannons and mortars (a foundry in Ibiqui, built in 1850), and building ships in the shipyards of Asuncion.

The reason for the war and its beginning

Neighboring Uruguay was looking closely at the successful experience of Paraguay, and after it the experiment could triumphantly spread throughout the continent. The possible unification of Paraguay and Uruguay challenged the interests of Great Britain and local regional powers Argentina and Brazil. Naturally, this caused discontent and fears among the British and Latin American ruling clans. In addition, Paraguay had territorial disputes with Argentina. A reason for war was needed and it was quickly found.

In the spring of 1864, the Brazilians sent a diplomatic mission to Uruguay and demanded compensation for losses caused to Brazilian farmers in border conflicts with Uruguayan farmers. The head of Uruguay, Atanasio Aguirre (from the National Party, which stood for a union with Paraguay) rejected the Brazilian claims. Paraguayan leader Solano Lopez offered himself as a mediator in negotiations between Brazil and Uruguay, but Rio de Janeiro opposed this proposal. In August 1864, the Paraguayan government broke off diplomatic relations with Brazil, and declared that Brazilian intervention and occupation of Uruguay would upset the balance in the region.

In October, Brazilian troops invaded Uruguay. Supporters of the Colorado Party (pro-Brazilian party), supported by Argentina, entered into an alliance with the Brazilians, and overthrew the Aguirre government.

Uruguay was a strategically important partner for Paraguay, since almost all Paraguayan trade passed through its capital (Montevideo). And the Brazilians occupied this port. Paraguay was forced to enter the war, the country mobilized, increasing the size of the army to 38 thousand people (with a reserve of 60 thousand, in fact it was a people's militia). On December 13, 1864, the Paraguayan government declared war on Brazil, and on March 18, 1865, on Argentina. Uruguay, already under the control of the pro-Brazilian politician Venancio Flores, entered into an alliance with Brazil and Argentina. On May 1, 1865, in the Argentine capital, the three countries signed the Treaty of the Triple Alliance. The international community (primarily Great Britain) supported the Triple Alliance. “Enlightened Europeans” provided significant assistance to the union with ammunition, weapons, military advisers, and provided loans for the war.

At the initial stage, the Paraguayan army was more powerful, both numerically (the Argentines at the beginning of the war had approximately 8.5 thousand people, the Brazilians - 16 thousand, the Uruguayans - 2 thousand), and in terms of motivation and organization. In addition, it was well armed; the Paraguayan army had up to 400 guns. The backbone of the Triple Alliance's military forces, the Brazilian armed forces consisted mainly of local politicians and some National Guard units, often slaves who were promised freedom. Then all sorts of volunteers and adventurers from all over the continent poured into the coalition, who wanted to take part in the robbery of a rich country. It was believed that the war would be short-lived; the indicators of Paraguay and the three countries were too different - population size, economic strength, and assistance from the “world community.” The war was actually sponsored by loans from the Bank of London and the banking houses of the Baring brothers and N. M. Rothschild and sons."

But I had to fight with an armed people. At the initial stage, the Paraguayan army won a number of victories. In the northern direction, the Brazilian fort of Nova Coimbra was captured, and in January 1865 the cities of Albuquerque and Corumba were taken. In the southern direction, Paraguayan units successfully operated in the southern part of the state of Mata Grosso.

In March 1865, the Paraguayan government turned to Argentine President Bartolome Miter with a request to send an army of 25 thousand through the province of Corrientes to invade the Brazilian province of Rio Grande do Sul. But Buenos Aires refused, and on March 18, 1865, Paraguay declared war on Argentina. The Paraguayan squadron (at the beginning of the war, Paraguay had 23 small steamships and a number of small ships, and the flagship was the gunboat Tacuari, most of them were conversions from civilian ships), descending the Parana River, blocked the port of Corrientes, and then the ground forces took it. At the same time, Paraguayan units crossed the Argentine border, and through Argentine territory struck the Brazilian province of Rio Grande do Sul; on June 12, 1865, the city of Sao Borja was taken, and on August 5, Uruguayana.

This is one of the moments of this war.

“Breakthrough at the Umaita fortress in 1868. Artist Victor Merelles.

At the beginning of 1868, Brazilian-Argentine-Uruguayan troops approached the capital of Paraguay, the city of Asuncion. But it was impossible to take the city without the help of the fleet, although it was possible to approach it from the sea along the Paraguay River. However, this path was blocked by the Umaita fortress. The Allies had been besieging it for more than a year, but were unable to take it. The most unpleasant thing was that the river made a horseshoe-shaped bend in this place, along which the coastal batteries were located. Therefore, ships heading to Asuncion needed to travel several kilometers under crossfire at close range, which was an impossible task for wooden ships.

But already in 1866 - 1867. Brazilians acquired the first river battleships in Latin America - floating batteries of the Barroso type and tower monitors of the Para. Monitors were built at the state shipyard in Rio de Janeiro and became the first turret battleships in Latin America, and in particular in its southern hemisphere. It was decided that the Brazilian armored squadron would ascend the Paraguay River to the fortress of Humaita and destroy it with its fire. The squadron included the small monitors Para, Alagoas and Rio Grande, the slightly larger monitor Bahia, and the casemate river battleships Barroso and Tamandare.

It’s interesting that “Bahia” was first called “Minerva” and in England it was built to order... from Paraguay. However, Paraguay was blockaded during the war, the deal was terminated, and the ship, to the delight of the British, was acquired by Brazil. Humaita at that time was the strongest fortress in Paraguay. Its construction began in 1844 and continued for almost 15 years. It had 120 artillery pieces, of which 80 swept the fairway, and the rest defended it from land. Many batteries were located in brick casemates, the thickness of the walls reaching one and a half meters or more, and some of the guns were protected by earthen parapets.

The most powerful battery of the Umaita fortress was the casemate battery "Londres" ("London"), which was armed with sixteen 32-pound guns, and was commanded by the English mercenary Major Hadley Tuttle. However, it should be noted that the number of guns did not correspond to their quality. There were very few rifled ones among them, and the bulk were old cannons that fired cannonballs, which were not dangerous for armored ships.

Battery "Londres" in 1868.

Therefore, in order to prevent Brazilian ships from entering the river, the Paraguayans stretched three thick iron chains attached to pontoons across it. According to their plan, these chains would have to detain the enemy just in the range of his batteries, where literally every meter of the river surface was targeted! As for the Brazilians, they, of course, learned about the chains, but they expected to overcome them after their battleships rammed the pontoons and, having sunk to the bottom, they would drag these chains along with them.

The breakthrough was scheduled for February 19, 1868. The main problem was the small supply of coal that the monitors took on board. Therefore, for the sake of economy, the Brazilians decided that they would go in pairs, so that the larger ships would be led by the smaller ones in tow. Thus the Barroso towed the Rio Grande, the Bahia the Alagoas, and the Para followed the Tamandare.

At 0.30 on February 19, all three couplings, moving against the current, rounded the cape with a high hill and reached Umaita. The Brazilians expected that the Paraguayans would sleep at night, but they turned out to be ready for battle: the Brazilian steam engines were making a very loud noise, and the noise carried very far over the river.

All 80 coastal guns opened fire on the ships, after which the battleships began to respond. True, only nine cannons could fire along the shore, but the qualitative advantage was on their side. The cannonballs of the Paraguayan guns, although they hit the Brazilian ships, bounced off their armor, while the elongated shells of the Whitworth rifled guns, exploding, caused fires and destroyed the casemates.

However, the Paraguayan artillerymen managed to break the towing cable connecting the Bahia with the Alagoas. The fire was so strong that the ship’s crew did not dare to climb out onto the deck, and five battleships eventually went ahead, and the Alagoas slowly drifted with the current to where the Brazilian squadron began its breakthrough to the enemy’s capital.

Paraguayan artillerymen soon noticed that the ship was unable to move and opened concentrated fire on it, hoping that they would be able to destroy at least this ship. But all their efforts were in vain. The boats on the monitor were smashed and the masts were blown overboard, but they failed to penetrate its armor. They failed to jam the tower on it, and it was a miracle that the chimney on the ship survived.

At the same time, the squadron that had gone ahead rammed and sank the pontoons with chains, thus clearing their way. True, the fate of the Alagoas monitor remained unknown, but not a single sailor died on all the other ships.

The Paraguayans board the Alagoas. Artist Victor Merelles

Meanwhile, the monitor was carried out by the current beyond the bend of the river, where the Paraguayan guns could no longer reach. He dropped anchor, and his sailors began inspecting the ship. There were more than 20 dents from cannonballs on it, but not a single one penetrated either the hull or the turret! Seeing that the enemy artillery was powerless against his ship, the monitor commander ordered the pairs to separate and... continue to go alone! True, in order to raise the pressure in the boilers it took at least an hour, but this did not bother him. And what was the hurry, because the morning had already begun.

Monitor "Alagoas" in the coloring of the Great Paraguayan War.

And the Paraguayans, as it turned out, were already waiting and decided... to board him! They rushed into the boats and, armed with sabers, boarding axes and hooks, headed across the enemy ship slowly moving against the current. The Brazilians noticed them and immediately hurried to batten down the deck hatches, and a dozen and a half sailors, led by a single officer - the commander of the ship, climbed onto the roof of the gun turret and began firing at the people in the boats with guns and revolvers. The distance was short, the killed and wounded oarsmen fell out of action one after another, but four boats still managed to overtake the Alagoas and from 30 to 40 Paraguayan soldiers jumped onto its deck.

And here something began that once again proves that many tragic events are also the funniest. Some tried to climb the tower, but they were beaten on the head with sabers and shot at point-blank range with revolvers. Others began using axes to cut down the hatches and ventilation grilles in the engine room, but no matter how hard they tried, they were not successful. Finally they realized that the Brazilians standing on the tower were about to shoot them one by one, like partridges and the surviving Paraguayans began to jump overboard. But then the monitor sped up, and several people were pulled under the screws. Seeing that the attempt to capture the monitor had failed, the Paraguayan gunners fired a salvo that nearly destroyed the ship. One of the heavy cannonballs hit him in the stern and tore off the armor plate, which was already loosened by several previous hits. At the same time, the wooden lining cracked, a leak formed, and water began to flow into the ship’s hull. The crew rushed to the pumps and began hastily pumping out the water and did this until the ship, not having traveled even a few kilometers, ran aground in an area controlled by Brazilian troops.

Meanwhile, the squadron that broke through up the river passed the Paraguayan fort Timbo, whose guns also did not cause any harm to it, and already on February 20 approached Asuncion and fired at the newly built presidential palace. This caused panic in the city, since the government had repeatedly stated that not a single enemy ship would break through to the capital of the country.

But here the Paraguayans were lucky, as the squadron ran out of shells! They were not enough not only to destroy the palace, but even to sink the flagship of the Paraguayan military flotilla - the wheeled frigate "Paraguari", which was moored right there at the pier!

On February 24, the Brazilian ships once again passed Humaita and again without losses, although the Paraguayan artillerymen still managed to damage the armor belt of the battleship Tamandare. Passing by the immobilized Alagoas, the ships greeted him with horns.

Battery "Londres". Now this is a museum, near which these rusty cannons lie.

This is how this strange raid ended, in which the Brazilian squadron did not lose a single man, but at least a hundred Paraguayans were killed. Then the Alagoas was repaired for several months, but it still managed to take part in hostilities in June 1868. So even a country like Paraguay turns out to have its own heroic ship, the memory of which is recorded on the “tablets” of its navy!

From a technical point of view, it was also a rather interesting ship, specially designed for operations on rivers and in the coastal sea zone. The length of this vessel with a flat-bottomed hull was 39 meters, width 8.5 meters, and displacement - 500 tons. Along the waterline, the side was covered by an armor belt made of iron plates 90 centimeters wide. The thickness of the side armor was 10.2 cm in the center and 7.6 cm at the ends. But the walls of the case themselves, which were made of extremely durable local peroba wood, were 55 cm thick, which, of course, represented very good protection. The deck was covered with half an inch (12.7 mm) thick bulletproof armor, on which teak decking was laid. The underwater part of the hull was sheathed with sheets of yellow galvanized bronze - a technique very typical for shipbuilding of that time.

The ship had two steam engines with a total power of 180 hp. Moreover, each of them worked on its own propeller with a diameter of 1.3 m, which made it possible for the monitor to move at a speed of 8 knots in calm water.

The crew consisted of 43 sailors and only one officer.

Here it is: the 70-pounder Whitworth gun that was on the Alagoas monitor.

The armament consisted of just one single 70-pound muzzle-loading Whitworth cannon (well, if only they had put some kind of mitrailleuse on the turret!) with a hexagonal-fired barrel, firing special faceted projectiles weighing 36 kg, and a bronze ram on the nose. The gun's range was approximately 5.5 km, with quite satisfactory accuracy. The weight of the gun was four tons, but it cost 2,500 pounds sterling - a fortune at that time!

It is also interesting that the gun turret was not cylindrical, but... rectangular, although its front and rear walls were rounded. It was turned by the physical efforts of eight sailors who manually turned the turret drive handle, and who could turn it 180 degrees in about one minute. The frontal armor of the turret was 6 inches (152 mm) thick, the side armor plates were 102 mm thick, and the rear wall was 76 mm thick.

Continuation of the war

The situation became more complicated due to the defeat of the Paraguayan squadron on June 11, 1865 at the Battle of Riachuelo. From that moment on, the Triple Alliance began to control the rivers of the La Plata basin. Gradually, the superiority in forces began to take its toll; by the end of 1865, Paraguayan troops were driven out of previously captured territories, the coalition concentrated an army of 50 thousand and began to prepare for the invasion of Paraguay.

The invading army was unable to immediately break into the country; they were delayed by fortifications near the confluence of the Paraguay and Parana rivers, where battles raged for more than two years. So the fortress of Humaita became a real Paraguayan Sevastopol and detained the enemy for 30 months; it fell only on July 25, 1868.

After this, Paraguay was doomed. The interventionists, supported by the “world community,” slowly and with heavy losses simply pushed through the Paraguayan defenses, actually grinding them down, paying for it with numerous losses. And not only from bullets, but also from dysentery, cholera and other delights of the tropical climate. In a series of battles in December 1868, the remnants of the Paraguayan troops were practically destroyed.

Francisco Solano Lopez refused to surrender and retreated into the mountains. In January 1969, Asuncion fell. It must be said that the people of Paraguay defended their country almost without exception, even women and children fought. Lopez continued the war in the mountains northeast of Asuncion, people went to the mountains, the jungle, and joined partisan detachments. There was guerrilla warfare for a year, but in the end the remnants of the Paraguayan forces were defeated. On March 1, 1870, Solano Lopez’s detachment was surrounded and destroyed, the head of Paraguay died with the words: “I am dying for my Motherland!”

Paraguay's territorial losses as a result of the war

Results

The Paraguayan people fought to the last, even their enemies noted the massive heroism of the population; the Brazilian historian Roche Pombu wrote: “Many women, some with lances and stakes, others with small children in their arms, furiously threw sand, stones and bottles at the attackers. The rectors of the parishes of Peribebuy and Valenzuela fought with guns in their hands. Boys 8-10 years old lay dead, and their weapons lay next to them, other wounded showed stoic calm, not uttering a single groan.”

In the Battle of Acosta New (August 16, 1869), 3.5 thousand children aged 9-15 years fought, and the Paraguayan detachment consisted of only 6 thousand people. In memory of their heroism, Children's Day is celebrated on August 16 in modern Paraguay.

In battles, skirmishes, and acts of genocide, 90% of the male population of Paraguay was killed. Of the country's more than 1.3 million population, by 1871 about 220 thousand people remained. Paraguay was completely devastated and thrown to the sidelines of world development.

The territory of Paraguay is reduced in favor of Argentina and Brazil. The Argentines generally proposed to completely dismember Paraguay and divide it “fraternally,” but Rio de Janeiro did not agree. The Brazilians wanted a buffer between Argentina and Brazil.

Britain and the banks behind it benefited from the war. The main powers of Latin America - Argentina and Brazil - found themselves in financial dependence, taking out huge amounts of debt. The opportunities offered by the Paraguayan experiment were destroyed.

Paraguayan industry was liquidated, most of the Paraguayan villages were devastated and abandoned, the remaining people moved to the vicinity of Asuncion. People switched to subsistence farming; a significant part of the land was bought up by foreigners, mainly Argentines, and turned into private estates. The country's market was open to British goods, and the new government took out a foreign loan of 1 million pounds sterling for the first time.

This story teaches that if a people is united and defends its Motherland, its idea, it can only be defeated with the help of total genocide.

sources

http://topwar.ru/81112-nepobedimyy-alagoas.html

http://topwar.ru/10058-kak-ubili-serdce-ameriki.html

http://ru.althistory.wikia.com/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B3%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%B9%D1%81 %D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B9%D0%BD%D0%B0

http://www.livejournal.com/magazine/557394.html

And then there was more. From other regions you can remember what it is or, for example, why. But the legendary and The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy was made -

In 1912, the outstanding Russian strategist and geopolitician, Colonel of the General Staff Alexei Efimovich Vandam, published the essays “Our Position” and “The Greatest of Arts” in the public press. They reported, in particular, that a world war must definitely take place (meaning the First World War). This matter, as he believed, had long been decided in London, as will be clear from the following text. But after it, the next big war between Germany and Russia must certainly happen, and this time one on one. And since the opponents’ forces are approximately equal and they have no lack of fighting skills, they will fight until they are completely torn apart by each other.

Since the figure of Vandam is little known to the modern reader, it would be appropriate to talk about it in a little more detail. The real name of Alexei Efimovich was Edrikhin (1867-1933). He came from the family of a simple soldier. Having begun his service as a volunteer, that is, as an ordinary soldier, nevertheless, by the age of 30 he entered the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff. It was almost impossible for him to get into it, if only because of the very difficult entrance exams (for example, he had to be fluent in at least five languages) and the complete lack of patronage. Having completed it brilliantly and received an assignment to the General Staff, he went as a war correspondent to the Anglo-Boer War. The obscure title “war correspondent” in those days meant performing strategic intelligence tasks in the interests of the General Staff. After a trip to South Africa, Alexey Efimovich changes his not very euphonious Russian surname to a Dutch one. As they said, for reasons of solidarity with the Boers. Subsequently, the General Staff repeatedly involved him in carrying out delicate missions in China, the Philippines and other places around the world. By the way, it was probably during these trips around the world that he acquired, so to speak, Anglophobia in an acute form, having seen enough of what the Anglo-Saxons were doing in the colonies or in countries dependent on them.

Alexey Vandam, along with Semenov-Tien-Shansky, was one of the Russian founders of geopolitical science that was just emerging at that time. His two above-mentioned works, published shortly before the First World War, provide a geopolitical analysis of the situation in Russia and Europe. In his opinion, this war will be waged solely in the interests of Britain and will be extremely unsuccessful for Russia. Therefore, we must, under any circumstances, not allow ourselves to be drawn into it. At the same time, Vandam himself assessed his thoughts as “a slight scratch on the virgin soil of Russian political thought that requires urgent development.”

The main idea of ​​these works was the following: England was and will be the main geopolitical adversary of Russia. It follows from this that Russia must learn to correctly understand its own interests, so that numerous, both paid and not so, Russian agents, in the figurative expression of Vandam, of sophisticated British despotism, do not scream about this. However, one should not think that all this is a thing of the past, because regarding the current influence of England on our affairs, at least this little thing speaks: the residence of the British ambassador is located just two hundred meters from the Kremlin wall, in the Kharitonenko mansion.

After the First World War, the authors of the new big war reasoned simply and pragmatically: it needed a rehearsal. It is necessary to test the strategy, tactics, military equipment and weapons of future battles on experimental peoples. And it is advisable to do this quietly, without attracting undue attention. The choice fell on Paraguay and Bolivia.

The formal reason for the armed conflict between these countries was to establish the territorial ownership of the previously unwanted desert and unexplored region of Chaco, where signs of oil were discovered. Initially, the warring parties were determined to reach a compromise. But behind the oil were British and American tycoons who did not want to give in to each other. British oligarchs supported Paraguay, American oligarchs supported Bolivia, and it didn’t take long to find a reason for war. It became a reality and in its cruelty differed little from the terrible Paraguayan War of 1865-70, when two-thirds of the population of Paraguay was destroyed. Looking ahead, it should be said that although the forces of Bolivia were five times greater than those of Paraguay, victory, surprisingly, remained with him.

The war between two underdeveloped banana republics does not imply any special background. The countries are poor, and rumors of possible oil wealth (which, by the way, have not yet been found) will make them fight like homeless children over a dropped hundred-dollar bill. If your opponents are bad with money and weapons, you can give them on credit. A lucky chance comes up to test a weapon with a great opportunity to make money on it. The theater of military operations is located on the outskirts of the world, and few people will be interested in what happens there.

But most importantly, after the First World War, Germans appeared in Bolivia, and Russians appeared in Paraguay; They are people accustomed to war, and they will fight conscientiously, because their new homeland is in danger. So let them touch each other with a bayonet before the oncoming decisive battle.

So, if these countries and circumstances did not exist, they would have to be invented.

The first few Russian emigrants appeared in this exotic country in the early twenties. But in 1924, mass Russian emigration began there, which is associated with the arrival in Paraguay of artillery general Ivan Timofeevich Belyaev, or Don Juan, as they began to call him there. A wonderful book by Boris Fedorovich Martynov entitled “Russian Paraguay” was recently published about Belyaev and other Russian emigrants. But since this work was published in a small edition, we will take the liberty of providing the reader with some information about the situation around Paraguay and this war.

First of all, we need to talk about the motives for don Juan's actions. And he set himself a difficult task. In Paraguay, he saw the very country where it was possible to create a Russian national home for all those who would like to remain Russian.

Paraguay was quite suitable for these purposes. The authorities of this country were extremely interested not only in the arrival of Russian specialists, but also in simply increasing the population: after the terrible war of 1865-70 with the Triple Alliance of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, there was extremely little of it. General Belyaev appealed to the Russian emigration through newspapers to move to this country. The Paraguayan government promised to help with the move. Russians were guaranteed citizenship and all possible assistance. The call turned out to be effective, and although this country was, as it were, on the edge of the Oikumene, Russian emigrants went there in dozens, if not hundreds. In their new homeland, they received citizenship and opportunities to use their strengths: some were able to start their own business, while others simply found work. Russians worked as doctors, agronomists, foresters, engineers, teachers, and so on and so forth. For many, life began to get better. The Russian hearth began to form.

Meanwhile, the clouds over Paraguay were gathering. A conflict was brewing with Bolivia over the Chaco region. In 1922, the American oil company Standard Oil, operating from Bolivia, began geological exploration on the western outskirts of the Chaco, and the first data were encouraging. Around the same time, the English company British Petroleum began drilling in the eastern Chaco and also received good results. There was a smell of “black gold”, and Bolivia began to send reconnaissance troops there with the aim of quietly capturing the area. In 1928, the first armed clashes occurred between Bolivians and Paraguayans, and after them negotiations began.

Acting from a position of strength (Bolivia was much richer and stronger than Paraguay), the Bolivians laid claim to this entire area. In addition to oil, the appetites of the Bolivians were spurred by the desire to secure access to the sea along the Paraguay and Parana rivers for the export of this very “black gold”. Negotiations have reached a dead end. Both sides began to prepare for a big war. The defiant behavior of the Bolivians during the negotiations was explained quite simply: they were stronger. But the intransigence of the Paraguayans had two reasons.

The first one was like this. Beginning in 1924, don Juan made twelve military topographical expeditions to the Chaco region and convincingly proved the possibility of its successful defense by Paraguay.

Although this area historically belonged to Paraguay, little was known about it before the expeditions of General Belyaev. Until 1924, this was a real Terra incognita. Research expeditions to this mysterious area simply disappeared, and, as many believed then, the culprit was the terrible, bloodthirsty cannibal Indians living there. The Chaco region makes up two-thirds of the territory of Paraguay and covers an area of ​​over 300 thousand kilometers. Its eastern outskirts represent impenetrable jungle, while its western edges represent dry, waterless savannah. During the day it is extremely hot, but at night the temperature can drop below zero. These lands are protected from humans by clouds of mosquitoes and other bloodsuckers, poisonous snakes and jaguars (and the latter are called tigers by the Paraguayans for a reason). To top it all off, during the rainy season, many large areas of the Chaco turn into impassable swamps. In general, it was a “lovely corner” that did not at all resemble the promised land.

Already after the first foray into Chaco, don Juan came to the conclusion that military operations there would be strictly tied to the few sources of water. In the wild heat of the day, water consumption quadruples. The party that controls the water has undeniable advantages. The defense of rare water sources can be successfully carried out even by a small Paraguayan army. And if the Paraguayan forces are able, in addition, to carry out flank counterattacks, keeping the Bolivians in waterless places, or to strike at the rear, disrupting communications through which water should again be supplied, then the fate of the Bolivian army may become completely unenviable.

During his expeditions, don Juan made such strong friends with the Indians of the Macca and Chimamoco tribes that he was recognized as a leader and began to be called “The Firm Hand.” It was thanks to the help of the Indians that the locations of wells, lakes and other sources of water began to appear on the map of Chaco, which don Juan compiled, as well as Indian trails, the main type of communications in this area. The presence of a map and knowledge of the features of the theater of a future war made it possible by 1928 to draw up its main outlines.

The second reason looked absolutely fantastic at first glance and it was the presence of a navy. Strange as it may sound for a landlocked country, Paraguay did have a river fleet. During the last war of 1865-70, he showed miracles of heroism and even managed to create his own traditions, which, as we know, is the main value for any fleet. And on this occasion, the English admiral Cunningham said it best: “If Britain loses any warship, she will build it in no more than three years; if traditions are lost, it will take three hundred years to restore them.”

As for the Paraguayan fleet, on the eve of the war it faced two very difficult tasks. First of all, Paraguay needed to achieve unconditional non-interference by Argentina and Brazil in a future war on the side of Bolivia. Otherwise, the country was in danger of simply disappearing from the map as a result of the division of its territory between the victors and subsequent genocide, as was the case just sixty years ago. The ground forces of Paraguay, numbering about five thousand people by 28, were unlikely to make a strong intimidating impression. Therefore, under the influence of Russian sailors who found themselves in Paraguay, the country’s leadership came up with the idea of ​​ensuring the neutrality of their southern and eastern neighbors with the help of the fleet. True, for this it had to be sharply strengthened, since it consisted of three ancient gunboats. But with the presence of new ships, well-designed for river warfare, the Paraguayan fleet could well convince Bolivia’s likely allies to refuse to participate in the war.

The fact is that although the fleets of Argentina and Brazil were quite impressive forces with battleships and cruisers, they had a rather limited number of ships for river warfare. Argentina had only two ancient slow-moving gunboats on the Paraná River, armed, moreover, with short-range howitzers. The Brazilian fleet on the upper reaches of the Paraguay River represented only one monitor, even more ancient than its Argentine counterparts. Based on this, it could be assumed that if the Paraguayan fleet had at least two modern river ships, it would be able to produce a sobering effect on its neighbors, because often the description of the procedure works better than the procedure itself.

But in addition to ensuring the neutrality of its southern and northeastern neighbors, the fleet had to fulfill one more task. It was necessary to reliably protect the main river communication of the country - the Paraguay River, that is, to prevent the Bolivians from cutting it and crossing its troops to its left bank, which simply meant a military disaster. Therefore, the government of Paraguay, despite the extreme poverty of the country, still found funds for the construction of these river ships, which later received the names “Paraguay” and “Umaita”. When creating these ships, Russian sailors completed the most critical stage of their construction: they developed technical specifications for their design along with preliminary studies, which, as is known, mainly determines the possible military fate of the ship. This work was completed at the end of '27. Italy was chosen to build the ships. Their laying took place in 29, they entered service at the end of 1930 and in May 31 they arrived under their own power in Paraguay, crossing the Atlantic.

Now a few words about the main Russian participant in this project. Since 1925, a captain of the first rank, Prince Yazon Konstantinovich Tumanov, was in Paraguay, who later became the main adviser to his fleet. Prince Tumanov had an enviable experience of combat operations as part of a wide variety of naval forces and in a wide variety of theaters - from lake to ocean. He began serving in the navy during the Russo-Japanese War and was a participant in the Battle of Tsushima. During the First World War he commanded various ships and was the chief of staff of the Black Sea Fleet. During the Civil War, he even commanded for some time the exotic Security Flotilla of the Armenian Republic on Lake Sevan. His last place of service in his homeland was the naval counterintelligence of the armed forces of the South of Russia in Crimea, which he headed.

Ultimately, the task of creating a capable fleet with minimal resources was brilliantly solved. Subsequently, Prince Tumanov wrote a good book entitled “How Russian naval officers helped Paraguay fight against Bolivia,” from which, in fact, this is known.

Thanks to their efforts, Paraguay acquired unique ships belonging to the class of gunboats. Nobody built anything like them at that time, not only in Latin America, but throughout the world. First of all, they referred to ships, in modern terminology, “river-sea”. That is, they could operate both on rivers and seas. As river boats, they had a shallow draft; as sea boats, they had good seaworthiness, which was confirmed by their transatlantic passage from Italy. This allowed them to reach the stormy waters of the lower Paraná and the Gulf of La Plata, which was of paramount importance in the event of a conflict with Argentina. The ships had a fairly large displacement of 750 tons. This made it possible to place on them quite powerful artillery of four main caliber 120 mm guns with a combat range of 21 km. They also had good anti-aircraft artillery for that time, thanks to which several Bolivian planes were shot down during the war. In addition, they were protected by anti-fragmentation side armor, which made it possible to engage in battle at long distances with enemy field artillery.

But the main thing is that they had high speed, unusual for large river ships of those times, reaching up to 18.5 knots. Such agility made it possible to solve several problems at once. River ships of Argentina and Brazil sailed no faster than 14 knots. Therefore, Paraguayan gunboats, taking advantage of their speed, could carry out raiding operations without fear of being intercepted by the enemy. They could also, thanks to their advantage in speed, force the enemy to fight at a distance advantageous to them or leave the battle at their own discretion. However, the advantage of high speed did not end there. The ships could quickly move throughout the river theater of military operations - their daily passage reached up to 800 km - thereby creating the effect of their presence in the most unexpected places. Taking into account the fact that each gunboat could take on board 900 landing troops - and in Argentina and Brazil no one needed to explain what the “fierce tenderness of the Paraguayan battalions” meant - the rapid transfer of large infantry forces, by Latin American standards, was extremely important . It remains to add that the presence of these gunboats in Paraguay has fully justified itself. Throughout the war, Brazil strictly observed neutrality, and Argentina even provided military assistance to Paraguay, albeit with great benefit for itself.

Here our story will go a little aside to answer the question: what, in general, can a military river fleet do if things are set up correctly? Since the modern reader interested in military history has a rather vague understanding of this subject, the following story should be told.

In 1907, backward “bast” Russia, represented by the Baltic Shipyard, began building eight heavy river battleships for the Amur Flotilla. They were intended to defend not only the Far Eastern rivers, but also the sea areas of the Amur Bay and the Tatar Strait. We are talking about a Shkval type monitor. By the end of 1910 they entered service.

The tactical and technical characteristics of this ship were extremely successful. First of all, it was one of the world's first combat ships with a diesel power plant. Due to this, it had a cruising range of more than 3,000 miles, while the engine room occupied a relatively small volume. The shallow draft of less than five feet ensured the ability to operate on rivers. At the same time, a durable hull with a double bottom allowed the ship to enter the stormy waters of the Amur Bay and the Tatar Strait. It could also cross thin ice fields. Due to the low freeboard and minimum superstructures, the ship had a small silhouette area for its size, which, as is known, is very important in artillery combat. Armament consisted of two six-inch and four 4.7-inch guns. The weight of the salvo was about 200 kg. The guns' elevation angle of 30 degrees made it possible to fire at coastal fortifications and batteries. The thickness of the side armor was 3 inches. It is worth recalling that enlightened Britain began building similar ships with the same artillery and armor only in 13. True, there were no diesel engines for them in England, and steam engines had to be used, which is why the displacement, size and draft of these monitors turned out to be significantly greater than that of our ship, but the speed and range were much less.

By the end of 1910, the possibility of establishing lasting peace in the Far East became obvious. Japan became an ally of Britain and, accordingly, Russia back in 1909. The Japanese Empire was no less interested in peace than Russia, since its forces were greatly exhausted by the end of the war with us. China was also interested in the world because of its internal problems. Accordingly, it was pointless to deploy monitors on the Amur. At the same time, in connection with the first Balkan War and Austrian expansion in this “powder keg of Europe”, by the year 12 there was an urgent need for them on the Danube, and they had to be transferred there. This idea was first expressed back in 1909 by the Commander of the Amur Flotilla, Rear Admiral A.A. Kononov; however, the ships remained in the Far East.

They had to fight only in 1945, already with the Kwantung Army as part of the Amur Flotilla. Only five of the eight ships took part in the fighting (one was lost during the Civil War, two were being repaired.) In these battles, our monitors actually served as an armored ram. In ten days of fighting, from August 9 to 19, the flotilla, going up the Songhua River, cut the front of the Kwantung Army to a depth of 800 km and ended its campaign in Harbin. At the same time, the ships of the flotilla sometimes significantly outpaced the ground units and sometimes operated without air cover. To understand what this meant, it is worth recalling that in the same 1945, the Americans took seventy days to capture the relatively small island of Iwo Jima. Amur battleships fought like this. Approaching the Japanese defense center, they mercilessly destroyed the enemy’s fortifications and batteries with their artillery fire, after which, and sometimes simultaneously with artillery preparation, they landed troops, which completed its final capture. It would not be an exaggeration to consider the combat operations of the Amur flotilla unprecedented in the history of the fleets of the twentieth century.

Returning to our story, it remains to add that the new ships of the Paraguayan fleet distinguished themselves already in 1932 during the first Bolivian offensive, reliably defending their main communication - the Paraguay River. When the Paraguayan army, after repelling the enemy’s onslaught, itself went on the offensive, delivering its main blow to the valley of the Pilcomayo River, navigable during the rainy season, their guns came in handy again. And, probably, it is no coincidence that one of these gunboats, the Paraguay, still remains in service, and the other, the Humaita, has become a museum ship.

Ernst Rehm

However, our story has jumped ahead somewhat, and, returning to the events on the eve of the war, to complete the picture it is necessary to clarify what was happening in Bolivia. In the early twenties, a large number of German officers who were out of work after the war arrived in Bolivia, totaling about 120 people. The chief of the general staff of the Bolivian army was General Hans Kundt, who fought against us on the eastern front in World War I. He and other German officers, for example, the notorious Ernst Rehm, who was there until the age of 33, viewed Bolivia as a new Prussia. They began to introduce the Prussian military spirit into the Bolivian army, rearm it according to German canons and actually command it. The scale of rearmament was impressive, especially since on the eve of the war the Americans issued significant loans to Bolivia. With them, the Bolivians, acting on German recommendations, purchased the latest British Vickers tanks, combat aircraft, a large amount of artillery, heavy machine guns and even exotic Thompson machine guns. Bolivia was able to increase the size of its army to one hundred and twenty thousand people and achieved a five-fold overall superiority in forces over Paraguay.

In the early thirties, there was such a joke in diplomatic circles. At one of the receptions, the famous General Pershing, the same one after whom the Americans later named their terrible missile, told the Bolivian ambassador: “When I hear about the military preparations of your country, I seriously fear for the fate of the United States.”

As for the war plan, Kundt, who was appointed its commander-in-chief, believed that it would be an easy walk, like field maneuvers with live ammunition. Therefore, the plan of the German command was quite simple. Using his multiple advantage, he was reduced to straightforward offensive actions, without paying attention to the characteristics of the Chaco region. The target of this offensive was the city of Concepción, located on the left bank of the Paraguay River in its middle reaches. Access to the river in the area of ​​this city, its crossing and the capture of Concepcion automatically meant victory for Bolivia. In fairness, it is worth mentioning that Paraguay, in general, was lucky with the commander of the Bolivian army: General Kundt was not a very high-flying man.

On March 5, 1931, Daniel Salamanca, a “symbol man” as he was called, came to power in Bolivia and began to fuss with the idea of ​​a Greater Bolivia. War became inevitable and began on June 15, 1932. However, immediately after it began, Bolivia was in for an unpleasant surprise. 46 Russian officers, considering that their new homeland was in mortal danger, volunteered to go to the front. This meant that this Latin American war, which at first glance began in the spirit of O’Henry’s famous novel “Kings and Cabbages,” suddenly acquired the character of a Russian-German clash.

You can understand how our compatriots fought at least from the following episode. This is how B.F. Martynov describes him.

At the end of July, the vanguard of the Bolivian army, being at the forefront of the main attack on Concepcion, captured the Paraguayan fort of Boqueron in the center of Chaco. In an effort to stop this offensive, the Paraguayan army transferred its main forces there. However, it soon became clear that both sides were at a strategic impasse. The main forces of the Bolivian army were stuck in the wilds of Chaco, and the forces of its vanguard were not enough to overcome the Paraguayan defenses. At the same time, the Paraguayans, despite endless attacks, could not drive the Bolivians out of Boqueron.

On September 14, Don Juan, barely recovered from malaria, arrived near Boqueron. He begged the commander of the Paraguayan troops to give him several guns and five hundred shells, promising to destroy the Bolivian fortifications in two hours, as he did in the First World War (Belyaev was an artillery general). However, the Paraguayans considered this impossible and the siege continued. Meanwhile, both sides, in forty-degree heat, suffered severely from lack of water. What happened was exactly what don Juan warned about: water in the Chaco is a very important thing. The only source of water that the Paraguayans had was located far in the rear and was close, already at the end of September, to drying up completely. The well that was at the disposal of the Bolivians also could not provide them with water. Water was delivered by air, but it was still not enough. People drank urine and went crazy with thirst. Under these conditions, the command of the Paraguayan army decided in October to launch the final assault. The attack was scheduled for the 28th.

One of the Paraguayan battalions was commanded by the Russian officer Vasily Fedorovich Orefyev, captain of the Don Army. Having reached the attack line with his unit, he did not find the enemy and went to the regiment headquarters for clarification. There it turned out that he should have been in a completely different place. There were accusations of cowardice. However, during the conversation, it suddenly became clear that Orefyev spoke Spanish poorly and simply could not understand the order. Orefyev was a veteran of the First World War and could not tolerate such accusations. He rushed to his battalion and launched it into a “psychic” attack.

In Latin America, no one had yet known such a method of attack - it was unprecedented. Therefore, when Orefyev’s battalion with fixed bayonets moved towards the Bolivians, they, dumbfounded, stopped firing. On both sides, everyone looked in fascination at these madmen going to certain death. When only a few meters remained to the Bolivian trenches, the command was heard in complete silence: “Attack!” The Bolivians came to their senses and opened fire. Orefyev was mowed down by the first shots, but his soldiers were able to pull him out of the meat grinder on the front line. He was still alive and managed to say that he had carried out the order, and, therefore, there was no shame in dying now. At this time, hand-to-hand combat was already in full swing at the Bolivian positions - the battle was terrible. The next day, Fort Boqueron surrendered.

After this battle, both sides made their conclusions. The Paraguayans began to believe that if the Russians could fight like this, then victory was within easy reach. The Bolivians and Germans concluded for themselves that the Russians are clearly crazy, and if so, then good things cannot be expected. By the way, after Boquerón, notes began to be found in the trenches left by the Bolivians with the following content: “If it weren’t for the damned Russians, we would have long ago thrown your barefoot army into the Paraguay River.”

General Belyaev wrote in his diary that the capture of Boqueron meant fifty percent success. Paraguay's victory became obvious at the end of 1933, and in 1935 Bolivia sued for peace. The scale of this, in general, largely fratricidal war, is evidenced by the number of those killed in it: sixty thousand Bolivians and forty thousand Paraguayans. This is despite the fact that the population of Bolivia before the war was three million people, and Paraguay - about eight hundred thousand.

However, we digress from the topic of the prelude to the great war between Germany and Russia. Given its inevitability, as General Vandamme predicted, the Chaco War was, so to speak, an “experimental” one, during which many military innovations were tested. True, the Russian military school turned out to be stronger than the German one, and war, as Sergeant Major Vaskov said, is not about who will shoot whom, but who will change whose mind. But the experience gained during its battles was used by Germany and the USSR in completely different ways.

Germany tried to extract the maximum benefit from it for revenge in the future big war, especially taking into account the fact that many of its German participants continued to serve in the Wehrmacht. This topic becomes especially interesting if we consider that the initiative to test most of the military and technical innovations of that time came precisely from German military advisers, who used Bolivia’s rather large military budget for these purposes.

New types of weapons were tested on the battlefield: machine guns, flamethrowers, machine guns of various types, mortars and artillery, and much of this was later used against us. Regarding the use of tanks and aircraft, it should be recalled that according to the Treaty of Versailles, Germany could not have either one or the other. Therefore, the Germans tried to make the most of the opportunities that opened up to them to develop both methods for their effective use and to clarify the tactical and technical requirements for these types of weapons for future battles. For example, it quickly became clear that the then British concept of tank building did not stand up to criticism. The British Vickers six-ton ​​tank with cardboard armor, armed with machine guns or artillery, and with disgusting cross-country ability in Paraguayan conditions, had zero combat value. In addition, our compatriot, General of Engineering Zimovsky, quickly launched in Paraguay the production of anti-tank grenades of his own design, which pretty soon destroyed, for the most part, British tanks. It is not surprising that from this the Germans concluded that a future war would require completely different machines. And so the design of the Tiger tank began already in 1937. By the way, we were very lucky that on June 22 the Wehrmacht did not have this “monster”, against which any anti-tank gun was powerless at that time.

In addition, at the beginning of the 30s there was also a very vague idea about tank tactics - the experience of the First World War was useless here. Military testing of armored forces was very useful. This made it possible for the Germans to achieve very significant effectiveness of their tank forces at the beginning of World War II.

The same applied to the use of aviation. The Bolivian Air Force was frankly weak, but with their help the Germans managed to both develop dive bombing tactics and determine the technical parameters of dive bombers or, in German terminology, attack aircraft. Therefore, it is quite logical that the Germans were able to begin designing their famous diving attack aircraft Yu-87, which later turned the entire idea of ​​air warfare against ground troops, already in 1934.

The Wehrmacht also owed its adoption of the MP-38 submachine gun, or, in common parlance, the Schmeisser assault rifle, to the testing of similar weapons in the Paraguayan War. Before this, the submachine gun was considered an exotic weapon of American gangsters. But a certain Major Brandt fought in Chaco, who, having returned to Germany, managed to convince the Wehrmacht leadership of its necessity.

As can be seen from these few examples, the influence of the Chaco War on German weapons and tactics in World War II was great. But the Soviet government, based on insane ideological considerations, preferred to ignore our emigrants, and carefully hushed up the events of this war. Possible reasons then could be as follows: if the “whites” were defeated in the civil war, then what can we learn from this undefeated counter force entrenched in Paraguay?

At the same time, the Soviet leadership was well aware of the events of that war. Latin America was then simply swarming with agents of the Comintern. For example, in 1935, the Brazilian authorities prevented a coup attempt they were preparing. This silence continued until 1941. After the end of the Great Patriotic War, the events of the Chaco war completely became forbidden fruit for the Soviet people. The reason is simple. If a handful of Paraguayans and Russians - precisely Russians, not “Soviet” - were able to defeat the much superior “new Prussia”, then how can one explain, despite all the many years of preparation for war and the enormous expended resources, the terrible defeat of the Red Army in 1941? And since it is not possible to explain this on the basis of the information at our disposal, a completely seditious thought arises: did the Soviet leadership, for example, have some kind of secret intent? And if there was, then what did it consist of? And, probably, because of this, even now, when Soviet power seems to have been gone for more than 20 years, the Chaco War is not particularly covered.

In preparation for war, ideology did not diverge from deeds, as can be seen from this example. In 1931, the USSR purchased a license to produce the British Vickers six-ton ​​tank and produced it with enviable persistence until 1941. A total of 11,218 of these tanks were produced (Shunkov V.N. Weapons of Victory. - Minsk, 1999). It’s just not clear – why? These “mistakes” of the Soviet regime can be cited for a very long time, but this is a completely different story.

However, the Chaco War had another, not very obvious consequence. Small, poor Paraguay with its Russian volunteers was the first to stand on the path of German revanchism and the “brown plague” that followed it - and won. The defeat of Bolivia put an end to plans to create a “new Prussia.” The prestige of Germany and, accordingly, the Nazis, who dressed in white clothes in comparison with the evil gringo-Anglo-Saxons, was dealt a strong blow. And this to some extent contributed to the fact that during World War II Latin America remained neutral. Plans to drag it into the war on the German side remained unrealized. And with this we can finish our essay.

Duke of Caxias
Bartolome Miter
Venancio Flores Strengths of the parties At the beginning of the war about 38,000 At the beginning of the war about 26,000 Military losses about 300,000 people; estimates vary widely from 90,000 to 100,000 people

Paraguayan War(War of the Triple Alliance) was a war fought by Paraguay against the alliance of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay from December 13, 1864 to March 1, 1870. Began at the end of 1864 with the conflict between Paraguay and Brazil; Since 1865, Argentina and Uruguay have taken part in the war.

The result of the war was the complete defeat of Paraguay and the loss, according to some estimates, of 90% of the adult male population (the population from 525,000-1,350,000 people, according to various estimates, before the war decreased to 221,000 after it (), of which only 28,000 were adult men). After the victory of the Triple Alliance troops over the regular Paraguayan army, the conflict entered the stage of guerrilla warfare, which led to huge casualties among civilians. Territorial losses (almost half of the country's land), the death of most of the population and the destruction of industry turned Paraguay into one of the most backward countries in Latin America.

Background to the conflict

Territorial claims of the parties

Paraguay before the war

It should be noted that the pre-war development of Paraguay differed significantly from the development of neighboring countries in South America. Under the rule of José Francia and Carlos Antonio López, the country developed almost in isolation from the rest of the countries in the region. The leadership of Paraguay supported the course of building a self-sufficient, autonomous economy. The Lopez regime (in 1862, Carlos Antonio Lopez was replaced as president by his son, Francisco Solano Lopez) was characterized by strict centralization, which left no room for the development of civil society.

Most of the land (about 98%) was in the hands of the state; the state also carried out a significant part of production activities. There were so-called “Motherland estates” (Spanish. Estancias de la Patria) - 64 government-managed farms. More than 200 foreign specialists invited to the country laid telegraph lines and railways, which contributed to the development of the steel, textile, paper, printing industries, shipbuilding and gunpowder production.

The government had complete control over exports. The main goods exported from the country were valuable wood and mate. State policy was strictly protectionist; imports were actually blocked by high customs duties. Unlike neighboring countries, Paraguay did not take out external loans. Francisco Solano Lopez continued this policy of his predecessors.

At the same time, the government began modernizing the army. The Ibiqui foundry, built in 1850, produced cannons and mortars, as well as ammunition of all calibers; warships were built in the shipyards of Asuncion.

The growth of industrial production urgently required contact with the international market. However, Paraguay, located in the interior of the continent, had no access to the sea. To reach it, ships leaving the river ports of Paraguay had to go down the Parana and Paraguay rivers, reach La Plata, and only then go out into the ocean. Lopez's plans were to acquire a port on the Atlantic coast, which was possible only by capturing part of Brazilian territory.

In preparation for the implementation of these goals, the development of the military industry continued. A significant number of soldiers were drafted into the army as part of compulsory military service; They were intensively trained. Fortifications were built at the mouth of the Paraguay River.

Diplomatic preparations were also carried out. An alliance was concluded with the National Party that ruled Uruguay (“Blanco”, “Whites”); Accordingly, the Blancos' rival, the Colorado Party (Colored), found support from Argentina and Brazil.

The situation in the La Plata basin before the war

Since Brazil and Argentina gained independence, there has been an ongoing struggle between the governments of Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro for hegemony in the La Plata basin. This rivalry largely determined the foreign and domestic policies of the countries of the region. In 1825-1828, tensions between Brazil and Argentina led to war; its result was the independence of Uruguay (finally recognized by Brazil in 1828). After this, twice more the governments of Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires almost began military action against each other.

The goal of the Argentine government was to unite all the countries that were formerly part of the Viceroyalty of La Plata (including Paraguay and Uruguay). Beginning in the first half of the 19th century, it attempted to achieve this, but without success - largely due to the intervention of Brazil. It was Brazil, then under Portuguese rule, that was the first country to recognize (in 1811) the independence of Paraguay. Fearing that Argentina would become too strong, the government of Rio de Janeiro preferred to maintain the balance of power in the region by helping Paraguay and Uruguay maintain their independence.

In addition, Paraguay itself has repeatedly interfered in Argentine politics. Thus, from 1852 to 1852, Paraguayan troops fought against the Buenos Aires government together with detachments from the provinces of Corrientes and Entre Rios. During this period, Paraguay's relations with Brazil, which was also at odds with Argentine President Juan Manuel Rosas, were especially warm. Until his overthrow in 1852, the Brazilians continued to provide military and technical assistance to Asuncion, paying special attention to fortifications on the Parana River and strengthening the Paraguayan army.

It is also worth noting that the Brazilian province of Mato Grosso was not connected to Rio de Janeiro by land roads and Brazilian ships were required to pass through Paraguayan territory along the Paraguay River to reach Cuiaba. However, obtaining permission to do this from the Paraguayan government was often associated with great difficulties.

Another source of tension in the region was Uruguay. Brazil had significant financial interests in this country; its citizens enjoyed significant influence - both economic and political. Thus, the company of the Brazilian businessman Irineu Evangelista de Souza was actually the state bank of Uruguay; the Brazilians owned about 400 estates (port. estancias), occupying about a third of the country's territory. Particularly acute for this influential layer of Uruguayan society was the issue of the tax on livestock transported from the Brazilian province of Rio Grande do Sul.

Three times during this period Brazil intervened politically and militarily in Uruguay's affairs - against Manuel Oribe and Argentine influence; in, at the request of the Uruguayan government and Venancio Flores, leader of the Colorados party (a traditional ally of the Brazilians); and in 1864, against Atanasio Aguirre - the last intervention and served as the impetus for the start of the Paraguayan War. Probably, these actions were largely facilitated by Great Britain, which did not want to unite the La Plata basin into a single state capable of solely using the resources of the region.

Brazilian intervention in Uruguay

Brazilian Army officer and soldier

In April 1864, Brazil sent a diplomatic mission to Uruguay led by José António Saraiva. Its goal was to demand compensation for losses caused to Brazilian gaucho farmers in border conflicts with Uruguayan farmers. Uruguay's President Atanasio Aguirre (National Party) rejected the Brazilian claims.

Solano Lopez offered himself as a mediator in the negotiations, but the Brazilians opposed this proposal. In August 1864, Paraguay broke off diplomatic relations with Brazil, and declared that the occupation of Uruguay by Brazilian troops would upset the balance in the region.

On October 12, Brazilian units invaded Uruguay. Supporters of Venancio Flores and the Colorado Party, supported by Argentina, allied with the Brazilians and overthrew Aguirre.

War

Start of the war

Attacked by the Brazilians, the Uruguayan Blancos asked Lopez for help, but Paraguay did not provide it immediately. Instead, on November 12, 1864, the Paraguayan ship Tacuari captured the Brazilian ship Marquis of Olinda, heading down the Paraguay River to the province of Mato Grosso; Among other things, it carried a cargo of gold, military equipment, and the newly appointed governor of the province of Rio Grande do Sul, Frederic Carneiro Campos. On December 13, 1864, Paraguay declared war on Brazil, and three months later, on March 18, 1865, on Argentina. Uruguay, already under the leadership of Venancio Flores, entered into an alliance with Brazil and Argentina, thus completing the formation of the Triple Alliance.

At the beginning of the war, the Paraguayan army forces numbered 38,000 well-trained soldiers out of 60,000 in reserve. The Paraguayan fleet consisted of 23 small steamships and a number of small vessels grouped around the gunboat Tacuari, and almost all of these ships were converted from civilian ones. The 5 newest battleships ordered in Europe did not have time to arrive before the start of hostilities, and were later even purchased by Brazil and became part of its fleet. The Paraguayan artillery numbered about 400 guns.

The armies of the Triple Alliance states were inferior in number to the Paraguayan ones. Argentina had about 8,500 regular troops, as well as a squadron of four steamships and one schooner. Uruguay entered the war without a navy and with an army of less than two thousand. Most of the 16,000-strong Brazilian army was previously garrisoned in the south of the country; At the same time, Brazil had a powerful fleet, consisting of 42 ships with 239 guns and a personnel of 4,000 sailors. At the same time, a significant part of the fleet under the command of the Marquis of Tamandare was already concentrated in the La Plata basin (for intervention against Aguirre).

Soldiers of the Brazilian Homeland Volunteers Corps

Despite the significant number of troops, Brazil was not ready for war. Her army was poorly organized; the troops used in Uruguay consisted mainly of detachments of regional politicians and some units of the National Guard. In this regard, the Brazilian troops who fought in the Paraguayan War were not professional, but were staffed by volunteers (the so-called Volunteers of the Motherland - port. Voluntários da Patria). Many were slaves sent by farmers. The cavalry was formed from the National Guard of the Province of Rio Grande do Sul.

Paraguayan offensive

During the first period of the war, the initiative was in the hands of the Paraguayans. The first battles of the war - the invasion of Mato Grosso in the north in December 1864, Rio Grande do Sul in the south in early 1865, and the Argentine province of Corrientes - were forced on the Allies by the advancing Paraguayan army.

Paraguayan troops simultaneously invaded Mato Grosso in two groups. Thanks to their numerical superiority, they managed to quickly capture the province.

Five thousand men under the command of Colonel Vicente Barrios in ten ships ascended the Paraguay River and attacked the Brazilian fort of Nova Coimbra (now in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul). A small garrison of 155 men under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Ermengildo de Albuquerque Port Carrero (later named Baron Fort Coimbra) defended the fortification for three days. Having exhausted their supplies, the defenders abandoned the fort and set out in the direction of Corumba aboard the gunboat Anyambai. Having occupied the abandoned fort, the attackers continued to advance north, and in January 1865 they took the cities of Albuquerque and Corumba. Several Brazilian ships, including the Anyambai, went to the Paraguayans.

A second column of Paraguayan troops, numbering four thousand men under the command of Colonel Francisco Isidoro Reskin, invaded Mato Grosso further south. One of the detachments of this group, under the command of Major Martin Urbieta, on December 29, 1864, encountered fierce resistance from a small detachment of Brazilians, numbering 16 people under the command of Lieutenant Antonio Joan Ribeiro. Only by completely destroying them were the Paraguayans able to advance further. Having defeated the troops of Colonel José Diaz da Silva, they continued their advance towards the Nioacque and Miranda regions. In April 1865, the Paraguayans reached the Cochin region (now northern Mato Grosso do Sul).

Despite the successes, Paraguayan troops did not continue their attack on Cuiaba, the capital of the province of Mato Grosso. The main reason for this was that the main goal of the Paraguayan attack in this area was to divert the Brazilian forces from the south, where the decisive events of the war were to unfold in the La Plata basin.

The second stage of the Paraguayan offensive was the invasion of the Argentine province of Corrientes and the Brazilian Rio Grande do Sul. The Paraguayans could not directly help the Uruguayan Blancos - this required crossing territory belonging to Argentina. Therefore, in March 1865, the government of F. S. Lopez turned to the Argentine President Bartolomé Mitra with a request to send an army of 25,000 men under the command of General Wenceslao Robles through the province of Corrientes. However, Miter, who had recently been an ally of the Brazilians in the intervention against Uruguay, refused.

On March 18, 1865, Paraguay declared war on Argentina. The Paraguayan squadron, descending the Parana River, locked the Argentine ships in the port of Corrientes, and the units of General Robles that followed took the city.

In invading Argentine territory, the Lopez government tried to enlist the support of Justo José de Urquiza, governor of the province of Corrientes and Entre Rios, who was the head of the federalists and an opponent of Miter and the government in Buenos Aires. However, Urquiza took an ambiguous position towards the Paraguayans, who were forced to halt their advance after marching about 200 kilometers south.

At the same time as Robles' troops, the 10,000th detachment of Lieutenant Colonel Antonio de la Cruz Estigarribia crossed the Argentine border south of Encarnacion. In May 1865, he reached the Brazilian province of Rio Grande do Sul, went down the Uruguay River and took the city of São Borja on June 12, 1865. Uruguayana, located to the south, was taken on August 5 without offering much resistance.

Argentina's predicament

Boy - drummer of the Argentine infantry regiment

The outbreak of war with Paraguay did not lead to the consolidation of forces within Argentina. The opposition was extremely wary of Miter's initiative to enter into an alliance with Brazil. Many in the country perceived the war with Paraguay as fratricidal; The opinion became widespread that the true cause of the conflict was not Paraguayan aggression, but the exorbitant personal ambitions of President Miter. Supporters of this version noted that Lopez invaded Brazil, having every reason to consider Miter his supporter and even an ally, and Argentina's transition to the side of Brazil was completely unexpected for the Paraguayans. However, the development of events was quite favorable for the supporters of the war. Very timely news was received about the kidnapping of local women by Paraguayans in the province of Corrientes. As a result, the war continued.

Throughout the war, protests continued in Argentina, demanding, in particular, an end to the war. Thus, on July 3, 1865, in Basualdo there was an uprising of 8,000 militia members of the province of Entre Rios, who refused to fight against the Paraguayans. In this case, the Buenos Aires government refrained from taking punitive measures against the rebels, but the next uprising in Toledo (November 1865) was decisively suppressed with the help of Brazilian troops. In November 1866, the revolt, starting in the province of Mendoza, spread to the neighboring provinces of San Luis, San Juan and La Rioja. A significant part of the Argentine forces was sent to suppress this uprising; President Miter was forced to return from Paraguay and personally lead the troops. In July 1867, the province of Santa Fe rebelled, as did the province of Corrientes. The last uprising occurred after the end of hostilities: in April 1870, the province of Entre Rios rebelled against Buenos Aires. These actions, although suppressed, nevertheless significantly weakened the Argentines.

Brazil's actions

In April 1865, a column of Brazilian troops, numbering 2,780 men under the command of Colonel Manuel Pedro Drago, left the city of Uberaba in the province of Minas Gerais. The goal of the Brazilians was to move to the province of Mato Grosso to repel the Paraguayans who had invaded there. In December 1865, after a difficult two-thousand-kilometer march through four provinces, the column arrived in Koshin. However, Cochin had already been abandoned by the Paraguayans. In September 1866, Colonel Drago's troops arrived in the Miranda area, also abandoned by the Paraguayans. In January 1867, the column, reduced to 1,680 men, with a new commander, Colonel Carlos de Morais Camisan at its head, attempted to invade Paraguayan territory but was repulsed by the Paraguayan cavalry.

At the same time, despite the successes of the Brazilians, who took Corumba in June 1867, in general the Paraguayans were quite firmly entrenched in the province of Mato Grosso, and retreated from it only in April 1868, being forced to move troops to the south of the country, to the main theater of the military actions.

In the La Plata basin, communications were limited exclusively to rivers; there were only a few roads. Control of the rivers decided the course of the war, and therefore the main Paraguayan fortifications were concentrated in the lower reaches of the Paraguay River.

While Lopez was already ordering the retreat of the units that had occupied Corrientes, the troops advancing from San Borj continued to successfully advance south, occupying Ithaca and Uruguayana. On August 17, one of the detachments (3,200 soldiers under the command of Major Pedro Duarte) continuing to move into Uruguay was defeated by Allied forces under the command of Uruguayan President Flores at the Battle of Jatai on the banks of the Uruguay River.

On June 16, the Brazilian army crossed the border into Rio Grande do Sul with the aim of encircling Uruguayana; Allied troops soon joined her. The Alliance troops were gathered in a camp near the city of Concordia (in the Argentine province of Entre Rios). Overall command was exercised by Mitre, the Brazilian troops were commanded by Field Marshal Manuel Luis Osorio. Part of the force under the command of Lieutenant General Manuel Marques de Souza, Baron of Porto Alegre, was sent to complete the defeat of the Paraguayan forces at Uruguayana; The result was immediate: on September 18, 1865, the Paraguayans surrendered.

In the following months, Paraguayan troops were driven out of the cities of Corrientes and San Cosme, leaving the last piece of Argentine land still in Paraguayan hands. Thus, by the end of 1865, the Triple Alliance went on the offensive. His armies, numbering over 50,000 men, were ready to invade Paraguay.

Allied invasion of Paraguay

The Allied invasion followed the Paraguay River, starting from the Paraguayan fortress of Paso de la Patria. From April 1866 to July 1868, military operations took place near the confluence of the Paraguay and Parana rivers, where the Paraguayans located their main fortifications. Despite the initial successes of the Triple Alliance forces, these defenses delayed the advance of the Allied forces for more than two years.

The fortress of Itapira was the first to fall. After the battles of Paso de la Patria (fell on April 25, 1866) and Estero Bellaco, the Allied forces camped in the Tuyuti marshes. Here on May 24, 1866 they were attacked by the Paraguayans; in this battle the allies again gained the upper hand. The First Battle of Tuiyuti was the largest pitched battle in South American history.

In July 1866, instead of the ill Field Marshal Osoriu, General Polidoro da Fonseca Quintanilla Jordan took command of the 1st Corps of the Brazilian Army. At the same time, the 2nd Brazilian Corps - 10,000 people under the command of Baron Porto Alegre - arrived in the combat area from Rio Grande do Sul.

Battle of Curupaiti (painting by Candido Lopez)

To open the way to the strongest Paraguayan fortress, Humaite, Miter gave the order to capture the Kurusu and Curupaiti batteries. Kurus managed to take Baron Porto Alegre with an unexpected attack, but the Curupaiti battery (commander - General José Eduvihis Diaz) offered significant resistance. An attack by 20,000 Argentine and Brazilian soldiers under the command of Miter and Porto Alegre, supported by Admiral Tamandare's squadron, was repulsed. Heavy losses (5,000 people in just a few hours) led to a crisis in the command of the allied forces and a halt in the offensive.

Decisive battles

On September 12, 1866, Francisco Solano Lopez met with Argentine President Miter. However, this attempt to conclude peace failed - primarily due to the opposition of the Brazilians, who did not want to end the war. The fighting continued.

Luis Alvis de Lima e Silva, Duke of Caxias

On October 10, 1866, Marshal Luis Alvis de Lima y Silva, Marquis of Caxias (later given the title of Duke), became the new commander of the Brazilian forces. Arriving in Paraguay in November, he found the Brazilian army practically paralyzed. Argentine and Uruguayan troops, devastated by disease, were stationed separately. Mitre and Flores, forced to deal with the internal politics of their countries, returned home. Tamandare was removed and Admiral Joaquín José Inácio (future Viscount Inhauma) was appointed in his place. Osorio organized the 3rd Corps of the Brazilian Army, consisting of 5,000 people, in Rio Grande do Sul.

In Miter's absence, Caxias took command and immediately began reorganizing the army. From November to July 1867, he took a number of measures to organize medical institutions (to help the many injured soldiers and to combat the cholera epidemic), and also significantly improved the supply system for troops. During this period, military action was limited to minor skirmishes with the Paraguayans and the bombardment of Curupaiti. Lopez took advantage of the enemy's disorganization to strengthen the defense of the Humaita fortress.

As for Uruguay, neither Argentina nor Brazil interfered so actively in its politics. The Uruguayan Party of Colorado gained power in the country and ruled until 1958.

Most of the Paraguayan villages devastated by the war were abandoned, and their surviving inhabitants moved to the vicinity of Asuncion. These settlements in the central part of the country have practically switched to subsistence farming; a significant part of the land was bought up by foreigners, mainly Argentines, and turned into estates. Paraguayan industry was destroyed, the country's market was opened to British goods, and the government (for the first time in Paraguayan history) took out an external loan of £1 million. Paraguay also had to pay an indemnity (it was never paid), and remained occupied until 1876.

Paraguayan War in art

The Paraguayan War left a significant mark on the art of the countries of the region. Thus, Argentine artists Candido Lopez and Jose Ignacio Garmendia, Brazilians Vitor Meirellis and Pedro America, and Uruguayan Juan Manuel Blanes turned to the theme of military operations in their paintings.

The war was also reflected in literature. Some works have gained some popularity in Russia - as an example, we can mention the adventure novel by the Italian writer Emilio Salgari “The Treasure of the President of Paraguay.” In addition, the events of the war were somewhat reflected in Arthur Conan Doyle’s story about Sherlock Holmes “The Incident at Wisteria Lodge” (there is a variant translation of the title “In the Lilac Lodge”; English. The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge ), where in the fictional state of “San Pedro” it is quite easy to identify Paraguay. It is interesting to note that if Salgari treats the Paraguayans with obvious sympathy, then in Conan Doyle’s story the dictator “San Pedro” is referred to only as “bloodthirsty.”

Modern cinema has also not ignored the topic of the Paraguayan War. In 2001, the film “Neto Loses His Soul” (port. Netto Perde Sua Alma; this refers to General Antonio de Souza Neto), the historical background for which was the events of the Paraguayan War.

Modern perception of war

To this day, the war remains a controversial topic - especially in Paraguay, where it is perceived as a fearless attempt by a small people to defend its rights - or as a suicidal, self-defeating struggle against a superior enemy that almost destroyed the nation to the ground.

In modern Russian journalism, the Paraguayan War is also perceived extremely ambiguously. In this case, the views of the authors of the articles play a key role, while the events of the war are used to illustrate these views. Thus, Paraguay of that time can be presented as a predecessor of the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century, and the war as a criminal consequence of the aggressive policies of this regime. In another, directly opposite version, the regime of France and the Lopezes looks like a successful attempt to create an economy independent of its neighbors and the then world leader, Great Britain. War, according to this point of view, is nothing more than the deliberate genocide of a small people who dared to challenge the most powerful power in the world and the imperialist system of the world as a whole.

Conclusion

For a long time, the results of the war eliminated Paraguay from the list of states having at least some weight in international affairs. It took the country decades to recover from chaos and demographic imbalance. Even today, the consequences of the war have not been completely overcome - Paraguay still remains one of the poorest countries in Latin America.

Notes

1. www.elhistoriador.com.ar
2. PJ O'Rourke, Give War a Chance. New York: Vintage Books, 1992. Page 47.

(Spanish: Guerra do Paraguai) - a military conflict between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, which lasted from December 1864 to March 1870.

It was broken, left without the possibility of normal development for many, many decades, so it is not at all surprising that today this state is one of the poorest and economically backward on the continent.

War of the Triple Alliance(Spanish: Guerra de la Triple Alianza), this is what it is called in Argentina and Uruguay (in Paraguay it is called nothing more than Great War), went down in history as the deadliest and bloodiest international confrontation in the history of South America, in which small but myopically fanatical Paraguay was literally destroyed. The Paraguayan economy, close to self-sufficiency, was completely destroyed. A significant part of the state’s territories was irretrievably lost. The whole nation was practically scorched, because 69% of Paraguayans died as a result of the war!

Causes of the war

The Paraguayan War was the result of long-running territorial disputes between neighboring countries. These contradictions intensified during the Civil War, started by the “colored” (Colorado Party) led by Venancio Flores(Spanish: Venâncio Flores) in an attempt to overthrow the “white” (“Blanco”) government led by the party leader, the president. Anastasio Aguirre(Spanish: Atanasio Aguirre).

For the Emperor of Brazil Pedro II(port. Dom Pedro II) and the President of Argentina Bartolome Miter(Spanish: Bartolomé Mitre) Anastasio Aguirre was an undesirable head of state, which is why both of them provided Venancio Flores with wide support.

The President of Paraguay (Spanish: Francisco Solano López), who was an ally of Uruguay, showed his support for the Aguirre government and wrote a letter to the Brazilian Emperor, in which he said that any occupation of Uruguayan lands by Brazil would be considered an attack on Paraguay.

However, after a series of demands from the Brazilian government, which Aguirre refused to comply with, on October 12, 1864, an impressive army of the Brazilian Empire invaded the territory of Uruguay and, with the support (so far only moral) of the Allies, helped the “coloreds” to overthrow Aguirre.

In response to interference in the internal affairs of Uruguay, on November 11, 1864, Francisco Solano Lopez kept his word and ordered an attack, which, in his opinion, contrary to all conventions, upset the imbalance in the region. Lopez wanted to end the unchallenged dominance of Brazil and Argentina in the region. With enormous ambitions, he seriously thought about making Paraguay a “third force” in the ongoing political rivalry between these countries. He was not satisfied that only they resolved important regional issues, dictating their rules to everyone else by force.

In addition, Solano Lopez was not opposed to turning his country into a regional power and having long-awaited access to the sea through the port of Montevideo, provided by an alliance with the "whites" and the Argentine federalists (provinces, Entre Rios And Misiones).

Venancio Flores, Francisco Solano Lopez, Bartolome Miter and Pedro II

Paraguayan War: The Beginning

The first “injection” from the Paraguayans occurred the very next day, November 12, a Paraguayan warship Takuari(Spanish: Tacuari) captured a Brazilian ship Marquis de Olinda(Spanish: Marquês de Olinda), heading towards the Brazilian state Mato Grosso do Sul(port. Mato Grosso do Sul). On board the ship were military equipment, gold, and many Brazilians, among whom were several high-ranking military and political figures. The entire crew and passengers were captured and sent to prison.

Already in December, the Paraguayan army captured the Brazilian city Dourados(port. Dourados) in the south of Mato Grosso do Sul. On December 13, 1864, he officially declared war on Brazil.

The government of Bartolome Miter, in order to avoid internal conflicts (the majority of Argentines supported the constitutional president Aguirre, they were against Argentina's intervention in the affairs of Uruguay, and even more so were against the war with fraternal Paraguay) immediately announced its neutrality and adopted a wait-and-see attitude, however, this neutrality did not last long . The fact is that in order to physically help the Blancos, the Paraguayans, in order to get to Uruguay, had to first cross the territory of the Argentine province of Corrientes: in March 1865, Paraguay officially appealed to the Argentine government with a request to provide a “green corridor” for the Paraguayan troops consisting of 25 thousand soldiers, but Bartolome Miter refused.

Following the refusal, on March 18, 1865, Francisco Solano Lopez immediately handed over to his army under the command of General Wenceslau Robles(Spanish: Venceslau Robles) an order to go straight through Corrientes, which de facto meant a declaration of war on Argentina.

1865-1870

In May 1865, the Paraguayan army attacked the Brazilian state Rio Grande do Sul, and immediately after this, Argentina and Brazil signed a military agreement, which was later joined by the new government of Uruguay led by Flores. Thus, a military alliance was formed, which went down in history as the “Triple Alliance”. The goal of this alliance was to protect its state borders and, of course, the complete and unconditional surrender of the enemy.

Thus, unfortunate Paraguay found itself alone against a powerful coalition, the financial patron of which, by the way, was Great Britain itself, which has its own interests in the region.

In accordance with the treaty, Bartolome Miter was appointed Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, who later insisted that this fratricidal war did not begin at the will of the participants in the Triple Alliance and was not directed against the Paraguayan people, but exclusively against the government of “dictator” Lopez. However, apparently this statement was just mercantile deceit, because the union treaty provided for the division of most of the territory of Paraguay.

By the beginning of the war, the forces of the Triple Alliance were significantly smaller than the army of Paraguay, which had 60 thousand soldiers, more than 400 pieces of artillery pieces and a fleet of 23 steamships and 5 warships. They were opposed by about 8 thousand soldiers of the Argentine army, 12 thousand Brazilian soldiers and about 3 thousand Uruguayan guards.

Nevertheless, Brazil had a powerful navy, consisting of 42 ships with 239 guns and a crew of 4,000 well-trained sailors. It was the Brazilian squadron, consisting of 11 ships, that already in the first year of the war inflicted a heavy defeat on the Paraguayan fleet in the famous Battle of Riachuelo(Spanish: Batalha do Riachuelo), which occurred on June 11, 1865 at . Control over the rivers practically decided the course of the war, because there were almost no roads in the basin and any communications were mainly carried out along the rivers. That is why, after the Paraguayan naval forces were defeated, the possibility of further advance of the Paraguayans into Argentine territory was effectively prevented. From this point until the complete surrender, Paraguay was forced to wage an exclusively defensive war.

By the autumn of the same year, Paraguayan troops were driven out of the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Mato Grosso do Sul, as well as from the provinces of Entre Rios, Misiones and Corrientes. At the end of 1865, the Triple Alliance, whose army already numbered more than 50 thousand soldiers, launched an attack on Paraguay.

On May 20, 1866, Allied forces invaded Paraguay and set up camp in the Tuiyuti marshes. After 4 days they were attacked by the Paraguayans. This battle is known as Battle of Tuyuti(Spanish: Batalha de Tuiuti), became the largest in the history of South America. The battle was won by the allied army, but the victory was “Pyrrhic” - about 17 thousand people were killed by the allies.

Francisco Solano Lopez placed his main defensive fortifications near the confluence of the Paraguay and Parana rivers. Defense of fortresses Itapira(Spanish: Fortaleza de Itapiru), Paso de la Patria(Spanish: Passo da Patria) and Estero Bellaco(Spanish: Estero Bellaco) lasted for 2 whole years, from April 1866 to July 1868.

After the fall of the fortifications, Paraguay's capitulation was only a matter of time. In December 1868, after many more lost battles, Lopez was asked to surrender, but he rejected this offer.

On January 1, 1869, the capital Asuncion was occupied by Allied forces. A provisional government was appointed here, headed by a coalition “puppet” Cirilo Antonio Rivarola(Spanish: Cirilo Antonio Rivarola). Lopez himself fled to the mountains in the north of the country and for a whole year waged an active guerrilla war, in which not only men took part, but also women and even children drafted into the army - a total of about 5 thousand people, almost all of whom died.

March 1, 1870 in one of the mountain camps of the Paraguayan partisans Cerro Cora(Spanish: Cerro Cora), Francisco Solano Lopez was wounded by a spear, and after refusing to surrender he was killed. His last words before his death were the phrase “ Muero por mi patria"(“I die for my nation”). According to another version, he said " Muero con mi patria"(“I die with my nation”). Along with him, in the euphoria of victory, the Brazilians burned alive a large number of civilians, including women, children and the disabled.

Lopez's death marked the logical conclusion of the Paraguayan War.

Consequences

Brazil: Of the approximately 160 thousand Brazilians (1.5% of the total population) who fought in this war, at least 50 thousand died in battle or died from a cholera epidemic. Several thousand more people are missing.

The Brazilian Empire expanded its already considerable territory, but paid too dearly for the victory. After all, the Paraguayan War was actually financed by British loans, which Brazil was able to repay only by the middle of the 20th century. All this time the country was in a state of serious financial crisis.

Argentina: Losses in the war - 30 thousand people, of which 18 thousand soldiers and 12 thousand civilians who died as a result of disease and unsanitary conditions.

In addition, this war provoked many popular riots and protests from the opposition against the Miter government, which was characterized by excessive fanaticism.

Argentina also expanded its territories at the expense of the enemy, annexing some of the modern provinces Farmosa(plain area) and Corrientes and Misiones, in addition, the country dispelled Paraguay's long-standing claims to the territory Argentine Mesopotamia(Spanish: la región mesopotámica) - a region located between the rivers and Paraná.

Uruguay: Losses in the war - more than 3 thousand people. At the cost of these human lives, Uruguay established relations with the two older “sisters”, who no longer interfered in the internal politics of the “little brother”.

“Colored” gained power in the country and ruled for almost 80 years.

Paraguay: The result of this terrible war is obvious - Paraguay was defeated. About 90% of the men were killed or died from disease, starvation or physical exhaustion. The country faces a serious problem: a strong imbalance between the number of men and women. For 220 thousand women there were no more than 30 thousand men. To avoid a demographic catastrophe, the provisional government was forced to legalize polygamy.

(+19 points, 5 ratings)

: So who started the hostilities? I read that on November 12, 1864, Paraguay captured a Brazilian warship, and on November 13, Paraguay declared war on Brazil, which is how the war began (yes, to provide Paraguay with much-needed access to the sea). It's right?

Well, firstly, it would be interesting to know who presented to you this, let’s say, somewhat cartoonish version of the conflict (which, by the way, can safely be put on a par with the South American War of Independence, the Cuban Revolution, etc.). I can also add that for me personally, from under those South American realities of 150 years ago, there appear – among others – such seemingly distant alignments as “Russia-Ukraine-Belarus-2014”.

In order not to let my thoughts wander too much, I will try to present my vision of that story as concisely as possible. Well, what if suddenly “my” (i.e., comrades Juan Bautista Alberdi, José María Rosa, León Pomer, Eduardo Galeano, Felipe Pigna, Pelham Horton Box, etc.) version is somehow not to your taste (if you, for example, a devout liberal and Anglophile), then writings of the opposite direction - like dirt (Mariano Molas, Domingo Sarmiento, Ramón Cárcano, Francisco Doratioto, etc.).

In general, here, of course, we should start with a map - although, unfortunately, I have not yet seen maps of real economic interests and cash flows. And although it is not clear from the physical map why there was suddenly no normal trade route from Rio de Janeiro to Mato Grosso, at least one medical fact follows quite clearly from it - Paraguay’s lack of direct access to the sea. And personally, I do not yet know of a single more or less developed country (with the exception of bank cells with the inscriptions “Switzerland”, “Luxembourg” and “Liechtenstein”) without such a conditio sine qua non.

Although Paraguay did not have direct access to sea trade, it did have a “curve” - along the river to Montevideo. Moreover, the degree of its “curvature” depended on who was sitting on the banks of this river (first of all, we are talking about Uruguay and the “federalist” at that time Argentine provinces of Corrientes and Entre Rios): if you are conditional “friends”, you can breathe more or less , if there are opponents, drain the water. “Friends” are, roughly speaking, rivals of the Buenos Aires pro-English comprador port bourgeoisie, crushing the “separatists” and dreaming of Argentina at least within the borders of the former Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata.

The Paraguayan War of 1864-1870 there were a lot of reasons and reasons: immediate, local, chronic, global, etc. We can highlight some of them:

1) “World economic crisis”, big problems in Great Britain caused by disruption of the supply of cotton (oil at that time) from the USA as a consequence of the Civil War. The birth of imperialism (in 1876, according to Lenin), one of the first victims of which, in fact, Paraguay became (if India - directly through English bayonets, then Paraguay - through the narrow-minded hands of others with English loans and “gifts”). In general, Great Britain rushed frantically to search for cotton in all corners of the globe. By the way, if in 1862 colonial territories accounted for 29.4% of the planet’s territory, by 1912 they would already be 62.3%, and then - the well-known redistribution of the loot, which “ended” with October and Versailles.

2) Interests of the great powers: first of all, Great Britain - expansion of sales markets aka “free trade”. “free markets”, etc., cheap raw materials, incl. high-quality Paraguayan cotton (not so much in stock at that time, but in the future); growing USA; well, France (here more because of status and the desire to spoil the British).

3) “Bad example” of Paraguay H.G. Francia and the Lopezes for South America and not only for it (one might say, the first socialist state in history, a kind of unscientific state-farmer socialism of the early 19th century).

4) The Brazilian slave trading empire with still greedy inclinations, skillfully fueled and financed by Great Britain, both in the eastern Paraguayan territories and in Sisplatina (a former province of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarve, since 1828 - a type of independent Uruguay). Again, the eastern lands of Paraguay as the only land route at that time to the Brazilian province of Mato Grosso from Rio de Janeiro.

5) Argentina (Argentine Confederation): “gathering of lands” by the port bourgeoisie built into the world market, the struggle of Buenos Aires with the rebellious provinces, which associate with Paraguay as a counterweight to Buenos Aires (and Paraguay, of course, is also carefully friends with them, so as not to be devoured by Argentina). The meaning is simple: we will crush Paraguay, it will be easier to crush our “oppositionists”. This also includes the role of Justo Jose de Urquiza, whom Paraguay hoped for, incl. during the attack by the Brazilians on Paysandu, but with whom the Brazilians concluded an extremely profitable deal for him at the right time. Eduardo Galeano: “Paraguay was sandwiched between Argentina and Brazil, which could well strangle it by squeezing the throat of its rivers and imposing any unaffordable duty on the transit of its goods. This is exactly what Rivadavia and Rosas did. On the other hand, the desire to strengthen the power of the oligarchy in these states caused an urgent need to end the dangerous proximity to a country that managed to provide for itself and did not want to bend the knee to British traders."

6) One of the reasons (subjective) for the conflict is the excessive self-confidence, lack of diplomacy, youth and inexperience of the then Paraguayan dictator Francisco Solano Lopez (the “dictators” in Paraguay were more like Lukashenko than Pinochet).

Actually, the war could have started much earlier (various aggressive movements on the part of Great Britain, Brazil, the USA, etc. in the pre-war decades). Realizing this, Paraguay, even under Carlos Antonio Lopez, began to prepare for it (recruitment, ordering warships in Europe, which never had time to arrive, which largely determined the defeat of Paraguay - see the Battle of Riachuelo, loss of control over the river).

Some main events of the beginning of the war are dotted:

1) In 1862, the political regime in Brazil changed to a more liberal one (in the sense of “free trade”, that is, “we are falling even more closely under Great Britain”) and more aggressive towards Paraguay and Uruguay (Paraguay’s key ally in the region and a kind of guarantor of its economic non-suffocation, provided that the so-called “white” party is in power).

2) Both Brazil and Buenos Aires actively contribute to the putsch of Venancio Flores (the “colored” party) (1863) and its advance to the capital.

3) On August 30, 1864, Paraguay protested that Brazil had violated the terms of the treaty of December 25, 1850 and that Paraguay would consider as a casus belli a military occupation of its ally Uruguay, also noting that such actions would upset the balance of power in the region.

4) In October 1864, the Brazilians invade Uruguay under a little less than a far-fetched pretext, enter into an alliance with Flores, in January 1865 Flores takes Paysanda, and in February enters Montevideo. Buenos Aires also supports the “colored”, in general, the “white” party is eventually thrown out.

5) Somewhere on November 10, Francisco Solano Lopez learns about the occupation of Uruguay by the Brazilians, orders the capture of the Brazilian merchant ship "Marquês de Olinda" with the governor of Mato Grosso on board. On November 12, the ship is captured, which actually becomes the official date of the start of the war.

6) There remains, however, a problem: in order to fight the Brazilians, Paraguay needs to pass through the Argentine province of Corrientes. Paraguay asks to let its troops through, Buenos Aires refuses under the pretext of its accepted neutrality (not forgetting, however, to provide military support to Venancio Flores in Uruguay). Paraguay has no choice but to declare war on Argentina (March 1865). In May 1865, Brazil, Argentina and the “blooming” Uruguay concluded the Treaty of the Triple Alliance (Tratado de la Triple Alianza) and happily went to destroy Paraguay (although some historians argue that in fact the Triple Alliance took shape at least in August 1864 ).

Eduardo Galeano: “Venancio Flores invaded Uruguay, supported by both strong neighbors, and after the massacre in Paysandu created his own government in Montevideo, which began to act at the behest of Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. […] Before this, the President of Paraguay, Solano Lopez threatened to start a war if an invasion of Uruguay was organized. He knew well that in this case iron pincers would close on the throat of his country, driven into a corner by geography and enemies."