The War of the Triple Alliance | AskHistorians Archive Observer

I think the reason for so few responses to your questions in the past is that there are very few sources available in English on the conflict. Despite being the second bloodiest war between 1815 and 1914 (behind the Crimean War), the Paraguayan War took place between countries that haven’t historically been very important (in a Eurocentric world), and as a result, there has not been a whole lot of interest outside of very small scholarly circles, even though the consequences for this war completely changed the course of South American history. So you’re not doing anything wrong at all! The other thing is, we don’t have too many South America experts in these parts...I myself consider the Paraguayan War on the fringe of my knowledge, but I’ll present what I have studied. Hopefully, it will give you some direction.

I’ll start with a basic rundown of the conflict, which you probably already know. The conflict in the historiography most recently is portrayed as a step in the long process of state formation in South America. The Río de la Plata had been a long time flashpoint between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. The Spanish considered the area essentially the flank of their empire which protected the valuable mineral resources of Peru from their ever-encroaching Portuguese rivals, according to Zacarías Moutoukias in his article “Power, Corruption, and Commerce: The making of the Local Administrative Structure in the Seventeenth Century Buenos Aires.” Despite their best efforts, internal flows of capital and silver moved down the river systems of central South America to Buenos Aires; thus, contraband drove the area’s economy for much of the colonial period. The Portuguese wanted to tap into that wealth and began settling the Banda Oriental, which would eventually become Uruguay. They founded Colônia do Sacramento across the Río de la Plata from Buenos Aires, so they might have a slice of the contraband trade. Thus, the Río de la Plata had always been a source of conflict between the two empires, which had never really been settled. When Napoleon invaded the Iberian Peninsula, the Spanish Empire disintegrated. Paraguay broke away from Buenos Aires, and many in Buenos Aires considered it a renegade province. This led Dr. José Gaspar Rodríguez to largely close off Paraguay from the outside world and emphasize a policy of self-sufficiency. By the mid-1800’s, the fruits of this policy could be freely seen as Paraguay had begun industrializing, offering a promising economic outlook. Meanwhile, Brazil moved toward independence from Portugal, and Argentina became embroiled in the Independence Wars and civil wars between Unitarians and Federalists. The famous gaucho strongman Rosas took power in Buenos Aires and supported rebels in the Banda Oriental against Brazilian influence. Brazil declared war against Buenos Aires, sparking the Cisplatine War. This ended in a stalemate and arbitration with the British, who created Uruguay as a buffer state between the two countries. Nevertheless, both sides continued to attempt to influence Uruguayan politics. Eventually, Rosas was ousted from power in Argentina, and to make a long story short, eventually Brazil and Argentina’s interests aligned just long enough to support the Colorado party in Uruguay come to power. Both nations sent troops to support Venancio Flores’s seizure of power in Uruguay.

In Paraguay, Carlos Antonio López took power after Dr. José Gaspar Rodríguez and continued a cautious industrialization. He began building up the country’s military, constructed a massive fortress at Humaitá, and signed treaties with many of the regional powers to use the river systems for trade. Francisco Solano López ascended to power after his father’s death and planned to continue development. According to Thomas Whigham in I Die With My Country, López hoped to turn Paraguay into a regional power who could act as a mediator in Río de la Plata politics. However, he saw intervention in Uruguay as a sign of things to come. He could not stand idly by as the bigger nations intervened in Uruguay’s politics (keep in mind that Paraguay was still considered a renegade province by some in Buenos Aires). He gambled on a quick strike into Brazil to seize weapons, then an invasion of Uruguay to support the Blanco party who had been ejected from power. He expected support from other provinces in Argentina who were not yet fully on board with a united Argentina. He also expected the alliance between Brazil and Argentina to fall apart because that’s what had always happened in the past. Unfortunately, it did not play out that way. The three nations signed a treaty that stated “the peace, safety, and well-being of their respective nations is impossible while the present Government of Paraguay exists, and that it is imperatively necessary for the greatest interests that that Government should disappear, at the same time respecting the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of the Republic of Paraguay…” Article 8 of their agreement specifically says they will not take territory, but in the end, the nations took 25% of Paraguay’s land. Without the support he expected, the results of the war were never really in doubt. The tiny population of Paraguay (around 500,000) was dwarfed by Brazil (10 million) and Argentina (2 million). Though their military was strong, it was tiny and completely cut off from the outside world. Paraguay held out much longer than expected, thanks in part to their new fortress (mentioned above), the total mobilization of the population, and the slow-moving, mistake-ridden strategy pursued by the Allies.

The historiography surrounding the war, especially López, is tricky because so much of the history is imbued with nationalist discourses and propaganda. The book that you mention is well regarded and is written by an expert on Paraguay, but it takes a decidedly “great man” approach which was greatly influenced by anti-López propaganda during and after the war. After the war and into the middle part of the twentieth century, the historiography of the war was driven by competing nationalist discourses. Nationalist Paraguay historians, driven by the political climate in Paraguay during the Chaco War and Stroessner’s dictatorship, portrayed López and the war as a heroic defence of “la Patria” in the face of overwhelming odds. Historians from Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil instead pointed to the war as the foolish, prideful squandering of Paraguay’s promising future. Works that emphasize the failure...even madness...of López include Charles Kolinski Independence or Death! The Story of the Paraguayan War and Gilbert Phelps’s book the Tragedy of the War of the Triple Alliance. There are obviously a lot more sources in Spanish and Portuguese with nationalistic agendas as well. During the 60s, 70s, and 80s, the war became a testing ground for the dependency theory, which blamed Britain for encouraging the war. However, I have never read anything that provides actual primary sources to support this assertion (Thomas Whigham also stated this observation in his book). I am quite surprised that the myth persists so vehemently, especially in Latin America. As I mentioned earlier, the most recent historiography has taken a more holistic approach to the war, placing it in the context, as I have tried to, of state formation. Works from this perspective include I Die with My Country edited by Whigham and Kraay, and Maldita Guerra (Spanish) by Doratioto. Finally, there has been a large push to look at the social effects of the war. These focus on women, slaves, and indigenous people in the conflict. Additionally, the Paraguay Reader, the Argentina Reader, and the Brazil Reader contain excellent primary and secondary sources about the conflict (in English!). Also, here are some articles published about the war in the Economist a few years ago. They are excellent overviews:

http://www.economist.com/news/christmas/21568594-how-terrible-little-known-conflict-continues-shape-and-blight-nation

http://www.economist.com/blogs/americasview/2013/01/britain-and-paraguay?fsrc=gn_ep&google_editors_picks=true