Harris Gaylord Warren

Paraguay and the Triple Alliance : the postwar decade, 1869-1878

Preface 1. End of the Paraguayan War 2. The Stricken Nation 3. Politics and Diplomacy, 1869-1870 4. The Provisional Government in Power 5. The Convention of 1870 6. Politics and Diplomacy, 1870-1871 7. Crises of 1872 8. Rails, Loans, and Immigrants 9. Paraguayan Society in the Postwar Decade 10. Jovellanos and the Plots of 1872-1873 11. The Triumph of Juan Bautista Gill 12. In the Toils of the Past 13. Diplomacy and Revolution, 1875-1876 14. End of an Era 15. Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index

Brazil's Paraguayan Policy, 1869-1876

When Brazilian troops occupied Asuncion on January 1, 1869, the worst war in South American history appeared to be nearing its end. This was a conflict caused by power politics, boundary disputes, and traditional animosities in the Plata basin. In a very real sense, the Paraguayan War was a climactic event in the evolution of nationalism in all of the four countries involved. A fortuitous combination of circumstances found Brazil and Argentina supporting the same party in Uruguay; although still intensely suspicious of each others intentions, they had come to realize that an independent Uruguay was essential for the maintenance of peace between them. Argentina and Brazil had long sustained territorial disputes with Paraguay; indeed, if their desires had been satisfied, Paraguay would have been reduced to the territory she now has between the Parana and Paraguay rivers.

Roberto Adolfo Chodasiewicz: A Polish Soldier of Fortune in the Paraguayan War

Well protected by fortifications of their famed cuadrilatero , Paraguayan soldiers surely exclaimed in wonder as they looked toward Brazilian lines on June 24, 1867. There, rising slowly in a hazy wintry sky, was a captive balloon held by two strong ascension ropes. An observer with a good spyglass could have seen in the basket two men who gazed intently at the Paraguayan positions. The aeronauts were James Allen of Rhode Island and Sergeant Major Roberto Adolfo Chodasiewicz, a Polish military engineer and cartographer. This first ascension by the smaller of two balloons proved that the brothers James and Ezra Allen, with the aid of Chodasiewicz, could succeed where a Frenchman, P. L. D. Doyen, had failed on December 14, 1866.

Dr. William Stewart in Paraguay, 1857-1867.

The Stewarts of Scotland came to England with William the Conqueror in 1066 and descended from Alan Falhald of Oswestry. Walter, First Lord High Steward of Scotland, was the son of Alan. Sir John Stewart of Bonkyll, who was killed at the battle of Falkirk in 1298, was the son of Lord Alexander Oswestry, Fourth Lord High Steward. Sir John’s brother, Lord James Oswestry, became the Fifth Lord High Steward, and from him descended the House of Stuart, rulers of Scotland and England. William Stewart of Paraguay descended from Sir John of Bonkyll, the twenty-second generation after Alan Falhald. In Scotland the Stewarts were landlords, merchants, bankers and farmers whose fortunes waxed and waned but always seemed to recover. That they were a resourceful clan is a conclusion easily reached if one takes the career of Dr. William Stewart of Paraguay as an example.

The Paraguayan Image of the War of the Triple Alliance

A nations image of its past helps to determine its conduct through continuing history. When this image is particularly sharp, it becomes a sacred reference for the formulation of policy. A national image is a melange of fact, fancy, and fiction. Carefully preserved in folklore and enthroned as tradition, this image can be invoked for political purposes that transcend party and class factionalism, and serve to unite the nation in a supreme sacrifice for national purpose. Paraguay has such an image. In its past the Paraguay of 1928 saw a peaceful, progressive people who had been plunged into a war of extermination. “Veneer o morir!” was no idle slogan of another era. It was a destroyed, shattered Paraguay that died with the Marshal on the banks of the Aquidaban. From the terrible conflict of 1864-1870, Paraguay emerged with large areas of its claimed territory forever lost, and with much of the rest in jeopardy. The arbitration of 1878, which eliminated one greedy enemy, was still fresh in Paraguayan memories when the Vanguardia incident of 1928 once more sounded the alarm. In the intervening years an image of the Paraguayan War had taken shape.