To the Bitter End

Paraguay and the War of the Triple Alliance

Christopher Leuchars

• Publisher: Praeger
• Year: 2002
• Print ISBN:
  9780313323652
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780313076855
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Latin American & Caribbean History
• Index: History

The War of the Triple Alliance was one of the longest, least remembered, and, for one of its participants, most catastrophic conflicts of the 19th century. The decision of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay to go to war against Paraguay in May 1965 has generally been regarded as a response to the raids by the headstrong and tyrannical dictator, Francisco Solano Lopez. While there is some truth to this view, as Lopez had attacked towns in Argentina and Brazil, the terms of the Triple Alliance signed that same month reveal that the motivation of these two nations, at least, was to redraw the map in their favor, at the expense of Paraguay. That the resulting conflict lasted five years before Lopez was defeated and his country fully at the mercy of its neighbors was a tribute to the heroic resistance of his people, as well as to the inadequacies of the allied command.

The military campaigns, which took place on land and on the rivers, often in appalling conditions of both climate and terrain, are examined from a strategic perspective, as well as through the experiences of ordinary soldiers. Leuchars looks in detail at the political causes, the course of the conflict as viewed from both sides, and the tragic aftermath. He brings to light an episode that, for all its subsequent obscurity, marked a turning point in the development of South American international relations.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Maps
• 1 The Country at the Heart of the Continent
• 2 The Man Who Would Be King
• 3 The Other Players in the Drama 3
• 4 Political Relations in the Plate Region
• 5 The Invasion of Brazil: September to December 1864
• 6 The Triple Alliance
• 7 The Military Balance
• 8 Conscripts and Volunteers: May to June 1865
• 9 The Invasion of Argentina: June 1865
• 10 The Rio Grande Campaign: June to September 1865
• 11 The March to War: September to December 1865
• 12 The Invasion of Paraguay: January to April 1866
• 13 Conflict in the Esteros: April to May 1866
• 14 The Battle of Tuyuty: May 1866
• 15 The Funnel of Death: July 1866
• 16 The Attack on Curupaity: September 1866
• 17 The Long Pause: September 1866 to August 1867
• 18 The Fall of Humaita: September 1867 to August 1868
• 19 The December Campaign: December 1868
• 20 Endgame: January 1869 to March 1870
• Conclusion: Securing the Spoils
• Notes
• Selected Bibliography
• Index