Going Back to the War of the Triple Alliance

Asuncion Expat Meetings: EXPAT LUNCH: Sunday, May 20, 2012 EXPAT DINNER: Thursday, SOON These meetings are organized in the same style as our Montevideo meetings which have been going on for 6-1/2 years.

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Going Back to the War of the Triple Alliance

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Although it's great to play war games on your computer, it's never dreamy to get affected by a war that it is happening in your own country. War benefits only a few people. All-in-al, war only serves to devastate people and countries, submerging them to poverty and crises that could take decades to get over. Paraguay is certainly one of those countries that have been unfortunate in the face of military conflict.

The war that I am talking about is the War of the Triple Alliance between 1864 and 1870. This war, which Paraguay fought against the trio of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, is the single deadliest war fought in the South American continent. It is estimated that about 300,000 to 1.2 million people died due to the war or the resulting diseases in Paraguay alone. This also accounted for eliminating some 2/3 of the entire Paraguayan male population.

Like any other war in human history, the War of the Triple Alliance was the result of a power struggle, but this time it was one of the effects of the post-colonization era in South America. There was an intense struggle to control the Rio de Plata region, attempts by the Brazilian and Argentinian governments to meddle with Uruguay, British interests, and Paraguay's own expansionist ambitions and policies of isolation. As a landlocked country, Paraguay wanted to get access to the Atlantic by grabbing a piece of land from Brazil that would give them access to the ocean.

For some reason, the triple alliance in itself is pretty interesting, for Argentina and Brazil almost went to a war twice in their history. In fact, when Paraguay fell, Argentina proposed to divide the country in half between Brazil and Argentina but the former did not want this because it wants to have a buffer against the Argentinians.

In the end,it was Paraguay who lost a large chunk of its own territory. It devolved into poverty and lost so much of its male population. It took so many decades just so that the people could recover from the war, and today it serves as one of the country's poorest.

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Tags: • isolation • landlocked • colonization • conflict • military • poverty • crisis • benefits • triple alliance • war • south america • power struggle • argentina and brazil •

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