The Paraguayan War: South America’s Most Devastating Conflict
Вставка
- Опубліковано 27 тра 2022
- With nearly 400,000 deaths, the Paraguayan War, which lasted between 1864 and 1870, remains the deadliest inter-state war in Latin American History.
→ Subscribe for new videos at least twice a week!
ua-cam.com/users/biographics...
Love content? Check out Simon's other UA-cam Channels:
Biographics: / @biographics
Geographics: / @geographicstravel
MegaProjects: / @megaprojects9649
SideProjects: / @sideprojects
Casual Criminalist: / @thecasualcriminalist
TopTenz: / toptenznet
Today I Found Out: / todayifoundout
Highlight History: / @highlighthistory
XPLRD: / @xplrd
Business Blaze: / @brainblaze6526
Simon's Social Media:
Twitter: / simonwhistler
Instagram: / simonwhistler
Paraguayan here, in my family we have the story of my great, great, great, grandfather, he was called Celestino Valenzuela, he was a kid when the war happened. During the campaign of the hills or cordilleras in spanish many atrocities were commited and usually when the allied forces took villages they totally destroyed them, according with the story of my ancestor when his town was being destroyed and the most of the people was already killed a brazilian oficer saw him and had mercy on him, he took him and hided him, sent him to brazil, Rio de Janeiro, where he raised him as a son and even sent him to study in the military school in Rio. Years after that he returned to paraguay trying to find any relatives, it is unclear for me wether he did it or not but he stayed here and had children (as men were much needed here). This story of my ancestor taken as a child and returning to the country years later looking for relatives was actually something that happened to many paraguayans, not only him
Muito interessante.
Thanks for sharing!!!! I was wondering if things like that happened... Im studying the history and it's very interesting to me.
Que história interessante. Ele chegou a mencionar o nome do oficial brasileiro que o "adotou" ?
@@princessjess2915 Desconozco, seguramente lo habrá hecho pero ese detalle no lo sé. Tal vez si investigo más con las personas más viejas de mi familia encuentre algún nombre. Lo que sí sé es que Celestino entró en la rama musical del ejercito, era musico militar
A
As a Paraguayan...the conflict was meant to happen, even President Carlos Antonio Lopez (father of Francisco Solano López, president of Paraguay during the war) warned his son not to take any risks with Brazil
"Always with the pen, never with the sword" was his last words to his son before passing away
His younger brother would have been better president.
Yep, idiot warmonger who thought he was napoleon
To this day, in Brazilian military circles, whenever someone is a by-the-book, tough-as-nails fighting man, soldiers call him _"caxias"._
Not just in military circles
@@edsr164 Yeah, that's true.
Em um país como nosso é um orgulho ser chamado de caxias!
Eso es vergüenza.
We need more on South American post colonial history. It was a fascinating time.
I agree. South America is so over looked. Its completely insane
not only fascinating, but also brutal and bloody as american history itself.
@@Gustavo_Montrader The US had a way easier time of it post-independence. Yes, it was not pretty over there either, but the shenanigans we got up to down here are quite a bit bigger.
Yeh, its a raving mad house. South america is what happens when you import third worlders into First worlders function and then expect it to stay the same. Complete zoo.
It's insane as I read more about it. Literal genocide of the native population took place in thise times. People that were in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia don't even belong there technically.
Another Paraguayan here. My great-grandmother was a very young child found wandering alone amidst the ruins of a desolated, decimated country in the aftermath of the Guerra Guazú (Big War) and was raised by a generous couple who sheltered her, gave her their last name Rojas and renamed her after the immaculate virgin Concepción. Despite being white w blue eyes, she only spoke Guaraní, the indigenous language and much later used to regale us children with stories about ghost military tanks, buried treasures glowing a green light in the dark, and wailing wondering soldier souls in the plains of the Chaco. Absolutely nothing was ever found about her biological origins. She died in the 1980’s at the age of 104. I love you GGm…
Military tanks??? In the 1800s
@@tylermyers200 I never thought of that 🤔 Paraguay went through multiple wars in the early years of the century, I assume she may have been talking about later wars since she was too young to remember much from the big war but lived through later wars as a teen and young woman. Also, since a lot of the stories she told us were passed on verbally, people usually change details and fill gaps…☺️
@@adrianskog4117 that’s a very possible explanation, thanks…
@@adrianskog4117 It is assumed the forced pairing didn’t go well, as one would expect, bc men had multiple children with more than one woman. Having a mistress became deeply rooted in some sectors of society even to this day
@@adrianskog4117 😂 yes, but also remember that taking several “wives” was encouraged to repopulate the country as the Big War decimated the Male population. It was an empty country in ruins full of women. Also, Invitation for European immigration to Paraguay was highly advertised, requested, eased, and approved for the same repopulation goal
No one in this war ended up victorious... The war strengthen the military faction in Brazil, and it was this faction that made a coup d'etat against the emperor in the following years and founded the Brazilian republic...
Well, it did get the anti-slavery ball rolling in Brazil. That's something, I guess.
@@pyromania1018 whoa, it was done by emperor Don pedro the second's daughter, and himself.
@@jyothireddy4246 I know. And the war gave them (mostly the princess) the excuse to start pushing the issue since many slaves were allowed to enlist in exchange for emancipation and citizenship. It took a while, though.
@@pyromania1018 well dom pedro didn't want the upset the elites but at the same time convince them to ban slavery.
@@jyothireddy4246 Again, the war gave him the ammo to put more pressure on without being too autocratic... or at least his daughter. She was more of an abolitionist than he was. It's also why the process took so long. Without the war, it would have been harder to do, but the end of the war saw many former slaves getting emancipation AND military training. It gave him a solid support network.
One notable card was that Brazil was pretty lassiez-faire when it came to mixed marriages, unlike the US, so these veterans could marry white women and start filling the next generation with mixed-race kids who would, naturally, not be supportive of slavery.
I am Brazilian, 3 people from my family fought in this war...
Peter Schmedaeke ( son of a german imigrant, his father was a german mercanary who came to brazil in 1820 and fought in the cisplatine war), born in Rio Grande do Sul in the 1840s, was a 2nd Sargent in the 2nd army corps, comanded by the Count of Porto Alegre.
In the Battle of Curupaity the count ordered that the german imigrants and their descendents took the vanguard, the germans should advance in the first line of the allied attack (this way the Count would reduce the number of "brazilians" killed in the battle), thus, my Peter Schmedaeke went in, in the front and was wounded in the middle of the battle, probably a cannon ball or a musket ball, after the battle he was taken back to a hospital in the army encampment but died in the following days, sadly he never had any children... He was 24 when he was killed.
I descent from his sister tho
The other was Ernesto Schuster (also from a german family) he was born in 1844 and died in 1931, he survived the war because he deserted the army, he got maried just a few months before getting called for the war effort, so he went back home and had A LOT of children in the following years...
And the third one was from a wealthy family in Rio Pardo... I dont remember his first name but he was from the Ferreira family, they were pretty strong in the politics of Rio Pardo at the time of the monarchy.
He and his family were personall friends to the Baron of Triunfo and fought together with him in the war...
The baron was killed later in the war and its said that his last words were "Go, one last charge my comrades" (he was from a cavalry regiment). My antecessor was most probably an officer, an Alferes (almost like an NCO) and he survived the war, my grandfather had his saber until the 1950s when his family was passing throug hard times and a cousin of his sold the sword.
His family still had a lot of money and lands in the following decades tho it seems after the fall of the monarchy by a coup d'etat in 1889 they loat a bit of their power, mainly in politics.
there is one recolection of my neighbor's great-grandfather, who there fought the war, about his experience in Paraguay. It is straightforward:
"At first they ate the rations that the army gave. They, they hunted tapyrs and monkeys. then they had to eat their dogs, and then his horse. And when there were no more horses, he ate his saddle, boiled for three days"
A saddening constant in Brazilian/Platean history is that of the German immigrants, Brummer mercenaries and conscripts alike, being thrown as cannon fodder against the "castillans" every single time there was trouble in the frontiers.
In the famous battle of Ituzaingó/Passo do Rosário, the vanguards of both armies were composed of conscripted Germans, even. May their souls rest in peace.
@@riograndedosulball248 yes, the father of Peter Schemedaeke, was most likely a cisplatinian war vet, probably foight in Ituzaingo or Passo do Rosário, he was from the 26th hunters regiment, a regiment formed of german imigrantes known as "the Devil´s battallion...
0:35 - Chapter 1 - Independent but unstable
5:50 - Chapter 2 - The paraguayan offensives
10:55 - Chapter 3 - The allies turn the tide
15:45 - Chapter 4 - Invasion of paraguay
21:15 - Chapter 5 - Paraguayan fortress
25:10 - Chapter 6 - Generations erased
One of the things that I notice when I read or watch something related to the armed conflicts that took place in South America is that none of us (at least the majority), regardless of which side our countries were on in these conflicts, are not proud of having fought these wars, there are always sad feelings and wishes that they could have been avoided. I think this is a very unique characteristic of South Americans. I (a Brazilian) remember coming out of history classes that covered these topics, and being completely overwhelmed, they were never treated in a romanticized way, and I am glad that my teachers have chosen to do it this way.
Great video!
@비니 지그재그 Bom, no meu comentário eu falei das pessoas que acompanham esse tipo de tema, então elas têm conhecimentos desses eventos. Para as que não sabem, meu comentário não se aplica.
Speak for yourself. I'm very proud of my country and I'm not a mongrel complexed like you.
@비니 지그재그 eu sei que a educação no Brasil é um problema mas na minha escola pelo menos a gente aprendeu bastante sobre essa guerra. Quase tudo que ele falou no vídeo eu aprendi na escola. Até alguns detalhes das batalhas
@비니 지그재그 para de falar merda lek
Stop being a sissy and having classes with pozzed teachers and you might have some pride in your nation, what this video covered isn't doing justice to the heroic deeds of the brazilian army and the extreme lengths Caxias had to go to train that useless army he had. Also D.Pedro II was finally showing his true colors for ordering his army to chase Solano Lopez through his entire country
They were heroes and badasses, they showed you shouldn't mess with Brazil, which nobody in south America did after that
Paraguay's lack of male population was so dire that they even signed a deal with Colombia essentially saying that all Colombian citizens were officially also Paraguayan citizens in order to encourage them to migrate there.
Good video. I'm Brazilian, I know the pronunciations might be difficult for you and there's absolutely no problem with that, but I'd just like to point out that in the Duke of Caxias title the word Caxias is pronounced like "cah-shee-ahs".
My daughter was in Paraguay serving in the Peace Corps and my wife and I visited a couple times. Got to see the trenches in the North Chaco where some of Chaco War of the 1930's was fought. They said it was three armies fighting over territory none of them wanted. Very rough miserable place to fight, spent an hour every night pulling thorns out of my boots, can't imagine how terrible the front line soldiers had it. FWIW it really is a nice place to visit with wonderful scenery in the South and incredible birdwatching in the North. Thanks Simon and Co for the history that led up to what I saw. Amazing it was so many years fighting over a lot of worthless dirt.
You are confusing the chaco war,1932 to 1935 with the triple alliance war,1864 to 1870,my great uncle Arturo Wright forght in the chaco,it is not"worthless dirt"but one of the richest ranching areas in south america.
Thanks James for clarifying the topic! Have you noticed how many " likes" the comment above yours have?
Some discrepancies in this " narrative"; but overall, pretty much exact!
Paraguay WAS THE AGGRESSORA..Nowadays, with the " politically correct" and the sympathy the losers always receive; Paraguay is portrayed as " a victim "!
Solano Lopez was a tyrannical ambitious" leader" ( like so many other opportunistics figures in Latin American History.
As described, he locked the traffic on the River, took the Brazilan Mato Grosso 's Governor as a prisoner; invaded Mato Grosso and Rio Grande do Sul... And ended up paying the heavy price of total annihilation of the Country so well constructed by his dictator father, Francia!
England has a preeminent role in all of this, loading the Brazilian Government with debt, consolidating Uruguay as a " neutral " zone ( under British "care").
Another FACT is this traitor to its own people, Lopez; refused to surrender what made the Brazilian Forces commit the most atrocious crimes towards the Paraguayan civil population that was used as "army" and after, as a "shield"! A shame! A "real" patriot would NEVER A take its own people to the brink of extinction as a Nation, for pride and stupidity!
Children were forced by the dictator , to fight or to be executed as " traitor"!
It was a bloody war.
One of my Grandma's Grand uncle, Tio Antonio,died in this was due to "cholera morbus "!
In Brazil, it is still common to see public places like Avenues, Neighborhoods, citieswith names that recall this horrible, insane war, through the batter's name places ( Tuiuty, Lomas Valentinas, Curupaity, Riachuelo, Duque de Caxias, Almirante Barroso, Curuzu, Almirante Tamandare, Voluntarios da Patria, etc.)
@@michaeldelisieux correct Lopez was the biggest disaster to ever happen to paraguay.
@@michaeldelisieux but the brasilians were intent on expanding,they had their own"manifest destiny"and only the paraguayan war stopped them from taking all of south america. Unfortunatlly Lopez was an incompetent general who lost the war through arrogance,he could have won it if he had been more diplomatic.
@James Wright WRONG, James! Brazil NEVER had " a manifest Destiny Policy "! This was the case with the North Americans, NOT BRAZIL!
Brazil had, during the 1640's the ruling of Spain's Charles IV ( and the death of the young, inexperienced and easily manipulated by his Spanish cousin and made a disastrous campaign over the Amorindes of North Africa ( actual Morocco). He simply " disappeared" in battle, the poor Don Sebastian!
So, during this time the lines of the supposed Tordesillas Treaty ( already broken) was completely ignored and the limits of each " State" ( let's call it like that to ease up the understanding of things) like the Vice Reinado de la Plata and the Kingdom of Portugal, were blurred)!
Lots of " unclaimed land in the core of South America, ( for obvious reasons, the terrain, the jungle etc) with potential riches, drove the Portuguese inland, creating villages, enslaving natives, extracting gold and other minerals.
After the re constitution of the Kingdom of Portugal, these lands, already populated and Portuguese speaking were naturally incorporated in what would become the actual Brazil that we now know.
Brazilians NEVER took 48% of a neighbor Country to itself! NEVER!
ALL limits that now Brazil has, were well established and at the end of the nineteenth century, all was already demarcated and it is where they stand now!
Kind of what Britain did with the " unclaimed/ undiscovered" lands in the Dominion of Canada!
Check out the sources! It will clarify even better what I am trying to point out here!
Cheers!
My grandfather was born and raised in Paraguay. He would tell us about this war very often, but even more about the Chaco War and General Estigarribia. This video reminded me of him, thanks Simon.
I am a history nut, and Estigarribia deserves to be listed among the world's great generals. An American officer wrote a book, 'The Conduct of The Chaco War' that makes that clear.
@@gerardmichaelburnsjr. no we bolivians were dumb, anyone could beat us
@@gerardmichaelburnsjr.En la guerra del chaco la gente moría por sed, tanto bolivianos como Paraguayos, Estigarribia era un genio básicamente.
@@gerardmichaelburnsjr.En los 3 años de duración, Bolivia movilizó 250 000 soldados y Paraguay 120 000, que se enfrentaron en combates en los que hubo gran cantidad de bajas (60 000 bolivianos y 30 000 paraguayos), gran cantidad de heridos, mutilados y desaparecidos.
The diplomatic terms about Paraguayan territoral concessions in the aftermath of Paraguayan war are still kept in secret in a safe at the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Itamaraty).
PS: now PLEASE make a video about Canudos' War in Brazil, a sort of tiny version of Taiping Rebellion.
I had never even heard of that war! (In 1864 and '65, both North and South America were fighting wars.) I learn a lot from this channel.
There's a town in São Paulo's countryside called "Americana" that was founded by southern immigrants from the US after the civil war. They've tried to estabilish cotton plantations there, but realised that corn & potatoes were growing much better in that soil. To this day the city holds a "confederate" party with traditional clothes & cuisine to honour their ancestors (of course, without the racial connotation).
This fact was so significant that it shifted the waves of immigrants coming into the continent. The US, Brasil and Argentina being the three most common destinations for them to go, when news became widespread that immigrants were being forced to fight in the US' civil war the immigrants started avoiding it and heading South, only to be greeted with the Paraguayan war at their arrival, which made them turn North once the Civil War ended.
Ever heard of the Chincha Islands War. The Chincha Islands War went from 1864 to 1866. Spain vs. initially with Peru but Chile, Ecuador and Bolivia got involved. Since the Paraguay war (1864 to 1870) was raging, would any of those nations have helped Paraguay if they had not been involved in there own wars. I do know that Bolivia did send some weapons to the Paraguayans via the Chaco which was not easy. By 1866, the Bolivian Pres. at that time Melgarejo, was even ready to send 12000 troops. It is said that Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile protested the destruction of Paraguay by the triple alliance.
Brazil even fought a naval battle against the confederates
Some people think that Brazil and Argentina engineered the war at that time precisely because the US was too busy in 1864 to even look closely into what was being done. And since by 1870, the US was back in form, it was the US and worldwide disgust at this 'war of extermination' that led to Brazil and Argentina withdrawing rather than absorbing the country. And the first person to call it a 'war of extermination' was the leader of the Brazilian Army in Paraguay, when he resigned in protest after the actual Paraguayan army had been destroyed., Baron Caixas. It was later revealed tat Brazil and Argentina had signed a secret agreement years earlier (1861, I think) on how they would split Paraguay. At the start of the war, Lopez seemed to believe that Argentina would be on his side since they would naturally not want Brazil to absorb Uruguay (which was the issue that caused it all). He sent an envoy to Buenos Aires a month before his armies marched, but the envoy was detained incommunicado for many years in Argentina so word of the real attitude of Buenos Aires never got back to Lopez.
One thing you should have mentioned, Simon, is that the US president at the time had to intervene. Let me explained.
President Hayes at the time was chosen to be the mediator for the peace conference. Turns out, Brazil was secretly going to make a deal with Paraguay to still exist, which angered Argentina. This fiasco would have partition Paraguay like Poland if it wasn't for cooler heads agreeing for a mediator.
Enter President Hayes. To summarize, he ultimately made Argentina to agree that keeping Paraguay around is better since they can be a buffer to buy them time for war agaisnt Brazil. Which made Buenos Aires to agree. While also giving Paraguay the Chaco region to them. Which later result to war with Bolivia in the 1930s.
But yea, that actually happened and a fun fact. An obscure US president saving Paraguay from being partition.
The war with Bolivia was in the 1930s tho...
@@babyruthless9670 my bad. I'll edit it rn. I rewatched Tigerstar's video and for most part got it right but the year of the war with Bolivia. Thanks nonetheless
Saving countries is what America does best
Pancho Lopez, the fact that you mention, the mediation of Mr. Hayes to prevent the partition of Paraguay is totally false. The President of USA was called to arbitrate the Chaco Boreal, but in 1876, 6 years after the end of the TA war, and 4 years after the Treaty Brazil- Paraguay about borders. At that time, 1876, the remaining issue to solve was the limit between Paraguay and Argentina. The late one claimed the whole Chaco, from Bermejo River to Bahía Negra, in the far north. Previously the parts (Par and Arg) agreed as follows: 1- The territory between Rio Bermejo and Rio Pilcomayo was for Argentine (20% of total). 2- The territory north to Rio Verde to Bahía Negra, for Paraguay (60%), 3- The segment in between Rio Pilcomayo and Rio Verde was to be arbitrate for Mr. Hayes (20%). In Nov. 12th 1878, Hayes ruled in favor of Paraguay.
@@josesamudio4841 Hmm. So Hayes did not stop Paraguay from being Dissolved but rather Prevented Paraguay from losing more land. Still great though.
My great-great-grandfather was a Captain in this war, in the Argentine military. He was from the province of Corrientes. I've always wanted to know more. Thank you! I always knew it had to have been consequential because he was a poor kid born out of wedlock whose father never recognized him, but he wound up marrying THE GOVERNOR'S ELDEST DAUGHTER (my great-great-grandmother). So. Evidently buddy did something right to rise in status like that haha
Mi Tatara-tatarabuelo también correntino peleó como soldado condecorado con honor en la guerra. Terminada la guerra, se le informó incorrectamente a su familia que había fallecido ya que había quedado varado en Paraguay, y tardó casi un mes en regresar a su hogar en Corrientes.
I'm from Corumbá and I have some cannonballs from that war, its very common in some parts of the paraguay river (near to citys and forts) to find them.
Another half Paraguayan here😊☝🏽Thank you for making this video! This is by far one of the most devastating things to have happened in Latino America.. I learnt all this in school, and I still didn't know as much as you do haha. But it really is fascinating how this war played out.. VENCER O MORIR!🔥💪🏽🇵🇾
Great video. Very few people from outside the region know about this conflict
In Mexico most people don’t even know about this war because people basically have forgot.
for good reason
This war had so many negative effects on our country, Lopez was a lunatic, sending kids do Acosta Ñu, but Brazil was also incredibly cruel to Paraguayans at that time.
We were the first ones to have a trainsystem, we were up and coming but this loss of population threw us so far back that it still has consequences today.
Funfact: Argentina and Brazil took a lot of Land from Py that were for yerba mate so that's why we don't produce and export as much
"Much of the 156,415 square kilometers (60,392 sq mi) lost by Paraguay to Argentina and Brazil was rich in yerba mate, so by the end of the 19th century, Brazil became the leading producer of the crop.[149] Foreign entrepreneurs entered the Paraguayan market and took control of its remaining yerba mate production and industry.[148]"
This war would never happened if you guys doesnt invade us 🤷
Esos niños iban a morir de todos modos esos niños solo se defendieron, si los brasileros másacraban hasta abuelitas y niñas, osea tenían que defenderse de alguna forma, Mariscal Solano Lopez!! Héroe muerto en combate!!
Thanks for the nice historical research work! Some of my ancestors (southern brazilians and uruguayans) fought in many of these wars and revolutions (Cisplatina, Farroupilha, Paraguay and Federalista).
I am surprised that this isn't in the Into the Shadows channel. The discovery of a 1870 Paraguayan census in the late 1990s raised the possibility that Paraguayan losses in population may have been 60-70% of the total population. I should also mention that the Paraguayan population was a mixed mestizo population the vast majority of which spoke Guarani a native Indian language. At the time and even today Paraguayans often refer to themselves as Guarani. This included the majority of the ruling elite. This gave Paraguay a certain cultural distinctiveness compared to other South American countries.
Lopez was able to mobilize the Paraguayan people because he convinced them that the allies aim was the destruction of Paraguay and hence the Guarani people. The Treaty of the Triple Alliance did in fact contain secret clauses calling for the partition and taking over of large sections of Paraguay, all while cloaking their actual aims with saying they were overthrowing an evil Dictator; and certainly some of the allied leadership was in fact thinking of destroying Paraguay. (Mainly Argentinian.)
Lopez himself is a bit of an enigma. Along with being rather cruel his identification of himself with his nation was extreme to the point of near extinction.
As a Paraguayan, I can tell you that López was an absolute monster, there are many, many books showing how he was absolutely evil, he killed left and right, there's a story in which he murdered a pregnant woman by impaling her right in her womb.
The history books here paint him as the greatest hero, our main highway was named after him, the narrative pushed in schools is that poor Paraguay was attacked by 3 countries because they were evil, and López was the one who defended it bravely. He was a COWARD, he sent CHILDREN to be horribly butchered in the Acosta Ñu battle, just to get some time to escape. Absolute piece of shit.
@@RicardoMontania Gracias a Dios, un paraguayo con autocrítica.
@@DanielAstorias Si lees libros fuera de la narrativa nacionalista te das cuenta al toque lo hijo de puta que era ese personaje
@@RicardoMontania Brasio apoyando a un golpista en Uruguay
@@DanielAstorias Brasil apoyando a un golpista en Uruguay y alterando la salida al mar de Paraguay no es suficiente para un contrataque?
No sabia eso de López, pero Brasil no debió invadir Uruguay y apoyar al partido que destrozó Uruguay
Great video. I live in Uruguay and it was nice to see you cover this.
Always a good day when Warographics uploads 😎😎 especially longer, more in depth videos like this one
Another very interesting video! South America was barely covered by my teachers in school, so I'd never heard about this war before. Very thorough and fascinating video. Well done Simon and team! 😊👏💯
Can you do 1 on the Yugoslav wars in the 90s?
I second this 😎
A mix of either this channel or Into the Shadows would probably have the video be uploaded. Since there was a lot of atrocities that happened in the Yugoslav Wars.
To be honest one would not be enough. This Yugoslavian mess is worth its own series
Agree, 90s Yugoslavia wars
Please!!!
More channels needs to talk about this conflict
As someone who's spent over 10 years in Paraguay, married to a Paraguayan and with Paraguayan kids, I really like the way you explained this war, without all the pollution I usually get from Paraguayan sources or Argentinean sources when I lived there. My only recommendation is that you ask someone about the pronunciation of some of these places and names,. you actually read some of them in a way that doesn't even sound like it's written, changing the order of the letters and all. It is not a harsh criticism, the contents are amazingly well done, but I do believe a bit of effort on the pronunciation would be a very nice touch. By teh way it's quite simple, all these are guarani names, and guarani is almost always accentuated in the last syllabe. Most paraguayan names have the accent placed at the end. So if you put the accent at the end of each name, you'll already achieve a lot.
Dom Pedro II was a total badass. Went fisically to battle with his soldiers in the 1860s against the Congress's orders. Abolished slavery in Paraguay in a preview project of his abolition project to Brazil
Well, it is not like if there were many slaves in Paraguay after the war with the most of them dead or sent as slaves to brazil
En Paraguay no había esclavitud la abolió López
@@David-iv8ue Mi estimado mas alla de que este brasilero haya dicho un chistazo de la gran 7 es un mito que Lopez abolió la esclavitud. En 1842 Carlos Antonio Lopez dictó una ley de libertad de vientres la cual decía que todos los esclavos nacidos a partir de ese año serian libres a partir de los 25 años, o sea, si naciste antes la ley no aplicaba para vos y si naciste despues si aplicaba pero ibas a ser libre recien en 1867 a los 25 años. Si habia esclavitud solo que nada que ver con lo que habia en Brasil
En brasil aunque la esclavitud se abolió aun así seguíamos esclavizando africanos, si tu ves brasil la gran mayoría es de origen afrodescendientes.
I'm 34 and hardly knew a thing about this. Thanks, Simon and team :)
Same here, 28 and had never heard of it despite having world history classes in both high school and university !
Almost 62,Grandmother told me once “We are all ignorant…. just on different subjects” I still love learning new things. It keeps one very humble.
@@scampbell3363 great perspective, thanks for sharing
The Paraguayan War ranks as one of the bloodiest of all history behind ww1 and ww2, soldiers mown down every hour.
🙏Simon squad producing another banger as always - love the content here by the way, keep it up
Simon, I'm a new subscriber and IMHO you are brilliant. Again with a cheeky delivery, you made another rather dry subject to life. Brilliant! Have done pressed the bell and I'm still browsing the playlist. Outstanding!
My great-great-grandfather was a navy officer from Brazil during this war. I don't know much of what he did during the war but he had an outstanding career afterwards.
An excellent presentation. Because it occurred in South America it's practically unknown outside the continent, but it is indeed legendary in it's unbelievable ferocity. Thanks for this video!
Thank you, Simon! Living in a country colonlized by the British (Canada), even in uni I only learned about history that involved the British empire (and the French because French language was my major). I love learning about all the other events that happened outside the Centre Of The World aka Europe. /S
Kinda funny because the British had a *lot* of invested interest in this war for two reasons: Paraguay was a rapidly growing economy looking towards increasing its industry (so yeah, the british wanted that gone) and when the war started, the allies (in particular Brazil) took a lot of money from the British in order to finance the war, and by its end the Brazilian government had a huge debt with British empire
@@pedrobastos8132 Not to mention that the British invaded the Rio de la Plata in 1806-07, blockaded that same area either by itself or with France in the late 1830s and 1840s, and exerted a huge financial and sports influence on Argentina/Uruguay.
Wow Simon et al. Excellent video on a hidden part of history.
As usual hats off to you. Keep up the good work, the public love it
Between this, French Mexico and the US civil the Western Hemisphere was LIT in the 1860s
Simon Whistler, thanks for all the fascinating knowledge you have shared with us all these years. Your content, channels, topics, narrations, just enhance the overall UA-cam experience 🤓👍🏻
Finally! Thanks, Simon!
Thank you Simon. I am paraguayan and this video sums up brilliantly the war. Unfortunately it has taken us many decades to resurfice, but today we have one of the most stables economy and political situation in latin america. We also have a high demographic bonus, being our population more than 60% people in the range of up to 30yrs. We still have a long way to go, and we will!!!
That's good to hear about Paraguay! Last time I was 20 years ago and it didn't seem that well
Holy crap you're everywhere! You've narrated the last 3 videos I've watched. I was only expecting you the first time.
Amazing! thank you for doing this video!!
As a Brazilian and Guarani descendant this war hits Very well, good job. Only correcting that the capital of my Homestate Mato Grosso was Barão de Melgaço, not just Melgaço wich is a city in Pará state, close to the Amazon river.
I loved this Simon, I was aware of this war but not the details. Maybe you can do the Soviet-Polish war at some point. Great content, keep it up.
I feel this video apart from the butchering of guarani pronunciation is missing a very important battle which is seared into Paraguayans memory and image, The Battle of Acosta Ñu.
A horrific massacre of mostly children who dressed and pretended to be men valiantly standing up to and many clinging onto their enemies legs. It is beyond description of how really horrific it must have been, as a child in a massacre or as a conscript being forced to murder children in droves.
It brings a new meaning to children's day where the nation remembers their sacrifice.
Also missing the old wives tale of the gold and silver Lopez had taken from the rich to fund the war or keep it from falling into enemy hands only to bury it or throw it in a lake to this day many people feverishly dig on their land and pursue the search to finding this forgotten buried treasure.
A great quote from the war was of Lopez hearing of Meza's bungling of the river ambush and hearing he died of a shot, lopez is said to reply that he would have shot him twice had he(Meza) survived.
Yes!!! This battle was so notorious and disgusting, he should have put this on.
Yeah, I didn't expect this to be missing (the battle of Acosta Ñu). I also read somewhere that the kids would wear mustaches or beards to to look like older men to confuse the enemy, although I find it unlikely given the scenario they where at the moment.
@@Rembu they used fuses to make fake beards
A video of my home country?! Sad to see it make this channel but glad to learn about it.
This was probably the most important event in Latin American history in the last 2 centuries
Nah, lots more important. Not that this one wasnt but a lot of s*it went down
@@m_fredi9549 such as what?
@@micahistory the independence wars. As I said. This doesnt mean that the war of the triple alliance wasnt important, just of less important. And is certainly the most important on Paraguayan history
@@m_fredi9549 that's why i said last 2 centuries, to specifically exclude the independence wars
@@micahistory nop, two centuries includes that
Correction, Cuiabá is the capital of Mato Grosso, Melgaço was the name of a fortified camp to the south of Cuiabá which blocked the way to the city.
Yesss I really love this newest Whistlerverse channel especially the 30 min episodes. They are also perfect timeout vids for my kids 😉
Whistlerverse! I love it ❤️
Good video 👍
Good video, greetings from Paraguay
Thankyou for the video, I am from the UK and this is my first time learning about this conflict, I found this so interesting
Hello Simon and crew. I am a big fan of your videos and I am Paraguayan, I just came back from Japan, I lived there for 2 years, I often explained, talked and even gave classes about my country there for 2 years. Sometimes I even told some people about the Triple Alliance War. No one ever knew that Paraguay exists and even less about the war. In a big part, we are still a small and less know country because of the war. Is something that hurts to every Paraguayan. I wish I could have the video back then in Japan to show this people but I am glad this video exists know so I can show and I definitely will share it.
Thank you Simon and crew, for your job, thank you for this video.
In Denmark we learned about this war in elementary school (and that was about all about Paraguay at that early point).
Much more I got to learn (& visited Pto. Stroessner) while living as an exchange student in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil in 1986.
In 1993 I visited Paraguay both south and north, experiencing a nice and hospitable country. I would like to return.
@@larsrons7937 contact me on social media, let me know if you ever come back I will help you out
@@Roxer777 Thank you, I appreciate your offer. I hope to return to Paraguay some day. I have saved the link to your UA-cam channel.
@@larsrons7937 my chanel is full of videos of my travels and life in Japan, and cooking videos, hahaha but of course feel free to write me.
@@Roxer777 Yes I noticed. You seem to have many experiences from Japan, I'm looking forward to watch your videos when I get the chance.
When I in 1986 spent a year as an exchange student in southern Brazil, one of the people who got me encouraged to do so had just returned from a year in Japan.
Japan seems to be a very interesting country to visit, I feel that I would need a lot of time for an in-depth experience. So I haven't been there yet. Outside Europe most of my travels ended up going to South America, I think I've spent 3 years of my life there always longing to be back.
Feel free to contact mee too should you go to Denmark or nearby. I very rarely open Facebook but do have a profile and can be found (incl. my middle name Gleerup). I think I am the only person called Lars Ronæs (except maybe in Norway?)
This should be taught in every history class. I wish we were taught more about conflicts around the globe, not just the world wars and Napoleon!!
Here in Italy we're taught of more wars... European ones. People aren't taught of this conflict.
Children are thought about events relevant to their part of the world. I'm sure in South America they teach a lot more about their own history and wars and a lot less about Europe, Africa or Asia's
@@xKinjax Something like this is too big to not be relevant to Europe
@@lordMartiya that's not how it works, man. Ask people living in other parts of the world. I have a friend from New Zealand and they barely touched on a lot of European history, despite the fact that they come from here. They focused more on Maori/South East Asian history instead.
While this is indeed a pretty major conflict it simply has no relevance for people who don't live in South America. That's what books and the internet are for. Thankfully we live in an age where UA-cam is full of many wonderful channels discussing history from all over the world and we can all learn about anything and everything.
@@xKinjax This conflict involved South America's greatest powers and their economy, thus affecting the world as a whole. I know it's not how it works... But something that affects the world should be more known.
And even then it should be more talked about at least in Italy for a very simple reason: thousands of soldiers in ALL the armies, especially the Paraguayan and Argentinian ones, were Italians or descendants of Italians who had emigrated there ever since the Spanish first arrived there, with an upsurge of Italian immigration being triggered by the unification. But then again, if this tidbid were to be mentioned in Italian schools students may ask why exactly so many Italians left the peninsula right when political unification happened and was supposedly dealing with the evils caused by foreign occupation...
Nice video!!
A very good video about the Triple Alianza war !!.
What a sad story. Thank you for covering it and may it never repeat in spite of the many dictators and lunatics that run the region.
Paraguay has a long, sad history of dictatorships and costly conflicts with its neighbors. The tremendous losses of population noted in this video was followed by the Chaco War fought with Bolivia (1932-1935), recognized as the bloodiest war in Twentieth Century South America. John Gillette writes about this saga of sadness in At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig which carries Paraguayan politics through the coziness of fleeing Nazis post WW2. It is an intriguing book.
Paraguay first rail road , first steel foundry , first telegraph , independent and growing , that was problem for the rest of its neighbors a slave of the europeans spatially argentina , never a free country always a slave of the English
@@victormonreale9217 Queria que essa guerra sangrenta nunca tivesse acontecido. O Paraguai realmente tava tomando boas escolhas pro seu desenvolvimento nacional, e o país foi destruído pela maldita guerra, infelizmente. O povo paraguaio sofreu muito, e eu como brasileiro só tenho respeito pelos meus hermanos.
'Gimlette' I think.
@@gerardmichaelburnsjr. You are correct. Thanks for the correction.
@@gerardmichaelburnsjr. You are correct. Thanks for pointing out my error.
One of your best videos yet...imho
Thank you Very much for your work! We Love history!!
Good, no more 480p uploads. I do hope y'all get those other ones fixed as well.
Most of the paintingsthat illustrate this video were made by Cándido López, an argentine painter and solider that lost his arm on the conflict and had to teach himself to paint with his left hand.
As a fully Brazilian (born and raised) I watched several videos about this war, in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Each one has a different approach and particular point of view. You didn't mentioned 2 points not written in the history books.: the young Paraguayan girls being raped by the Allies army, and the killed Paraguayan boys army, desguised as men. This is a very good video.
He also didn't mention the woman and civilians killed when Paraguay first attacked Brazil's province.
He also forgot to mention how Paraguay itself set fire to their own farmlands and forests and destroyed their own infrastructure to try to delay the allied troops.
This was a certainly tumultuous time. During the early half of the 19th century the South American countries simply continued to observe the shaky administrative divisions of the Spanish empire as international borders. Often these didn’t make any sense and some times they weren’t consisten through the 300 years of colonial rule. By the 1860s something happened. Maybe it was a sudden realization of this situation or the advancement in Technology which valorized previously unaccounted resources in these frontiers (like guano and rubber). The republics started to assert their claims and sought to solve these terrible frontiers. Often through war. By the time the American Civil War was over and the war of the triple alliance was raging the Spanish Empire tried to assert some sort of soft dominion on the pacific coast trying to gain access to guano deposits, leading to a mostly naval war with Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Ecuador. About a decade later these same areas, this time found to be rich in nitrate, would be the disputed real estate to plunge Peru and Bolivia in a war against Chile. There were certainly other conflicts around this time, like the Patagonian Conquest of the desert, which comes to show the territorial differences and ambitions of these nations were still to be fulfilled. Still today they are a cause of ill-will, though the territorial disputes are, for the most part, solved and buried.
Many of these wars where push by British commercial interests like the Pacific war between Peru-Bolivia-Chile
Hi Simon. I’m from Paraguay and I always watch your videos, first of all thank you for telling one part of our history. If you’re interested to know more about Paraguayan history and about the Triple Alianza and Chaco wars and the real reasons behind you can reach Paraguayan historians Herib Caballero Campos and Fabian Chamorro. I think that my people’s sad past deserves to be told for the world to know.
One more thing, please stop calling us an “obscure country’’ as you did it on other videos, as I can tell almost everyone here are English speakers and you really can’t imagine how much my country has suffered. From independence to our very present days, but here are the ones that want to put our country standing again.
Thanks for the video ❤️ it meant a world to me
i feel sorry for what had happen to your country.
never in any history which a country lose 95% of their male population that make up 69% of total population..your country's history will always been remembered as legend and never been forgotten by any human as reminder to us that human was the destructable creature...
@@enverhoxha545 Paraguay should NOT be remembered as a legend, at the start of the war they pillaged and raped the women of our villages and towns. Plus, it's not our fault they decided to fight until the end and killing their own people instead of just agreeing to our terms
@@dokiiscute I mean, Brazilian soldiers burned down an entire town and beheaded the women as their husbands watched, killed them afterwards, burned down the hospital and rendered one of our most important iron foundry, making rendering it completely destroyed. The ruins of the town are standing to this day.
When your soldiers invaded asunción, hundreds of women were raped. It's not like either of our countries were the good guys here.
@@post_ian94 Indeed there were atrocities to both sides but your nation started this war they invaded unprovoked 3 nations at once , killing and raping innocents , and yet when the allies put the terms on the table for Paraguay to surrender and spare the bloodshed that would fall on the paraguayian people you refused such terms , and thus you got what you asked for : annihilation .
@@xFirtewx I agree that there's a possibility it could've saved us, but we also don't know if the powers were going to just take the country if the president stepped down, like invading or installing a puppet state. The main goal was destroying Paraguay at one point.
Me, as a Peruvian, watching this:
Warographics: Peru invaded Bolivia
Me: What, when? Oh, yeah... that happened. Our bad.
Warographics: Then Peru and Bolivia invaded Chile
Me: Oh mate, better check those sources again.
Duque if Caxias is still known today in Brazil for his badassness and being very strict!
I remember when I first heard of this war, i was stunned that it was never covered in any history book
Rest In Peace to those that passed away during the war.
Nyeh, they were bad people anyway, so I hope they all burn in heck.
An interesting battle to cover (not sure if you do individual battles here) would be the battle of kapyoung in the Korean War. It arguably was a battle that saved the defeat of the war. Fought by Canadian Australian and New Zealand forces who were severely outnumbered. The battle often came down to hand to hand combat with artillery being called in on friendly positions. Please consider covering this as it is scarcely ever mentioned
Paraguay REALLY miscalculated here.
They paid dearly. We Brazilians are chill but if someone mess with us, is free real state then.
"What could go wrong if I provoked a conflict with 70% of the South American continent?"
@@riograndedosulball248 That's an over simplification
Didn't, brazil was just bigger, more economy, and they just happened to have courage enough to kill children defending their country.
@@vitorpereira9515 You probably secretly pray brazil annexes uruguay and becomes a empire again, though that would probably end up with brazil annexed
Thought you'd mention Bernardo Berro as well as Venancio Flores. Berro's life and work are great for a dedicated video
Simon! Content idea here! How bout doing videos on specific units throughout history, for example I grew up reanacting the American revolution as a 42nd Highland Regiment a foot and there’s never been a good video on their history!
Hey I am a Paraguayan and am subscribed to your other channels. I want to thanks you for doing this video and doing it in such quality. As you may well know Paraguay is not very known worldwide and the content that is out there is either very biased or there is no depth to it. I mean I really appreciate it.
An excellent novel by Lily Tuck entitled “The News from Paraguay” won the 2004 National Book Award. It is a riveting account of the war from the viewpoint of Lopez’s wife. An insanely heroic war which resulted in Paraguay becoming the most backward nation in South America for many years. But many European men emigrated to Paraguay to look for wives and financial opportunity, and in the 1930s they fought again against Bolivia over a wasteland called the Chaco. They won this war, again with great loss of life, and were ruled by another dictator who was a Nazi sympathizer. Today, however, they are considered one of the most pleasant countries on the continent, and a great retirement destination. Go figure!
We are. Many europeans come to reire here. It is worth visiting Paraguay😁
Mostly right, but Paraguay had a string of dictators after the Chaco War, it is Coronel Franco who seems most likely to be described as a Nazi sympathizer, but he was as close to Communists as Fascists....any system that had the top guy with total power was okay with him.
By the way, I despise The News From Paraguay, a novel closer to the historical was written by a Frenchman fifty years ago. He claimed to have found Madame Lynch's private memoirs in France, where she went after surviving the Triple Alliance War. That story is not believed by historians, but I am not sure they are right. The book rings truer than other versions, one anecdote was confirmed to me by a family legend recounted to me by a Paraguayan lady from a family that despised Lopez. It needs to be emphasized that the elites of European descent in Asuncion were largely disaffected from the Paraguayan government. A fair number of their sons volunteered for the Argentine forces. Lopez (and later the Colorado Party) were based more in the regular people. This has had an effect on the history accepted, since up to perhaps 90% of Paraguayan men died during the war, with the dissident members of the Argentine forces being mostly highly literate survivors. It was primarily they who wrote the histories, founded the 'Liberal Party' and populated the universities almost exclusively until the late 1940s when the Colorados won a civil war.
Wow, this war was very comprehensive
Nice video !😌👍 Only a comment: "Caxias" is pronounced in portuguese not as "Kaksis", but rather "Casheeas". 😌👍
My, that Brazilian ship really didn’t want to do what it was meant to do
This guy is great. I love the way he recites history.
Here in Brazil, we don't have knowledge about this war. It's is secret of state, in memoriam our Paraguayan people.
dormiste na escola filho?
secret? lol everyone in Brazil knows about that war
That's no secret, it's actually well explored depending on where you study.
What you talking about? I'm Brazilian and learned about this at school, there is no secret about it, the Paraguayan Canon "El Cristiano" and other War Trophies are exposed in Museu de História Nacional in Rio de Janeiro, for free.
segredo aonde? Se você não presta atenção na escola o problema já é seu
At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig: Travels Through Paraguay by John Gimlette is an informative and hilarious book about Paraguay that's goes in some depth about the War of the Triple Alliance and the Chaco war as well. Paraguay has a strange and fascinating history.
Paraguay had warned Brazil not to meddle on Uruguayan matters and that any further acts of war on Uruguay would be considered as an act of war on Paraguay. This was in response to a letter from the National Party of Uruguay (Blancos) asking Francisco Solano Lopez to step in for help. In October of 1864, despite Paraguay's warning, Brazil invaded Uruguay once more and only THEN, in November of 1864, was it that Paraguay declared war on Brazil and counter-attacked by targeting the Marques de Olinda.
Brazil entered Uruguay at the request of the Uruguayan government.
Nobody asked Paraguay for anything.
You have invaded the territory of others.
Then, when the war was already lost to you, they were offered the possibility of SURRENDER.
They didn't want to.
They said they'd rather die fighting.
Well, they got what they asked for.
@@AmarilioAlcantara Nope, Brazil entered at the request of the colorados who were the rebels staging a coup d'etat, not the National Party of Uruguay (blancos). Brazil was a hegemon that was trying to annex Uruguay as a Brazilian province. Even before that, the bandeirantes would go way beyond the limits they were allowed according to the Treaty of Tordesillas. Brazil/Portugal were always trying to conquer new lands in South America, constantly *invading* its neighbors in it's *imperialist* endeavours.
@@funcisco We won the war anyways
@@user-rv4wn5qk7q You destroyed a country. You owe Paraguay reparations.
@@funcisco Your country invaded mine, we owe no reparations to Paraguay. The war its over, we won. Paraguay just exists today because Brazil had mercy.
If your country didn't wanted to be destroyed, it wouldn't mess with Brazil.
When you're feeling your oats and decide to fight the whole world only to be reminded the whole world is bigger than you.
Very good video with a lot of historical accuracy. I am from Paraguay and I have been studying this war for a long time.
Unfortunately, the President of Paraguay started an unnecessary war and for reasons far removed from the country, since there was no alliance, economic or political interests with Uruguay that forced Paraguay to start an external war.
But just as Lopez started an unnecessary conflict, the allied leaders, Pedro II (Brazil) and Mitre / Sarmiento (Argentina) have their share of responsibility for not ending the war in September 1866 when López, feeling defeated, asked for peace conditions.
In this way, the humanitarian catastrophe that took place after 1869 would have been avoided.
Actually, the triple alliance ofered lots of peace treaties to Lopez, but he refused them all because one of the terms was that he wasn't going to be the president of paraguay
@@Kaiserreich01 no one was eager to make peace.
USA asked at least two times to Brazil Empire to stop the war, but Pedro II refused it.
In 1867, the UK Secretary of the River Plate legation tried to make peace, but it was refused at last minute for López, and at its time by Pedro II. There are plenty documentation of these refusal.
@@josesamudio4841 Did any of these proposals included Lopez exile? From what i've read about that was the thing Pedro II pressed the most that Lopez should never be in power again.
@@mengo0456 One of them, the Gould Proposal includes the exile of Solano Lopez in Europe. Initially, he accepted, but in the last minute, he rejected by the flatterers around him, although it was not necessary to flatter Lopez much for it. (ANA). At his time, also Pedro II rejected the Gould Proposal, (Bataclan) for unknown reason, and without knowing of the Lopez rejection.
Two still often ignored key points to remember: it was the lunatic paraguayan dictator who started it all by invading the Empire and Argentina, with everything else proceeding from this fact; and every human war and its imediate aftermath up until the early 1900s saw more death due to illnesses than actual violent, deliberate military action. This is true for all sides involved.
Haven't talked about British influence in Paraguay at the time. But nice video. Brazilian here.
Great to learn some South American history. I’d love to hear more. And more about African wars.
Great video. A little note, the only support Paraguay recibed was from Colombia, but it was symbolic on, as Colomboa and Paraguay share no border and are more than 4.000 km away.
As put by a Brazilian historian in a documentary about the Paraguayan War, referring to Solano Lopez in the final years of the war:
Does a true patriot bring his country to an end? it remained to be seen whether his fatherland wanted to die with him.
Great vid. Btw, the Duke of Caxias, the Brazilian general who took command towards the end, is pronounced Cash-ee-yus, not Cac-si-as
Great overview of a little known conflict with immense repercussions.
In 1870 the colombian government offered to grant Colombian citizenship to any Paraguayan stepping on Colombia if as a result of the war Paraguay were to disappear or split between the Allies.
Can we do one on the battle of Iswaldnana? Also the Maji Maji rebellion?
love it. woukd you do pay of pigs. other stuff cuabn related
Regards from Paraguay!
Excellent video. This war was devastating to all parties involved. While it strengthened Brazilian patriotism it weakened the prestige of the Emperor when after the war many military felt unappreciated by the crown, thus leading to the Republican Coup, dethroning Peter ii.
Historical correction in your introsuction. Peru and Bolivia did not invade Chile, and that was not what the map pf South America looked like in 1860. The northern third of what is now Chile belonged to Bolivia and Peru. Chile (possibly aided by the English) invaded over fertilizer. Please review The War of the Pacific.
Hey! I love your stuff! Just a little note, whenever you are reading spanish or guaraní and you find one of these áéíóú over a vowl imagine you have to sneeze right when you say it. You'll get the pronunciation right every time without even knowing the word! Cheers.