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Chapter 93 The Uruguay Crisis
Chapter 93 The Uruguay Crisis
"My fellow countrymen, I promise you: in three days we shall be at the barracks. In three weeks, at the frontiers. And in three months in Asunción!"- Emperor Pedro II 1865
"Francisco Solano is the most idiotic burro in South America."- Supreme Protector Andre de Santa Cruz 1865
"Carl we have a problem. Earlier some Tejano came in and tried to pass himself as a diplomat by claiming he was an ambassador of Paraguay. Obviously I knew he was a fake so I had the Rangers throw him out. Unfortunately the bastard has done nothing but loiter around the Grey House grounds and is trying to start a protest. If he wanted to pass himself off then he should've tried to name his fake country as something other than a fruit. Wait...you mean Paraguay does exist?!"- President Davy Crockett 1857
As stated before in Chapter 79, Paraguay was a virtual backwards hermit Kingdom in the 19th century, a pariah among the South American states that only survived due to chronic unrest within the regional powers of Argentina and Brazil. Instead of using the time to develop Paraguay proper and turn the Republic into a developed nation that can stand next to the rest of the western states, dictator Carlos Antonio Lopez continued to rule the country as his own personal fiefdom. From 1842-1862, the Paraguayan people would continue to dedicate and devote their lives to their eternal Presidente, the Lopez family transforming the young nation into a totalitarian state with every aspect of life controlled by the whims and desires of Carlos Lopez. While Paraguay may have opened itself to the world in terms of international trade, its people were never able to reap the fruits of their labor with the Lopez family receiving all the profits. Then everything would change in 1862, with the death of Carlos Lopez and the rise of his eldest, Francisco Solano Lopez to power.
From his first years of adulthood, Francisco Solano was a man who was obsessed with the art of warfare. Using his father's influence as head of state, Solano Lopez made himself commander in-chief of the Paraguayan armed forces at the young age of 18. In the 1850's, Solano Lopez would travel the world abroad in order to gain more experience in military theory and technology. Lopez made his first trip out of the country in 1845 when he traveled to Rio de Jainero to learn of fortification and artillery doctrine from the Imperial Brazilian Army. In 1852 Solano Lopez traveled to Europe as an envoy in order to establish relations between Great Britain, France, and the Papal States. The first two years of his stay in Europe, Solano Lopez spent much of his time in Paris where he befriended the French Emperor and becoming a frequent attender of the Imperial court. In 1853 Solano Lopez began his career as a military observer by first being attached to the French Army during the Sardinian Heresy, and later transferring to the British Royal Army during the ongoing Crimean War. Upon his return to South America in 1857, Lopez spent the remaining five years of his father's reign working on modernizing the Paraguayan Army with modern weapons shipped from Europe, Solano Lopez in particular wished to transform the Paraguayan Army into a professional force that was reminiscent of Napoleon I's Grand Armee. Contrary to Solano Lopez's expectations and wishes, the Paraguayan Army remained in a poor state in 1862 due to the lack of proper equipment for the entire army, nonexistent training for officers and non-coms, and Solano Lopez micromanaging the whole Army by himself.
Francisco Solano Lopez and his inner circle
When Solano Lopez took over power from the reigns of his power, he held ambitions that were far greater than either of his predecessors. Solano Lopez wished to transform his nation into a great power that could rival both Argentina and Brazil, one day becoming the strongest nation on the continent. While this goal was entirely unrealistic due to the sheer resources of Paraguay's neighbors (not to mention Peru-Bolivia being the third regional power whose military was roughly the best in South America), Solano Lopez was undeterred and began his dream of manifest destiny, continuing militarization to massive levels. His first target, would be the nearby nation of Uruguay.
While the Uruguayan Civil War had officially ended in 1846 with the Blancos heading the new right-wing Nationalist government, unrest and rebellion still continued for years to come. Thousands of Colorado rebels refused to recognize the new regime as little more than puppets to their Argentine masters. Periodic skrimishes would often take place in the countryside as the Colorados sought to reclaim their nation. What helped the Colorados to continue their rebellion was a large amount of aid that was sent from the north by Dom Pedro II. With the settling of the western borders with Santa Cruz, Pedro turned his attention southwards where he envisioned the Brazilian Empire stretching all the way to the Tierra del Fuego. While continuing to focus on modernizing Brazil, Pedro would send tens of thousands of Reals along with weapons and battalions of infantry into Uruguay to aid the rebel cause, not wanting to get into a full-scale war with the Rio de la Plata region yet. While this was a blatant violation of Uruguayan sovereignty, both Uruguay and Argentina were powerless to do anything as they were still recovering from their respective civil wars. Instead Argentine President Santiago Derqui used the powers of Argentina's agreement with Uruguay to send three brigades of Argentine troops under Justo Jose de Urquiza into the country to install order. With Argentina's intervention the war was going decisively in the Blanco's favor, the Colorados nearing destruction once and for all. Then Francisco Solano Lopez decided to intervene, and everything for South America would change.
Coloradoan forces besiege the city of Paysandu
As part of his new nationalist policies, Solano Lopez was active in seeking out alliances on the continent to strengthen Paraguay's position. Numerous feelers were sent out with all being rejected; the only one even coming close was Peru-Bolivia with Santa Cruz mildly considering an alliance in case relations with Brazil were to crumble. Not finding any allies within the legitimate governments, Solano began to plan to make allies of his own by propping rebels in his neighbors, specifically the Colorados within Argentina and Uruguay. With Brazil proving ever hesitant to fully commit to the cause, Uruguayan Colorados were getting desperate for any aid abroad. Emissaries were sent to the Paraguayan capitol of Asuncion with pleas for an alliance with Solano Lopez. The terms of the Colorados reflected their dire straits as they offered to become a protectorate of Paraguay with Paraguay gaining an ocean port in Uruguay's borders. In his desire to finally have an Atlantic port, Solano Lopez's greed got the better to him and he agreed fully for the alliance, preparing his armies for a potential invasion the next year. While some of Solano Lopez's advisers warned him that such an action would incur the wrath of Argentina, Solano Lopez was more than aware of the situation. Paraguay's total forces outnumbered the Argentinian's 5 to 1 in total manpower and Paraguay had received the latest weaponry from Europe. With the Argentine Civil War only ending a decade prior and Federalist movements still going strong in Buenos Aires, Solano Lopez hoped to invade Argentina and prop up a Colorado government back in Buenos Aires, while also having an additional goal of claiming the disputed territory between Bolivia and Argentina. His mind made set, Solano Lopez began to plot his conquests.
On October 12th of 1864, the official "peace" of South America was broken when Solano Lopez invaded the Argentine Corrientes province with an armed brigade of 10,000 troops, destroying any and all Argentine boats on the Parana river and conquering the provincial capitol in the First Battle of Corrientes, the cities 1500 defenders overpowered by human wave tactics of Solano Lopez. After conquering Corrientes and nearby Resistencia, Solano Lopez moved south with 40,000 forces along the Parana and Uruguay rivers. At this point Solano Lopez could've easily conquered Uruguay and manage to stall Argentina long enough to claim victory. Then the dictator made the most idiotic and damning decision in his nation's short history, dooming it to failure. He invaded Brazil.
View attachment 343027
First Battle of Corrientes
Unsatisfied with the slow process of the war, Solano Lopez hoped to conquer Eastern Uruguay at the same time and hopefully encircle the Blancos. To do this he would need to cross into Brazil and move along the coastline to enter into Uruguay. Shortly after the invasion the Paraguayan ambassador in Rio met with Dom Pedro and asked for open borders for the Paraguayan Army. While Brazil was indeed Argentina's traditional rival, Pedro did not want to help Solano Lopez in any way as he wished for Uruguay to become a Brazilian puppet, not anyone else's. Instead Pedro hoped that the Paraguayan and Argentine armies would bleed each other in a war of attrition, Brazil swooping in the end to claim the spoils. Thus Pedro denied the request and sent a message to Asuncion for Solano Lopez to stay inside his borders. The dictator took this diplomatic move as an insult to Paraguay's greatness. Feeling disrespected for the last time by Rio and feeling high off the early victories in the war, Solano Lopez ordered an invasion into the Empire of Brazil with the hope of eventually conquering Rio. A Paraguayan division of 20,000 would cross the border on March 29th and invade the Mato Grasso province in full force. Brazil was brought into the war.
Outraged that his upstart southern neighbor would dare to violate Brazilian lands, Pedro mobilized the country for total war, Brazilians all the way from Sao Luis to Rio de Jainero crying out for Paraguayan blood. As the saying "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" goes; Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay now found themselves unlikely allies in this new conflict. Wanting to stabilize this temporary coalition and prevent infighting during the march on Asuncion, representatives from all three countries gathered in the Bolivian city of Sucre to discuss how to move forward in the war. After weeks of negotiations an agreement was reached in early July called the Triple Alliance. From here an alliance would be created which would prosecute the war to its end in order to bring down the Lopez regime. What the world did not know was that a secret clause was included that would form a partition of Paraguay, the part of the country west of the Paraguay river going to Argentina while the eastern half would go to Brazil. Paraguay's last days had begun.
Platine regional disputes prior to the Triple Alliance
"My fellow countrymen, I promise you: in three days we shall be at the barracks. In three weeks, at the frontiers. And in three months in Asunción!"- Emperor Pedro II 1865
"Francisco Solano is the most idiotic burro in South America."- Supreme Protector Andre de Santa Cruz 1865
"Carl we have a problem. Earlier some Tejano came in and tried to pass himself as a diplomat by claiming he was an ambassador of Paraguay. Obviously I knew he was a fake so I had the Rangers throw him out. Unfortunately the bastard has done nothing but loiter around the Grey House grounds and is trying to start a protest. If he wanted to pass himself off then he should've tried to name his fake country as something other than a fruit. Wait...you mean Paraguay does exist?!"- President Davy Crockett 1857
As stated before in Chapter 79, Paraguay was a virtual backwards hermit Kingdom in the 19th century, a pariah among the South American states that only survived due to chronic unrest within the regional powers of Argentina and Brazil. Instead of using the time to develop Paraguay proper and turn the Republic into a developed nation that can stand next to the rest of the western states, dictator Carlos Antonio Lopez continued to rule the country as his own personal fiefdom. From 1842-1862, the Paraguayan people would continue to dedicate and devote their lives to their eternal Presidente, the Lopez family transforming the young nation into a totalitarian state with every aspect of life controlled by the whims and desires of Carlos Lopez. While Paraguay may have opened itself to the world in terms of international trade, its people were never able to reap the fruits of their labor with the Lopez family receiving all the profits. Then everything would change in 1862, with the death of Carlos Lopez and the rise of his eldest, Francisco Solano Lopez to power.
From his first years of adulthood, Francisco Solano was a man who was obsessed with the art of warfare. Using his father's influence as head of state, Solano Lopez made himself commander in-chief of the Paraguayan armed forces at the young age of 18. In the 1850's, Solano Lopez would travel the world abroad in order to gain more experience in military theory and technology. Lopez made his first trip out of the country in 1845 when he traveled to Rio de Jainero to learn of fortification and artillery doctrine from the Imperial Brazilian Army. In 1852 Solano Lopez traveled to Europe as an envoy in order to establish relations between Great Britain, France, and the Papal States. The first two years of his stay in Europe, Solano Lopez spent much of his time in Paris where he befriended the French Emperor and becoming a frequent attender of the Imperial court. In 1853 Solano Lopez began his career as a military observer by first being attached to the French Army during the Sardinian Heresy, and later transferring to the British Royal Army during the ongoing Crimean War. Upon his return to South America in 1857, Lopez spent the remaining five years of his father's reign working on modernizing the Paraguayan Army with modern weapons shipped from Europe, Solano Lopez in particular wished to transform the Paraguayan Army into a professional force that was reminiscent of Napoleon I's Grand Armee. Contrary to Solano Lopez's expectations and wishes, the Paraguayan Army remained in a poor state in 1862 due to the lack of proper equipment for the entire army, nonexistent training for officers and non-coms, and Solano Lopez micromanaging the whole Army by himself.
Francisco Solano Lopez and his inner circle
When Solano Lopez took over power from the reigns of his power, he held ambitions that were far greater than either of his predecessors. Solano Lopez wished to transform his nation into a great power that could rival both Argentina and Brazil, one day becoming the strongest nation on the continent. While this goal was entirely unrealistic due to the sheer resources of Paraguay's neighbors (not to mention Peru-Bolivia being the third regional power whose military was roughly the best in South America), Solano Lopez was undeterred and began his dream of manifest destiny, continuing militarization to massive levels. His first target, would be the nearby nation of Uruguay.
While the Uruguayan Civil War had officially ended in 1846 with the Blancos heading the new right-wing Nationalist government, unrest and rebellion still continued for years to come. Thousands of Colorado rebels refused to recognize the new regime as little more than puppets to their Argentine masters. Periodic skrimishes would often take place in the countryside as the Colorados sought to reclaim their nation. What helped the Colorados to continue their rebellion was a large amount of aid that was sent from the north by Dom Pedro II. With the settling of the western borders with Santa Cruz, Pedro turned his attention southwards where he envisioned the Brazilian Empire stretching all the way to the Tierra del Fuego. While continuing to focus on modernizing Brazil, Pedro would send tens of thousands of Reals along with weapons and battalions of infantry into Uruguay to aid the rebel cause, not wanting to get into a full-scale war with the Rio de la Plata region yet. While this was a blatant violation of Uruguayan sovereignty, both Uruguay and Argentina were powerless to do anything as they were still recovering from their respective civil wars. Instead Argentine President Santiago Derqui used the powers of Argentina's agreement with Uruguay to send three brigades of Argentine troops under Justo Jose de Urquiza into the country to install order. With Argentina's intervention the war was going decisively in the Blanco's favor, the Colorados nearing destruction once and for all. Then Francisco Solano Lopez decided to intervene, and everything for South America would change.
Coloradoan forces besiege the city of Paysandu
As part of his new nationalist policies, Solano Lopez was active in seeking out alliances on the continent to strengthen Paraguay's position. Numerous feelers were sent out with all being rejected; the only one even coming close was Peru-Bolivia with Santa Cruz mildly considering an alliance in case relations with Brazil were to crumble. Not finding any allies within the legitimate governments, Solano began to plan to make allies of his own by propping rebels in his neighbors, specifically the Colorados within Argentina and Uruguay. With Brazil proving ever hesitant to fully commit to the cause, Uruguayan Colorados were getting desperate for any aid abroad. Emissaries were sent to the Paraguayan capitol of Asuncion with pleas for an alliance with Solano Lopez. The terms of the Colorados reflected their dire straits as they offered to become a protectorate of Paraguay with Paraguay gaining an ocean port in Uruguay's borders. In his desire to finally have an Atlantic port, Solano Lopez's greed got the better to him and he agreed fully for the alliance, preparing his armies for a potential invasion the next year. While some of Solano Lopez's advisers warned him that such an action would incur the wrath of Argentina, Solano Lopez was more than aware of the situation. Paraguay's total forces outnumbered the Argentinian's 5 to 1 in total manpower and Paraguay had received the latest weaponry from Europe. With the Argentine Civil War only ending a decade prior and Federalist movements still going strong in Buenos Aires, Solano Lopez hoped to invade Argentina and prop up a Colorado government back in Buenos Aires, while also having an additional goal of claiming the disputed territory between Bolivia and Argentina. His mind made set, Solano Lopez began to plot his conquests.
On October 12th of 1864, the official "peace" of South America was broken when Solano Lopez invaded the Argentine Corrientes province with an armed brigade of 10,000 troops, destroying any and all Argentine boats on the Parana river and conquering the provincial capitol in the First Battle of Corrientes, the cities 1500 defenders overpowered by human wave tactics of Solano Lopez. After conquering Corrientes and nearby Resistencia, Solano Lopez moved south with 40,000 forces along the Parana and Uruguay rivers. At this point Solano Lopez could've easily conquered Uruguay and manage to stall Argentina long enough to claim victory. Then the dictator made the most idiotic and damning decision in his nation's short history, dooming it to failure. He invaded Brazil.
View attachment 343027
First Battle of Corrientes
Unsatisfied with the slow process of the war, Solano Lopez hoped to conquer Eastern Uruguay at the same time and hopefully encircle the Blancos. To do this he would need to cross into Brazil and move along the coastline to enter into Uruguay. Shortly after the invasion the Paraguayan ambassador in Rio met with Dom Pedro and asked for open borders for the Paraguayan Army. While Brazil was indeed Argentina's traditional rival, Pedro did not want to help Solano Lopez in any way as he wished for Uruguay to become a Brazilian puppet, not anyone else's. Instead Pedro hoped that the Paraguayan and Argentine armies would bleed each other in a war of attrition, Brazil swooping in the end to claim the spoils. Thus Pedro denied the request and sent a message to Asuncion for Solano Lopez to stay inside his borders. The dictator took this diplomatic move as an insult to Paraguay's greatness. Feeling disrespected for the last time by Rio and feeling high off the early victories in the war, Solano Lopez ordered an invasion into the Empire of Brazil with the hope of eventually conquering Rio. A Paraguayan division of 20,000 would cross the border on March 29th and invade the Mato Grasso province in full force. Brazil was brought into the war.
Outraged that his upstart southern neighbor would dare to violate Brazilian lands, Pedro mobilized the country for total war, Brazilians all the way from Sao Luis to Rio de Jainero crying out for Paraguayan blood. As the saying "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" goes; Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay now found themselves unlikely allies in this new conflict. Wanting to stabilize this temporary coalition and prevent infighting during the march on Asuncion, representatives from all three countries gathered in the Bolivian city of Sucre to discuss how to move forward in the war. After weeks of negotiations an agreement was reached in early July called the Triple Alliance. From here an alliance would be created which would prosecute the war to its end in order to bring down the Lopez regime. What the world did not know was that a secret clause was included that would form a partition of Paraguay, the part of the country west of the Paraguay river going to Argentina while the eastern half would go to Brazil. Paraguay's last days had begun.
Platine regional disputes prior to the Triple Alliance
- Kaiser Chris
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