AHC/WI: Versailles-style peace in the War of the Triple Allaince/Paraguayan War.

Paraguay's deal IOTL was harsh enough. Huge estates were flogged off to Argentina in order to meet the reparations demanded.
 
What I was thinking are terms even harsher than the one imposed on them.
With an early POD, you could have Paraguayan territory annexed outright. There was a secret agreement between Brazil and Argentina that guaranteed a chunk of land for the latter. However, you'll need to swing the sentiments present within the wider Brazilian government, who were bitterly opposed to such a move. Worse Allied performance in the early stages of the war, perhaps?
 
With an early POD, you could have Paraguayan territory annexed outright. There was a secret agreement between Brazil and Argentina that guaranteed a chunk of land for the latter. However, you'll need to swing the sentiments present within the wider Brazilian government, who were bitterly opposed to such a move. Worse Allied performance in the early stages of the war, perhaps?

Basically this is it. If Brazil's sentiments swing the right way, and they accept annexing territory over taking care of reparations (they refused in OTL because of the costs involved and to keep a buffer between them and Argentina) Paraguay would disappear entirely and be outright split between Brazil and Argentina.

I can't quite see how Paraguay could get a worse deal than OTL otherwise. It lost close to 60% of it population, a good chunk of territory, and all its claims which it couldn't fully make up for until the Chaco War.

A Versailles type situation would have needed to leave a Paraguay strong enough that it could seek revenge in 30 years.
 
Basically this is it. If Brazil's sentiments swing the right way, and they accept annexing territory over taking care of reparations (they refused in OTL because of the costs involved and to keep a buffer between them and Argentina) Paraguay would disappear entirely and be outright split between Brazil and Argentina.

I can't quite see how Paraguay could get a worse deal than OTL otherwise. It lost close to 60% of it population, a good chunk of territory, and all its claims which it couldn't fully make up for until the Chaco War.

A Versailles type situation would have needed to leave a Paraguay strong enough that it could seek revenge in 30 years.
This is the thing: short of annexation (a tad superfluous, really), I can't think of a worse possible fate for Paraguay than IOTL. In proportional terms, the War of the Triple Alliance must constitute one of the most devastating national defeats in human history.
 
Paraguay wasn't a buffer to anything. They survived prior and after the war simply because it wasn't strategic territory, basically residing in the middle of no where. Uruguay was a buffer, and it took a couple of wars to prove it. No one had to go through Paraguay to get to anything worth anything. Thus, it became a question of whether it was better to look bigger on a map (possibly having to butt heads with Argentina over how to divide it), or to rape the country for what you can and then leave.

Versaille was a case of how to diminish a country that was still a threat (or would rebound to one in short time) coupled with how to get the most out of germany, while not creating a worse situation for Europe as a whole. Paraguay is almost completely different: a devastated country which won't be a military/economic threat, doesn't hold any strategic key and won't really change political/military reality for any of it's neighbors no matter what you do to it.
 
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