Large scale war in South America?

Any chance for larce continental war in Soth America in 19th or 20th century? Preferably pitting Argentina on on side and Brazil on another.
 
i believe that the triple allience war had the largest brownwater naval battle ever. Irrc

and are you looking for one war? If not, the entire continent was pretty well consumed by war after decolinsation. First with spain, then with eachother
 
DValdron's Axis of the Andes timeline has what is essentially a South American theater of WWII, with Peru vs. Ecuador and Chile, and expanding from there.
 
Bolivia threatened to enter the Paraguayan War on Paraguay's side around 1867-68. Chile and Peru were both sympathetic toward Paraguay and hostile to Brazil. But even if they did enter the war, they would do no good. Brazil had (in 1868) 18 state-of-the-art ironclads. By 1868 the Brazilian imperial army was equiped with the newest rifles and was really well prepared.
 
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The only way I could think of one would be during the time of dictatorships, a Chilean-Peruvian-Brazilian alliance against an Argentian-Bolivian-Ecuadorian alliance with maybe Urugauy, if it feels threatened. Preu and Brazil have long been friends and after the guano war of the 19th century Chile and Preu have had close relations as well. Maybe something during the 1930's with Brazil-Peru-Chile going in for Parugauy and the rest going in for Bolivia?
 
Already happened, twice.

Let's say that not long after Brazil wins the second war in the 1850s, Buenos Aires starts making trouble in Argentina a little earlier, with Brazilian backing. As Paraguay develops its modernized navy (one of the first in the Western Hemisphere), the rest of the Argentine Confederation (organized as the Federales party) seeks support from Asuncion, agreeing to drop claims to the Chaco.

Buenos Aires and Paraguay, for a while, find themselves in the same camp with regards to ending Brazilian hegemony over Uruguay, and both support the minority Blanco party. When war breaks out more or less as OTL, it is briefly three-sided, until Buenos Aires agrees to withdraw from Uruguay as part of an alliance with Brazil.

So There you have it, the most even-sided war there can be in late-19th century South America between an alliance of Paraguay, the Argentian Federals, Uruguayan Blancos and Brazil, the Unitarios, and the Uruguayan Colorados. Powers beyond the River Plate are unlikely to intervene until the end of the war, although Britain may blockade Brazil in support of Paraguay.
 
Damn, this continent was much more hot than I thought.

I knew about Paraguayan war, but thought it was too one-sided to count. Indeed, if some other country had backed Paraguay it could develop into more even contest. Is there a possibility to link this somehow with Saltpeter War? Maybe Peru and Bolivia support Paraguay, while Chile tries to exploit the occasion by invading Atacama few years earlier than OTL?
 
Damn, this continent was much more hot than I thought.

I knew about Paraguayan war, but thought it was too one-sided to count. Indeed, if some other country had backed Paraguay it could develop into more even contest. Is there a possibility to link this somehow with Saltpeter War? Maybe Peru and Bolivia support Paraguay, while Chile tries to exploit the occasion by invading Atacama few years earlier than OTL?

Yeah, the political landscape is a lot more volatile and complex than it would seem to an outsider. When living in Uruguay, I was amazed at the turnaround that made it possible for a former member of a terrorist organization to be elected as president, but that's neither here nor there.

I don't really see how or why the conflicts in the two disparate regions would be connected. South American is effectively three or four different sub-regions, roughly the River Plate, the southern Andes, the northern Andes, and the Amazon basin/Caribbean. Especially before modern means of transportation, there is a significant amount of social distance between these zones, so a war spilling across each (and across the tallest mountain range in the Western Hemisphere) is unlikely.

A little later on, say in the 1880s or 90s, Bolivia and Brazil had some pretty serious tension due to disputes over Acre. If Paraguay was never curb-stomped as OTL and cultivated an alliance of powers in the River Plate, it may take a Brazilian occupation of Acre as the opportunity to cut Brazil down to size (at least, that'd be the idea). It's hard to tie this in to the alt-War of the Triple Alliance that I speculated earlier, because Acre only really became important during the birth of the rubber industry.
 
The nature of this question suggests it was asked by a person with a pretty flimsy grasp of latin american history, there has been no shortage of conflicts in various sizes and flavors.
 
Already happened, twice.

Let's say that not long after Brazil wins the second war in the 1850s, Buenos Aires starts making trouble in Argentina a little earlier, with Brazilian backing. As Paraguay develops its modernized navy (one of the first in the Western Hemisphere), the rest of the Argentine Confederation (organized as the Federales party) seeks support from Asuncion, agreeing to drop claims to the Chaco.

Buenos Aires and Paraguay, for a while, find themselves in the same camp with regards to ending Brazilian hegemony over Uruguay, and both support the minority Blanco party. When war breaks out more or less as OTL, it is briefly three-sided, until Buenos Aires agrees to withdraw from Uruguay as part of an alliance with Brazil.

So There you have it, the most even-sided war there can be in late-19th century South America between an alliance of Paraguay, the Argentian Federals, Uruguayan Blancos and Brazil, the Unitarios, and the Uruguayan Colorados. Powers beyond the River Plate are unlikely to intervene until the end of the war, although Britain may blockade Brazil in support of Paraguay.

Actually, all Paraguayan warships in 1865 were small converted civilian merchant and passanger steamers. The sole exception was the Tacuarí, built as a warship but already outdated by then. On the other hand, Brazil had ironclads...
 
The nature of this question suggests it was asked by a person with a pretty flimsy grasp of latin american history, there has been no shortage of conflicts in various sizes and flavors.

There were more conflict in South America that I knew of, I admit, but hardly any can be considered major war. I was thinking of a conflict similar to US Civil War or major European wars, of course scaled to area's size. A war that would shake and reshape the whole continent like World Wars did in Europe.
 
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BlondieBC

Banned
There were more conflict in South America that I knew of, I admit, but hardly any can be considered major war. I was thinking of a conflict similar to US Civil War or major European wars, of course scaled to area's size. A war that would shake and reshape the whole continent like World Wars did in Europe.

If you want a major war, have them tied into the European alliance system. When Europe blows up (likely different time than OTL), you can get them in the Alt WW1.

Now you need to make sure you don't get a quick WW1 by messing up the balance of power too much or bringing in the USA too soon. Assuming you mean "long and bloody" by major war.
 
There were more conflict in South America that I knew of, I admit, but hardly any can be considered major war. I was thinking of a conflict similar to US Civil War or major European wars, of course scaled to area's size. A war that would shake and reshape the whole continent like World Wars did in Europe.

Are you saying that a war that killed two-thirds of Paraguay's male population wasn't major? I agree, having an ally system a la pre-WWI Europe would be the best way to bring about the scenario you describe, but I'm not convinced that would work in South America. They're not quite as stable as Europe comparatively, especially around the time of these major wars that occured there.

Personally, I could see Brazilians developing a sense of Manifest Destiny. I mean, they're already pretty large, but with a couple of tweaks in the right places you could get them to want to spread to own a part of the Andean Coast. And that would probably set nations like Chile, Peru, Bolivia and Argentina against them. Athough I could see Ecuador getting in on Brazil's side. Peru still controls land that Ecuador wants.
 
Are you saying that a war that killed two-thirds of Paraguay's male population wasn't major?[\quote]

Well, seems like for most part it was member of triple alliance pillaging Paraguay. Not much of an equal contest.

I agree, having an ally system a la pre-WWI Europe would be the best way to bring about the scenario you describe, but I'm not convinced that would work in South America. They're not quite as stable as Europe comparatively, especially around the time of these major wars that occured there.

Personally, I could see Brazilians developing a sense of Manifest Destiny. I mean, they're already pretty large, but with a couple of tweaks in the right places you could get them to want to spread to own a part of the Andean Coast. And that would probably set nations like Chile, Peru, Bolivia and Argentina against them. Athough I could see Ecuador getting in on Brazil's side. Peru still controls land that Ecuador wants.


Yes, Brazil being centrally located and largest South American state is in good position to get into war with several neighbours at one time, eventually bringing them into some anti-Brazillian coalition. Argentina seems also capable of playing role of South Americas Germany (against Brazilian substitute of Soviet Union perhaps?), especially during 1920s and 30s when they look quite powerful.

Since communications and distances would a major problem in XIX century, I was thinking about such situation developing during Interwar period. Is there a chance at this time period that either Argentina or Brazil would turn fascist and eventually get into a war with coalition of neighbours?
 
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