150 years ago, just as the American
Civil War was drawing to its close, Latin America’s deadliest war was just
getting going. The War of the Triple Alliance pitted Paraguay against
Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.
The war was sparked by a coup in
Uruguay in 1864, which Brazil and Argentina backed. Paraguay had been involved
in boundary and tariff disputes with its powerful neighbours for years, and its
dictator, Francisco Solano López, believed the coup threatened the regional
balance of power so he went to war with Brazil.
Brazil joined up with Argentina and
the new Uruguayan government to form the Triple Alliance, and they declared war
on May 1, 1865. The fighting ended five years later in Paraguay’s total defeat. About
400,000 died, and the effect on Paraguay was devastating as the population was
reduced from about 525,000 to just 221,000, of whom only 28,000 were men. There
the conflict is known as the ‘Great War’.
An exhibition of remarkable
photographs of the war is now being toured around Paraguay. They were commissioned by a Montevideo photo shop owner,
who had spotted how well scenes of Civil War battlefields had sold in the US.
