LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Chaco War: Rio Paraguay
built 211 days ago
The Chaco War was a long and costly disaster for Bolivia. In three years of bitter fighting on its southeastern frontiers, Bolivia sustained some 57,000 deaths, and it lost far more territory than Paraguay had claimed even in its most extreme prewar demands.
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Prior to the Chaco War, Paraguay had developed lower lying regions of the Chaco for production of mate, a traditional Paraguayan tea. In the early part of this century,mate was the largest agricultural crop for Paragauy. In addition to Paraguay, Argentina was the main consumer of mate. Thus, the land was used mostly for production purposes and therefore provided large economic benefits to the country.Culturally, Paraguay's development was very different from that of Bolivia, as most Indians and Europeans eventualy mixed ethnically and culturally. Also, the population is less indigeneous than that of Bolivia. Paraguayans did identify with their homeland and felt a sense of national pride and unity at the time of the Chaco War, causing them to defend their homeland.
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From the outset of the Chaco War (1932-1935), Bolivia's Aviation Corps--with forty-nine aircraft, including twenty-eight combat aircraft--established aerial superiority, flying frequent tactical support and bombing missions. Its transport element ... was active in supplying the troops in the combat zone. Once mobilized, Bolivia's army consisted of nine divisions and more than 12,000 troops, a number that later rose to 25,000. However, in addition to being ill equipped, poorly supplied, and disastrously led, the army consisted largely of homesick, bewildered highland Indians (indios) from the Altiplano (highland plateau) who had been conscripted or impressed into service. They fought stubbornly and stoically, but the more resourceful, better-led, and determined Paraguayans, with a mobilized force of 24,000, gradually pushed them back.
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In the 1930s and 1940s, Paraguayan politics were defined by the Chaco War against Bolivia, a civil war, dictatorships, and periods of extreme political instability. General Alfredo Stroessner took power in May 1954. Elected to complete the unexpired term of his predecessor, he was re-elected president seven times, ruling almost continuously under the state-of-siege provision of the constitution with support from the military and the Colorado Party. During Stroessner's 34-year reign, political freedoms were severely limited and opponents of the regime were systematically persecuted in the name of national security and anti-communism.
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FortÃn Toledo was the site of trench warfare during the Chaco War and is now host to a reserve nurturing a small population of Chacoan peccary, a Pleistocene relic thought extinct until its rediscovery in 1975. The reserve, sponsored in part by the San Diego Zoo, welcomes visits by interested onlookers but only if schedules permit. Nearby lies a string of abandoned fortifications and a Paraguayan military cemetery.
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Rio Paraguay