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Chaco War
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The Chaco War (1932-1935) was the result of a territory dispute between Bolivia and Paraguay. Both landlocked countries sought an expansion of territory in an effort to gain better access to the River Paraguay. This river runs through a stretch of territory between Bolivia and Paraguay known as the Chaco Boreal. In 1932, Bolivia attempted to break out of its landlocked situation and gain access to the Atlantic ocean through capture of the River Paraguay; athwart that route lay the Chaco Boreal, which the Bolivians thought had large oil preserves. Paraguay, in a move instigated by national unity, heavily armed their borders and fought viciously to defend itself against Bolivia's advances. The resultant war was disastrous for both sides: Bolivia and Paraguay lost more than 100,000 soldiers.
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The War of the Triple Alliance and the Chaco War are milestones in Paraguay's history, since Paraguay's independence from Spain was a rather bloodless affair. Paraguay fought the War of the Triple Alliance against Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, and was defeated in 1870 after five years of the bloodiest war in South America. Paraguay suffered extensive territorial losses to Brazil and Argentina. The Chaco War was fought with Bolivia in the 1930s and Bolivia was defeated. Paraguay re-established sovereignty over the region called the Chaco, and forfeited additional territorial gains as a price of peace.
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Bolivia's defeat defeat by Paraguay in the Chaco War (1932-1935) marked a turning point for both Bolivia and the Bolivian people. This loss,coupled with a government perceived to be loyal only to the upper class, produced widespread dissatisfaction amongst the working class and farmers of Bolivia. A great loss of life and territory had discredited the traditional ruling classes, while service in the army produced stirrings of political awareness among the indigenous people. From the end of the Chaco War until the 1952 revolution, the emergence of contending ideologies and the demands of new groups dominated the Bolivian political landscape.
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In many ways, the Chaco War acted as a catalyst to unite the political opposition with workers and peasants, who furnished the raw materials for a social revolution. After the 1935 truce, thousands of soldiers were sent home, leaving the regular army to patrol the front lines. The soldiers who had shared the dangers and trials of the battlefield deeply resented the ineptitude and incompetence they believed the Liberals had shown in failing to prepare the country for war. These soldiers had witnessed the miserable state of the Paraguayan army and were forced in many cases to face the enemy armed only with machetes. After what they had been through, partisan political differences seemed irrelevant. The government offended the army rank-and-file by refusing to fund pensions for disabled war veterans in 1936 while awarding 1,500 gold pesos a year to Estigarribia.
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The success of the Chaco War was short-lived and the political instability of the pre-war years soon returned to haunt the country. No fewer than 22 presidents had held court in the 31 years from 1923-1954 and the consensus of opinion was that something different was needed. Alfredo Stroessner, born and bred in Encarnación, was seen as the “firm-hand” the country needed to drag it out of the chaos. His regime was brutal, curfews were imposed on the population, insurgency was crushed violently and anti-government activity was punishable by death, not only of the activists, but ... of pretty much everybody that had ever associated with them. His policy of “guided democracy” allowed him to hand-pick his opponents in rigged elections, resulting in victory in eight ballots over 34 years. Perhaps the major feature of his rule was investment in infrastructure, paving the major highways and beginning construction of the Itaipu Dam, the largest in the world.
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Bolivian culture and ethnicity are crucial to understanding the Chaco War and its outcome. In the center of Bolivia lies the Altiplano, a valley between the Andean mountain chains lying approximately 13,000 feet above sea level. The harsh climate and severe topography surrounding this region make the center of this country quite inaccessible to other lower lying regions within Bolivia. The most populated regions of the country are located here.The racial make up of Bolivia is predominately Indian, with ancestry dating back to the Incas. After independence, Indians, the most populous ethnic group, were forced into manual labor positions and servitude to caudillos like in many other Latin American nations. A feeling of national unity based upon boundaries and the nation state system was not innate for most Bolivians.
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Chaco War