TASK DEFINITION: In this task you will be given a text passage from a trivia quiz. You should choose the category this question belongs to from these categories: History, Science, Social Science, Fine Arts, Literature. You can only choose one category, so if in doubt, please choose the closest match.
PROBLEM: One party in this conflict was led for part of it by the namesake of a battleship famous in a later conflict, the Duke of Caxias. This clash was precipitated by the ouster of Atansio Aguirre. Victory at Curupayty forestalled defeat for the eventual losers, whose fate was practically sealed after the naval Battle of Riachuelo. This war's namesake treaty was the brainchild of Bartolom Mitre, who favored the Colorado Party over the Blanco Party in Uruguay. FTP, name this conflict in which Paraguay under Francisco Solano Lpez was eventually defeated by the namesake entity, consisting of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay.

SOLUTION: History

PROBLEM: Fascinated in his youth by the sea and ships, he spent two years of his reign traveling throughout Europe learning the techniques of shipbuilding, but upon his return was forced to put down a revolt of the streltsy. Originally joint emperor with his retarded brother Ivan under the regency of his half-sister Sophia, he soon seized power, and later had his son Alexei tortured to death to maintain his rule. His seizure and eventual loss of Azov was his first notable attempt to gain greater maritime access, which was completed with his gain of a section of the Baltic coast, where he founded his new capital, modeled on the Western ideas he forced upon his country. FTP, who was this victor in the Great Northern War who from 1682-1725 ruled Russia

SOLUTION: History

PROBLEM: One aspect of this god attempted to shoot the sun with an arrow but ended up shooting himself. Temples to another of his aspects were constructed as cylinders in order to reduce wind resistance. Also known by the calendar name "One Reed", he used his blood and the ground bones of four previous races of man to construct the humans of the fifth age. This deity once drunkenly slept with either a temple priestess or his own sister, then burned himself to death, due to the machinations of a fellow son of (*) Ometeotl. His heart became the morning star, while the evening star was represented by his dog-headed skeletal psychopomp brother Xolotl. For 10 points, Hernan Cortes is not to be confused with which rival of Tezcatlipoca, an Aztec god usually represented as a feathered serpent

SOLUTION:
Social Science