page_title: History of Paraguay
section_title: Revolution of 1904
hierarchical_section_title: History of Paraguay / Liberal era, 1904–36 / Revolution of 1904
caption_attribution_description: Español: Eduardo Schaerer
context_page_description: The history of Paraguay is a result of development and interaction of varying cultures of indigenous peoples in Paraguay and overseas immigrants who together have created the modern-day Paraguay. Paraguay celebrates Independence Day on May 15, from 1811 to now.
  William E. Barrett wrote: "Paraguay is the country of prophecy. One of the two smallest nations [as of 1952] on the American continent, it was the first American communistic state, the first American nation to be governed by an absolute dictator."
context_section_description: The 1904 Revolution was organized in Buenos Aires by Paraguayan exiles led by Manuel J. Duarte who was serving in the Argentine navy. Rebels used Paraguayan merchant ship Sajonia, whose captain was a Liberal supporter. On August 4, 1904 rebels took control of the ship in the port of Buenos Aires. The ship later was boarded by Liberal soldiers who brought thousands of rifles, machine guns and small artillery guns on board.
  After learning about this ship, President Juan Antonio Escurra declared a state of siege on August 8. The Paraguayan army at that time had some 1500 and no real navy, so another merchant ship, Villa Rica, was used for military purposes and sent towards Sajonia. Both ships met on August 11 near town of Pilar and very quickly Villa Rica was sunk, killing 28 government sailors. Rebels then left the ship and for the next five months continued a war with the government. The fighting ended on December 12, 1904, when in a deal negotiated by Brazilian diplomat Brasílio Itiberê da Cunha, the Pilcomayo Pact, Escurra resigned and a temporary President, Juan Bautista Gaona, from the Liberal party was sworn in on December 19, 1904. On November 25, 1906, the old Liberal hero, General Benigno Ferreira, was elected to the presidency.
  By 1908, the Liberal radicales had overthrown General Ferreira and the cívicos. The Liberals had disbanded Caballero's army when they came to power and organized a completely new one. Nevertheless, by 1910 army commander Colonel Albino Jara felt strong enough to stage a coup against President Manuel Gondra. Jara's coup backfired as it touched off an anarchic two-year period in which every major political group seized power at least once and led to the Civil War of 1912. The radicales again invaded from Argentina, and when the charismatic Eduardo Schaerer became president, Gondra returned as Minister of War to reorganize the army once more. Schaerer became the first president since Egusquiza to finish his four-year term.
  The new political calm was shattered, however, when the radicales split into Schaerer and Gondra factions. Gondra won the Presidential election in 1920, but the schaereristas undermined his power and forced him to resign. A full-scale Paraguayan Civil War of 1922–23 between the factions broke out in May 1922 and lasted fourteen months. The gondristas beat the schaereristas decisively and held on to power until 1936.
  Laissez-faire Liberal policies had permitted a handful of hacendados to exercise almost feudal control over the countryside, while peasants had no land and foreign interests manipulated Paraguay's economic fortunes. The Liberals, like the Colorados, were a deeply factionalized political oligarchy. Social conditions – always marginal in Paraguay – deteriorated during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The country clearly needed reforms in working conditions, public services, and education.
caption: Eduardo Schaerer
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