Chaco War

José Estigarribla

The Chaco War was a smaller war that coincided with the Patagonian War as Argentina was forced to fight to wars at the same time. The Causes of this war was mostly the insanity of the Paraguayan Military Government believing that Argentina being distracted by the war would be a perfect conflict. However this would bring in Bolivia into the war causing Paraguay to lose the war before it really even started. The forces of Argentina and Bolivia not only outnumbered their Paraguayan counterparts but also out classed them with Paraguay having a barley trained army. Paraguay also still hadn't recovered from the war of the Triple Alliance against it (Witch it still hasn't) and thus was in a weaker position than it was in 1850. This along with economic factors caused the defeat of Paraguay and the reason for the protracting of the war was Argentina's focus on the much larger Patagonian War. Once that conflict ended the writing was on the wall and only 3 weeks later Paraguay would fall. Unlike the Patagonian War this conflict did not end up being a proxy war given that both sides held the same ideology, Integralisim. The end result of this war was that Paraguay's military government was removed from power to be replaced with a new military government loyal to Argentina and Bolivia, However the treaty that ended the war would also put Paraguay in quite a dangerous limbo of being a puppet to two countries.

## Prelude

The origins of the Chaco War go back to several wars in the past century with the War of the Triple alliance in witch Paraguay attempted to act on its land claims to Brazilian and Argentine Territory. And another war with Bolivia in the past, also called the Chaco War, leading to confusion amongst scholars on how to distinguish between the two. These conflicting land claims would end up being the main justification for the war but the true causes of the war go forward in time to the year of 1936. The Black Monday Crisis had hit the country of Paraguay hard and it ended up having an integralist military dictatorship seize full control over the country. However it quickly became an unpopular government as it was clear that the dictatorship was more corrupt than the republic that preceded it. Bolivia would also undergo a similar process with a military coup that established an unpopular government with similar ideals to the one in Paraguay. However Paraguay and Bolivia were teetering on the edge with socialist revolutions looming as the people wished to try a new ideology. The Patagonian War would exacerbate this issue but the Paraguayan military government had the brilliant idea of trying to get its land claims while Argentina was fighting Chile and by winning restoring its popularity at home. Thus Paraguay would declare war on Argentina. However the Bolivian government recognized an opportunity here to avenge the loss in the earlier war and also to save its own popularity. Thus Bolivia would declare war on Paraguay, turning what should have been an easy victory for Paraguay into a slog.

## 1939

The first few days of the war would see the general Paraguayan offensive into Argentina as large swaths of territory were taken as Argentine troops were on he other side of the country fighting Chile and Patagonia. However the entry of Bolivia into the war would see thousands of Bolivian troops cross into Argentina to garrison the front line. This would end up being a smart decision as the Paraguayans were significantly slowed down. Soon Argentina would send new conscripts to the north instead of the south mostly to contain Paraguay for the time being as the actually important war was being fought with Chile. Paraguay realized that if it was unable to push it would lose the war and thus it would launch what is commonly called the "Esquina Offensive" due to the city that would wrapped up in the most decisive battle of the war. Paraguay would in early December launch an offensive into the Santa Fe and Corrientes province as the Chaco Province had already fallen. However Paraguayan troops would quickly begin losing supplies and they would end up turning the offensive away from trying to reach Rosario to trying to secure the supply base at Esquina. The Battle of Esquina is equated to the Battle of Odessa in the Second Weltkrieg however on a much smaller scale. The Paraguayan forces would lay an incomplete siege of the city hoping to secure a base full of supplies. However this would fail miserably as one the supplies had been moved to Paraná, and two because the Paraguayans did not have the forces to fully man the frontline as they had become woefully overextended. By the end of the year the battle was still ongoing and Bolivia would make its move. It would launch an offensive into the Alto Paraguay department forcing Paraguay to divert forces from the Esquina Offensive. This would ultimately result in the reclamation of most of the territory lost in the First Chaco War but also would force Paraguay to stop the Offensive. Argentina would soon lick its wounds and next year they would launch the devastating counteroffensive.

## 1940

Going into 1940 the war was quite active with both sides having launched offensives onto each other. However Argentina would soon launch its own offensive as the Patagonian war was in stalemate due to the winds of summer causing a crossing of the Andes to be momentarily impossible. Argentina would soon launch the Resistencia Offensive in witch it would attack with all of the forces that were pulled off from the Patagonian War. In the Span of only a month in conjunction with Bolivian forces almost all the territory seized by the Paraguayans would end up being lost with Paraguay only holding onto portions of the Formosa, Chaco, and Corrientes Provinces while having the entirety of the Misiones Province. However the Paraguayans would take a new approach with trying to bleed the other two dry. Thus they would take the city of Resistencia and would fortify it into a city full of traps and killing chambers. Argentina and Bolivia would quickly try and take the city in hopes of clearing out the stronghold s to not leave a large force behind them while continuing the offensive. This would end up being a mistake as the battle would continue for the entirety of March and April. However Bolivia would launch its own offensive once again and would take the city of Loma Plata causing the fall of the last major settlement in the Boquerón Department witch would later cause it to fall completely. However disaster would then strike for Paraguay as the Patagonian War ended, Argentina would send the entirety of its army onto Paraguay witch would cause the city of Resistencia to fall within only a few days after the end of the Patagonian War. This would prompt Paraguay to withdrawal from Argentina completely as to shorten the front line. But this would end up not mattering as the new defensive line was quickly broken as Paraguay had lost most of its manpower in the battles of Esquina and Resistencia. Argentine forces would soon arrive outside the city of Asunción, witch would soon become the last major battle of the war. The city would be encircled and pressed in from all sides and one by one divisions would fall and streets would be taken. Soon Paraguayan forces forces back to the Palacio de los López as it would be placed under siege. With little hope of victory the Paraguayan government would capitulate but scattered fighting would take place in the rest of Paraguay as several units refused to surrender. With this the war was over and the Treaty of Rosario would begin the process of organizing a new order in Paraguay.

## Treaty of Rosario

The Treaty of Rosario was mostly a discussion about the future of Paraguay. Bolivia would be given back its old territory while Argentina wouldn't take much. However a major discussion was about what would be the future of the Paraguayan government as it was unacceptable to Argentina and Bolivia to have a hostile government in Paraguay running things. Thus after some discussions it was quickly decided that the government of Paraguay would be overthrown but it wasn't clear what would replace the Paraguayan government. While several ideas were thrown out there, in the end it was decided to replace the Paraguayan government with a joint administration by Bolivia and Paraguay with a puppet government in charge. And after specifics were laid out the fate of Paraguay was sealed. But this fate for Paraguay would shake the South American continent in more ways than one.

## Aftermath

The Aftermath of the Chaco War would end up causing more effects to South America than the actual war than itself. Nations all across the world were shocked at the punishments given to Chile and especially Paraguay and they began to band together in order to prevent such things from happening to themselves. Thus Argentina and its allies would end up getting ostracized from the rest of South America witch would cause hits for their economy. This war would also save the government of Bolivia and Argentina from being overthrown as their governments were celebrated at home for their victories. However another nation would be directly effected by this as Uruguay had nobody to protect it. And after seeing what happened to Paraguay it would become an Argentine puppet upon threatening of invasion and slowly it would be annexed. And thus fell another domino into the developing rivalry within South America.