Lopez War.

This is coolbert:

The Gran Chaco War I am familiar with. From the time of the Great Depression. Paraguay and Bolivia contesting the borders of and the dominion over a wasteland very sparsely populated but thought to contain immense petroleum reserves.

Paraguay again and that War of the Triple Alliance I was not familiar with.

Paraguay during a much earlier period in conflict with the combined forces of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.

"The Paraguayan War, also known as the War of the Triple Alliance, was an international military conflict in South America fought from 1864 to 1870 between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. It is said to have caused approximately 400,000 deaths, one of the highest ratios of fatalities to combatants of any war in South America in modern history. It was the longest and bloodiest inter-state war in Latin American history. It particularly devastated Paraguay, which suffered catastrophic losses in population—some claim that almost 70% of its adult male population died—and was forced to cede territory to Argentina and Brazil."

Consider not so much the fighting of the war itself but the aftermath. As described in a recent "MILITARY HISTORY" magazine article by Jorge E. Taracido .

"The war was a calamity for Paraguay, with battle, mass executions, starvation and disease claiming the lives of somewhere between 500,000 and 1 million of its people - - more than half of its prewar population. Some scholars speculate that 90 percent of the nation's male population was killed."

My instantaneous thought was that when speaking of 90 % "of the nation's male population was killed" this meant 90 % of the MILITARY-AGE MALE POPULATION KILLED. That statistic seems to be overblown?

"Moreover, the allies devastated Paraguay's industry and economy while systematically looting or destroying much of the nations' cultural heritage. At war's end occupation officials banned instruction in the native Guarani [Ghwar-a-nee] language spoken by the vast majority of the population - - a prohibition only lifted officially in 1992. Paraguay ceded nearly 55,000 square miles of disputed territory to Brazil in the Mato Grosso state and to Argentina in the Gran Chaco and Misiones regions. The victors occupied the nation fully on in part for nine years and imposed crippling war reparations. While Uruguay forgave reparations payment in 1885, Argentina and Brazil collected theirs until 1942 and 1943 respectively"

War indemnity and harsh reparations as a result of negotiated war-ending treaty are a thing of the past?

"What is worse than fighting a war?" "Losing a war!!" 

coolbert.