REVOLUTIONS, CIVIL WARS and COUPS D'ETAT: Internal Disturbances in Paraguay during the 20th Century

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Paraguay is almost certainly the least known country in the Western Hemisphere. Bisected by the river from which it derives its name, its western frontier is bounded by the Pilcomayo River and its southern and eastern extremities by the Upper Parana, together making it, paradoxically, a landlocked island.

The country fought in two of the three major wars between sovereign Latin American states which have occurred during the two centuries since they gained their independence, including the bloody war of the Triple Alliance (against Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil) and the Chaco War, in which it resoundingly trounced Bolivia.

It has also been ruled over by some bizarre tyrants and has suffered more than its fair share of internal disturbances, most of them during the 20th Century, including at least five bloody revolutions, many relatively bloodless coups d'etat, and two major Civil wars (1922-23 and 1947).

All of these had both land, naval and even amphibious elements (landlocked Paraguay has a Navy, a Marine Corps, and a Naval Air Arm!), the most recent also including aerial conflict, the first air-to-air combat in the Western Hemisphere taking place during the Civil War of 1922-23. It is with the military aspects of all of these that the present book is concerned. Although conducted on a necessarily miniature scale, these involved a microcosm of modern warfare, only chemical, biological and nuclear dimensions being mercifully absent. Anyone concerned with obscure conflicts should find the book fascinating.