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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
As the novels of Machado de Assis make clear, for most Brazilians the War of Triple Alliance against Paraguay in the 1860s was a remote affair which scarcely impinged on their lives. In this respect the impact of the Paraguayan war on Brazil may be compared with that of the Napoleonic wars on the world of Jane Austen. In Argentina it was a different story. The war with Paraguay produced a sense of national trauma and crisis that makes it not hyperbolic to regard it as Argentina's Vietnam. This article seeks to trace the effect of the bloody conflict with Francisco Solano López on Argentine society. To simplify the analysis, the consequences of the war have been considered below under four headings which do not purport to be exhaustive or mutually exclusive: military, political (i.e., relating to the internal politics of Argentina), economic and international (concerned with Argentina's external relations).
1 There is a vast literature on the Paraguayan war and on Argentina’s role in it. Obviously the monumental work by Juan Beverina, La Guerra del Paraguay (Buenos Aires 1921) is fundamental. Any apparently unsubstantiated remarks in the text may be presumed to be drawn either from this work or from the archival collection of President Mitre’s writings during the Paraguayan war, Guerra del Paraguay, being volumes I-VI of the 27 volumes published as Archivo del General Mitre (27 vols. B.A. 1911–1913). This work will be denoted hereinafter as A.M.
2 These figures are arrived at by aggregating Beverina’s estimates in the various battles. The figures for internal fatalities are taken in a similar way from Sommariva, Luis, História de las intervenciones federales en las provincias, 2 vols. (B.A. 1929–31).Google Scholar
3 For the cholera epidemic see the reports by British ministers in Buenos Aires (Foreign Office Reports, Series 6, Argentina: hereinafter F.O./6.). Matthew to Stanley, 26 April, 28 May 1867, F.O.6/267; Gould to Stanley, 11 January, 25 January, 4 March 1868, F.O.6/273. Mitre’s main concern was that his troops should not be affected by the cholera. See his correspondence for April and May 1867 in A.M.V.pp. 121–142.
4 Máeder, Ernesto J., Evolución demográfica Argentina de 1810 á 1869 (Buenos Aires, 1969).Google Scholar
5 El Nacional (Buenos Aires), 17 April 1865.
6 Ford to Clarendon, 15 February 1866, F.O.6/262.
7 Mitre to Paz, 25 April 1866, A.M.VI p. 76.
8 Mitre to Paz, 24 May 1866, A.M.VI p. 88.
9 Paz to Mitre, 12 July, 30 August 1866, A.M.VI pp. 109, 127.
10 Mitre to Paz, 22 September 1866, A.M.VI p. 142.
11 La Tribuna (Buenos Aires) 29, 30 September 1866.
12 For details see Sommariva, Vol. 1.
13 Bosch, Beatriz, ‘Los desbandes de Basualdo y Toledo’, Revista de la Universidad de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires, 1959)Google Scholar Epoca V, Año IV, No. 2.
14 El Nacional, 1 August 1866.
15 Julio Campos to Juan Gelly y Obes, 24 June 1865, Revista de la Biblioteca Nacional Voi. 52 pp. 522–26.
l6 Taboada, Gaspar, ed. Los Taboada. Recuerdos históricos, 5 vols. (B.A. 1929–50), iii p. 473.Google Scholar
17 Mitre, Emilio to Gelly, Juan y Obes, , 12 June 1865, Revista de la Biblioteca Nacional Vol. 52 p. 503.Google Scholar
18 Taboada, Antonino to Gelly, Juan y Obes, , 18 July 1865, Revista de la Biblioteca Nacional Vol. 52 p. 595.Google Scholar
19 Paunero, to Gelly, Juan y Obes, , 18 June and 2 July 1865, Revista de la Bilioteca Nacional Vol. 52 pp. 520 & 530.Google Scholar
20 La Tribuna, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 February 1867.
21 La Nación Argentina, 15 September 1866.
22 El Nacional, 8 February 1867; La Tribuna, 9 February 1867.
23 For details of this event see the sections on Felipe Varela in Luna, Felix, Los Caudillos (B.A. 1966).Google Scholar
24 Memoria del Departamento de Guerra y Marina 1865 p. 40.
25 Memoria del Departamento de Guerra y Marinal 1866 Anexo G.
26 Gould to Stanley, 20 February 1868, F.O.6/273.
27 Memoria del Departamento de Marina y Guerra 1868 Anexo F.
28 Stuart to Clarendon, 22 July 1869, F.O.6/283 (Gordon’s letter enclosed).
29 Matthew to Stanley, 27 January 1867, F.O.6/267.
30 Stuart to Clarendon, 22 July 1869.
31 Mitre to Gelly y Obes, 25 January 1868, A.M.III p. 166.
32 Mitre to Paz, 4 October 1868, A.M. XXVII pp. 126–29.
33 Alberdi, J. B., Obras Completas (B.A. 1886), 6. p. 43.Google Scholar
34 Alberdi, J. B., Escritos Póstumos (B.A. 1895–1901), 9. p. 497.Google Scholar
35 McLynn, F. J., ‘The Argentine Presidential Election of 1868,’ Journal of Latin American Studies 11 No. 2 (1979) pp. 303–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
36 See the correspondence in late 1864 and early 1865 between Mitre and Urquizain A.M.II pp. 82–107.
37 Elizalde to Mitre, 27 July 1865, A.M.V.p. 227.
38 Lafuente to Mitre, 2 October 1866, M.M.6, 170 (Unpublished correspondence of President Mitre in Museo Mitre, Buenos Aires).
39 Lafuente to Mitre, 10 October 1866, M.M.6, 171.
40 Ford to Clarendon, 3 May 1866, F.O.6/262.
41 Paz to Mitre, June 1867, A.M.VI pp. 212–213; Ford to Clarendon, 23 May 1866, F.O.6/262; Matthew to Stanley, II September 1867, F.0.6/268.
42 La Nación Argentina 29, 30, 31 August 1867.
43 See F. J. McLynn, loc. cit.
44 Stuart to Clarendon, 13 November 1869, F.O.6/284. On becoming president, Domingo Sarmiento found that the debt on current acount alone was six million pesos. See Sarmiento, to Posse, , February 1869, Epistolario entre Posse y Sarmiento, 2 vols. (B.A. 1946), I. pp. 232–33.Google Scholar
45 Stuart to Clarendon, 26 April 1869, F.O.6/282.
46 For these figures see the detailed breakdown in Sommariva, , Las intervenciones federales op.cit., 2. p. 367.Google Scholar
47 Paz to Mitre, 21 December 1865, A.M.V.p.21.
48 Paz to Mitre, 27 December 1865, A.M.V.p.21.
49 La Nación Argentina, 22 April 1865.
50 La Nación Argentina, 29 April 1865.
51 Hutchinson, Thomas J., The Parana (London 1868) p. 297.Google Scholar
52 Diario de Sesiones de la Cámara de Diputados 1865 (B.A. 1892) p. 72.
53 Ferns, H. S., Britain and Argentina in the Nineteenth Century (London 1960) p. 359.Google Scholar
54 Casarino, Nicolas, El Banco de la Provincia de Buenos Aires en su primer centenario (Buenos Aires, 1922)Google Scholar; Garrigos, O., El Banco de la Provincia (B.A. 1873).Google Scholar
55 Thornton to Russell, 8 June 1865, F.O.6/256.
56 Mitre to Elizalde, 4 January 1866, A.M.V.p.96.
57 Alberdi, J. B., Obras Completas, 6. p. 445.Google Scholar
58 Junior, Caio Prado, História económica del Brasil (Buenos Aires, 1960) pp. 154–55.Google Scholar
59 Alberdi, J.B., Estudios económicos (B.A. 1934), p. 285.Google Scholar
60 Peña, Rodolfo Ortega & Duhalde, Eduardo L., Baring Brothers y la História política argentina (Buenos Aires, 1968).Google Scholar
61 This is the theme of Pomer, León, La guerra del Paraguay. Gran negocio (Buenos Aires, 1968).Google Scholar
62 This point can be soon grasped by a reading of Mitre, Adolfo, El pensamiento de Mitre (Buenos Aires, 1943)Google Scholar which provides relevant excerpts from his oeuvre. For an explicit statement see Thornton to Russell, 6 May 1865, F.O.6/256.
63 This point is sustained in some detail in the writings of Alberdi, particularly volume six of the Obras Completas. For a concise statement see Rosa, José Maria, La Guerra del Paraguay y las montoneras argentinas (Buenos Aires, 1964).Google Scholar
64 Stuart to Clarendon, 22 July 1869, F.O.6/283.
65 For the railways see (for two completely contrasting viewpoints) Ferns, H. S., Britain and Argentina in the Nineteenth Century (London 1960) pp. 339–42Google Scholar; R. Scalabrini Ortiz, História de los ferrocarriles argentinos.
66 Cuccorese, Horacio J., História de la conversión dei papel moneda en Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires, 1959), p. 21.Google Scholar
67 Gibson, H., The History and present state of the sheep breeding industry in the Argentine Republic (Buenos Aires, 1893) p. 50.Google Scholar
68 Diario de sesiones de la cámara de diputados 1866 (Buenos Aires, 1892) p. 48.
69 Peterson, H. F., Argentina and the United States 1810–1960 (New York, 1964) p. 158.Google Scholar
70 Alvarez, Juan, Temas de História económica (Buenos Aires, 1929) p. 308.Google Scholar
71 Panatierri, José, La crisis ganadera (Buenos Aires, 1965) p.31.Google Scholar
72 Alvarez, , Temas op. cit. p. 212.Google Scholar
73 Panettieri, , La crisis ganadera op cit. p. 118.Google Scholar
74 Montoya, Alfredo, História de los saladeros argentinos (Buenos Aires, 1956) p. 82.Google Scholar
75 For this aspect of the Paraguayan war see the exhaustive survey in Pomer, , La guerra del Paraguay op. cit. pp. 297–309.Google Scholar
76 Burton, R. F., Letters from the battlefields of Paraguay (London 1870) p. 201.Google Scholar
77 Doria to Russell, 14 October 1862, F.O.6/241.
78 Doria to Russell, 26 November 1862, F.O.6/241.
79 Thornton to Russell, 22 January 1864, F.O.6/250.
80 Thornton to Russell, 27 & 28 May 1864, F.O.6/250.
81 Thornton to Russell, 14 & 25 October 1864, F.O.6/251.
82 Ford to Clarendon, 26 April 1866, F.O.6/262.
83 Ford to Clarendon, 21 & 22 August 1866, F.O.6/263.
84 Thornton to Russell, 6 May 1865, F.O.6/256.
85 La Tribuna, 28, 30 August 1866.
86 Matthew to Stanley, 11 August 1867, F.O.6/268.
87 See the correspondence in Archivo del Coronel Doctor Paz, 6 vols. (Buenos Aires, 1959-65), III. pp. 305–06; correspondence between Mitre, and Elizalde, in Elizalde-Mitre correspondencia (B.A. 1960) p. 300 Google Scholar; Matthew to Stanley, 28 July 1867, F.O.6/267.
88 Ford to Stanley, 21 August 1866, F.O.6/263; Matthew to Stanley, 26 September 1867, F.O.6/268.
89 Elizalde to Mitre, 28 November 1866, A.M.XXVII p. 236.
90 de Herrera, Luis Alberto, La culpa mitrista, 2 vols. (B.A. 1965), 1. p. 63.Google Scholar
91 El Nacional, 14 January 1869.
92 Stuart to Stanley, 25 September 1868, F.O.6/275.
93 Sarmiento, to Posse, , February 1869, Epistolario entre Posse y Sarmiento op. cit., 1. pp. 232–33.Google Scholar
94 Alberdi, J. B., Escritos póstumos op. cit., 8 p. 631 Google Scholar; IX. p. 613.
95 El Nacional, 14 January 1869.
96 Stuart to Stanley, 26 Decmeber 1868, F.O.6/275.
97 La Tribuna, 19, 20 January 1869.
98 Stuart to Clarendon, 28 May .1869, F.O.6/283.
99 Stuart to Clarendon, 6 December 1869, F.O.6/284.
100 Stuart to Clarendon, 13 November 1869, F.O.6/284.
101 Stuart to Clarendon, 28 May 1869, F.O.6/283.
102 The delegation to Río was headed by ex-president Mitre and war between the two nations was narrowly averted. See Strauss, Norman T. ‘Brazil after the Paraguayan War,’ Journal of Latin American Studies 10(1) May 1978 pp. 21–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
103 For the rebuff of French peace proposals see La Tribuna 28, 30 August 1866. The British Minister in Uruguay obtained a copy of the treaty of Triple Alliance from the Uruguayan Foreign Minister and sent it to Lord Russell in London. Russell was so disgusted with the provisions of the treaty that he inserted it in the Blue book, ‘Correspondence respecting hostilities in the River Plate in continuation of papers presented to the parliament on 30 June 1865,’ which was laid before Parliament on 2 March 1866.
104 For a representative example of the state of US-Argentine relations see Gould to Stanley, 10 April 1868, F.O.6/273.
