Duke of Caxias
Bartolome Miter
Venancio Flores Side forces At the beginning of the war, about 38,000 At the beginning of the war, about 26,000 Military casualties about 300,000 people; scores vary greatly from 90,000 to 100,000 people

Paraguayan War(War of the Triple Alliance) - the war of Paraguay against the alliance of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay that lasted from December 13, 1864 to March 1, 1870. It began at the end of 1864 with the conflict between Paraguay and Brazil; since 1865, Argentina and Uruguay have taken part in the war.

The result of the war was the complete defeat of Paraguay and the loss, according to some sources, of 90% of the adult male population (the population from 525,000-1,350,000 people, according to various estimates, before the war decreased to 221,000 after it (), of which only 28,000 were adult men). After the victory of the Triple Alliance troops over the regular Paraguayan army, the conflict turned into a guerrilla war, which led to huge casualties among civilians. Territorial losses (almost half of the country's land), the death of most of the population and the destruction of industry have turned Paraguay into one of the most backward countries in Latin America.

Background to the conflict

Territorial claims of the parties

Paraguay before the war

It should be noted that the pre-war development of Paraguay differed significantly from the development of the neighboring states of South America. Under the rule of José Francia and Carlos Antonio López, the country developed almost in isolation from the rest of the region. The leadership of Paraguay supported the course of building a self-sufficient, autonomous economy. The Lopez regime (in 1862, Carlos Antonio Lopez was replaced as president by his son, Francisco Solano Lopez) was characterized by rigid centralization, leaving no room for the development of civil society.

Most of the land (about 98%) was in the hands of the state; the state also carried out a significant part of the production activity. There were so-called "estates of the Motherland" (Spanish. Estancia de la Patria) - 64 government-run economy. More than 200 foreign specialists invited to the country laid telegraph lines and railways, which contributed to the development of the steel, textile, paper, printing, shipbuilding and gunpowder industries.

The government completely controlled exports. The main goods exported from the country were valuable species of wood and mate. The policy of the state was rigidly protectionist; imports were actually blocked by high customs duties. Unlike neighboring states, Paraguay did not take external loans. Francisco Solano Lopez continued this policy of his predecessors.

At the same time, the government began to modernize the army. The foundry at Ibikui, built in 1850, produced cannons and mortars, as well as ammunition of all calibers; warships were built in the shipyards of Asuncion.

The growth of industrial production urgently required contact with the international market. However, Paraguay, located in the interior of the continent, had no access to the sea. To reach it, ships leaving the river ports of Paraguay had to go down the Parana and Paraguay rivers, reach La Plata, and only then go out into the ocean. Lopez's plans were to acquire a port on the Atlantic coast, which was possible only with the capture of part of the Brazilian territory.

In preparation for the implementation of these goals, the development of the military industry was continued. Compulsory to the army military service a significant number of soldiers were called up; they were intensively trained. Fortifications were built at the mouth of the Paraguay River.

Diplomatic training was also carried out. An alliance was concluded with the National Party ruling in Uruguay ("Blanco", "White"); respectively, Blanco's rival, the Colorado Party ("Colored"), found support from Argentina and Brazil.

The situation in the La Plata basin before the war

Ever since Brazil and Argentina gained independence, there has been an ongoing struggle between the governments of Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro for hegemony in the La Plata basin. This rivalry largely determined the foreign and domestic policies of the countries of the region. In 1825-1828, the contradictions between Brazil and Argentina led to war; its result was the independence of Uruguay (finally recognized by Brazil in 1828). After that, twice more the governments of Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires almost started hostilities against each other.

The goal of the Argentine government was to unite all the countries formerly part of the Viceroyalty of La Plata (including Paraguay and Uruguay). Since the first half of the 19th century, it has made attempts to achieve this, but without success - largely due to the intervention of Brazil. It was Brazil, then ruled by the Portuguese, that was the first country to recognize (in 1811) the independence of Paraguay. Fearing an excessive strengthening of Argentina, the government of Rio de Janeiro preferred to maintain a balance of power in the region, helping Paraguay and Uruguay maintain their independence.

In addition, Paraguay itself has repeatedly interfered in the politics of Argentina. So, from to 1852, Paraguayan troops fought against the Buenos Aires government, along with detachments from the provinces of Corrientes and Entre Rios. During this period, Paraguay's relations with Brazil were especially warm, which was also at enmity with Argentine President Juan Manuel Rosas. Until his overthrow in 1852, the Brazilians continued to provide Asuncion with military and technical assistance, paying special attention to the fortifications on the Parana River and strengthening the Paraguayan army.

It is also worth noting that the Brazilian province of Mato Grosso was not connected to Rio de Janeiro by land roads and Brazilian ships were required to pass through Paraguayan territory along the Paraguay River in order to reach Cuiaba. However, it was often difficult to obtain permission from the Paraguayan government to do so.

Another hotbed of tension in the region was Uruguay. Brazil had significant financial interests in this country; its citizens enjoyed significant influence - both economic and political. Thus, the company of the Brazilian businessman Irineu Evangelista de Suza was actually the state bank of Uruguay; Brazilians owned about 400 estates (port. estancias), occupying about a third of the country's territory. Particularly acute for this influential stratum of Uruguayan society was the issue of a tax on livestock driven from the Brazilian province of Rio Grande do Sul.

Three times during this period, Brazil intervened politically and militarily in the affairs of Uruguay - in, against Manuel Oribe and Argentine influence; c, at the request of the Uruguayan government and Venancio Flores, leader of the Colorados party (a traditional ally of the Brazilians); and in 1864, against Atanasio Aguirre - the last intervention and served as the impetus for the start of the Paraguayan War. Probably, in many ways these actions were facilitated by Great Britain, which did not want to unite the La Plata basin into a single state capable of solely using the resources of the region.

Brazilian intervention in Uruguay

Brazilian army officer and soldier

In April 1864, Brazil sent to Uruguay diplomatic mission led by José António Saraiva. Its purpose was to demand compensation for the losses caused to Brazilian Gaucho farmers in border conflicts with Uruguayan farmers. Uruguayan President Atanasio Aguirre (National Party) rejected the Brazilian claims.

Solano López offered to mediate the negotiations, but the Brazilians opposed the offer. In August 1864, Paraguay severed diplomatic relations with Brazil, and announced that the occupation of Uruguay by Brazilian troops would upset the balance of the region.

On October 12, Brazilian units invaded Uruguay. Supporters of Venancio Flores and the Colorado Party, backed by Argentina, allied themselves with the Brazilians and overthrew Aguirre.

War

The beginning of the war

Attacked by the Brazilians, the Uruguayan Blancos asked Lopez for help, but Paraguay did not provide it immediately. Instead, on November 12, 1864, the Paraguayan ship "Takuari" captured the Brazilian ship "Marquis Olinda", heading along the Paraguay River to the province of Mato Grosso; among other things, it was carrying a cargo of gold, military equipment, and the newly appointed governor of the province of Rio Grande do Sul, Frederico Carneiro Campos. On December 13, 1864, Paraguay declared war on Brazil, and three months later, on March 18, 1865, on Argentina. Uruguay, already under the rule of Venancio Flores, entered into an alliance with Brazil and Argentina, thus completing the formation of the Triple Alliance.

At the start of the war, the Paraguayan army had 38,000 well-trained soldiers out of 60,000 in reserve. The Paraguayan fleet consisted of 23 small steamships and a number of small ships grouped around the gunboat Takuari, and almost all of these ships were converted from civilian ones. The 5 newest battleships ordered in Europe did not have time to arrive before the start of hostilities, and later they were even outbid by Brazil and became part of its fleet. Paraguayan artillery consisted of about 400 guns.

The armies of the states of the Triple Alliance were inferior to the Paraguayan ones in numbers. Argentina had about 8,500 people in regular units, as well as a squadron of four steamers and one schooner. Uruguay entered the war without a navy and with less than 2,000 men. Most of the 16,000th Brazilian army was previously garrisoned in the south of the country; at the same time, Brazil had a powerful fleet, consisting of 42 ships with 239 guns and a staff of 4,000 sailors. At the same time, a significant part of the fleet under the command of the Marquis of Tamandare was already concentrated in the La Plata basin (for intervention against Aguirre).

Soldiers of the Brazilian Corps "Volunteers of the Motherland"

Despite the significant number of troops, Brazil was not ready for war. Her army was poorly organized; the troops used in Uruguay consisted mainly of detachments of regional politicians and some parts of the National Guard. In this regard, the Brazilian troops that fought in the Paraguayan War were not professional, but were recruited by volunteers (the so-called Volunteers of the Motherland - port. Voluntarios da Patria). Many were slaves sent by farmers. The cavalry was formed from the National Guard of the Province of Rio Grande do Sul.

Paraguayan offensive

In the first period of the war, the initiative was in the hands of the Paraguayans. The first battles of the war - the invasion of Mato Grosso in the north in December 1864, Rio Grande do Sul in the south in early 1865, and the Argentine province of Corrientes - were forced on the allies by the advancing Paraguayan army.

Two groups of Paraguayan troops simultaneously invaded Mato Grosso. Due to their numerical superiority, they were able to quickly capture the province.

Five thousand people under the command of Colonel Vicente Barrios in ten ships went up the Paraguay River and attacked the Brazilian fort of Nova Coimbra (now in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul). A small garrison of 155 men under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Ermengildo de Albuquerque Port Carrera (later promoted to Baron Fort Coimbra) defended the fort for three days. Running out of supplies, the defenders abandoned the fort and sailed aboard the gunboat Anyambai towards Corumba. Having occupied the abandoned fort, the attackers continued to advance north, and in January 1865 they took the cities of Albuquerque and Corumba. Several Brazilian ships, including Anyambai, went to the Paraguayans.

The second column of Paraguayan troops, numbering four thousand people under the command of Colonel Francisco Isidoro Reskin, invaded the territory of Mato Grosso to the south. One of the detachments of this group, under the command of Major Martin Urbieta, on December 29, 1864, ran into fierce resistance from a small detachment of Brazilians, numbering 16 people, under the command of Lieutenant António Joan Ribeiro. Only by completely destroying them, the Paraguayans were able to move on. Having defeated the troops of Colonel José Diaz da Silva, they continued their offensive in the direction of the Nioaque and Miranda regions. In April 1865, the Paraguayans reached the Cochin area (now the north of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul).

Despite successes, the Paraguayan troops did not continue their advance on Cuiaba, the provincial capital of Mato Grosso. The main reason for this was that the main purpose of the Paraguayan strike in this area was to divert Brazilian forces from the south, where the decisive events of the war were to unfold in the La Plata basin.

The second stage of the Paraguayan offensive was the invasion of the Argentine province of Corrientes and the Brazilian Rio Grande do Sul. The Paraguayans could not help the Uruguayan "Blancos" directly - for this it was necessary to cross the territory belonging to Argentina. Therefore, in March 1865, the government of F. S. López turned to the Argentine President Bartolome Mitra with a request to pass an army of 25,000 people under the command of General Wenceslao Robles through the province of Corrientes. However, Mitre, who had recently been an ally of the Brazilians in the intervention against Uruguay, refused.

On March 18, 1865, Paraguay declared war on Argentina. The Paraguayan squadron, descending the Parana River, locked the Argentine ships in the port of Corrientes, and the units of General Robles that followed took the city.

Invading the territory of Argentina, the López government tried to enlist the support of Justo José de Urquiza, the governor of the province of Corrientes and Entre Rios, who was the head of the federalists and an opponent of Mitre and the government in Buenos Aires. However, Urquiza took an ambiguous stance towards the Paraguayans, who were forced to halt their advance after marching south for about 200 kilometers.

Simultaneously with the troops of Robles, the Argentine border south of Encarnacion was crossed by the 10,000th detachment of Lieutenant Colonel Antonio de la Cruz Estigarribia. In May 1865, he reached the Brazilian province of Rio Grande do Sul, went down the Uruguay River and on June 12, 1865 took the city of Sao Borja. Uruguayana, located to the south, was taken on August 5, with little resistance.

Argentina's difficulties

Boy - drummer of the Argentine infantry regiment

The outbreak of war with Paraguay did not lead to the consolidation of forces within Argentina. The opposition was extremely wary of Miter's initiative to enter into an alliance with Brazil. Many in the country saw the war with Paraguay as fratricidal; the notion that the true cause of the conflict was not Paraguayan aggression, but the exorbitant personal ambitions of President Mitre, has become widespread. Supporters of this version noted that Lopez invaded Brazil, having every reason to consider Miter his supporter and even ally, and the transition of Argentina to the side of Brazil was completely unexpected for the Paraguayans. However, the development of events was quite favorable for the supporters of the war. Very timely, news was received about the abduction of local residents by Paraguayans in the province of Corrientes. As a result, the war continued.

Throughout the war in Argentina, speeches continued, demanding, in particular, an end to the war. So, on July 3, 1865, an uprising of 8,000 military personnel of the militia of the province of Entre Rios took place in Basualdo, who refused to fight against the Paraguayans. AT this case The Buenos Aires government refrained from taking punitive measures against the rebels, but the next uprising in Toledo (November 1865) was decisively suppressed with the help of Brazilian troops. In November 1866, the rebellion, having started in the province of Mendoza, spread to the neighboring provinces of San Luis, San Juan, and La Rioja. A significant part of the Argentine forces was sent to suppress this speech, President Mitre was forced to return from Paraguay and personally lead the troops. In July 1867, the province of Santa Fe rebelled, in the province of Corrientes. The last uprising took place after the end of hostilities: in April 1870, the province of Entre Rios rebelled against Buenos Aires. These speeches, although they were suppressed, nevertheless significantly weakened the Argentines.

Brazilian actions

In April 1865, a column of Brazilian troops numbering 2,780 under the command of Colonel Manuel Pedro Dragou set out from the city of Uberaba in the province of Minas Gerais. The goal of the Brazilians was to move to the province of Mato Grosso to repulse the Paraguayans who invaded there. In December 1865, after a difficult 2,000-kilometer march through four provinces, the convoy arrived in Koshin. However, Koshin had already been abandoned by the Paraguayans. In September 1866, the troops of Colonel Dragou arrived in the Miranda region, also abandoned by the Paraguayans. In January 1867, a column, reduced to 1,680 men, with a new commander, Colonel Carlos de Morais Camisan at the head, attempted to invade Paraguayan territory, but was repulsed by the Paraguayan cavalry.

At the same time, despite the successes of the Brazilians, who took Corumba in June 1867, in general, the Paraguayans firmly entrenched themselves in the province of Mato Grosso, and retreated from it only in April 1868, being forced to move troops to the south of the country, to the main theater of military actions.

In the La Plata basin, communications were limited exclusively to rivers; there were only a few roads. Control over the rivers decided the course of the war, in connection with which the main Paraguayan fortifications were concentrated in the lower reaches of the Paraguay River.

While Lopez was already ordering the retreat of the units that occupied Corrientes, the troops advancing from Sant Borj continued to successfully advance south, occupying Ithaca and Uruguayana. On August 17, one of the detachments (3200 soldiers under the command of Major Pedro Duarte), who continued to move to Uruguay, was defeated by the allied forces under the command of the Uruguayan President Flores in the battle of Zhatai on the banks of the Uruguay River.

On June 16, the Brazilian army crossed the border of Rio Grande do Sul with the aim of encircling Uruguayana; Allied forces soon joined in. The Alliance troops were assembled in a camp near the city of Concordia (in the Argentine province of Entre Rios). The general command was carried out by Mitre, the Brazilian troops were commanded by Field Marshal Manuel Luis Ozoriu. Part of the force under the command of Lieutenant General Manuel Marques de Suza, Baron of Porto Alegre, was sent to complete the defeat of the Paraguayan troops near Uruguayana; the result was not slow to affect: on September 18, 1865, the Paraguayans surrendered.

In the following months, Paraguayan troops were driven out of the cities of Corrientes and San Cosme, leaving the last piece of Argentine land still in the hands of the Paraguayans. Thus, towards the end of 1865, the Triple Alliance went on the offensive. His armies, numbering over 50,000, were ready to invade Paraguay.

Allied invasion of Paraguay

The Allied invasion followed the course of the Paraguay River, starting from the Paraguayan fortress of Paso de la Patria. From April 1866 to July 1868, military operations took place near the confluence of the Paraguay and Parana rivers, where the Paraguayans located their main fortifications. Despite the initial successes of the Triple Alliance troops, these defenses delayed the advance of the allied forces for more than two years.

The fortress of Itapir was the first to fall. After the battles of Paso de la Patria (fell on April 25, 1866) and Estero Bellaco, the allied forces encamped in the marshes of Tuyuti. Here, on May 24, 1866, they were attacked by the Paraguayans; in this battle, the allies again prevailed. The First Battle of Tuyuti was the largest pitched battle in history. South America.

In July 1866, instead of the ill Field Marshal Osoriu, General Polidora da Fonseca Quintanilla Jordan took command of the 1st Corps of the Brazilian Army. At the same time, the 2nd Brazilian Corps, 10,000 men under the command of Baron Porto Alegre, arrived in the area of ​​operations from Rio Grande do Sul.

Battle of Kurupaiti (painting by Candido López)

In order to open the way to the most powerful Paraguayan fortress, Umaite, Mitre gave the order to capture the Kurusu and Curupaiti batteries. Curus managed to take Baron Porto Alegre's troops with a surprise attack, but the Curupaiti battery (commander - General José Eduvihis Diaz) put up significant resistance. An attack by 20,000 Argentine and Brazilian soldiers under the command of Mitre and Porto Alegre, supported by Admiral Tamandare's squadron, was repulsed. Heavy casualties (5,000 men in just a few hours) led to a crisis in command allied forces and stop the attack.

Decisive battles

On September 12, 1866, Francisco Solano López met with Argentine President Mitre. However, this attempt to conclude peace failed - primarily because of the opposition of the Brazilians, who did not want to end the war. The fighting continued.

Luis Alvis di Lima and Silva, Duke of Caxias

On October 10, 1866, Marshal Luis Alvis de Lima y Silva, Marquis of Caxias (later given the title of Duke) became the new commander of the Brazilian forces. Arriving in Paraguay in November, he found the Brazilian army practically paralyzed. Argentine and Uruguayan troops, devastated by disease, were stationed separately. Mitre and Flores, forced to deal with the internal politics of their countries, returned home. Tamandare was removed and Admiral Joaquín José Inacio (future Viscount Inhauma) was appointed in his place. Osoriu organized in Rio Grande do Sul the 3rd Corps of the Brazilian Army, which consisted of 5,000 people.

In Miter's absence, Caxias took command, immediately beginning the reorganization of the army. From November to July 1867, he took a number of measures to organize medical institutions (to help the many injured soldiers and to fight the cholera epidemic), and also significantly improved the supply system for the troops. During this period, hostilities were limited to small-scale skirmishes with the Paraguayans and the bombardment of Curupaity. Lopez took advantage of the disorganization of the enemy to strengthen the defense of the Umaity fortress.

As for Uruguay, neither Argentina nor Brazil interfered so actively in its politics any more. The Uruguayan Party of Colorado gained power in the country and ruled until 1958.

Most of the Paraguayan villages devastated by the war were abandoned, and their surviving residents moved to the vicinity of Asuncion. These settlements in the central part of the country have practically switched to subsistence farming; a significant portion of the land was bought up by foreigners, mainly Argentines, and turned into estates. Paraguayan industry was destroyed, the country's market was opened to British goods, and the government (for the first time in Paraguay's history) took out a £1 million foreign loan. Paraguay also had to pay an indemnity (it was never paid), and remained occupied until 1876.

Paraguayan war in art

The Paraguayan War left a significant mark on the art of the countries of the region. So, the Argentine artists Candido Lopez and Jose Ignacio Garmendia, the Brazilians Vitor Meirellis and Pedro America, and the Uruguayan Juan Manuel Blanes addressed the theme of hostilities in their paintings.

The war was also reflected in literature. Some works have gained some fame in Russia as well - as an example, we can mention the adventure novel by the Italian writer Emilio Salgari "The Treasure of the President of Paraguay". In addition, the events of the war received some reflection in the story of Arthur Conan Doyle about Sherlock Holmes "The Incident at Wisteria Lodge" (there is a translation of the title "In the Lilac Gatehouse"; English. The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge ), where in the fictional state of "San Pedro" it is easy enough to identify Paraguay. It is interesting to note that if Salgari treats the Paraguayans with obvious sympathy, then in the story of Conan Doyle the dictator "San Pedro" is referred to as "bloodthirsty".

Modern cinema also did not pass by the theme of the Paraguayan War. In 2001, the film Netu Loses His Soul was filmed in Brazil (port. Netto Perde Sua Alma; refers to General António de Sousa Neto), historical background for which the events of the Paraguayan War served.

Modern perception of war

To this day, the war remains a controversial topic - especially in Paraguay, where it is perceived as a fearless attempt little people to defend their rights - or as a suicidal, doomed to failure struggle against a superior enemy, which practically destroyed the nation to the ground.

In modern Russian journalism, the Paraguayan War is also perceived extremely ambiguously. At the same time, the views of the authors of the articles play a key role, while the events of the war are used to illustrate these views. So, Paraguay of that time can be presented as a forerunner of the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century, and the war - as a criminal consequence of the aggressive policy of this regime. In another, directly opposite version, the regime of Francia and Lopez looks like a successful attempt to create an economy independent of its neighbors and the then world leader - Great Britain. War, according to this point of view, is nothing more than a deliberate genocide of a small people who dared to challenge the most powerful power in the world and the imperialist system of the world as a whole.

Conclusion

The results of the war for a long time crossed Paraguay out of the list of states that have at least some weight in international affairs. It took decades for the country to recover from the chaos and demographic imbalance. Even today, the consequences of the war have not been completely overcome - Paraguay still remains one of the poorest states in Latin America.

Notes

1. www.elhistoriador.com.ar
2. PJ O'Rourke, Give War a Chance. New York: Vintage Books, 1992. Page 47.

URUGUAY, PARAGUAY - WHO YOU WANT TO CHOOSE!

The "fashion" for South America came to us with the literature of Marquez, Borges, Amadou and Carpentier, and in a broader sense - with endless television series that showed the Russian public that "there is life there too." Before that, “real” life was only imagined in Rio de Janeiro, which the apologist for walks in white pants never got to, and even in Buenos Aires, whose inhabitants, without exception, danced tango from morning to night. There was also the mysterious Amazon, in which flocks of predatory piranhas gnawed careless bathers to the bone. And in those parts there were many wild monkeys and Don Pedro. Perhaps everything.

Now she has become kinder. And with their wild character, South Americans are closer to us, and they are just as sentimental, and in the economy, things are about the same with us. There is another important aspect: North America, represented by the United States, Canada, and now Mexico, does not really favor our brother. For them, a tourist from Russia is a potential headache: what if he stays? In the Far East - SARS, "mask shows", in the Middle East - vicious women in black headscarves, threatening jihad, buses torn apart by explosions ... And here - mulattos dancing samba. Quite a different experience!

There are, of course, countries or individual megacities with a tarnished reputation. Soaked in blood ... For example, Colombia or Sao Paulo in Brazil, which are the absolute champions in the world in terms of the number of murders. But, to tell the truth, tourists rarely get "under distribution". Mafia doesn't care. The most calm and safe countries: Chile, Uruguay and Argentina, i.e., "South of South America".

I did the math. Let's say we plan to go to Europe together for a month. Budget - 4000 dollars. You will spend 600-700 dollars on air tickets, the rest is accommodation (in motels and the cheapest hotels), food (not in restaurants), public transport. South America for the same period: air tickets - 2000-2500, but the balance is enough for everything else without restrictions. The sea, marvelous nature, exotic fruits, etc. etc. In short, all thirty-three pleasures. And for not-so-family seekers of romantic adventures, here, according to a common but authoritative opinion, it’s just expanse.

After a pathetic ode to South America, I will move on to specifics, namely, our trip to two countries - Uruguay and Paraguay. There was also a trip to Brazil for almost a day, but it was made illegally, without presenting passports at the border, but since no one demanded to show them, this short-term visit can be considered quite legal. Although there were no visas in the passports anyway. But first things first.

Frankly, by the time the trip was scheduled, I was almost desperate to gather a suitable team for traveling to these countries. Even despite the fact that the conditions of participation assumed only the payment of air travel, visas and more than a modest amount of two hundred and fifty dollars for accommodation in Paraguay, the applicants bounced off like balls. Even the “Naturalists” (partners of the expedition to Papua New Guinea in November 2002, which entered the history of fem trips), who had a ticket reservation in their hands, decided at the last moment that there was practically nothing for their program to shoot there, and therefore there was nothing to fly. Indeed: there is one zoo for two countries, and you still need to run after the birds in nature with a half-pound camera! Mikhail Kozhukhov (“In Search of Adventures”), who had previously been to Uruguay and Paraguay, decided not without reason that these countries were very boring, although it was necessary to go. But the very detailed preparation of his program requires such efforts that the Uruguayans and the Paraguayans would rather send him to seek adventure far away than bother with this project ... It became clear that the places were disappearing. But now, as if a ray of the sun fell on my head, beginning to turn gray from despair! The bell rings: a new travel program is being prepared for broadcast on NTV. Can I come to Ostankino tomorrow morning? What's question! Certainly can.

And in two weeks - a flight to South America. Thank God almost everything is ready. You just need to get a visa.

Visa to Uruguay opens at the consulate in Moscow within 4-5 days. To do this, you need to hand over your passport, a photocopy of your internal passport (first spread + page with registration), 2 photos. An invitation from Uruguay is not formally required, but the consulate checks the data on who invites to the country indicated in the application form.

FROM Paraguay visa things get a little more complicated. The Embassy of Paraguay in Moscow was closed in 2000 "for economic reasons". There is a certain "representative of Paraguay on tourism issues", but he does not show himself in any way and signs of active public life does not submit. Paraguay is still on the list of countries with “visa-free entry for citizens of the Russian Federation”, but this information is hopelessly outdated.

From Paraguay itself, I received a letter from the director of one of the travel agencies, a German woman (and the Paraguayan travel business, along with the main industries, is almost completely under the control of German colonists), who convinced me that she had been working with three Moscow travel agencies for a long time, and Paraguay more than a Russian citizen loves that he does not need a visa. I checked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs list on the Internet - definitely not needed. But just in case, I called the site developers and asked when it was last updated. A year ago ... I decided to call Moscow tour operators in South America, pretending to be a sucker who needs to go to Asuncion tomorrow.

Do you ship to Paraguay?

We send.

And I urgently ... Do you need a visa there? I heard no.

Probably needed. We don't know for sure, but we can find out.

So I can find out...

In other places, more competent, they nevertheless admitted to me that they had experience in obtaining visas, but a few tourists were issued in Rio or Buenos Aires. It took, like, one day.

Formally, to apply for a visa, you must provide: 2 color photographs, a passport, air tickets, a credit card (or other confirmation of “consistency”), and a strange document called a “police record”. As far as I understand, we are talking about a certificate from the police that you "were not involved and were not involved", while it must be "legalized" in the Foreign Ministry. In short, complete nonsense. I did this: I scanned my passports and sent them to Asuncion with a ticket reservation to an old German who agreed to show us Paraguay at a divine price, he sent it all to the Consulate of Paraguay in Montevideo (Uruguay), agreeing with the consul that three Russians would come to them on the morning of June 17th. And so it happened. True, we were timidly asked for credit cards, but due to the lack of such in our country, the issue of credit cards was hushed up. The next day the visa was ready. It costs 45 USD from the nose, i.e. 3 dollars more expensive than Uruguayan.

We got to America “on the bed-posts”: on “Air France” to Sao Paulo, then on “Pluna” (Uruguayan airline) to Montevideo, from there via Buenos Aires to Asuncion on “TAM”; they returned to Buenos Aires and Alitalia through Rome to Moscow. I do not suggest this route, because it is unreasonably expensive, but if you use the Brazilian Varig, then you can fly to Montevideo for 1300-1350 USD. When booking a circular route with Asuncion, 1480 USD came out. You can just fly to Buenos Aires and then take the Buquebus ferry to Montevideo or Colonia del Sacramento. Two and a half hours sailing through La Plata (45 minutes to Colonia). 110 USD round trip, three times a day. Road connections to Argentina are via a bridge over the Uruguay River at Fray Mentos and Paysandu, but then it takes all day to get to Montevideo - Uruguay is only small by American standards. From Brazil, through the Rivera, you can enter Uruguay from the north, then on the way to Montevideo you can also visit the house of Carlos Gardel (the most famous "tango singer" of all time from Uruguay) in Tacuarembo. It will no longer be possible to enter either Uruguay or Paraguay by rail - the stations in Montevideo and Asuncion are closed, trains do not run. The era of steam locomotives ended here, but the matter did not come to diesel locomotives ...

In any country you need to go without prejudice. Listen to other people's opinions, but rely on your own personal impressions. Discard stereotypes, otherwise you will constantly try to compare one country with another, which, in general, is a useless exercise. Personally, I prefer to comprehend everything empirically; Before a trip, I read about the country, of course, but not enough. Firstly, the already “technical” preparation for the trip itself takes a lot of time and effort, and secondly, surprises are always pleasant.

I stopped comparing Uruguay and its capital with anything on the second day. America is like nothing else. Because she is eclectic herself. Uruguay is called “South American Switzerland”, but this is not so much about the nature and standard of living (not so high, especially after the recent economic crisis), but the general atmosphere of quiet, well-fed well-being that no crisis can destroy. In terms of “environmental cleanliness”, Uruguay ranks 6th in the world (immediately after Switzerland), although in nature it rather resembles the South of Russia or Ukraine. Cows are only more expensive... In terms of "ethnic purity" Uruguay is probably in first place in South America. The Charrua Indians were driven out or destroyed, and almost no blacks were imported from Africa, because there have never been plantations here. Uruguay was settled by Galicians from the northwest of Spain, thanks to which “dialectal features” slip into colloquial speech. For example, where it is necessary to pronounce “Y”, it is pronounced “Ж”, for example, not “Uruguayo”, but “Uruguajo”, etc., i.e. in the Portuguese way. And the Brazilian influence has always been strong.

Even when landing, it became clear that Montevideo is a big city. Still - half of Uruguay lives in it. While driving from Carrasco airport to the hotel, we were once again convinced of its impressive size. What does Montevideo look like?

Let's put it this way: it's a little bit of Lisbon, a little bit of Paris, a little bit of Naples, a little bit of Madrid. Moreover, all these cities in Montevideo alternate through the house ... This is a small Buenos Aires, only smaller skyscrapers. Montevideo is a modern city. Even the skyscrapers in the port area (Ciudad Vieja) were built in the 20-30s. This is the city of tango and the first Fords that came off the assembly line. Do not take me too sentimental, but this is a city in the style of "Nostalgie", in which the houses seem to share with each other memories of the long-gone "Golden Age".

In Montevideo, there are no wide avenidas with endless round-the-clock traffic. No stormy nightlife, however, they also have their own carnival, although not on the same scale as in Brazil. Residents go to bed early, at nine o'clock the streets are empty, shops are closed. Of the attractions here, the first in chronology is the fortress (Fortaleza Gral. Artigas) on Mount Montevideo, which gave its name to the city, which is visible across the bay about a mile and a half from its walls. It has a small military museum. What remains of the city walls is an 18th-century gate leading to Independence Square with the unchanging equestrian statue of General Artigas in the center. This gallant general became Uruguay's Bolivar. From 1811 to 1814 he led the struggle for the country's independence from Spain. The Palacio Salvo is also very good, probably the most beautiful building in Montevideo. Near the port there is a station building, which, after its construction, did not become a station, but was adapted for other urgent needs of society, namely, for a mass meal ... Something like a "meat extravaganza" is arranged in Mercado del Puerto: eateries , vying with each other offering to taste grilled meat (“churrasco”). We have been there twice and we love this place so much. You can eat your fill here for 5 dollars, and although it is considered an expensive “tourist” place (lunch will cost half as much in an ordinary bar), you don’t feel sorry for this money for such a meal. In Switzerland, for this money you can only drink a mug of beer. Toward evening, antique dealers and artists set up their stalls at the Mercado.

There is also the Estadio Centenario stadium in Montevideo, on the field of which the first World Cup was held in 1930. The Uruguayans then beat the Argentines. Of the classic cultural institutions in the city, there are several art museums (Francisco Goya is among the famous painters), including the Museum of Torres Garcia, a Uruguayan abstract artist whose art adorns Uruguayan peso banknotes ( exchange rate 1USD = 26 pesos). Other museum exhibits briskly run through the streets - we have not seen such a number of old cars of the 20-30s, and on the move, anywhere. The Carrasco area is also a kind of open-air museum. In the 1920s, immigrants from Germany set up mansions here, so now you can’t tell where you are - in South America or Bavaria. I must say that the Germans knew where to settle: right here begins a strip of wide white or golden sandy beaches stretching east to Maldonado and Punta del Este. This is the so-called "Gold Coast", which has made Uruguay one of the best South American resorts. In the summer (we have winter at this time), half of Argentina comes here: Uruguay is to the north, which means it’s warmer here, it’s a stone’s throw from Buenos Aires.

Of course, it is silly to go to seaside resorts in winter, but you can get the general impression, even though people wear knitted hats and winter jackets. When we settled in Punta del Este, I watched on TV a contest of Uruguayan fashion models held at the resort last summer on TV. Impressed. And fashion models, and Punta del Este. Busy, crowded so that the apple has nowhere to fall. I personally did not expect this from Uruguay. I thought it was only cows and shepherds...

Punta del Este in the east closes a number of Uruguayan resorts (Atlantis, Piriapolis, etc.), which can be driven by car in a couple of hours. Further lies Cape Polonia, but this is more for lovers of eco-tourism: sea birds, lions, whales. Natalia Oreiro loves to come here. Soak up, so to speak, on a rookery. Further north, towards the Brazilian border - National parks Santa Teresa and San Miguel (deer, copibaras, flamingos, Nyandu ostriches), Portuguese fortresses of the same name, guarding these no man's lands for a long time.

HISTORY OF URUGUAY short but intense. The Spaniard Juan Diaz de Solis, who was killed by the local Charrua Indians, discovered these lands in 1516. Before 1776 given territory, "Eastern belt", belonged to the Viceroyalty of Peru, and after - the Viceroyalty of La Plata with its capital in Buenos Aires. For a century and a half, no one really needed the vast land east of the Uruguay River, and only on the coast were the annoying Portuguese continually erecting fortifications in defiance of the Spaniards, who owned the mouth of La Plata. In contrast to the Portuguese Colonia del Sacramento, which was under the nose of Buenos Aires, the Spaniards build the fortress of Montevideo in 1728-1730. The hinterland belongs to the new settlers, who, having displaced the Indians, are engaged in cattle breeding, fortunately, the lush floodplain meadows allow this to be done without much effort. In 1806, the British captured Buenos Aires and Montevideo, and the inhabitants of both cities a short time enjoy free trade with Europe (previously, only Spain could trade). The English were driven away, but the aftertaste remained. They decided to send decrepit Spain to hell, and while the old woman fought off Napoleon, South America declared independence. True, she still had to fight for it. General Artigas was forced to emigrate to Paraguay in 1820, and the country for another eight years passed either to the Portuguese, then to the Argentines, then to the Brazilians. Finally, in 1828, the Argentines and the Brazilians agreed to leave Uruguay to itself, and the Eastern Republic of Uruguay gained true and legitimate independence. Do not look for the Western Republic on the map: it never was. From 1843 to 1851, Uruguay again fought with Argentina (the Great War), then got involved in a shameful war with Paraguay in 1865-1870. already as an ally of Argentina and Brazil. Then followed a period of civil wars, and then, finally, at the very end of the 19th century, a calm settled on the land of Uruguay. Estancias grew (in other, more familiar words - large latifundia; also not in Russian, but understandable), landlords and capitalists grew rich. President José Batlle (was in office in 1903-1907 and 1911-1915), was such a liberal that the very landowners and capitalists (the "White Party") opposed to him declared him crazy: he established an eight-hour working day, and paid vacation, and nationalized the telegraph, along with a dozen other major branches of the economy. In February 1945, Uruguay very timely declared war on Germany and Japan. True, after the war, many Nazi functionaries found refuge here, but in Uruguay they don’t really like to talk about it. In 1973, a military junta came to power, the communists were imprisoned and kicked out, diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union were interrupted, but then everything resolved itself and now we are friends again.

So friends that they began to exchange monuments, however, so far unilaterally, i.e. first we are to them, and then, on occasion, they are to us. Zurab Tsereteli presented Montevideo 2 bronze busts– Leo Tolstoy, after whom we had to urgently name a small square near the Russian embassy, ​​and Yuri Gagarin, who for some reason was placed on a distant outskirts. The pedestals at both monuments are obscenely modest, and the scale of the busts is not Tseretel. This is understandable: they decided to save on transportation, and therefore the size of the monuments turned out to be country-garden.

At the Montevideo airport, we were met by a prominent representative of the Russian diaspora - former sailor Nikolai Golubey, who had escaped from a Russian ship in 1992 and "naturalized" in Uruguay. He was engaged by the Uruguayan Ministry of Tourism to assist Mrs. Ami Ukar (the aunt from the Ministry who took us around the country) as an interpreter. Yes, just in case. He immediately stunned us with a story about how a couple of years ago charters from Moscow flew here with shoppers who bought cheap leather and fur coats here. Frankly, I have never heard anything about charters from Moscow to Montevideo. Maybe just a confusion of terminology? Not a charter, but a "block of seats" on a scheduled flight? It's still strange. It is one thing to recoup an air ticket to Turkey or Greece for 180 dollars, another thing is a ticket for 1000... Well, okay! “This is my bar. Closed, ”Nikolai shows somewhere in the darkness of the streets. And sighs. In Uruguay, after the crisis, it is forbidden to sell beer in bars for more than 9 pesos per bottle (10 rubles). With the general cheapness of food in Uruguay, people leave 3 dollars per visit in bars and restaurants, with food and drinks. You won't get rich.

Not far from Punta del Este, on a high cliff above the sea (perdon! La Plata), stands the unusual house of an interesting artist - Casapueblo. Even from afar you notice that its architecture is somehow strange, fantastic, “non-native”. Carlos Paez Vilaro lives here. In the 1950s and 1960s, he traveled almost all of Central and West Africa, fell in love with it, exalted African folk art, elevating it to the rank of the pinnacle of world art. Frankly, in such an idealization of African civilization there is some "bust"; we are inevitably too different, and despite the presence of small groups of rastamans in our cities, they still look ridiculous (well, if you want to smoke marijuana, this is understandable, but why build a black man out of yourself, with a Ryazan face?). Creativity Vilaro - a symbiosis of African and naive Creole art, a kind of "ethno-naive". The funny thing is that I thought he was already dead, because. the film was shown about him as if in the past tense. While walking through the halls of his museum, I noticed that some of the paintings were painted in 2002. So why did I bury him? And if he is alive, then he is somewhere here, because. one part of the house is a museum, the other is a workshop and private quarters, and the third is given over to a hotel. The whole house was built in the style of adobe palaces and mosques in Mali and Cameroon, however, whitewashed in Andalusian. The owner was at home, in his workshop, and we were escorted to him. He kindly posed for us, showed us the work, gave an interview for the program. It is interesting - a living Uruguayan classic, and even a traveler, probably the most famous in Uruguay. Then he invited me to his house, crowded, littered, hung with art objects - “trophies” brought from Africa, Oceania, Asia. The artist's wife, Annette, came out to inquire about what the guests were doing here. Grandfather's "lip is not a fool": like the former wives, Annette is a real beauty, an elegant blue-eyed blonde, thirty or thirty-five years old. In short, an amazing house, and its inhabitants are amazing!...

A good half of this, in general, rather big house, is occupied by a stylish (in the spirit of "ethno-naivism" hotel), which is rented by Argentines. There are both apartments and standard hotel rooms. Not in the summer, rent a room here for 50 dollars, but in December-January prices double, which is understandable - the height of the swimming season.

We visited two more places - the Medellin equestrian polo club and La Paz estancia. Medellin is located near Punta del Este. First, we were invited to dinner, which was attended by landowners from all over the area and even some retired TV journalist. Then the hosts and their guests, who had become rather cheerful, volunteered to demonstrate their skills in playing polo and teach us at the same time. The first time Dmitry Vozdvizhensky and I rode horses in the Dragon Mountains in South Africa, and the second time here ... But it’s getting better. Aleksey Peredelsky, chief cameraman of NTV, did not take part in polo; he patiently filmed the whole thing. Then he filmed cows and horses in the La Paz estancia, in the west of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay. Still, animal husbandry brings more money to Uruguay than tourism ... Although now many estancias open "guest houses" for those who like to be in nature, inhale the forgotten smells of agriculture, dream, watching how gauchos drive a fat white herd of cows at early dawn . At the same time, many estancias, which sometimes have a century and a half history, retain the appearance of an old estate, so nostalgists, again, the way here ...

Nostalgia forced the Uruguayans to turn Colonia del Sacramento, founded by the Portuguese in 1680 and passing from hand to hand, into a city-museum. Therefore, Portuguese and Spanish houses stand side by side here. The ancient cobbled streets have retained their appearance almost untouched since the fierce confrontation between the Spaniards and the Portuguese. The Uruguayans are very proud of the Colony; this is the only colonial city recognized as a monument of world importance, although, to tell the truth, it does not make much of an impression. You can climb the lighthouse and view the city from above, but it's better not to do this, as the view on the rooftops is ugly. The town is small, you can get around it in an hour. There are small museums - Portuguese and Spanish, several restaurants, near the Cathedral - a cafe where tables are laid in the salons of old cars. There are souvenir shops, but the Uruguayan souvenirs themselves are somehow inexpressive ... Well, mats are sold in various types with cut-out inscriptions “Uruguay”, tubes to them to suck on mate (some of them have breakfast, because this semblance of tea contains all the necessary human body trace elements). Well, leather goods are different. In short, we decided to postpone mass purchases of souvenirs until Paraguay, where there are more souvenirs and where they are cheaper by one and a half times (looking ahead, I will say that Paraguay justified itself in this respect by 100%).

Our route in Uruguay was quite simple: Montevideo, Punta del Este, back through Montevideo to Colonia, then to the La Paz estancia on the border of the departments of Rio Negro and Paysandu, from there a trip to San Javier and return to Montevideo. From Montevideo to Colonia, almost three hours drive, from Colonia to Javier - another three. The hinterland of Uruguay is not as interesting as the coastal ones. The towns are small, poor, touched by the wing of the passing default, and even before it, they, apparently, did not prosper. So, in order not to spoil the impression of Uruguay, I advise you not to go far from the coast. We made our way to the Uruguay River to meet the Russian settlers who have been living on its banks for three generations.

They arrived here exactly 90 years ago, also in winter, on a river boat from Buenos Aires. Several dozen people with all their movable property, small children (of which more than twenty died in the very first winter from the cold) from the South of Russia and Little Russia. In fact, they are Protestants "in Russian", denying the priesthood, rituals, icons, saints, etc. They called their community "New Israel". In 1913, the head of the Protestants, Vasily Lubkov, took part of the community to Uruguay, since the Uruguayan government favored new immigrants if they were ready to farm on empty lands. They were given a territory near the San Javier River, and the community members founded a settlement that grew into a small town. Few people here now speak Russian, but many have Russian names and surnames, although they speak only Spanish. They consider themselves Uruguayans, they are grateful to Lubkov for taking them out of Russia. On the street we came across a colorful character: a descendant of the first settlers of a shabby appearance, almost without teeth, clearly “under the fly”. From Russian expressions I remembered only “Hey, aunt, come here!”. Many Russian words were changed into Spanish. The house where religious meetings are held and where, on our arrival, elderly community members from those few who speak Russian arranged a small exposition of old photographs for us, is called “Sabranya”, and the intoxicating brew is “la brazhka”, i.e. used with the article. All this was funny and quite touching to hear, as well as to see new batches of old ladies arriving at Sabranya to greet the first television group from Russia that came to film them.

They also sang their religious songs to us. They stood in a semicircle, opened a soiled notebook and sang. The melody seemed very familiar to me ... Yes, this is the “Cruiser Varyag” !!! Then they took us to the House of Russian Culture named after Maxim Gorky, but the old women warned us that the head of this institution, Mikhail Roslik, is a very unreliable person ... In general, they have a long-standing confrontation here: during the war, part of the Russian San Javiers decided to help their first Motherland, collected money for weapons of Victory. Then they decided to "flirt" a little with the Soviet Union; to this end, the club was named not in honor of Pushkin, but in honor of the author of "Mother". The conjuncturers were disliked in the community, but then only some mutual hostility remained between several old men living out their completely prosperous life in San Javier.

By the way, just three months before us, church historian Nikolai Sapelkin visited San Javier. I lived here for a week, collected all the basic materials on the history of the "New Israel" and went to Voronezh to write a book. Our ambassador visits often. In general, in terms of the density of the Russian population, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay rank first in South America. That's how it happened initially. In Buenos Aires, a newspaper is published, Nasha Strana, which Ivan Solonevich (a very curious emigre publicist) began to publish, so it was difficult to find a more anti-Soviet newspaper in the whole New World. Now the newspaper is the mouthpiece of the Russian diapora in all three countries. They also want to make a Russian-language radio - Voce de Rusia, they came up with a website, but the domain name sounds menacing - VOR. That is, take it as you wish.

They fed us cabbage soup, dumplings, gave us a drink "la mash". For some reason, the owner of the house, the one who treated us, took us to the children's volleyball school and with zeal began to demonstrate rest rooms, locker rooms, forced the schoolchildren to run around the hall and throw balls. When he was about to show us the showers, we quickly said goodbye and retreated. As they later explained to us, he dreams of writing a coach from Russia, but, apparently, the flight is expensive and Uruguayan volleyball is not so prestigious, so for now they manage on their own. Although, if someone is tired of sitting in his Uryupinsk, he can and will be honored to move here.

The Old Believers from Brazil moved here. First from Manchuria to Brazil, then, already in the 1960s, here, to Uruguay. Here they are called “barbudos”, that is, “bearded ones”. They founded their own colony - Ophir, although the New Israelites claim that they invented Ophir, and the bearded ones used the name. It’s not long to get to them from San Javier, 7-8 kilometers, but the road is broken, you can’t drive in a minibus in bad weather. The Old Believers themselves drive jeeps. However, if you think that they live hoo, you are mistaken. The only street of their settlement is buried in liquid mud, along the roadsides there are skeletons of broken equipment. In short, the collective farm "Red Bast Shoes". While we are going to the headman, the residents are hiding in their homes. We drive up to the house of the headman, Ivan Lukin. In the cab of a tractor standing in a grove, a girl of about twelve years of heavenly beauty, in a Russian sundress, is hiding. The boy is standing, leaning on a birch, less handsome. He says that you can shoot with a camera, but you can’t take a camera. The owner of the house generally says that they did not arrive on time. Today is Saturday, it's time to wash, but tomorrow is Sunday, after the service you can talk. And tomorrow we're leaving already... Our San Javier old women persuaded him to talk to us at least a little. We sat on the terrace of the house for half an hour, talking about this and that. Alexei refused the offer to sit down, answering that he had sat enough in the car. He leans on the camera, which is on a tripod, like on a cane, with his finger he obscures the red light bulb that is lit. Because, if you shoot for yourself, then you can, but if you then skip it “through the TV”, then you can’t. His wife, Vassa, brought pies and treated them. Delicious pies. While he was treating himself to a pie, the owner of the house asked how they learned about them. I take it and blurt out that I read about them on the Internet. Well, in fact, I could not know that in Uruguay, probably the most internetized country in the New World, they do not respect the Internet at all. Already when we left the yard, I heard how the owner in Spanish passionately proved to one of our old ladies that “www” is, in fact, “666”. This got me interested. Having already said goodbye, I asked to tell in more detail about this arithmetic. I was especially interested in how it was all calculated.

Smart people everything has been calculated. So it is, - said Ivan.

The Jews are cunning. They thought of everything, - Vassa picked up.

If you got on the Internet, then that's it - you were also counted. Nobody will escape! Ivan shook his finger.

Giving a reverent expression to my face, I thanked him for enlightenment in this matter and, as if having received a summons to the Fiery Gehenna, bent over, climbed into the bus.

But, oddly enough, we got to Montevideo quite safely. Before leaving Uruguay, Ami warned us that Paraguay is not Uruguay. It's much worse. There bags, cameras, cameras must be held tight. She complained that they had been in Uruguay for so little. But what can you do: when you look at a map and read old reports and essays about the country, it seems that it is so small that everything in it can be covered with one hand, in one sitting. It wasn't there. We didn’t even have time to go to the tango (milongas are held on Fridays and Saturdays, in summer and on weekdays). Uruguay and Argentina cannot share the laurels of the motherland of tango. In fact, it would be optimal to take these laurels and share them. in half.

No one should be offended!

**************************

About five days before our departure to South America, late in the evening, a call came from abroad. It can be said, from the most geographical "opposite phase" - San Francisco. A pleasant elderly voice with a soft “not our” accent of a Russian person who has lived for decades away from his homeland asked “Mr. Balandinsky”, and then, introducing himself, asked if it was true that I was going to Paraguay soon. Having received an affirmative answer, he was delighted and offered to find in Asuncion Anatoly Fleischer, the former “honorary consul” of the Russian Federation, an elderly Russian emigrant of the “second wave”, who could tell us about the Russian diaspora in Paraguay and show the grave of General Belyaev. Well, the “tip” was most welcome: the topic “Russians in Paraguay” interested us very much.

Strange topic for South America, isn't it? Not Indians, not cities lost in the jungle, not undiscovered species of insects in the Amazon, but our own, native, Russian people, who were brought by a hard time to these parts. And the places, frankly, are far from heavenly, as we later saw for ourselves. But on the other hand (and for us this should be a matter of special pride, as according to Lenin in the “National Pride of the Great Russians”) they defended and raised the whole country in South America to its feet. Let it be small, let it be the most backward on the continent, but without them this would not have happened, and now the Guarani Indians would live bitter tears in a foreign land, and there would be nowhere for the Mennonite Germans to stick, and there would be nowhere to threaten communism Alfred Stroessner with his iron hand . In Paraguay, streets, towns, cities are named after Russian officers who gave their lives for this country. Russian white emigrants formed the backbone of the high command of the Paraguayan army, leading it to victory in the Chaco war of 1932-35, Russian professors laid the foundations of higher education, Russian engineers created a network of Paraguayan roads.

When preparing a trip, I contacted local travel agencies. It turned out that almost all of them are in the hands of the "Paraguayan Germans." The latter are the second most important element that makes up the "Paraguayan nation", which in the 20th century acquired a "migrant" character, like the American or Canadian. It was the Germans who mastered the vast Chaco region, stretching west of the Paraguay River towards Bolivia.

I must say that the director of one of the travel agencies - a lively old German who volunteered to organize our trip - turned out to be a very adequate person, who perfectly realized from the very beginning what exactly the film crew needed. Mr. Hartmut Goossen was very similar to the late American "singer-communist-great friend of our country" Dean Reed, so much so that if the latter had not been deceased, then one could take a picture with Hartmut, and then show everyone the photo, showing off that "Yes, I, they say, with Reed himself! ...". I must say that, as usual, we called Hartmut differently behind our backs: Genosse Goossen, “Our Nazi Friend”, “Grandfather Nevmenaikin”. The last two nicknames were invented by Dmitry. The first is because, probably, even among us, young people, in the subconscious mind there remains a quite definite perception of the Germans, especially the elderly, by virtue of their age - the likely opponents of our grandfathers on the fields of the Great Patriotic War. At the same time, after all, it is understandable that he is not a “fascist” friend, but simply a “German”, but it itches to pin up the “Fritz”. And Goossen became Nevmenyaykin’s Genosse because he often evening he, let's say, "turned off" at the wheel, not perceiving our appeals to him, in any of the languages ​​\u200b\u200bthat we know, including German.

Special mention should be made of languages. If we all together, like Rabbits from Shirli-Myrli, could speak only three languages ​​- Nanai, Mordovian and Romanian, then they could also be used in Paraguay. I understood Spanish, English, German, Dmitry - English and German, Alexei - Russian, Ukrainian and, last but not least, English. And the most interesting thing is that all these languages ​​have been used by us! Even Ukrainian language! It happened like this: in Encarnacion we arrived on the coast of Parana. As always, shoot the sunset (they filmed sunsets over the Uruguay River, filmed over La Plata, filmed over Paraguay; now it’s the turn for Parana). Hartmut took us to the "forbidden zone", where ships are loaded with smuggling, transported to Argentina. While filming the crimson dawn, a joyful Hartmut ran up and said: “I met a guy here; he is Ukrainian, he also remembers General Belyaev.” The guy is a crest of about sixty, speaks only Ukrainian, but it’s clear what he’s talking about. He moved to Paraguay in 1949, that is, at the time when many thousands of our fellow citizens who were taken to work in Germany during the war years were dissolving around the world. What inevitably awaited in the homeland did not appeal to them. And so - there was an opportunity to naturalize in some third country. And it was not necessary to give an account whether he was in the occupied territory or not. The most savvy took advantage of this opportunity. The less savvy took advantage of the opportunity to make an excursion to Siberia. For ten years. So: Alexey Peredelsky had to remember the Ukrainian language and interview our new acquaintance. Sometimes an almost forgotten language comes in handy, moreover, in the most unexpected place.

I liked Harmut because he immediately offered to show Chaco or, as it is also called, the Great Chaco - Gran Chaco. Despite the fact that we did not expect to see anything super-unusual there, not seeing the Chaco would mean ignoring a good half of Paraguay. So, having spent a short night on arrival in a hotel with the name “Bavaria” so dear to Hartmut's heart, we set off at dawn. We always had to start everything at dawn, because it gets dark early in the winter there: you can safely finish shooting at five in the evening. So, having passed the bridge over the Paraguay River and leaving on the right hand a few "skyscrapers" of Asuncion, we are at full speed, which our Grandfather's Chevrolet jeep only allowed (and it allowed to cover an average of 120-130 km per hour; while I still once I was convinced that it was safer to fly by plane), literally “flew” into the Chaco, and for the next four hours cut through the green, prickly, dusty, inhuman (due to the meager “population density) space. There are sandy deserts in the world, there are rocky ones, and this desert is green, made of trees and shrubs, with rows of palm trees to the horizon or a dense wall of the “bush”, in which only a machete can cut a path. Sometimes there are bottle trees "paloboracho" ("drunken block"), but they are of little use. Chaco - in the transition zone between the dry plains of Argentina, the arid highlands of Bolivia and the Amazon rainforest. It is extremely dry, hot, and there is no water. The soil is extremely saline, so that rainwater, upon contact with it, immediately becomes sea water, and is practically unsuitable for further use, whether it be drinking or irrigation. And clouds of vicious mosquitoes that pounce on the victim everywhere and at any time of the day. It is well known that mosquitoes in the tropics become aggressive in the morning and evening, afraid of direct sunlight. But the Chak mosquitoes have not read works on entomology, and therefore arrange a real "chaos". In short, Chaco is a "green hell". It is believed that the green hell is the jungle. Amazonian or Central African, for example. But it turns out that hell can be bright, sunny and dry...

On the 285th kilometer of the Chaco Highway, which leads from Asuncion to Bolivia and is marked on all, even the smallest geographical maps, there is a Buffalo Bill establishment. Beer, water, meat and salad buffet, desserts... When they brought the bill, they didn't believe it: $2 per person... This is not socialism, it's almost communism. Well, or the last stage of socialism before communism. I used to think that the cheapest country is Ethiopia. But Paraguay is like Europe, especially since the people are all their own - Germans, Russians, Spaniards. We stopped at a rural boarding school where missionaries teach Indian children, as there is a workshop for the production of furniture from precious woods. If Paraguay were closer to us, a country set could be brought (mahogany and leather weaving) at the price of some bedside table from a “branded” furniture salon in Moscow. Alexei and I were seduced by heavy folding algarroba stools, so each of us later traveled around Paraguay as a “foreigner with a stool” who stole an elephant from the zoo in the cartoon “Koloboks are Investigating”. Well, leather products are nice both in dressing and in price. You can buy various cowboy things, like a leather whip for a wife, for a mother-in-law, for some other fun. In short, I liked the country in this respect.

The first point in the Chaco, where we went, was Fort Buqueron during the Chaco war with Bolivia. The car turned off the highway and we drove along a dusty dirt road. We stopped in one place to look at the trenches - already shallow grooves in the middle of thorny thickets. Then we drove into an open field; on the left was an earthen mound with a strange structure in the middle, and on the right was the museum building, which, as it turned out later, contained a collection of weapons and photographs. Of course, this is not a fort in our understanding, it is rather the core of a vast fortified area, including a number of trenches that we saw. I believe there was a battery behind the embankment. Now a monument to the fallen in battles has been erected at its crest. Frankly, we have never seen anything like it. A pedestal of wooden logs, and on it is a kind of Tin Woodman with a frail gun, made ... of thin sheet iron, almost aluminum. The fighter's chest was pierced, and the through gaping wound resembles Paraguay in outline. Of course, the monument looks miserable, although the tragic pathos is quite understandable. The Chaco war was the bloodiest in the history of South America. And most importantly, why? Because of the illusion...

Historically, the Chaco region was part of the same colonial district - "audience" - as Bolivia. After gaining independence by both countries at the beginning of the 19th century, this territory "de jure" was supposed to belong to Bolivia, but "de facto" it was annexed to Paraguay. For a long time, Bolivia did not even remember this God-forgotten land. At the same time, the Paraguayans slowly but surely mastered it, despite the fact that the only natural wealth here was the quebracho tree, from which the tannin was extracted. In 1884, Bolivia loses the war with Chile and loses access to the sea. For a young, proud and ambitious nation, this is a serious blow to pride. What more or less normal country can live without access to the sea? And if there are, then what kind of life is it? Disorder. And then they find oil in that part of the Chaco, which remained with Bolivia. Not far from Paraguay... In this case, how to export oil? To lay an oil pipeline through the territory of neighbors means to give a vital export item into the wrong hands, under the complete control of temperamental neighbors who have a new government every day. And in general: what if they have more oil there, in Paraguay?

The first sortie of the Bolivians took place in 1928, when they tried to establish their own port on the Paraguay River (although no one had previously forbidden them to transport goods). The Paraguayans easily knocked them out of the built fort. Then strange things began to happen: Bolivia buys tanks and planes in Europe, Paraguayan sales agents, who have much less money, buy cheap and light weapons. Where the Bolivian buys a howitzer, the Paraguayan takes three mortars; where a Bolivian buys a water-cooled heavy machine gun, a Paraguayan orders a pair of light machine guns. And, oddly enough, it was this forced "crooking" of the Paraguayans that brought them, not least, victory.

Bolivia had multiple superiority in tanks, aircraft, artillery and manpower. The former German general Hans Kundt commanded the army. He fought in the First World War on the Eastern Front, then built the Bolivian army according to the Prussian model. But, as it turned out, he was a “peacetime” general, unable to command an army during a real war, especially the Bolivian army, where every officer is a bag of ambitions, a commander in his own right, dreaming of eventually taking the place of the President of the Republic. But the most insulting of all was Kundt, who lost the epaulettes of the Generalissimo after the war, to realize that he was "made" by his recent opponents from the other side of the Eastern Front - the Russian generals Belyaev and Ern. Of course, the “local” General Jose Felis Estigarribia commanded the army of Paraguay, but the contribution of Russian military leaders to the victory of Paraguay is huge. Truly, they were the "generals of the salt parapets." It is Belyaev who develops the tactics of an active "guerrilla" war, using the experience of the Guarani Indians and, most importantly, their determination to help the Paraguayan government, and he also designs fortified areas in the thick of impenetrable Chak thickets. These "islands" turned into death traps for the Bolivians. Tanks and heavy artillery were “blind” in the Chak green hell, and Generallissimo Kundt did not trust the results of aerial reconnaissance. Attack aircraft attacking the Paraguayan trenches from the air were easily shot down by bursts of light machine guns, tanks were set on fire by ambushes. As a result, already in the second year of the war, almost all military equipment of the Paraguayans was captured. Machine guns with "water cooling" turned out to be an unnecessary burden due to the complete absence of water in the Chaco. The Bolivians surrendered in whole battalions in exchange for the opportunity to "drink some water." 30,000 wards of Kundt were taken prisoner, against 3,000 captured Paraguayans. Six out of eighty Russian officers from among the White emigrants laid down their lives on the Chak battlefields ...

In June 1935, the question arose before the Paraguayans - to move on, to La Paz, or leave everything as it is, especially since the human reserves of Paraguay did not seem to be inexhaustible. Common sense won: the fighting stopped, in Buenos Aires three years later a peace treaty was signed, according to which several hills were returned to Bolivia. And oil, by the way, was never found in the Paraguayan Chaco. The oil pipeline from Bolivia to the Atlantic Ocean was laid through Brazil. A series of ever-new military coups swirled soon in both countries, and the Chak War remained in the memory of one people as a tragic adventure, due to which another president “flew off the throne”, and in another - as an example of the greatest stamina and courage of the people who found themselves " strongest spirit...

After Fort Bukeron, where one of the bloodiest battles of this war took place in September 1932, we went to spend the night in Neuland, a place located in the center of the "Country of Mennonites", a kind of "state within a state" created by German-Dutch Protestant Mennonites who had resettled here from Russia and Canada in 1927. In Russia they were Catherine II, which called on the Germans - dissidents of various kinds, because it quite rightly believed that the Germans are the "salt of the earth." Contemplating what they have turned the lifeless salty Gran Chaco into, it is difficult to argue with this... The Mennonites themselves are Protestants among Protestants, even more radical than the Lutherans. Whole the world was declared by them the kingdom of Satan, and therefore all contacts with him had to be reduced to the necessary minimum. In addition, the Mennonites proclaimed a complete renunciation of military service. In 1543, the spiritual leader of the "Mennonites" - Menno Simons - is outlawed in the Netherlands, and a reward of 100 guilders is offered for his violent head. His followers moved to Poland, where they were actually "legalized" (the first prayer house was built in Elblag in 1593) and Schleswig-Holstein. Most of all, the pacifism of the Mennonites did not like Frederick II of Prussia and Napoleon. As V.I. Lenin said, "it is impossible to live in society and be free from society." Mennonites did not read Lenin, and therefore their stubbornness was worthy of admiration. On the very first evening, we met several young guys, "ethnic Germans" who had recently arrived in Paraguay from Germany. Prior to that, by right of their birth, they moved to Germany from Russia. And what prompted them to move to this inhospitable place to feed the hordes of mosquitoes? It turns out that in Germany, when they studied at a regular school, they were forced to go on excursions with girls. And Mennonite boys don't want to be friends with girls, even Mennonite girls. Yes, and they are not allowed by the “charter”. Before the wedding - no, no! Remembering driving through the dusty streets of Chak villages, remembering the daytime (winter!) heat and endless attacks of mosquitoes, and at the same time remembering the toy towns immersed in flowers on the upper reaches of the Rhine or the Bavarian Romantic Road, you simply marvel at the courage and integrity of these guys, who unanimously decided to say “ no to friendship with girls and went to explore Paraguay! Think Germany? On the side of Germany! You give record milk yields in Chaco!!!

In truth, the Mennonites have transformed this land beyond recognition with their work. “In four years, there will be a garden city here!” Of course, the main merit in this is not religion, but the hard work that lives in the blood of the Germans, be it Germans, Dutch or Danes. Not only did they secure a quite tolerable existence in the Chaco, but the local Indians were given the opportunity to live happily ever after. They built exemplary villages for them - rows of cottages for two families, taught them to read and write and their religion. Although, by and large, the religion of the Indians is of interest insofar as "for their faith" they receive help from the Mennonites, including material. Yes, and the Mennonites themselves do not hide this, but they do not particularly worry about this, because patronizing the Indians, they receive “carte blanche” from the state for any economic activity. Asuncion is already looking askance at the Mennonites: they say they have created a "state within a state." But he does not touch, because he does not want to mess with cows and Indians.

In all the towns where we were - in Neuland, Philadelphia, Loma Plata - there are small museums dedicated to the first settlers. Touching collections of seemingly simple and quite banal household items (many of which were brought from Russia) are collected and systematized with German pedantry. For these people, settling the Chaco is like "exploring the Wild West" for Americans. True, everything went on without skirmishes ... They learned how to desalinate water, began to breed cattle. Now the Germans supply the whole of Paraguay with dairy products; we were even taken to the Trebol dairy, which the Germans are very proud of. This, of course, is not a distillery, but it is also interesting to visit a real factory at least once in your life, to see how people work. Otherwise, for example, I only know how to do in my life what to talk beautifully with my tongue and make the first pleasant impression, although my wife says that this is a lot for making money.

By the way, "yerba", consumed everywhere and in wild quantities in Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay as a tonic drink, better known as "mate", is processed and packaged in factories also owned by the Germans. The yerba tree itself grows naturally in Paraguay and Brazil. If in Argentina and Uruguay they drink mate hot, then in Paraguay they drink it only cold and even call it by another name - “terere”. But the drinking technique is the same: crushed grass is poured into a pot-bellied or elongated “mother”, filled with water and sucked through a “bombilla” tube with a filter at the end. A lot of people eat just about that.

We drove back to Asuncion with a breeze. Half a day was allotted to get to know the city, but I don’t advise spending too much time on the capital of Paraguay. In principle, one day will be enough to enjoy Asuncion to the fullest. It's not that the city is completely seedy, but it's really small, with a small historical center overlooking the Paraguay River. Between this facade and the river itself is a strip of slums, where it is better not to go even in the daytime. I have heard the opinion that in Asuncion it is difficult to find houses higher than two floors. Of course, there is an element of exaggeration in this; in the very center there are still high-rise buildings, but they look pathetic because of the shabby appearance. The most beautiful buildings are the Pantheon of National Heroes, in which two Guarani Indian women sitting on a mat sell souvenirs, and another old woman in feathers flies around the building itself, catching buyers, the ultramodern building of the Palament, which is being built for some reason by South Koreans, and the palace of the Lopez presidential dynasty XIX century, one side looking at the Paraguay River, and the other - on the street, built up with restored houses of the "colonial era", which housed souvenir shops and a restaurant. Nearby, in the square, there is a monument to Alfred Stroessner: broken limbs and head are squeezed by two plates, like a press. With a hint, "so as not to rise" ... If you go back to the Pantheon, you can pass by a number of shops selling souvenirs, including nyanduti lace embroidery and all kinds of leather goods, the prices of which are simply ridiculous.

We were interested in something else in Asuncion. Namely, the Russian presence in Paraguay. Harmut introduced us to Lucy (Lyusya) Gramatchikoff (Gramatchikova), who, although she has completely forgotten the Russian language, is engaged in the history of Russians in Paraguay. She led us through the Russian cemetery, enclosed by a wall with battlements reminiscent of the Kremlin. True, the grave of General Belyaev is not here, he is buried in Chaco, where he gained fame. Even in Asuncion there is a small Russian monument who contributed to the history of this country. It stands at a small crossroads on the Russian Federation Square (Federacion Rusa). Alfred Stroessner himself, whose ideal was Adolf Gitler, he respected the Russian Paraguayans very much, although he forbade them to travel to the USSR, and he did not let anyone in from there either. The dictator was stern... And whose school? Our school! Not only during the war with Bolivia, we taught the parrots in Chaco to swear, but also to hate communism in black.

Together with the remnants of the Russian officers in 1921, Wrangel General Ivan Timofeevich Belyaev sailed from Sevastopol on a steamer. Soon, together with his wife, he settled in Argentina, and since 1924 - in Paraguay. I am not eager to retell even in my own words what was worthily written before me, and therefore I will turn to a short story about General Belyaev by his biographer Boris Martynov:

“Ivan Timofeevich Belyaev was born in 1875 in St. Petersburg in the family of a hereditary military man, commander of the 1st Life Guards Artillery Brigade. old map the Paraguayan capital of Asuncion, found in early childhood in the attic of his great-grandfather's estate, became for Belyaev a harbinger of fate. The boy read the novels of Mine Reed and Fenimore Cooper.
Having entered the cadet corps, Belyaev continued to dream of the Indians and distant Paraguay. And later in the Mikhailovsky Artillery School, when Indian bows and arrows were seen between the pages of the textbook, and already as a guards officer, when revelry in noisy companies was left for the sake of serious books and classes in anthropology with a famous relative, Academician S.F. Oldenburg, Belyaev remained faithful to his childhood passion.
Belyaev met the revolution of 1917 with the rank of major general. After the Bolshevik coup, he ended up in the ranks of Denikin's Volunteer Army. Then - Novorossiysk, emigration ... Fate threw him to Constantinople, then to Paris. But Belyaev was attracted to South America. There was an idea - to create a "Russian Hearth" there - a center of a new "cultural emigration", where "everything sacred that Russia created could, like in the Ark, be preserved until better times." The main principles in the arrangement of new colonies were to be apolitical and upbringing in the spirit of the traditional values ​​of Russian culture, counting on the future revival of Russia.
It seemed that Argentina should have been ideally suited for the implementation of Belyaev's plans. But having arrived in Buenos Aires in 1923, Belyaev did not meet with support, primarily among "his own". The leaders of the Russian colony of Argentina saw in the plans of the restless general a threat to their comfortable existence. Then Belyaev's gaze turned to Paraguay, where the Russian colony had not yet had time to take root.
Belyaev arrived in Paraguay in March 1924. He was immediately able to get a job at the Military School of Asuncion as a teacher of fortification and French. However, the mentioned plans of the general were not destined to come true. Already in October 1924, on the instructions of the Ministry of Defense of Paraguay, Belyaev was sent to the Chaco Boreal region, the interfluve of Paraguay and Pilekanoyo. It was necessary to thoroughly explore this little-studied area, map the main geographical landmarks and fix the border between Paraguay and Bolivia "de facto", which would help, if not prevent, then at least delay the war.
Exploration of the Chaco territory in 1925-1932. became an important contribution of Belyaev and his few Russian companions to world geographical and ethnographic science. Having made 13 expeditions, Belyaev left an extensive scientific heritage dedicated to the geography, ethnography, climatology and biology of this region. He studied the life, culture, languages ​​and religions of the local Indians, compiled the first dictionaries: Spanish-Mocha and Spanish-Chamacoco. Belyaev's research finally helped to understand the complex tribal and ethno-linguistic structure of the Chaco Indian population. Notes on the Chaco Indians are of particular value, if only because their author was not an outside observer, but comprehended the life of the "Redskins" from the inside. The efforts of Belyaev, which contributed to the strengthening of the diplomatic and military positions of Paraguay, did not go unnoticed by the government - he was awarded the rank of general.
In the war against Bolivia (1932-1935) for the Chaksky region, Belyaev personally participated in many battles, successfully planned military operations, being the chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Paraguay. The war, which dealt a serious blow to the economy of Paraguay, did not allow Belyaev to realize his plans related to Russian emigration, and in 1937 he, who had already left military service by that time, became the head of the struggle for the rights of the Paraguayan Indians. But the National Patronage for Indian Affairs, led by Belyaev, received neither money nor land for the organization of colonies, and the director himself was soon removed from his post.
But Belyaev did not calm down. In April 1938, at the National Theater of Asuncion, the premiere of the play of the first Indian theater in the history of America about the participation of Indians in the "Chuck War" was held with a full house. After some time, a troupe of 40 people led by Belyaev went on tour to Buenos Aires, where they were a resounding success.
During World War II, Belyaev, like a true Russian, supported the USSR in the fight against fascism. Speaking against those emigrants who saw in Germany "the savior of Russia from Bolshevism," the old general in his memoirs called them "idiots and deceivers."

In October 1943, Belyaev finally received the "go-ahead" for the creation of the first Indian colony, which was named after Bartolomeo las Casas. The following year, Belyaev was reinstated as director of the National Patronage of Indian Affairs with the assignment of all past merits and the title of General Administrator of the Indian Colonies.
Until the last day of his life (June 22, 1957), Belyaev fought for the rights of the Indians: he told the authorities about their plight, about the violence and crimes of the whites, demanded permission for freedom of hunting and nomadism, etc. Ivan Belyaev was buried with military honors as a general, honorary citizen of Paraguay, honorary administrator of the Indian colonies.
Ivan Timofeevich Belyaev left in Paraguay thousands of people grateful to him - Paraguayans and Russians, whites and Indians, left the Association and the museum, the most valuable scientific works, and most importantly, sowed the seeds of Russian humanistic culture in the distant South American land.

It remains to be added that the Russian diaspora numbers about one and a half thousand people, although the majority have already forgotten the Russian language. It began to take shape when Belyaev called out to come to Paraguay. Among the first to arrive were General Ern, engineers Boris Makovsky, Georgy Shmagailov, Alexander Pyatnitsky, Evgeny Avramenko, Vadim Sakharov, military doctor Evgeny Timchenko, gunners Igor and Lev Oranzherev. In 1925, at the special invitation of the Paraguayan government, Sergei Bobrovsky, a former professor at the St. Petersburg Engineering Academy, arrived in Asuncion, who immediately led a group of Russian "techies" who founded the "Union of Russian Technicians in Paraguay." This union, in turn, prompted engineers Alexei Kashirsky, Alexander Bogomolets, Boris Vorobyov, Vladimir Bashmakov and others to move to Paraguay, who later formed the National Department of Public Works. It was they who designed the modern network of Paraguayan highways. The Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the University of Asuncion was created with the direct participation of the Russians. Sergei Bobrovsky became the first dean of the new faculty; Among the professors were Georgy Shmagailov, Serey Sispanov, Sergei Konradi, Nikolai Krivoshein and Nikolai Sharsky. In 1928, the Russian Orthodox Church was consecrated, under which there was a parish school under the direction of Anna Kuskova. There was a “Committee of Russian Women”, a Mutual Aid Society, a Russian library. Princess Nadine Tumanova founded the School of Lyrical Singing, from where the first professional Paraguayan singers and singers came out. Agrippina Voitenko opened the School of Classical Dance... During the Chak War, six Russian officers fell on the battlefields, whose names are immortalized on a memorial plate in the Pantheon: Vasily Serebryakov, Boris Kasyanov, Vasily Malyutin, Sergei Salazkin, Viktor Kornilovich, Nikolai Goldshmidt. Many came to the war from France and Luxembourg, and fifteen years later Russians began to arrive in Paraguay, taken to Germany during the Second World War and not wanting to end up in Stalin's camps. In 1948 from China (from former zone CER) a new batch of colonists arrived. Thus, the formation of the Russian "small people" in Paraguay was completed.

And the question arises : why the Russians, if they can be the "salt of the earth", then only not their own?

From Asuncion, we headed to the East of Paraguay, and immediately felt that this was literally another country. Green hills, elegant houses under tiled roofs, whitewashed, like somewhere in the south of Spain. This part of the country, unlike the Chaco, is densely populated: before you have time to leave one city, you almost immediately enter another town or village. The climate is different: the dryness of the Chaco disappears with the crossing of the Paraguay River, as does the heat. The feeling is that you are driving through a quite prosperous South American country, and not through the most economically backward. And yet, strange as it may seem, it was once just the opposite...

HISTORY OF PARAGUAY full of tragedy. Not as far-fetched and feigned as Latin American soap operas are full of, but real. At first, it all started tritely, like the neighbors: in the east lived the Guarani Indians, who were engaged in agriculture and even familiar with the basics of metallurgy, in the west, in the Chaco, lived the Guaicurus Indians, who were engaged only in hunting and gathering. And then the Spaniards came. In 1524, Alejo Garcia, and in 1527, Sebastian Caboto, together with Guarani guides, explored these lands (Caboto climbed up the Paraguay River). But only the expedition of Pedro de Mendoza, who arrived with a special detachment from Buenos Aires, left a permanent garrison on the river, which laid the foundation for the city of Asuncion (1536). It must be said that warm, friendly relations were immediately established between the Spaniards and the Indians. Outwardly, the Guarani Indians, especially their female half, are quite pretty, with soft features that do not have such pronounced Mongoloid features as those of the Andean Indians. The Guarani continuously supplied the garrisons with women, so much so that soon the mestizos became almost the predominant group in the population of Paraguay. The Spaniards began to speak Guarani, littering the language of the Iberian homeland with Indian vocabulary. In 1617, Paraguay (before that called "Guaira"), received wide autonomy within the Viceroyalty of Peru and soon became the main center of the Spanish development of the Laplata regions, quite competitive in relation to Buenos Aires. The decisive role in the history of this period was played by the "Jesuit Fathers", who virtually ruled the country undividedly. They created here their own model of a theocratic state, with their own control system, a powerful army. In fact, this state had a "socialist", let's say, "distributive" character. So-called "reductions" were created, where the Indian population was driven. In these medieval collective farms, the Indians lived, prayed, worked, of course, under the strict guidance of the Jesuits. At first, Madrid encouraged the Jesuits in every possible way, but then realized that the "state" of the Jesuits could become uncontrollable at any moment. In 1767, it was decided to abolish the reductions, and expel the Jesuits from Paraguay. Their land holdings were confiscated and transferred to the landowners. But then, in 1811, Madrid itself was shown a fig. In 1814, the "ruler for life" José Gaspar Rodriguez de Francia came to power, who, despite assassination attempts, lived to his natural death in 1840. However, thirty years later, his remains were dug up and thrown into the river ... Francia was something to hate for. Apologist strong state, he took all the land from the church, half the land from the landowners, created "state farms", monopolized almost all sectors of the already meager production. Dissatisfied and recalcitrant mercilessly destroyed. He forbade anyone to approach him closer than six steps, to go out into the street if his carriage was driving along it, did not sleep two nights in a row in the same place. In general, this Francia was paranoid. True, his successors - Carlos Antonio Lopez and his son Francisco Solano Lopez - did a lot for the country. In 1842, the abolition of slavery was proclaimed, and in 1848, the Indians received equal rights with the Creoles. Paraguay was the only country in South America to put into practice those ideals that were loudly proclaimed on the banners of revolutionary armies or on the ribbons of the magnificent coats of arms of the newly minted states, but in fact they were long forgotten in them. Railways were built, the telegraph appeared; Paraguay had the best army on the continent. But, alas, even this army could not withstand the onslaught of three states at once - Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, which attacked Paraguay in the hope of chop off more land. The war of 1865-70 is the most shameful in the history of these three states, and the most tragic in the history of Paraguay. The country lost 80% (!) of the population and a significant part of its territory east of Parana. Now, for sure, Paraguay was thrown back 100 years ago, where it stayed until the arrival of the first German and Russian colonists. The subsequent history is known. After the reign of the Hitler-novel Alfred Stroessner, which lasted from 1954 to 1989, the country is gradually getting out of the swamp in which it has been for too long...

On a trip to Eastern Paraguay, we saw some of the historical and architectural sights that Paraguay is so poor in: the Franciscan church of the 18th century in Jaguaron, built by the Indians and famous for its wonderful carvings and ceiling paintings, the basilica in Itagua, the monument to the Jesuits in San Ignacio, but most importantly - grandiose ruins of the Jesuit "reduction" in Trinidad. Actually, this is the most important historical monument in Paraguay. It is located a few kilometers from Encarnacion, the capital of the Paraguayan smugglers. A bridge is thrown across Parana to Argentina, along which a freight train scurries back and forth, driven by an antediluvian steam locomotive. We ran after this locomotive! ... Still: here various frostbitten Englishmen pay such money to come here and look at working Paraguayan locomotives, and even then they don’t always manage to “catch” them, but here he is in front of us roams back and forth and does not ask for money. By the way, the train station in Asuncion is closed. Previously, the “historical train” on wood-powered traction carried tourists, but a few years ago it overflowed, seven people died, and it was decided to stop steam locomotive walks, put the Asuncion steam locomotive on an eternal joke, and dismantle the rails. At the same time, the trams got it. No more trams in Asuncion...

In Encarnacion we spent the night at the Tyrol Hotel. A huge complex, five swimming pools, rooms with furniture "under the Alpine antiquity". Guests - three people, not including us. As far as I understand, people will roar here in the summer. The microclimate here is much more humid and cool, kind of fertile. The owner of the hotel is a living embodiment of what a ban on friendship with girls can lead to: Hartmut in the hotel bar took a photograph from the wall, which showed two people fishing, holding a huge fish in their hands. “And this is his wife,” said Hartmut, pointing to the companion of our master. But the companion had such a mustache ... Of course, we kept silent, not showing surprise and not even sarcastically, as is our custom. Some kind of creature was still walking around the hotel, at first glance resembling a woman, but with manners, gait, and voice still like a man ... In short, a strange hotel. No wonder there are no guests. Who likes to live in a hotel infested with hermaphrodites?

We were shown the Itaipu dam, which supplies electricity to the whole of Paraguay and a good third of Brazil, and even showed us through the “holy of holies”, showing control rooms and the construction of new turbines. A good place. Just shoot fantastic action movies, like the Terminator. True, they didn’t bother to turn on the water to our parish, so it was possible to ride a skateboard along the channel of the drain. Those who are fond of can easily come here and ride (just kidding). The funny thing is that as soon as we arrived, the electricity suddenly went out. I have long noticed that as soon as I appear somewhere, misfortune immediately falls on this place. I remember I came to the editorial office of one magazine, sat down at the computer, and then the editor came running: “Guys! Hide office equipment! It turns out that the bailiff came to describe the property. Only a magazine was going to mine print the article, it was closed. Only another newly minted magazine decided to publish this article - it was closed even before it opened. And the same nonsense came to Itaipu. Itaipu is the subject of the greatest national pride Paraguayans, and here - on you: when showing a demonstration video, the electricity is cut down! Of course, they wildly apologized, saying that this doesn’t happen every day, but I know perfectly well what the real reason is ...

From Itaipu to Iguazu - a stone's throw. But Iguazu Falls is already Brazil, or Argentina in worst case. Why at worst? Because the Argentines have stricter border controls. Here, Hartmut warned us that, theoretically, a visa to Brazil was needed, while it was necessary to ask for a double Paraguayan visa, but in practice, at the border crossings, everything is up to the light bulb. From the Paraguayan city of Ciudad del Este to the Brazilian Foz do Iguacu, you need to get through the border bridge over Parana. For a couple of kilometers, brisk money changers are already starting to run up to the car, offering to exchange Paraguayan guarani (1 USD = 6200 guarani, while I do not advise you to take banknotes worth more than fifty dollars with you to Paraguay, otherwise even banks will not be able to find cash, and surrender is "green" from a hundred dollars - and even more so) to Brazilian Reals (1USD = 2.90 Real). Ciudad del Este is a “nothing” city, and when the border approaches, it’s better not to get out of the car at all. Dark personalities are scurrying around, dirt, sooty shapeless houses; in a word, uncomfortable. Motorcyclists scurry between cars - “motorcycle taxis”, especially for crossing the border. Pay one dollar and go to Brazil. You travel around the country for a month and a half, then you return the same way. However, it should be borne in mind that there is more traffic from the Brazilian side, and therefore you can sit in a traffic jam longer. The border guards on both sides physically do not have enough time or energy to inspect and check all the "tourists", so only pedestrians are "slowed down", who have to crowd at the visa control booths. Those in the cars are checked one in a million.

In Foz do Iguaçu, we settled in the Carima Hotel, and spent the evening at the Rafain show. Such a hodgepodge from all countries: here is tango, here is samba, here are Indians from the Andes, even “Mexicans”. The concept of the performance is "Long live Latin America!". Only national anthems were missing. In general, though not a disco "Help", but not bad.

However, all these shows for tourists are nothing compared to the extravaganza that nature arranges. Iguazu Falls is like no other. People like him got one by one to each continent. It seems that God distributed the most beautiful waterfalls from the very beginning: he gave Victoria to Africa, Niagara to North America, Iguazu to South America. And it is right that we came here not at the beginning, but at the very end of our trip to South America. Therefore, it will remain in memory as a flock of birds circling over a cloud of spray and steam in front of a roaring rushing stream, and an even halo of a rainbow hanging over a waterfall from edge to edge ...

NIKOLAY BALANDINSKY

July 2003

Paraguayan War

Background to the conflict

Starting from the very appearance of the Portuguese in Brazil, border clashes continued between them and the Spaniards. There have been numerous attempts at settlement (Treaty of Utrecht, Treaty of Madrid, First Treaty of San Ildefonso), but the border has not been fully defined. The fact that the reference points indicated in the agreements were often understood by the parties in different ways also played a role; So, the example of the Igurei River is very indicative. According to the Spanish (and later Paraguayan) side, it was she who was the border; the Portuguese called this river Vakaria in the upper reaches and Ivinheim in the lower, and the name Igurey, in their opinion, was borne by the river flowing much to the south. The Spaniards, for their part, called this river Karapa and did not consider it a border.

Thus, by the time Paraguay declared its independence, the problem of territorial demarcation with Brazil had not been resolved. However, in fact, the disputed territories were under the control of Asuncion. As long as Brazilian-Paraguayan relations remained warm, this dispute did not play a big role. However, since the 1850s, after their deterioration, the issue of borders has become importance. In the early 1860s, Brazil finally broke the status quo by building the Doradus fortress on the Igurei River.

It should be noted that the pre-war development of Paraguay differed significantly from the development of the neighboring states of South America. Under the rule of José Francia and Carlos Antonio López, the country developed almost in isolation from the rest of the region. The leadership of Paraguay supported the course of building a self-sufficient, autonomous economy. The Lopez regime (in 1862, Carlos Antonio Lopez was replaced as president by his son, Francisco Solano Lopez) was characterized by rigid centralization, leaving no room for the development of civil society.

Most of the land (about 98%) was in the hands of the state; the state also carried out a significant part of the production activity. There were so-called "estates of the Motherland" (Spanish: Estancias de la Patria) - 64 government-run farms. More than 200 foreign specialists invited to the country laid telegraph lines and railways, which contributed to the development of the steel, textile, paper, printing, shipbuilding and gunpowder industries.

The government completely controlled exports. The main goods exported from the country were valuable species of wood and mate. The policy of the state was rigidly protectionist; imports were actually blocked by high customs duties. Unlike neighboring states, Paraguay did not take external loans. Francisco Solano Lopez continued this policy of his predecessors.

At the same time, the government began to modernize the army. The foundry at Ibikui, built in 1850, made guns and mortars, as well as ammunition of all calibers; warships were built in the shipyards of Asuncion.

The growth of industrial production urgently required contact with the international market. However, Paraguay, located in the interior of the continent, had no access to the sea. To reach it, ships leaving the river ports of Paraguay had to go down the Parana and Paraguay rivers, reach La Plata, and only then go out into the ocean. Lopez's plans were to acquire a port on the Atlantic coast, which was possible only with the capture of part of the Brazilian territory.

In preparation for the implementation of these goals, the development of the military industry was continued. A significant number of soldiers were called up for compulsory military service in the army; they were intensively trained. Fortifications were built at the mouth of the Paraguay River.

Diplomatic training was also carried out. An alliance was concluded with the National Party ruling in Uruguay ("Blanco", "White"); accordingly, Blanco's rival, the Colorado Party ("Colored"), found support from Argentina and Brazil.

Ever since Brazil and Argentina gained independence, there has been an ongoing struggle between the governments of Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro for hegemony in the La Plata basin. This rivalry largely determined the foreign and domestic policies of the countries of the region. In 1825-1828, the contradictions between Brazil and Argentina led to war; its result was the independence of Uruguay (finally recognized by Brazil in 1828). After that, twice more the governments of Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires almost started hostilities against each other.

The goal of the Argentine government was to unite all the countries formerly part of the Viceroyalty of La Plata (including Paraguay and Uruguay). Since the first half of the 19th century, it has been trying to achieve this, but without success - largely due to the intervention of Brazil. It was Brazil, then ruled by the Portuguese, that was the first country to recognize (in 1811) the independence of Paraguay. Fearing an excessive strengthening of Argentina, the government of Rio de Janeiro preferred to maintain a balance of power in the region, helping Paraguay and Uruguay maintain their independence.

In addition, Paraguay itself has repeatedly interfered in the politics of Argentina. So, from 1845 to 1852, Paraguayan troops fought against the Buenos Aires government, along with detachments from the provinces of Corrientes and Entre Rios. During this period, Paraguay's relations with Brazil were especially warm, also at enmity with Argentine President Juan Manuel Rosas. Until his overthrow in 1852, the Brazilians continued to provide Asuncion with military and technical assistance, paying special attention to the fortifications on the Parana River and strengthening the Paraguayan army.

It is also worth noting that the Brazilian province of Mato Grosso was not connected to Rio de Janeiro by land roads and Brazilian ships were required to pass through Paraguayan territory along the Paraguay River in order to reach Cuiaba. However, it was often difficult to obtain permission from the Paraguayan government to do so.

Another hotbed of tension in the region was Uruguay. Brazil had significant financial interests in this country; its citizens enjoyed considerable influence - both economic and political. Thus, the company of the Brazilian businessman Irineu Evangelista de Suza was actually the state bank of Uruguay; the Brazilians owned about 400 estates (port. estancias), which occupied about a third of the country's territory. Particularly acute for this influential stratum of Uruguayan society was the issue of a tax on livestock driven from the Brazilian province of Rio Grande do Sul.

Three times during this period Brazil undertook political and military intervention in the affairs of Uruguay - in 1851, against Manuel Oribe and Argentine influence; in 1855, at the request of the Uruguayan government and Venancio Flores, leader of the Colorados party (a traditional ally of the Brazilians); and in 1864, against Atanasio Aguirre - the last intervention and served as the impetus for the start of the Paraguayan War. Probably, in many ways these actions were facilitated by Great Britain, which did not want to unite the La Plata basin into a single state capable of solely using the resources of the region.

In April 1864, Brazil sent a diplomatic mission to Uruguay, headed by José António Zarayva. Its purpose was to demand compensation for the losses caused to Brazilian Gaucho farmers in border conflicts with Uruguayan farmers. Uruguayan President Atanasio Aguirre (National Party) rejected the Brazilian claims.

Solano López offered to mediate the negotiations, but the Brazilians opposed the offer. In August 1864, Paraguay severed diplomatic relations with Brazil, and announced that the occupation of Uruguay by Brazilian troops would upset the balance of the region.

On October 12, Brazilian units invaded Uruguay. Supporters of Venancio Flores and the Colorado party, backed by Argentina, allied with the Brazilians and overthrew Aguirre.

War

Attacked by the Brazilians, the Uruguayan "Blancos" asked Lopez for help, but Paraguay did not provide it immediately. Instead, on November 12, 1864, the Paraguayan ship Takuari captured the Brazilian ship Marquis Olinda, heading along the Paraguay River to the province of Mato Grosso; among other things, it was carrying a cargo of gold, military equipment, and the newly appointed governor of the province of Rio Grande do Sul, Frederico Carneiro Campos. On December 13, 1864, Paraguay declared war on Brazil, and three months later, on March 18, 1865, on Argentina. Uruguay, already under the rule of Venancio Flores, entered into an alliance with Brazil and Argentina, thus completing the formation of the Triple Alliance.

At the start of the war, the Paraguayan army had 38,000 well-trained soldiers out of 60,000 in reserve. The Paraguayan fleet consisted of 23 small steamships and a number of small vessels grouped around the gunboat Takuari, almost all of these ships were converted from civilian ones. The 5 newest battleships ordered in Europe did not have time to arrive before the start of hostilities, and later they were even outbid by Brazil and became part of its fleet. Paraguayan artillery consisted of about 400 guns.

The armies of the states of the Triple Alliance were inferior to the Paraguayan ones in numbers. Argentina had about 8,500 men in regular units, as well as a squadron of four steamships and one schooner. Uruguay entered the war without a navy and with less than 2,000 men. Most of the 16,000th Brazilian army was previously garrisoned in the south of the country; at the same time, Brazil had a powerful fleet, consisting of 42 ships with 239 guns and a staff of 4,000 sailors. At the same time, a significant part of the fleet under the command of the Marquis of Tamandare was already concentrated in the La Plata basin (for intervention against Aguirre).

Despite the significant number of troops, Brazil was not ready for war. Her army was poorly organized; the troops used in Uruguay consisted mainly of detachments of regional politicians and some parts of the National Guard. In this regard, the Brazilian troops that fought in the Paraguayan War were not professional, but were recruited by volunteers (the so-called Volunteers of the Motherland). Many were slaves sent by farmers. The cavalry was formed from the National Guard of the Province of Rio Grande do Sul.

On May 1, 1865, in Buenos Aires, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay signed the Triple Alliance Treaty, uniting these three countries in the struggle against Paraguay. Argentine President Bartolome Miter became Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces.

In the first period of the war, the initiative was in the hands of the Paraguayans. The first battles of the war - the invasion of Mato Grosso in the north in December 1864, Rio Grande do Sul in the south in early 1865, and the Argentine province of Corrientes - were forced on the allies by the advancing Paraguayan army.

Two groups of Paraguayan troops simultaneously invaded Mato Grosso. Due to their numerical superiority, they were able to quickly capture the province.

Five thousand people under the command of Colonel Vicente Barrios in ten ships went up the Paraguay River and attacked the Brazilian fort of Nova Coimbra (now in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul). A small garrison of 155 men under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Ermengildo de Albuquerque Port Carrera (later promoted to Baron Fort Coimbra) defended the fort for three days. Having exhausted supplies, the defenders left the fort and set off on board the gunboat Anyambai in the direction of Corumba. Having occupied the abandoned fort, the attackers continued to advance north, and in January 1865 they took the cities of Albuquerque and Corumba. Several Brazilian ships, including Anyambai, went to the Paraguayans.

The second column of Paraguayan troops, numbering four thousand people under the command of Colonel Francisco Isidoro Reskin, invaded the territory of Mato Grosso to the south. One of the detachments of this group, under the command of Major Martin Urbieta, on December 29, 1864, ran into fierce resistance from a small detachment of Brazilians, numbering 16 people under the command of Lieutenant António Joan Ribeiro. Only by completely destroying them, the Paraguayans were able to move on. Having defeated the troops of Colonel José Diaz da Silva, they continued their offensive in the direction of the Nioaque and Miranda regions. In April 1865, the Paraguayans reached the Cochin area (now the north of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul).

Despite successes, the Paraguayan troops did not continue their advance on Cuiaba, the provincial capital of Mato Grosso. The main reason for this was that the main purpose of the Paraguayan strike in this area was to divert Brazilian forces from the south, where the decisive events of the war were to unfold in the La Plata basin.

The second stage of the Paraguayan offensive was the invasion of the Argentine province of Corrientes and the Brazilian Rio Grande do Sul. The Paraguayans could not help the Uruguayan "Blancos" directly - for this it was necessary to cross the territory belonging to Argentina. Therefore, in March 1865, the government of F. S. López turned to the Argentine President Bartolome Mitra with a request to let an army of 25,000 people under the command of General Wenceslao Robles pass through the province of Corrientes. However, Mitre, who had recently been an ally of the Brazilians in the intervention against Uruguay, refused.

On March 18, 1865, Paraguay declared war on Argentina. The Paraguayan squadron, descending the Parana River, locked the Argentine ships in the port of Corrientes, and the units of General Robles that followed took the city.

Invading Argentine territory, the López government tried to enlist the support of Justo José de Urquiza, the governor of the province of Corrientes and Entre Rios, who was the head of the federalists and an opponent of Miter and the government in Buenos Aires. However, Urquiza took an ambiguous stance towards the Paraguayans, who were forced to halt their advance after marching south for about 200 kilometers.

Simultaneously with the troops of Robles, the Argentine border south of Encarnación was crossed by the 10,000th detachment of Lieutenant Colonel Antonio de la Cruz Estigarribia. In May 1865, he reached the Brazilian province of Rio Grande do Sul, went down the Uruguay River and on June 12, 1865 took the city of Sao Borja. Uruguayana, located to the south, was taken on August 5 without much resistance.

The outbreak of war with Paraguay did not lead to the consolidation of forces within Argentina. The opposition was extremely wary of Miter's initiative to enter into an alliance with Brazil. Many in the country saw the war with Paraguay as fratricidal; the notion that the true cause of the conflict was not Paraguayan aggression, but the exorbitant personal ambitions of President Mitre, has become widespread. Supporters of this version noted that Lopez invaded Brazil, having every reason to consider Miter his supporter and even ally, and the transition of Argentina to the side of Brazil was completely unexpected for the Paraguayans. However, the development of events was quite favorable for the supporters of the war. Very timely, news was received about the abduction of local residents by Paraguayans in the province of Corrientes. As a result, the war continued.

Throughout the war in Argentina, speeches continued, demanding, in particular, an end to the war. So, on July 3, 1865, an uprising of 8,000 soldiers of the militia of the province of Entre Rios took place in Basualdo, who refused to fight against the Paraguayans. In this case, the Buenos Aires government refrained from taking punitive measures against the rebels, but the next uprising in Toledo (November 1865) was decisively suppressed with the help of Brazilian troops. In November 1866, the uprising, starting in the province of Mendoza, spread to the neighboring provinces of San Luis, San Juan and La Rioja. A significant part of the Argentine forces was sent to suppress this speech, President Mitre was forced to return from Paraguay and personally lead the troops. In July 1867, the province of Santa Fe rebelled, and in 1868, the province of Corrientes. The last uprising took place after the end of hostilities: in April 1870, the province of Entre Rios rebelled against Buenos Aires. These speeches, although they were suppressed, nevertheless significantly weakened the Argentines.

In April 1865, a column of Brazilian troops, numbering 2,780 people, under the command of Colonel Manuel Pedro Dragou, left the city of Uberaba in the province of Minas Gerais. The goal of the Brazilians was to move to the province of Mato Grosso to repulse the Paraguayans who invaded there. In December 1865, after a difficult 2,000-kilometer march through four provinces, the convoy arrived in Koshin. However, Koshin had already been abandoned by the Paraguayans. In September 1866, the troops of Colonel Dragou arrived in the Miranda region, also abandoned by the Paraguayans. In January 1867, a column reduced to 1,680 men, with a new commander, Colonel Carlos de Morais Camisan, at the head, attempted to invade Paraguayan territory, but was repulsed by the Paraguayan cavalry.

At the same time, despite the successes of the Brazilians, who took Corumba in June 1867, on the whole, the Paraguayans firmly entrenched themselves in the province of Mato Grosso, and retreated from it only in April 1868, being forced to move troops to the south of the country, to the main theater of the military actions.

In the La Plata basin, communications were limited exclusively to rivers; there were only a few roads. Control over the rivers decided the course of the war, in connection with which the main Paraguayan fortifications were concentrated in the lower reaches of the Paraguay River.

On June 11, 1865, the battle of Riachuelo took place between the fleets of the parties. According to the plan of F. S. Lopez, the Paraguayan fleet was supposed to surprise attack the larger Brazilian squadron. However, due to technical problems, the attack was not as sudden as planned, and the Brazilian ships under the command of Francisco Manuel Barroso da Silva managed to defeat the strong Paraguayan fleet and prevent the Paraguayans from further advancing into Argentine territory. The battle practically decided the outcome of the war in favor of the Triple Alliance, which from that moment controlled the rivers of the La Plata basin.

While Lopez was already ordering the retreat of the units that occupied Corrientes, the troops advancing from Sant Borj continued to successfully advance south, occupying Ithaca and Uruguayana. On August 17, one of the detachments (3200 soldiers under the command of Major Pedro Duarte), who continued to move to Uruguay, was defeated by the allied forces under the command of the Uruguayan President Flores in the battle of Zhatai on the banks of the Uruguay River.

On June 16, the Brazilian army crossed the border of Rio Grande do Sul with the aim of encircling Uruguayana; Allied forces soon joined in. The Alliance troops were assembled in a camp near the city of Concordia (in the Argentine province of Entre Rios). The general command was carried out by Mitre, the Brazilian troops were commanded by Field Marshal Manuel Luis Ozoriu. Part of the force under the command of Lieutenant General Manuel Marques de Suza, Baron of Porto Alegre, was sent to complete the defeat of the Paraguayan troops near Uruguayana; the result was not slow to affect: on September 18, 1865, the Paraguayans surrendered.

In the following months, Paraguayan troops were driven out of the cities of Corrientes and San Cosme, leaving the last piece of Argentine land still in Paraguayan hands. Thus, towards the end of 1865, the Triple Alliance went on the offensive. His armies, numbering over 50,000, were ready to invade Paraguay.

The Allied invasion followed the course of the Paraguay River, starting from the Paraguayan fortress of Paso de la Patria. From April 1866 to July 1868, military operations took place near the confluence of the Paraguay and Parana rivers, where the Paraguayans located their main fortifications. Despite the initial successes of the Triple Alliance troops, these defenses delayed the advance of the allied forces for more than two years.

The fortress of Itapir was the first to fall. After the battles of Paso de la Patria (fell on April 25, 1866) and Estero Bellaco, the Allied forces encamped in the Tuyuti swamps. Here, on May 24, 1866, they were attacked by the Paraguayans; in this battle, the allies again prevailed. The First Battle of Tuyuti was the largest pitched battle in South American history.

In July 1866, instead of the ill Field Marshal Osoriu, General Polidora da Fonseca Quintanilla Jordan took command of the 1st Corps of the Brazilian Army. At the same time, the 2nd Brazilian Corps, 10,000 men under the command of Baron Porto Alegre, arrived in the area of ​​operations from Rio Grande do Sul.

To open the way to the most powerful Paraguayan fortress of Umaite, Mitre gave the order to capture the Kurusu and Kurupaiti batteries. Curus managed to take Baron Porto Alegre's troops with a surprise attack, but the Curupaiti battery (commander - General José Eduvihis Diaz) put up significant resistance. An attack by 20,000 Argentine and Brazilian soldiers under the command of Mitre and Porto Alegre, supported by Admiral Tamandare's squadron, was repulsed. Heavy losses (5,000 men in just a few hours) led to a crisis in the command of the allied forces and a halt in the offensive.

On September 12, 1866, Francisco Solano López met with Argentine President Mitre. However, this attempt to conclude peace failed - primarily because of the opposition of the Brazilians, who did not want to end the war. The fighting continued.

On October 10, 1866, Marshal Luis Alvis de Lima y Silva, Marquis of Caxias (later duke) became the new commander of the Brazilian forces. Arriving in Paraguay in November, he found the Brazilian army practically paralyzed. Argentine and Uruguayan troops, devastated by disease, were stationed separately. Mitre and Flores, forced to deal with the internal politics of their countries, returned home. Tamandare was removed and Admiral Joaquín José Inacio (future Viscount Inhauma) was appointed in his place. Osorio organized in Rio Grande do Sul the 3rd Corps of the Brazilian Army, which consisted of 5,000 people.

In Miter's absence, Caxias took command and immediately began reorganizing the army. From November 1866 to July 1867, he took a number of measures to organize medical institutions (to help the many injured soldiers and to fight the cholera epidemic), and also significantly improved the supply system for the troops. During this period, hostilities were limited to small-scale skirmishes with the Paraguayans and the bombardment of Curupaity. Lopez took advantage of the disorganization of the enemy to strengthen the defense of the Umaita fortress.

The idea of ​​Caxias was to attack the flank of the left wing of the Paraguayan fortifications. Bypassing the fortress, the allies were supposed to cut off the communication between Umaita and Asuncion, thus surrounding the Paraguayan units. To implement this plan, Kashias gave the order to advance towards Tuyu-Kue.

However, Mitre, who returned to command of the army in August 1867, insisted on a new attack against the right wing of the Paraguayan fortifications, despite the previous failure of a similar attack at Curupaiti. On his orders, the Brazilian squadron advanced beyond the unconquered battery, but was forced to stop at the Umaita fortress. Disagreements arose again in the Allied leadership: Miter wanted to continue the assault, but the Brazilians took the towns of San Solano, Pique and Tayi located to the north, isolating Humaita from Asuncion and thus fulfilling the original plan of Caxias. In response, the Paraguayans tried to attack the Allied rearguard at Tuyuti, but suffered another defeat.

In January 1868, after Mitre returned to Argentina, Caxias again took command of the allied forces. On February 19, 1868, on his orders, a squadron of Brazilian ships under the command of Captain Delfin Carlos de Carvalho (later received the title of Baron Passagem) bypassed Curupaiti and Umaita, cutting them off from the rest of Paraguay. On July 25, after a long siege, Umaita fell.

Going on the offensive on Asuncion, the allied army marched 200 kilometers to the Pikissiri River, on which the Paraguayans built a defensive line that used the properties of the terrain and included the forts of Angostura and Ita-Ibate. Lopez managed to concentrate about 18,000 people here.

Not wanting to be drawn into frontal battles, Caxias decided to be more flexible. While the fleet attacked the fortifications of Fort Angostura, the troops crossed to the right bank of the river. Having built a road through the Chaco swamps, the Caxias soldiers were able to advance to the northeast, and at the city of Villeta they again crossed the river, thus bypassing the Paraguayan fortifications and cutting them off from Asuncion. Later, these actions were called the "Pikissiri maneuver". Having completed the crossing, Caxias did not take the almost defenseless Asuncion; instead, the Allies struck south, into the rear of the Paraguayan fortifications.

In December 1868, Caxias managed to win a series of victories over the encircled Paraguayan army. The battles of Ittororo (December 6), Avai (December 11), Lomas Valentinas and Angostura (December 30) practically destroyed the remnants of the Paraguayan troops. On December 24, three commanders of the Alliance troops (Caxias from Brazil, Gelly and Obes from Argentina and Enrique Castro from Uruguay) invited Francisco Solano López to surrender. However, Lopez rejected this offer, and fled to the highlands of Cerro Leon.

On January 1, 1869, Asuncion was occupied by troops under the command of Colonel Hermes Ernesto da Fonseca (father of the future Marshal and 8th President of Brazil, Ermes Rodriguez da Fonseca). The arsenal and the metropolitan shipyards fell into the hands of the Brazilians intact, making it possible to repair the fleet, which was seriously damaged. Five days later, Field Marshal Caxias arrived in the city with the rest of the army; thirteen days later he left the command.

The son-in-law of the Emperor of Brazil, Pedro II, Luis Filipe Gastán di Orléans, Count d'E, was appointed to lead the Brazilian troops at the final stage of the war. His goal was not only the complete defeat of Paraguay, but also the strengthening of Brazilian positions in the region. In August 1869, the Triple Alliance established the provisional government of Paraguay in Asuncion; It was headed by Cirilo Antonio Rivarola.

Francisco Solano López continued the war in the mountains northeast of Asuncion. For a year, an allied army of 21,000 men, led by the Comte d'Eu, crushed the resistance of the Paraguayans. In the battles of Piribebui and Acosta New, more than 5,000 people died on the Paraguayan side; a significant part of them were children drafted into the army.

Two detachments were sent to catch Solano Lopez, who was hiding in the forests in the north with a detachment of 200 people. On March 1, 1870, the troops of General José António Correia da Camara surprised the last camp of the Paraguayan troops in Cerro Cora. Francisco Solano López was killed while trying to swim across the Akidabana River. His last words were: "I'm dying for the Motherland!". Lopez's death marked the end of the Paraguayan War.

The fighting on both sides was fierce. So, there are known cases of cruel punishments in relation to the guilty military personnel of the Paraguayan army (Lopez did not even spare his own brother, the Bishop of Paraguay). After the death of a significant number of adult men, even women and children were drafted into the army; so, on August 16, 1869, 3,500 children and adolescents from 9 to 15 years old fought in the battle of Acosta New (from total Paraguayan forces 6,000 people). In memory of their heroism, today's Paraguay celebrates Children's Day on August 16.

Both sides treated the prisoners very cruelly. Some of the captured Paraguayans were even sold into slavery by the allies; in addition, captured Paraguayans were recruited into the so-called Paraguayan Legion - troops who fought on the side of the Triple Alliance (in total, about 800 people fought against their homeland in its composition).

Consequences of the war

Paraguay suffered heavy human losses during the war. Their scale is still the cause of discussion, but the very fact of the death of most of the population is not disputed by anyone.

According to one of the most reasonable estimates, the population of Paraguay in 1871 was about 221,000 people, while before the war, about 525,000 people lived in the country, that is, losses are estimated at 300,000 dead. A particularly heavy blow was dealt to the male population: according to the same 1871, there were only about 28,000 men in the country; the loss of the male population during the war is estimated at 90%. According to some other versions, the total losses of the country's population are estimated at 90% (1,200,000 people). Such high casualties are often associated with the fanatical devotion of the inhabitants of the country to the power of Lopez; the fierce guerrilla war that followed the fall of the capital and the flight of Lopez to the mountainous regions, apparently, also became one of the causes of human losses. The high mortality of the population was also due to diseases that spread rapidly during the war.

Allied losses were also quite high. Of the 123,000 Brazilians who took part in the war, about 50,000 died; some of them, however, were civilians (the province of Mato Grosso was especially affected). Argentina (30,000 soldiers) lost an estimated 18,000 men ( largest number civilian deaths were in the province of Corrientes), Uruguay - 3,100 people out of approximately 5,600 (some of these soldiers were foreigners).

However, it should also be noted high percent non-combat losses. Many lives have been lost due to poor nutrition and poor sanitation. Two-thirds of the losses of the Brazilian army were soldiers who died in hospitals and on the march; the Brazilian navy lost 170 men in action, 107 from accidents and 1,470 from disease. The specific problem of the Brazilians at the beginning of the war was that most of the soldiers were natives of the northern and northeastern regions of the country. A sharp change in climate from hot to very moderate, along with a change in the usual food, led to serious consequences. Drinking river water often led to disastrous consequences for entire battalions of Brazilians. Cholera probably remained the leading cause of death throughout the war.

In 1870, after the final defeat of Paraguay, Argentina offered Brazil a secret agreement, according to which the Paraguayan region of the Gran Chaco, rich in the so-called quebracho, a product used for leather tanning, was to go to the Argentines. At the same time, Paraguay itself would be divided in half between Argentina and Brazil. However, the Brazilian government, not interested in the disappearance of the Paraguayan state, which serves as a kind of buffer between Argentina and the Brazilian Empire, rejected this proposal.

The Brazilian army remained in Paraguay for another six years after the end of the war. Only in 1876 she was withdrawn from the country. During this period, the Brazilians helped to defend the independence of Paraguay from Argentina, which still wanted to take control of the Gran Chaco region; despite the very real threat of a new war, now between former allies, Paraguay remained independent.

No single peace treaty was concluded. The state border between Argentina and Paraguay was established after lengthy negotiations, culminating in an agreement signed on February 3, 1876. Argentina received about a third of the territory it claimed (most of the Misiones region and part of the Gran Chaco between the Pilcomayo and Rio Belmejo rivers); the ownership of part of the land (between the Verde Rivers and the main branch of the Pilcomayo River), on which an agreement was never reached, was brought to the court of an arbitrator, in the role of US President Rutherford Hayes. Hayes decided the dispute in favor of Paraguay; one of the departments of the country was named after him.

Brazil concluded a separate peace treaty with Paraguay on January 9, 1872. According to this agreement, freedom of navigation along the Paraguay River was established, the borders between the countries were determined in accordance with the pre-war claims of Brazil (due to the disputed border territories, the borders of the province of Mato Grosso expanded). The treaty also provided for the payment of Brazilian military expenses (this debt was canceled only by Getúlio Vargas in 1943 in response to a similar Argentine initiative). Thus, in total Argentina and Brazil received about 140,000 sq. km., which was slightly less than half of the then Paraguayan territory.

In December 1975, after the signing of the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation by the Presidents - Brazilian Ernesto Beckman Geisel and Paraguayan Alfredo Stroessner, the Brazilian government returned the trophies taken during the war to Paraguay.

Brazil paid dearly for the victory. The war was actually financed by loans from the Bank of London and banking houses Baring brothers and N. M. Rothschild and sons. In five years, Brazil spent twice as much as it received, sparking a financial crisis. The payment of a significantly increased public debt had a negative impact on the country's economy for several decades. There is an opinion that long war in the long term contributed to the fall of the monarchy in Brazil; in addition, there are suggestions that she was one of the reasons for the abolition of slavery (in 1888). The Brazilian army gained new importance as a political force; united by war and relying on emerging traditions, it will play later history countries a significant role.

In Argentina, the war led to the modernization of the economy; for several decades it became the most prosperous country in Latin America, and the annexed territories made it the strongest state in the La Plata basin.

In fact, the only country that benefited from the Paraguayan War was Great Britain - both Brazil and Argentina borrowed huge sums, some of which continue to be repaid to this day (Brazil paid off all British loans during the Getúlio Vargas era).

As for Uruguay, neither Argentina nor Brazil interfered so actively in its politics anymore. The Uruguayan Party of Colorado gained power in the country and ruled until 1958.

Most of the Paraguayan villages devastated by the war were abandoned, and their surviving inhabitants moved to the vicinity of Asuncion. These settlements in the central part of the country have practically switched to subsistence farming; a significant part of the land was bought by foreigners, mainly Argentines, and turned into estates. Paraguayan industry was destroyed, the country's market was opened to British goods, and the government (for the first time in the history of Paraguay) took out an external loan of 1 million pounds. Paraguay also had to pay an indemnity (it was never paid), and remained occupied until 1876.

To this day, the war remains a controversial topic - especially in Paraguay, where it is perceived as a fearless attempt by a small people to defend their rights - or as a suicidal, doomed to failure struggle against a superior enemy, which almost destroyed the nation to the ground.

In modern Russian journalism, the Paraguayan War is also perceived extremely ambiguously. At the same time, the views of the authors of the articles play a key role, while the events of the war are used to illustrate these views. Thus, Paraguay of that time can be presented as a forerunner of the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century, and the war as a criminal consequence of the aggressive policy of this regime. In another, directly opposite version, the regime of Francia and Lopez looks like a mustache

The Paraguayan War of 1864-1870, the war of conquest by Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay against Paraguay. Direct P.'s cause was the invasion of the Brazilian army in Uruguay under the pretext of forcing him to pay compensation for the damage allegedly caused in Ser. 50s Brazilian subjects during civil wars in Uruguay. With the beginning of the intervention, the government of Uruguay turned to Paraguay for help. Paraguay, interested in preserving the state. sovereignty of Uruguay, through ter. to-rogo he had access to the Atlantic coast. ok., declared his support for Uruguay in the hope of a peaceful settlement of the Brazilian-Uruguayan conflict. However, the Brazilian army continued to intervene, occupied Uruguay and forced it to join the anti-Paraguayan coalition, which included Argentina and Brazil. The coalition hoped to overthrow the government of Paraguay, headed by President F. Lopez, who actively defended the sovereignty of his country, and to tear away part of the territories. Paraguay.

In unleashing P. century. Great Britain, France and the United States played a significant role, seeking to open access to Paraguay for their capital. P. in. began in December 1864, when the President of Paraguay F. Lopez, having learned about the impending invasion of the coalitions. army, moved part (7.5 thousand people) 60-70 thousand. army through the Paraguayan-Brazilian border and occupied the southern districts of the Brazilian province of Mato Grosso, thus securing. north of the country from invasion. However, as a result of the defeat of the Paraguayan fleet on the river. Parana in June 1865 Paraguay was cut off from the outside world.

In August 1865, the Paraguayans captured the Brazilian city of Uruguayana, but by September, 8,000. the Paraguayan army was surrounded by forces of 30 thousand. coalition armies. After the bitter battles, the remnants of the Paraguayan army (about 5 thousand people) were forced to capitulate. In May 1866, 50,000 coalitions. army invaded. Paraguay and laid siege to the fortress of Umanta. But she managed to capture the fortress only after 2 years, in August. 1868. The retreating Paraguayan army in Dec. 1868 suffered a new defeat on the river. Pikisiri, and in Jan. 1869 coalition troops captured the capital of Paraguay, the city of Asuncion. F. Lopez withdrew the remnants of his troops to the mountainous regions of the Cordillera and deployed partisans. actions. During 1869, Lopez managed to increase the size of his army to 13 thousand people, replenishing it with 12-15-year-old teenagers. Partiz. The period of the war continued until the beginning. 1870. Despite the separation. successes, the Paraguayan army retreated. The human resources of the country were depleted, and there was no one to replenish the army. On March 1, 1870, a small detachment of Lopez was overtaken by a Brazilian cavalry detachment in the Sero-Cora mountains. In an unequal battle, Lopez's detachment was defeated, and he himself died. On this military. actions have stopped.

As a result of hostilities, hunger and disease, 4/5 of the population of Paraguay died. Of the survivors, men accounted for no more than 20 thousand people. The total losses of the armies of the anti-Paraguayan coalition exceeded 190 thousand people. In accordance with the peace treaties with Brazil (1872) and Argentina (1876), almost half of the territory was cut off from Paraguay. Brazilian invaders. troops were in Paraguay until 1876, which delayed the socio-political for a long time. and economic development of the country. Main the reasons for the defeat of Paraguay in P. century. were num. and tech. the superiority of the armies of the anti-Paraguayan coalition, which was seriously assisted by Great Britain.

I.I. Yanchuk.

Used materials of the Soviet military encyclopedia in 8 volumes, v. 6

Literature:

Alperovich M.S., Slezkin L.Yu. New history of Latin American countries. M., 1970, p. 184-191.

Read here:

Paraguay in the twentieth century (chronological table)

Latin America has many dark stories, one of the most terrible and bloody is the murder whole country, "Hearts of America" ​​(Paraguay). This assassination went down in history as the Paraguayan War, which lasted from December 13, 1864 to March 1, 1870. In this war, an alliance of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, supported by the then "world community" (the West), came out against Paraguay.

A bit of background

The first European visited the land of the future Paraguay in 1525, and the beginning of the history of this Latin American country is considered to be August 15, 1537, when the Spanish colonists founded Asuncion. The area was inhabited by the Guarani Indians.

Gradually, the Spaniards founded several more strongholds, from 1542 in Paraguay (translated from the language of the Guarani Indians, “paraguay” means “from the great river” - meaning the Parana River) they began to appoint special managers. From the beginning of the 17th century, Spanish Jesuits began to create their settlements in this territory (“Society of Jesus” - male monastic order).

They create in Paraguay a unique theocratic-patriarchal kingdom (Jesuit reductions - Indian reservations of the Jesuits). Its basis was the primitive communal tribal way of local Indians, the institutions of the Inca Empire (Tauantinsuyu) and the ideas of Christianity. In fact, the Jesuits and Indians created the first socialist state (with local specifics). It was the first large-scale attempt to build a just society based on the rejection of personal property, the priority of the public good, the primacy of the collective over the individual. The Jesuit Fathers studied the experience of governance in the Inca Empire very well and creatively developed it.

The Indians were transferred from a nomadic way of life to a sedentary one, the basis of the economy was agriculture and cattle breeding, and handicrafts. The monks instilled in the Indians the foundations of the material and spiritual culture of Europe, and in a non-violent way. When necessary, the communities fielded militias to fight off the attacks of the slave traders and their mercenaries. Under the leadership of the monastic brethren, the Indians achieved a high degree of autonomy from the Spanish and Portuguese empires. The settlements prospered, the work of the Indians was quite successful.

As a result, the independent policy of the monks led to the decision to expel them. In 1750, the Spanish and Portuguese crowns entered into an agreement under which 7 Jesuit settlements, including Asuncion, were to come under Portuguese control. The Jesuits refused to submit to this decision; as a result of a bloody war that lasted 4 years (1754-1758), the Spanish-Portuguese troops won. The complete expulsion of the Jesuit Order from all Spanish possessions in America followed (it ended in 1768). The Indians began to return to their former way of life. By the end of the 18th century, about a third of the population consisted of mestizos (descendants of whites and Indians), and two-thirds were Indians.

Independence

In the process of collapse Spanish Empire, in which young predators - the British took an active part, Buenos Aires became independent (1810). The Argentines tried to start an uprising in Paraguay, during the so-called. "Paraguayan expedition", but the militias of the Paraguayans defeated their troops.

But the process was launched, in 1811 Paraguay declared independence. The country was headed by the lawyer Jose Francia, the people recognized him as the leader. Congress, elected by popular vote, recognized him as a dictator with unlimited powers, first for 3 years (in 1814), and then dictator for life (in 1817). Francia ruled the country until his death in 1840. The country was introduced autarky (an economic regime involving the self-sufficiency of the country), foreigners were rarely allowed into Paraguay. The regime of José Francia was not liberal: rebels, spies, conspirators were mercilessly destroyed and arrested. Although it cannot be said that the regime was monstrous - during the entire reign of the dictator, about 70 people were executed and about 1 thousand were thrown into prison.

Francia carried out secularization (confiscation of church and monastery property, land), mercilessly liquidated criminal gangs, as a result of which, after a few years, people forgot about crime. Francia partially revived the ideas of the Jesuits, although "without excesses." Paraguay has a special National economy based on social labor and private small business. In addition, such amazing phenomena arose in the country (it was the first half of the 19th century!), As free education, free medicine, low taxes and public food funds. As a result, in Paraguay, especially given its rather isolated position relative to world economic centers, a strong state industry was created. This made it possible to be an economically independent state. By the middle of the 19th century, Paraguay had become the fastest growing and wealthiest state in Latin America. It should be noted that this was a unique state where poverty was absent as a phenomenon, although there were enough rich people in Paraguay (the rich stratum was quite peacefully integrated into society).

After the death of Francio, which became a tragedy for the entire nation, by decision of the Congress, the country was headed by his nephew Carlos Antonio Lopez (until 1844 he ruled with consul Mariano Roque Alonso). It was the same tough and consistent person. He carried out a number of liberal reforms, the country was ready for “opening” - in 1845 access to Paraguay was opened to foreigners, in 1846 the former protective customs tariff was replaced by a more liberal one, Pilar harbor (on the Parana River) was opened for foreign trade. Lopez reorganized the army according to European standards, brought its strength from 5 thousand. up to 8 thousand people. Several fortresses were built, a river fleet was created. The country withstood the seven-year war with Argentina (1845-1852), the Argentines were forced to recognize the independence of Paraguay.

Work continued on the development of education, opened learned societies, the possibilities of means of communication, navigation were improved, shipbuilding was improved. The country as a whole has retained its originality, so in Paraguay almost all the lands belonged to the state.

In 1862 Lopez died, leaving the country to his son Francisco Solano Lopez. The new people's congress approved his powers for 10 years. At this time, the country reached the peak of its development (then the country was simply killed, preventing it from going along a very promising path). Its population reached 1.3 million people, there were no public debts (the country did not take external loans). At the beginning of the reign of the second Lopez, the first railway, 72 km long, was built. More than 200 foreign specialists were invited to Paraguay, who laid telegraph lines and railways. This helped in the development of steel, textile, paper, printing industries, gunpowder production and shipbuilding. Paraguay created its own defense industry, produced not only gunpowder and other ammunition, but cannons and mortars (a foundry in Ibiqui, built in 1850), built ships in the shipyards of Asuncion.

The reason for the war and its beginning

Neighboring Uruguay looked closely at the successful experience of Paraguay, and after it the experiment could triumphantly pass throughout the continent. The possible unification of Paraguay and Uruguay challenged British interests, local regional powers- Argentina and Brazil. Naturally, this caused discontent and fears of the British and Latin American ruling clans. In addition, Paraguay had territorial disputes with Argentina. A pretext for war was needed and it was quickly found.

In the spring of 1864, the Brazilians sent a diplomatic mission to Uruguay and demanded compensation for the losses caused to Brazilian farmers in border conflicts with Uruguayan farmers. The head of Uruguay, Atanasio Aguirre (from the National Party, which stood for union with Paraguay), rejected the Brazilian claims. Paraguayan leader Solano López offered to mediate negotiations between Brazil and Uruguay, but Rio de Janeiro opposed the offer. In August 1864, the Paraguayan government severed diplomatic relations with Brazil, and declared that the intervention of the Brazilians and the occupation of Uruguay would upset the balance in the region.

In October, Brazilian troops invaded Uruguay. Supporters of the Colorado Party (a pro-Brazilian party), backed by Argentina, allied themselves with the Brazilians and overthrew the Aguirre government.

Uruguay was a strategically important partner for Paraguay, since almost all Paraguayan trade went through its capital (Montevideo). And the Brazilians occupied this port. Paraguay was forced to enter the war, the country was mobilized, bringing the size of the army to 38 thousand people (with a reserve of 60 thousand, in fact it was a people's militia). On December 13, 1864, the Paraguayan government declared war on Brazil, and on March 18, 1865, on Argentina. Uruguay, already under the control of the pro-Brazilian politician Venancio Flores, entered into an alliance with Brazil and Argentina. On May 1, 1865, in the Argentine capital, the three countries signed the Treaty of the Triple Alliance. Global community(primarily Great Britain) supported the Triple Alliance. "Enlightened Europeans" provided substantial assistance to the union with ammunition, military advisers, and gave loans for the war.

Army of Paraguay initial stage was more powerful, both numerically (at the beginning of the war, the Argentines had about 8.5 thousand people, the Brazilians - 16 thousand, the Uruguayans - 2 thousand), and in terms of motivation, organization. In addition, it was well armed, the Paraguayan army had up to 400 guns. The basis of the military forces of the Triple Alliance - the Brazilian armed forces consisted mainly of detachments of local politicians and some parts of the National Guard, often they were slaves who were promised freedom. Then, in part of the coalition, all sorts of volunteers poured in, adventurers from all over the continent who wanted to take part in the robbery of a rich country. It was believed that the war would be short-lived, Paraguay and the three countries had too different indicators - the population, the power of the economies, the help of the "world community". The war was actually sponsored by loans from the Bank of London and the banking houses of the Baring brothers and N. M. Rothschild and sons.

But we had to fight with the armed people. At the initial stage, the Paraguayan army won a number of victories. In the northern direction, the Brazilian fort Nova Coimbra was captured, in January 1865 they took the cities of Albuquerque and Corumba. In the southern direction, the Paraguayan units successfully operated in the southern part of the state of Mata Grosso.

In March 1865, the Paraguayan government turned to Argentine President Bartolome Mitra with a request to let 25,000 troops pass through the province of Corrientes to invade the Brazilian province of Rio Grande do Sul. But Buenos Aires refused, March 18, 1865 Paraguay declared war on Argentina. The Paraguayan squadron (at the beginning of the war, Paraguay had 23 small steamships and a number of small ships, and the flagship was the Takuari gunboat, most of them were conversions from civilian ships), descending the Parana River, blocked the port of Corrientes, and then the ground forces took it. At the same time, the Paraguayan units crossed the Argentine border, and through the territory of Argentina they hit the Brazilian province of Rio Grande do Sul, on June 12, 1865, the city of San Borja was taken, on August 5, Uruguayana.

Continuation of the war

The situation was complicated by the defeat of the Paraguayan squadron on June 11, 1865 at the Battle of Riachuelo. The Triple Alliance from that moment began to control the rivers of the La Plata basin. Gradually, the superiority in forces began to affect, by the end of 1865, the Paraguayan troops were driven out of the previously occupied territories, the coalition concentrated 50 thousand army and began to prepare for the invasion of Paraguay.

The invading army could not immediately break into the country, they were detained by fortifications near the confluence of the Paraguay and Parana rivers, where the battles went on for more than two years. So the Umaita fortress became a real Paraguayan Sevastopol and delayed the enemy for 30 months, it fell only on July 25, 1868.

After that, Paraguay was doomed. The interventionists, being supported by the "world community", slowly and with heavy losses simply pushed through the defense of the Paraguayans, actually grinding it down, paying for it with numerous losses. And not only from bullets, but also from dysentery, cholera and other delights of a tropical climate. In a series of battles in December 1868, the remnants of the Paraguayan troops were practically destroyed.

Francisco Solano López refused to surrender and retreated into the mountains. Asuncion fell in January 1969. I must say that the people of Paraguay defended their country almost without exception, even women and children fought. Lopez continued the war in the mountains northeast of Asuncion, people went to the mountains, the selva, to partisan detachments. During the year there was a guerrilla war, but in the end the remnants of the Paraguayan forces were defeated. On March 1, 1870, the Solano Lopez detachment was surrounded and destroyed, the head of Paraguay died with the words: “I am dying for the Motherland!”

Results

The Paraguayan people fought to the last, even the enemies noted the massive heroism of the population, the Brazilian historian Roche Pombu wrote: “Many women, some with peaks and stakes, others with small children in their arms, furiously threw sand, stones and bottles at the attackers. The rectors of the parishes of Peribebuy and Valenzuela fought with guns in their hands. Boys 8-10 years old lay dead, and their weapons were lying next to them, other wounded showed stoic calmness, not uttering a single groan.

In the battle of Acosta New (August 16, 1869), 3.5 thousand children aged 9-15 fought, and the Paraguayan detachment was only 6 thousand people. In memory of their heroism, the Day of the Child is celebrated on August 16 in modern Paraguay.

In battles, skirmishes, acts of genocide, 90% of the male population of Paraguay was killed. Of the more than 1.3 million people in the country, by 1871, about 220 thousand people remained. Paraguay was completely devastated and thrown to the sidelines of world development.

The territory of Paraguay is cut in favor of Argentina and Brazil. The Argentines generally proposed to completely dismember Paraguay and divide it "fraternally", but Rio de Janeiro did not agree. The Brazilians wanted to have a buffer between Argentina and Brazil.

It was Britain and the banks behind it that benefited from the war. The main powers of Latin America, Argentina and Brazil, found themselves in financial dependence, having borrowed huge amounts. The possibilities offered by the Paraguayan experiment were destroyed.

The Paraguayan industry was liquidated, most of the Paraguayan villages were devastated and abandoned, the remaining people moved to the vicinity of Asuncion. People switched to subsistence farming, a significant part of the land was bought by foreigners, mostly Argentines, and turned into private estates. The country's market was opened to British goods, and the new government took out a foreign loan of £1 million for the first time.

This story teaches that if the people are united and defend their homeland, the idea, it can only be defeated with the help of total genocide.