Chaco War
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| Chaco War, Interwar Period | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Bolivia and Paraguay before the 1932 War |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Republic of Bolivia |
 Republic of Paraguay |
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| Commanders | |||||||||
| General Hans Kundt General Enrique Peñaranda |
Marshal José Félix Estigarribia | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| Army of Bolivia (250,000) |
Army of Paraguay (150,000) |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| ~57,000 | ~43,000 | ||||||||
The Chaco War (1932–1935) was fought between Bolivia and Paraguay over control of the northern part of the Gran Chaco region (the Chaco Boreal) of South America, which was incorrectly thought to be rich in oil.
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[edit] Origins
Though the region was sparsely populated, control of the Paraguay River running through it would have given one of the two landlocked countries access to the Atlantic Ocean. This was especially important to Bolivia, which had lost its Pacific Ocean coast to Chile in the War of the Pacific (1883).
[edit] Control of natural resources
Furthermore, the discovery of oil in the Andean foothills sparked speculation that the Chaco itself might be a rich source of petroleum. Foreign oil companies were involved in the exploration: companies mainly descended from Standard Oil, backed Bolivia, while Shell Oil supported Paraguay. Standard was already producing oil from wells in the high hills of eastern Bolivia, around Villa Montes.
In international arbitration, Bolivia argued that the region had been part of the original Spanish colonial province of Moxos and Chiquitos to which Bolivia was heir. Meanwhile, Paraguay had begun to colonize the region. Indeed, both Paraguayan and Argentinian planters already bred cattle and exploited quebracho woods in the area, while the small indigenous population of Guaraní-speaking tribes was related to that country's own Guaraní heritage.
Paraguay had lost almost half of its territory to Brazil and Argentina in the War of the Triple Alliance and was not prepared to see what it perceived as its last chance for a viable economy fall victim to Bolivia.[1]
[edit] The War
Border skirmishes throughout the late 1920s culminated in an all-out war in 1932, after the Bolivian army, following orders of President Daniel Salamanca, attacked a Paraguayan garrison at Lake Pitiantuta in June. They later occupied another garrison further south, called Fortín Boquerón. This stronghold would later become the scene of one of the bloodiest and protracted battles of this war, when some 600 Bolivian soldiers resisted a 22-days siege, against 14,000 Paraguayan troops before surrendering (7-29 September 1932).
Paraguay had a population only a third as large as that of Bolivia (880,000 versus 2,150,000), but its guerrilla style of fighting, compared to Bolivia's more conventional strategy, enabled Paraguay to take the upper hand. In June of 1932, the Paraguayan army totaled about 4,026 men (355 combat officers, 146 surgeons and noncombatant officers, 200 cadets, 690 NCOs, and 2,653 soldiers). Both racially and culturally, the Paraguayan army was practically homogeneous. Almost all of the soldiers were Spanish-Guarani mestizos. Bolivia, however, was not like this. Most of the soldiers were Altiplano Indigenous Indians (90% of the infantry troops), the lower-ranking officers were Spanish, and General Kundt was German. In spite of the fact that the Bolivian army had many more soldiers, the Bolivian army never mobilized more than 60,000 men, and never more than two-thirds of the army were on the Chaco at one time, while Paraguay mobilized its entire army. [2]
Paraguay received military supplies and intelligence from Argentina, and the Paraguayans took advantage of their ability to communicate over the radio in Guaraní, which was not intelligible to the typical Bolivian soldier. Paraguay had little trouble in mobilizing its troops in large barges on the Paraguay river right to the frontlines, whilst the majority of Bolivian soldiers came from the western highlands, some eight hundred kilometers away and with little or no logistic support. In fact, it took a typical Bolivian soldier about 14 days to traverse the distance, while a Paraguayan soldier only took about four.[3] The heavy equipment of Bolivia's army made things worse. The supply of water, given the dry climate of the region, also played a key role during the conflict. There were thousands of non-combat casualties due to dehydration, mostly among Bolivian troops.
A key battle of the Chaco occurred at Fortin Nanawa, about 60 miles Southeast of Boqueron. This fortin was considered by the Paraguayans to be the backbone of their defenses. Defense specialists Ivan Belaieff and Nicolas Ern (who were white Russians under the service of the Paraguayan army) had focused greatly on the fortification of this fortin. It had zig-zag trenches, miles of barbed wire, and many machine-gun nests (some in the trees). On January 20, 1933, Kundt, in personal command of the Bolivian force, launched six to nine aircraft and 6,000 unhorsed cavalry, supported by twelve Vickers guns. The cavalry unit's horses had previously died because of dehydration. Under Kundt, three frontal assaults failed. The Bolivians succeeded in capturing a few of the outer trenches, but heavy rains forced them to abandon the attack, which allowed Paraguayans to reoccupy the entire complex. By the end of January 10 days later, the Bolivians had 2,000 casualties without making much progress. The Paraguayans had only 248 casualties. The defeat seriously damaged Kundt's prestige. This fortin was later nicknamed the "Verdun of South America."[4] Partly due to frontal assaults of this nature, Kundt was later taken out of command.
Moreover, Bolivia deployed at least three Vickers 6-Ton tanks during the war, in what was the first ever (and to this day the only) case of cross-border armoured warfare inside the Americas. These machines proved to be ill-suited to the terrain and weather of Gran Chaco, when compared with the lightly-armed Paraguayan forces.[5]
The Chaco War is also important historically as the first instance of large scale aerial warfare to take place in the Americas. Both sides made use of obsolete single-engined biplane bombers; despite an international arms embargo imposed by the League of Nations, Bolivia in particular went to great lengths in trying to import a small number of Curtiss C-30 Condor twin-engined bombers masqueraded as civil transports, only to be halted in Peru during deliveries.[6]
The limited deployment of these "advanced" weapons caused enormous strains on both countries' impoverished economies, already stretched to the limit by war expenses.
While the military conflict ended with a comprehensive Paraguayan victory,[7][8] from a wider point of view it was a disaster for both sides. Bolivia's European elite forcibly enlisted the large indigenous population into the army, though they felt little connection to the nation-state, while Paraguay was able to foment nationalist fervour among its predominantly mixed population. On both sides, but more so in the case of Bolivia, soldiers were ill-prepared for the dearth of water or the harsh conditions of terrain and climate they encountered. The effects of the altitude had maimed the Bolivian army: most of the indigenous soldiers lived on the cold Altiplano at altitudes of over 12,000 feet. They found themselves at a physical disadvantage when called upon to fight in sub-tropical temperatures at almost sea level.[9] In fact, of the war's 100,000 casualties (about 57,000 of the total were Bolivian), more died from diseases such as malaria and other infections than from the actual fighting. At the same time, the war brought both countries to the brink of economic disaster.
On November 27, 1934, Bolivian generals, frustrated by the progress of the war, seized President Salamanca while he was visiting their headquarters in Villa Montes and replaced him with the vice-president, José Luis Tejada.
[edit] Aftermath
By the time a ceasefire was negotiated on June 10, 1935, Paraguay controlled most of the region. This was recognised in a 1938 truce, signed in Buenos Aires, Argentina, by which Paraguay was awarded three-quarters of the Chaco Boreal. Bolivia did get the remaining territory, that bordered the Paraguay's River Puerto Busch. Some years later it was found that there were no oil resources in the Chaco Boreal kept by Paraguay, yet the territories kept by Bolivia were, in fact, rich in natural gas and petroleum, these being at the present time, the country's largest exports and source of wealth.
Many Bolivians felt embarrassed by their country's stunning military blunder during the Chaco War, which led to a mass movement away from the traditional order known as the Generación del Chaco[vague], which was epitomised by the MNR-led Revolution of 1952.
A final treaty clearly marking the boundaries between the two countries was not signed until April 28, 2009.[10]
[edit] Cultural references
Some aspects of the Chaco War are the inspiration for Tintin's comic book adventure The Broken Ear by Hergé, which began publication in 1935.
The conflict inspired Lester Dent to write the Doc Savage adventure The Dust of Death, also in 1935.
The Chaco War formed the backdrop for the 1935 film Storm Over the Andes, by Christy Cabanne, and the 2006 film Hamaca paraguaya, by Paz Encina.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ The Chaco War
- ^ Scheina, Robert L. "Latin America's Wars Volume II: The Age of the Professional Soldier, 1900-2001." Washington D.C.: Brasseys, 2003.
- ^ Scheina, Robert L. "Latin America's Wars Volume II: The Age of the Professional Soldier, 1900-2001." Washington D.C.: Brasseys, 2003.
- ^ Scheina, Robert L. "Latin America's Wars Volume II: The Age of the Professional Soldier, 1900-2001." Washington D.C.: Brasseys, 2003.
- ^ Chaco War armor
- ^ Dan Hagedorn and Antonio L. Spaienza, Aircraft of the Chaco War 1928-1935, Schiffer Publishing Ltd, Atglen PA, 1997, ISBN 0764301462
- ^ "Paraguayan victory in the Chaco War doubled the national territory and worked wonders for national pride." Chasteen, John Charles : Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America. Published by Norton, 2001. ISBN 0393050483
- ^ "The architect of the Paraguayan victory was General Estigarribia, who fought a brilliant war of maneuver." Goldstein, Erik: Wars and peace treaties, 1816-1991: 1816-1991. Published by Routledge, 1992. ISBN 0415078229
- ^ English, Adrian J. "The Green Hell: A Concise History of the Chaco War Between Bolivia and Paraguay 1932-1935." Gloucestershire: Spellmount Limited, 2007.
- ^ Bolivia, Paraguay Settle Border Conflict from Chaco War
[edit] External links
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