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Chaco War
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The Chaco War (1932–1935) was fought between Bolivia and Paraguay over control of a great part of the Gran Chaco region of South America, which was incorrectly thought to be rich in oil.
gh 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).
hermore, the discovery of oil in the Andean foothills sparked speculation that the Chaco itself might be a rich source of petroleum.
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The Chaco War (1932–1935) was fought between Bolivia and Paraguay over control of a great part of the Gran Chaco region of South America, which was incorrectly thought to be rich in oil.
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).
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.
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. The 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. 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. 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.
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.
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.
The deployment of these "advanced" weapons, however small in quantity, caused enormous strains on both countries' impoverished economies, already stretched to the limit due to war expenses.
While the military conflict ended with a comprehensive Paraguayan victory, from a wider point of view it was a disaster for both sides. Anyways, shorter distances and experience from their previous war with Argentina, Brasil and Uruguay proved to be decisive in Paraguay´s initial success. 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. In fact, of the war's 100,000 casualties, more died from diseases such as malaria and other infections than from the actual fighting (about 57,000 of the total, were Bolivian). 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.
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 was no oil resources in the Chaco Boreal kept by Paraguay, yet, the territories kept by Bolivia, were rich in natural gas and petroleum, being at this age the countries largest export 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, which was epitomised by the MNR-led Revolution of 1952.
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.
See also
External links
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