Myths and Truths of the Triple Alliance War

Someone said that the black hand that blew up the Triple Alliance war was that of the English, and it was believed. But Although responsible for grave sins in other latitudes, England had nothing to do with this bloody conflict that pitted four countries in South America.

Rubia Albion was on the contrary a friend of Carlos Antonio López and later of his son Francisco Solano. This is sufficiently proven.

These are the tests. In June 1845, Lopez Sr. offered his soldiers in England and France for the blockade of Buenos Aires.

On March 4, 1853, his son Francisco Solano Lopez signed a treaty with England whereby the empire recognized the independence of Paraguay in exchange for the opening of the Paraguay River to ship navigation of British commerce.

During his official mission to Europe, Solano López hired English technicians and engineers and bought English machines to promote the industrial development of his country. He even brought from London an imposing warship, the Tacuari.

In September 1857, the ship Río Blanco arrived in London with a large cargo of Paraguayan products that were delivered to the English market.

The Ybycuí smelter, advanced at the time, was designed and built under the technical direction of the English engineer William Godwin, who was later replaced by another English engineer, John W. Whitehead.

The Paraguayan Railway was also built by English engineers, among whom William Pedisson is distinguished.

The fortifications of Humaitá were built by the English Colonel George Thompson, badisted in his work by English technicians and engineers.

The fatal ditch – for the Allies – the trench of Curupaity was also largely executed by George Thompson, the English engineer who was also responsible for the construction of the fortifications of Pikysyry and Lomas Valentinas.

Francisco Solano López has always been surrounded by English collaborators, including John Nesbitt, Charles H. Thompson, Percy Burell, Henry Volpi and Charles Twite.

Even for a medical clbad, Lopez brought an Englishman, Dr. Guillermo Stewart.

On March 5, 1865, the Paraguayan National Congress declared war on Argentina. To finance the war, he authorized Lopez to contract a £ 5,000,000 loan from England.

The medical corps of the Paraguayan army counted a senior surgeon, three surgeons with the rank of captain and a pharmacist with the rank of lieutenant, all English professionals.

The weapons manufactured in Paraguay during the war were works of English engineers.

In August 1867, England presented to Lopez a peace proposal which had been personally handed to him by the Secretary of the British Embbady in London, Mr. Gould. Lopez first accepted it, but then rejected it.

After the battle of Riachuelo against Corrientes, Paraguay had only nine warships, which were then used for some sort of guerrilla war against the Allied fleet.

All the machinists were English and many of them (Gibson, Bagster, Spivey and others) died in action. For them, Lopez built an English cemetery in Humaitá.

The "conspiracy of Canstatt"

The only short circuit between the two countries occurred in 1859, when an attempt to badbadinate Carlos Antonio López was detected in Asunción, a fact involving an English citizen, Santiago Canstatt. The British consul in Asunción, Charles Henderson, asked the government to lift the incommunicado imposed on his compatriot.

On August 1, 1859, the same diplomat ordered the president that the prisoner be released and compensated as a "reparation". Don Carlos rejected the energetic intimidation and the conflict became more acute.

In retaliation for the rejection of the ultimatum, English ships anchored in the Rio de la Plata attacked the Tacuarí to kidnap Francisco Solano López, who returned to Asunción after mediating in Buenos Aires between Miter and Urquiza . Lopez escaped but the ship was in the hands of the English.

In Asunción, Canstatt was sentenced to death, but was later pardoned and expelled from the country. The English awaited the arrival of the so-called plot at Corrientes, to liberate Tacuarí, which was brought back to Asunción.

Overcoming the diplomatic incident, entered into history under the name of "Canstatt Conspiracy", the two countries have resumed their relations. On October 14, 1862, they signed a new agreement under which the Argentine journalist Carlos Calvo was accepted as representative of Paraguay at the Foreign Office.

So, already at the height of the war, the Paraguayan government continued to maintain diplomatic relations with France and England.

Two ambbadadors (who at that time called business leaders) rubbed shoulders with Paraguay during the five years of war with these European countries: Cándido Bareiro and Gregorio Benítez.

Some historians claim that England, eager to seize Paraguayan cotton, raised Miter and Emperor Pedro II against Francisco Solano Lopez.

However, the main Paraguayan Guarani product was not cotton but yerba mate. They followed this wood, sugar cane, leather, cbadava, tobacco and citrus fruits. Cotton occupied the last places in the table of national productions and barely enough to cover local demand.

For the meager, cotton was not something that could lead the English to promote a war to the detriment of a country with whom they had cordial relations. These relations were so cordial that the Lopez, before the war and eager to convert cotton into another important import factor, sent to England very distinguished textile samples, according to them, "for their strength and color ".

What is said: England has nothing to do with this war whose end is 149 years old. The trigger of the Triple Alliance War was Francisco Solano López, but that's another story.

The author is a journalist and historian.