7 antecedents of the CHACO WAR- [SUMMARY + VIDEO !!]

The 20th century was a historical period full of wars, participating practically all the nations of the world in one or another war. To talk about a war of great relevance that had as protagonists Paraguay and Bolivia and understand the motivations that could lead to the beginning of this war, in this lesson from a PROFESSOR we are going to talk about the background of the Chaco war.

Index

1. What was the Chaco war?
2. War history of the Chaco War
3. Other antecedents of the Chaco war

Before talking about the main antecedents of this conflict, the Chaco war, we must talk about the war itself, to know information and data that help us to know the reason for this war not so well known in Europe.

The Chaco War was a war that faced Paraguay and Bolivia between the years 1932 and 1935. It is considered by many historians as the most important conflict of the 20th century on the American continent. The war took place for control of the

The countries sent between the two more than 400,000 soldiers, leading the war a number of deaths of about 90,000 people and great losses both human and economic in both nations. The deaths were no longer only due to the war, or the damages derived from it, but were also due to the problems that both nations had due to the great poverty of both areas. Poverty generates problems in water and food, causing this that some societies with both impoverishment end up dying for the situation, and more when a war is taxing this problematic.

The end of the war took place in 1935 and ended with the victory of Paraguay, setting limits that were much more beneficial for Paraguayans than for Bolivians.

Image: Slideshare

Among the different kinds of existing antecedents, possibly one of the most interesting are the warlike ones, being many the wars previous to these that had an influence to a greater or lesser extent within the conflict. Therefore, below we must talk about different wars and their consequences in the origin of the Chaco war.

War of the Triple Alliance

This war started in 1864 and ended in 1870 pitted Paraguay against a Triple Alliance of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, and whose motivation was to expand the limits of the Boreal Chaco by the Paraguayans. The war was so severe for Paraguayans that they lost almost 80% of their male population. After the end of the war, the Paraguayans and Argentines looked for an arbitrator to decide the dispute, being a member of the United States who agreed with Paraguay, which was the beginning of the problem with Bolivia.

Pacific War

The Pacific War He faced Bolivia against Chile and Peru, the Bolivian defeat being a severe blow that prevented him from accessing the Pacific. In its search for a new route to the Pacific, Bolivia set its eyes on the Paraguay River, bordering the Boreal Chaco, and that was the birth of the dispute over this area.

Acre War

The Acre Wars were a conflict between Brazil and Bolivia which ended with the victory of Brazil, leading to Brazil remaining with the area called Acre, but the Chaco Boreal area being recognized as Bolivian by the Brazilian side.

To end this lesson on the causes of the Chaco war, we must list the main reasons that were considered to be part of the so-called antecedents. The main antecedents of the Chaco war are as follows.

The failed negotiations

For years Bolivia and Paraguay sought a peaceful way to end the war, with many occasions when the two nations held meetings to organize the boundaries of the zone and avoid the war. Negotiations never worked, as none of the nations was able to step back about the area of ​​the Chaco that he wanted to occupy, and especially because of Paraguay's hidden intentions about the territory.

The importance of oil

A study carried out by the Americans led it to be thought that in the Chaco area there could be large oil reserves, making it very important to occupy an area with so much economic potential. This situation made the Paraguayans not want to negotiate, and the United States thought about intervening in the region.

Occupations of water areas

During the years before the war, both countries began to occupy water zones in the Chaco areas, occupying positions for a war that seemed closer and closer. The idea of ​​both nations was to get the biggest freshwater places in the area, being this very important for the supply of the troops of both countries.

Armament

Both powers built and bought a large number of weapons to be able to face a war that seemed inevitable due to the stubbornness of their governments. It must be taken into account that the economic power of both regions were not equally powerful, being the Paraguayan greater and therefore being capable of creating a much greater armament than that of Bolivia. The amount of weapons created was so enormous that Paraguay ended up selling weapons to other nations such as Spain.

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