Solano López's basic failing is that he…

Solano López's basic failing is that he does not recognize the changes that have occurred in the region since Francia's time.

Under his father's rule, the protracted, bloody, and distracting birth pangs of Argentina and Uruguay; the bellicose policies of Brazil; and Francia's noninterventionist policies had worked to preserve Paraguayan independence.

Matters had decidedly settled down since then in both Argentina and Brazil, as both countries have become surer of their identities and more united.

Argentina, for example, begins reacting to foreign challenges more as a nation and less like an assortment of squabbling regions, as Paraguayans had grown to expect.

Solano López's attempt to leverage Paraguay's emergence as a regional power equal to Argentina and Brazil has disastrous consequences.