South America (1828–1971 CE)

Republics, Frontiers, and the Modern Continent

Geographic Definition of South America
The region of South America encompasses all lands south of the Isthmus of Panama, including the subregions of South America Major—stretching from Colombia and Venezuela through Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, and northern Argentina and Chile—and Peninsular South America, which includes southern Chile, southern Argentina, Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego, the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), and the Juan Fernández Islands.

Anchors include the Andes cordillera, the Altiplano, the Amazon, Orinoco, and Magdalena river systems, the Gran Chaco, the Llanos, the Pampas, and the Patagonian steppe, reaching south to the Strait of Magellan and the sub-Antarctic seas. This continental expanse unites rainforest and desert, mountain and plain, forming the world’s largest tropical forest system and one of its most diverse temperate frontiers.

Geography and Political Frontiers

Between 1828 and 1971, South America completed its transition from colonial empires to a constellation of modern nation-states. The nineteenth century was an age of consolidation—of borders, capitals, and frontiers—while the twentieth introduced urbanization, industrialization, and social revolution.

In the north and center, the Andes and Amazon defined the heartlands of South America Major: Brazil’s vast interior was opened by coffee, railways, and later industry; Peru, Bolivia, and Chile struggled over mineral frontiers; and the River Plate republics forged new economies on cattle and grain.
Farther south, Peninsular South America—Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego, and the southern islands—shifted from Indigenous autonomy to national incorporation under Chile, Argentina, and Britain. The conquest of Indigenous lands completed the continental frame of modern South America.

Climate and Environmental Shifts

With the close of the Little Ice Age, climate gradually warmed, though variability remained pronounced.

• Andes: Glacial retreat altered water regimes; earthquakes and volcanic eruptions repeatedly struck Chile and Peru.

• Amazon basin: Rainfall oscillated between flood and drought decades; deforestation and frontier ranching began to modify hydrology by the mid-twentieth century.

• Llanos, Chaco, and Pampas: Drought and locust plagues punctuated otherwise fertile cycles; agriculture expanded through mechanization.

• Patagonia and southern Chile: Winds remained fierce but temperatures moderated, fostering European colonization and ranching.

Environmental transformation followed human frontiers: new roads, plantations, and mines redrew both ecology and economy.

Subsistence and Settlement

Agrarian foundations persisted even as industry grew.

• Andean republics: Highland farmers maintained terraced maize and potato fields; haciendas, mines, and plantations supplied global markets with silver, tin, and copper.

• Brazil: Coffee, sugar, and later industrial production in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro powered national growth; Amazon rubber boomed and collapsed; steel and oil replaced gold.

• River Plate region: Argentina and Uruguay exported beef, wool, and grain, their estancias mechanized by the early twentieth century. Paraguay remained agrarian after its devastation in the War of the Triple Alliance (1864–1870).

• Northern Andes and Caribbean coasts: Cocoa, coffee, and oil wealth transformed Venezuela and Colombia; pipelines and ports knit the mountains to the sea.

• Southern Chile and Argentina: Wheat, forestry, and later nitrate and copper mining followed Indigenous dispossession; sheep ranching dominated Patagonia; Tierra del Fuego mixed gold rushes and estancias.

• Falklands and Juan Fernández: Remote yet strategic, they sustained small ranching and fishing communities within imperial or national frameworks.

Urbanization intensified: Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Lima, Santiago, Bogotá, Caracas, and Montevideo became centers of power, drawing millions from countryside and abroad.

Technology and Material Culture

Railways, telegraphs, and steamships linked interior basins to coastal ports.
By the 1880s, rail lines climbed the Andes and spanned pampas and deserts; river steamers plied the Amazon, Orinoco, and Paraná–Paraguay. Telegraphs and later telephones connected capitals; radio and cinema shaped modern culture.
Architecture mirrored aspiration: neoclassical capitols, baroque cathedrals, and art-nouveau theaters proclaimed republican modernity. Industrialization—from Chilean copper smelters to Brazilian steel mills—transformed material life. Yet regional craft traditions endured: Andean textiles, Afro-Brazilian percussion, Mapuche weaving, and Amazonian ceramics sustained living heritage.

Movement and Interaction Corridors

Continental circulation reached unprecedented scale:

• Migration: European settlers (Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese) repopulated Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay; internal migration urbanized Andean and coastal cities.

• Rivers and rails: The Amazon, Paraguay, and Magdalena bound hinterlands to export ports.

• Trade: Coffee, copper, nitrates, beef, and wool flowed to Atlantic and Pacific markets; oil joined after 1910.

• Integration projects: Early customs unions evolved into the ABC Pact (Argentina–Brazil–Chile) and the Latin American Free Trade Association (1960).

• Frontier expansion: Settlers, surveyors, and soldiers extended national authority into Amazonian forests and Patagonian plains, binding peripheries to capitals.

Cultural and Symbolic Expressions

Nations built mythologies of liberation and progress.
Romantic and modernist writers—José Hernández, Machado de Assis, Rubén Darío, Gabriela Mistral, Pablo Neruda, and Jorge Luis Borges—forged continental literatures. Visual art ranged from Andean costumbrismo to Mexican and Brazilian muralism, celebrating Indigenous and African heritage as foundations of identity.
Catholicism remained pervasive yet plural: popular pilgrimages and saints’ festivals persisted beside secular nationalism and new Protestant and Spiritist movements.
In the south, national narratives glorified frontier conquest; in the north, Andean and Amazonian cosmologies reemerged through indigenismo. Across the continent, dance and music—samba, tango, cueca, candombe, and vallenato—embodied the fusion of African, Indigenous, and European rhythms.

Environmental Adaptation and Resilience

Traditional ecological systems endured beneath modernization:
Andean terraces and irrigation persisted; Amazonian forest gardens maintained biodiversity; smallholders and Indigenous communities adapted global crops—potatoes, maize, cassava—to local microclimates.
Mechanized agriculture and deforestation redefined landscapes: soybean expansion in Brazil, sheep and wheat in Patagonia, sugar and cotton in northeast Brazil.
By the 1960s, environmental awareness emerged—parks in the Andes, conservation on Juan Fernández, and debates over Amazonian deforestation signaling a new consciousness of ecological limits.

Technology and Power Shifts (Conflict Dynamics)

The century and a half after independence was marked by recurring upheaval:

• Wars and diplomacy: The War of the Triple Alliance (1864–1870), War of the Pacific (1879–1883), and border arbitrations defined national boundaries.

• Social transformation: Abolition of slavery (Brazil, 1888), land reforms (Bolivia, Mexico, mid-20th century), and peasant mobilization challenged oligarchies.

• Political cycles: Liberal republics gave way to populist and military regimes—Vargas in Brazil, Perón in Argentina, Velasco Alvarado in Peru—each promising modernization and social justice.

• Revolution and reaction: Bolivia’s 1952 revolution, Cuba’s 1959 example, and guerrilla movements in Colombia and Venezuela framed Cold War geopolitics.

• Southern frontiers: Argentina and Chile militarized Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego; Britain maintained the Falklands; boundary disputes simmered through the 20th century.

Technological change—aviation, electrification, oil extraction, and hydroelectric power—accelerated modernization while deepening regional inequality.

Transition (to 1971 CE)

By 1971, South America was a continent of contradictions: industrial cities beside impoverished rural zones, democratic ideals shadowed by coups, and booming exports amid environmental decline.
In the north, Brazil, Venezuela, and Colombia led industrial and oil economies; in the south, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay oscillated between prosperity and political crisis.
The Amazon, Andes, and Patagonia—long the continent’s ecological and symbolic pillars—entered the modern age as frontiers of extraction, conservation, and imagination.

From the Inca terraces to the steel towers of São Paulo, from the Guiana forests to the Falklands sheep ranges, South America by 1971 stood as a continent unified by geography yet divided by history—its republics striving toward equity, identity, and stewardship in a world it had long supplied, inspired, and endured.

South America Major (1828–1971 CE)

Republics, Frontiers, and Modern Transformations

Geographic Definition of South America Major
The subregion of South America Major encompasses all lands north of the Río Negro, extending across the full continental span of Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, northern Argentina and northern Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador(excluding the Cape lands at the Isthmian boundary), Colombia (excluding the Darién region, which belongs to Isthmian America), Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana.

Anchors include the Andes cordillera and Altiplano, the Amazon basin, the Orinoco and Magdalena river systems, the Venezuelan Llanos, the Gran Chaco, the Uruguayan Pampas, and the Guiana Shield.
Bounded by Isthmian America to the north and Subcontinental South America to the south, this subregion forms the continental heartland of South America—linking the Pacific and Atlantic worlds through its intertwined highlands, forests, plains, and river systems.

Geography and Political Frontiers

Between 1828 and 1971, South America Major evolved from newly independent republics into a mosaic of modern nations. The Andes continued to define borders and identity; the Amazon, Gran Chaco, and Pampas became frontiers of settlement, extraction, and nation-building. The century and a half after independence saw shifting alliances, wars over territory, and the gradual incorporation of frontier zones into national economies.
The Pacific coast urbanized through ports like Lima, Guayaquil, and Valparaíso; Atlantic Brazil expanded through coffee and industry; and inland Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay became landlocked crossroads of diplomacy and struggle. The Guianas remained colonial or semi-colonial enclaves until mid-century decolonization.

Climate and Environmental Shifts

The retreat of the Little Ice Age brought modest warming and rainfall fluctuations:

• Andes and Altiplano: Melting glaciers improved water availability for valleys but also triggered landslides and floods.

• Amazon basin: Rainfall cycles alternated between flood and drought decades, with deforestation beginning to affect local climates by the 20th century.

• Gran Chaco and Pampas: Droughts and locust plagues recurred through the 19th century; by the 20th, cattle ranching and grain cultivation transformed the landscape.

• Guiana forests and Llanos: Continued to alternate between wet and dry extremes, sustaining biodiversity yet increasingly opened by logging, mining, and plantations.

Environmental volatility shaped settlement patterns but also spurred innovation—irrigation in Andean valleys, drainage of pampas wetlands, and hydroelectric development along major rivers.

Subsistence and Settlement

Post-independence economies remained agrarian but diversified steadily:

• Andean republics (Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia): Highland peasants maintained terraced maize–potato rotations; haciendas and plantations expanded in valleys. Mining revived—silver and tin in Bolivia, guano and nitrate in Peru, oil in Ecuador and Colombia.

• Brazil: Transitioned from sugar and gold to coffee (São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro), rubber (Amazon), and later industrial production (Belo Horizonte, São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul).

• River Plate region (Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay): Cattle and sheep ranching dominated, later joined by grain exports. Paraguay remained rural after devastating wars; Uruguay balanced pastoral exports and political stability.

• Venezuela and Colombia: Coffee, cocoa, and oil reshaped economies; ranching persisted in the Llanos.

• Guianas: Plantation agriculture (sugar, rice) persisted under British, French, and Dutch control, worked by Afro-descended and Indo-Asian laborers.

Urbanization accelerated: Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Lima, Santiago, Bogotá, Quito, and Caracas became political and economic capitals, concentrating power and population.

Technology and Material Culture

Railways, telegraphs, and steamships integrated fragmented landscapes.
In the 19th century, rail lines climbed the Andes (e.g., Oroya Railway, Quito–Guayaquil) and linked interior ranches and mines to ports. Steam navigation on the Amazon and Paraná–Paraguay rivers expanded trade and migration.
European architectural styles—neoclassical capitals, baroque churches, and eclectic civic buildings—symbolized modernization.
Local crafts persisted: Andean textiles, Amazonian ceramics, Guaraní carvings, and Afro-Brazilian percussion instruments. By the 20th century, industrialization brought steelworks (São Paulo, Caracas), automobiles (Buenos Aires), and aviation links across the continent.

Movement and Interaction Corridors

Continental circulation intensified:

• River systems: The Amazon, Orinoco, Paraná–Paraguay, and Magdalena became arteries of commerce and colonization.

• Rail networks: Linked mines and ranches to ports, knitting national markets.

• Migration: Italian, German, Spanish, and Japanese immigrants settled Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, transforming agriculture and culture.

• Slave emancipation and internal migration: Brazil abolished slavery in 1888, and freed populations moved into cities and frontiers.

• Oil routes: Pipelines and refineries in Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador shifted economies toward energy export.

Regional trade blocs, from early customs unions to mid-20th-century cooperation schemes, sought continental integration, while European and North American investment reshaped industrial growth.

Cultural and Symbolic Expressions

National identities crystallized from colonial legacies.
Romantic nationalism and liberal reform inspired literature, painting, and architecture celebrating Indigenous and creole heritage: Bolívarian epics, José Hernández’s Martín Fierro, Machado de Assis, Rubén Darío, and Andean costumbrismo.
In the 20th century, modernismo, muralism (led by Diego Rivera and Cándido Portinari), and revolutionary art redefined visual culture.
Catholicism remained pervasive but adapted: popular pilgrimages (e.g., Virgen de Copacabana, Círio de Nazaré) coexisted with secular nationalism and Protestant missions.
Afro-descended and Indigenous cultural forms—candomblé, samba, marimba, and Andean panpipe music—entered national consciousness as emblems of authenticity.

Environmental Adaptation and Resilience

Peasant and Indigenous communities maintained ecological knowledge despite land concentration:

• Highland terraces and irrigation persisted for local autonomy.

• Amazonian forest management—rubber tapping, shifting gardens, and agroforestry—balanced extraction with sustainability until industrial overreach in the mid-20th century.

• Ranching and agriculture expanded dramatically across the Pampas and cerrado, transforming ecosystems.

• Dams and deforestation along the Amazon and Paraná altered river regimes by the 1960s, initiating modern environmental debates.

Throughout, traditional practices—from Andean vertical exchange to Guaraní collective farming—anchored cultural and ecological continuity.

Technology and Power Shifts (Conflict Dynamics)

Wars and revolutions marked the region’s political evolution:

• Post-independence conflicts: Civil wars, caudillo rivalries, and frontier disputes shaped early republics.

• Major wars: War of the Triple Alliance (1864–1870) decimated Paraguay; War of the Pacific (1879–1883) redrew borders between Chile, Peru, and Bolivia.

• Reforms and revolutions: Abolition of slavery (Brazil 1888), republican overthrow of the monarchy (Brazil 1889), and land reforms in Mexico and Bolivia signaled social transformation.

• 20th-century shifts: Populist regimes (Vargas in Brazil, Perón in Argentina), revolutions (Bolivia 1952, Cuba 1959), and guerrilla movements (Colombia, Venezuela) redefined state–society relations.

• External influences: The Good Neighbor Policy and Cold War interventions tied the region to U.S. geopolitical strategies, particularly during the 1960s and early 1970s.

Technological modernization—railways, telephones, automobiles, oil drilling, and aviation—interwove with social upheaval and uneven industrialization.

Transition (to 1971 CE)

By 1971, South America Major had completed its passage from colonial dependency to diverse modernity.
The region’s republics faced contrasts: booming urban economies alongside rural poverty, democratic aspirations shadowed by coups and authoritarianism.
The Andes still bore terraces and mines older than empire; the Amazon and Guianas remained ecological frontiers; and the Pampas and Llanos powered global agriculture.
From liberation heroes to modern reformers, the quest for sovereignty, equity, and identity defined this long age.
Despite enduring inequality and deforestation, South America Major emerged as a continent of resilience—its highlands, forests, plains, and coasts still bound by the enduring geography that had shaped all its worlds.

South America Major (1864–1875 CE): War of the Triple Alliance, Economic Expansion, and Social Struggles

Between 1864 and 1875 CE, South America Major—encompassing Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, northern Argentina, northern and central Chile, Colombia (excluding Darién) and Ecuador (excluding the Ecuadoran capelands), Venezuela, Suriname, Guyana, and French Guiana—experienced profound upheaval marked by major regional conflicts, economic growth driven by global demand, persistent social inequalities, intensified slavery debates, and ongoing cultural identity formation. The devastating War of the Triple Alliance reshaped regional geopolitics, particularly affecting Paraguay.

Political Developments

War of the Triple Alliance (1864–1870)

This devastating conflict involved Paraguay against Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay (the Triple Alliance). Provoked by complex regional rivalries, territorial disputes, and power struggles, the war resulted in catastrophic human and economic losses for Paraguay, dramatically altering regional power balances.

• Paraguay was nearly destroyed, losing a substantial portion of its population (estimates ranging up to 60–70%), territory, and economic viability, profoundly reshaping its future.

• Argentina and Brazil strengthened their regional dominance, though at considerable financial and human costs.

Instability and Recovery Post-War

Following the conflict, political instability persisted:

• Paraguay underwent severe political and economic turmoil, struggling to rebuild under Brazilian and Argentine influence.

• Brazil consolidated imperial strength but faced growing social tensions and economic burdens from war expenditures.

• Argentina gained regional influence but confronted internal divisions and post-war political fragmentation.

Continued Turmoil in Colombia and Panama

Colombia (including Panama) faced ongoing internal conflict between Liberal and Conservative factions, characterized by intermittent civil wars and political instability, foreshadowing Panama’s later dissatisfaction with Colombian rule.

Economic Developments

Economic Expansion and Modernization

Export-oriented economies flourished:

• Brazil expanded coffee production, consolidating economic dominance, especially in São Paulo.

• Argentina and Uruguay boosted cattle ranching, wool, and agriculture exports, fueling prosperity in urban centers like Buenos Aires and Montevideo.

• Peru’s guano exports peaked, generating substantial national revenues, though tensions over resource management grew.

Economic Devastation in Paraguay

Paraguay's previously thriving agricultural economy was devastated by the Triple Alliance war, severely damaging infrastructure, agriculture, and demographic stability, requiring decades for partial recovery.

Infrastructure Development

Railroads, telegraphs, ports, and urban infrastructure expanded significantly, linking export economies closely with international markets and fostering urban modernization.

Cultural and Technological Developments

National Identity and Post-War Cultural Reflection

The catastrophic war triggered introspection across nations, particularly in Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. Literature, art, and historical narratives increasingly addressed themes of war, national identity, sacrifice, and reconciliation.

Urbanization and Architectural Growth

Major cities continued to modernize and expand. Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Lima, Santiago, Montevideo, and Bogotá became focal points of cultural, educational, and economic activity, reflecting national pride through public works and architecture.

Social and Religious Developments

Intensified Debates Around Slavery and Abolition

In Brazil, debates over slavery reached new intensity. The war’s end sparked renewed calls for abolition and social reform, as the economic, moral, and political tensions surrounding slavery became more acute.

Social Impact of the Triple Alliance War

The war drastically reshaped Paraguayan society, leaving profound demographic imbalances and severe economic devastation. Surviving populations endured prolonged hardship, poverty, and displacement, deeply altering social structures.

Role of the Catholic Church

The Catholic Church continued navigating secularization pressures, attempting to stabilize and reconcile post-war societies. It played significant roles in social services, education, and moral guidance, though facing increasing competition from secular republicanism.

Indigenous Resistance and Frontier Dynamics

Indigenous resistance persisted, especially in frontier areas. The Mapuche in southern Chile, indigenous communities across the Amazon, and Andean populations continually resisted state encroachment, influencing national policies, territorial expansion, and settlement patterns.

Long-Term Consequences and Historical Significance

The era from 1864 to 1875 CE profoundly reshaped South America Major’s geopolitical landscape. The War of the Triple Alliance dramatically weakened Paraguay, altered regional dynamics, and intensified national introspection across involved countries. Economic expansion, infrastructure modernization, intensified slavery debates, and ongoing social inequalities established critical contexts for future transformations. Persistent indigenous resistance continued shaping frontier policies, while evolving national identities became foundations for subsequent social and political developments.

The Paraguayan War has important consequences for Brazil and the Rio de la Plata region.

It leaves Brazil and Argentina facing each other over a prostrate Paraguay and a dependent Uruguay, a situation that will soon turn into a tense rivalry that will repeatedly assume warlike postures.

Historians debate the number of Paraguayan casualties, some asserting that fifty percent of Paraguayans were killed, others arguing that it was much less, possibly eight to nine percent of the prewar population total.

Nonetheless, the losses from battle, disease, and starvation are severe and disrupt the development of the republic.

In Brazil the war had contributed to the growth of manufacturing, to the professionalization of the armed forces and their concentration in Rio Grande do Sul, to the building of roads and the settling of European immigrants in the southern provinces, and to the increased power of the central government.

Most important for the future, the war had brought the military firmly into the political arena.

Military officers are keenly aware that the war had exposed the military's lack of equipment, training, and organization.

Officers blame these shortcomings on civilian officials.

In the next decades, reformist officers seeking to modernize the army will criticize the Brazilian political structure and its peculiar culture as obstacles to modernization.

The Guarani-speaking Paraguayans, fiercely defending their homeland, defeats the allies at Curupaiti in September 1866.

The Argentine president, General Bartolomé Mitre (1861-68), takes the bulk of his troops home to quell opposition to his war policy, leaving the Brazilians to soldier on.

The famed General Lima e Silva, Marquis and later Duke of Caxias, takes command of the allied forces and leads them until the fall of Asuncion in early 1869.

With stubborn determination, the Brazilians pursue Solano Lopez until they corner and kill him.

They now occupy Paraguay until 1878.

The war had dragged on for several reasons.

First, the Paraguayans were better prepared at the outset and conducted an effective offensive into the territories of their adversaries, immediately handing them defeats.

Even later, when pushed back onto their own land, they had the advantages of knowing the ground, of having prepared defenses, and of fielding stubbornly loyal troops.

Second, it had taken the Brazilians considerable time to marshal their forces and considerable effort and cost to keep them supplied.

Third, the Argentines, hoping to improve their postwar situation in relation to Brazil, had delayed operations partly to force the empire to weaken itself by expending its resources.

Fourth, this is the era of "unconditional surrender."

It was militarily fashionable to pursue Solano Lopez to the bitter end.

The end of the Paraguayan War coincides with the resurgence of republicanism as disenchanted liberals cast about for a new route to power.

The 1867 collapse of the short-lived, French-sponsored Mexican monarchy of Maximilian leaves Brazil as the hemisphere's only monarchical regime, and because Argentina will appear to prosper in the 1870s and 1880s, it will serve as a powerful advertisement for republican government.

The republican ideology spreads in urban areas and in provinces, such as São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul, where the people do not believe they benefit from imperial economic policies.

The republican manifesto of 1870 proclaims that "We are in America and we want to be Americans."

Monarchy is, the writers asserted, hostile to the interests of the American states and will be a continuous source of conflict with Brazil's neighbors.

The republicans embrace the abolition of slavery to remove the stigma of Brazil's being the only remaining slave-holding country (save for Spanish Cuba) in the hemisphere.

It is not so much that they believe that slavery is wrong as that it gives the country an image distasteful to Europeans.

Abolition, which will come in 1888, does not imply that liberals want deep social reform or desire a democratic society.

Indeed, their arguments against slavery are weighted toward efficiency rather than morality.

Once in power, the republicans will look to discipline the legally free work force with various systems of social control.

The imperial government conspires with Buenos Aires authorities in the mid-1860s to replace the Blanco regime in Montevideo with a Colorado one.

The Blancos appeale to Paraguayan dictator Francisco Solano Lopez (president, 1862-70), who harbors his own fears of the two larger countries and who regardsa threat to Uruguay as a menace to Paraguay.

A small landlocked country, Paraguay has the largest army in the region: sixty-four thousand soldiers compared with Brazil's standing army of eighteen thousand.

In 1864 Brazil and Argentina agree to act together should Solano Lopez attempt to save the Blancos.

In September 1864, wrongly convinced that he would not be so foolish, the Brazilians send troops into Uruguay to put the Colorados in power.

Each side has miscalculated the intentions, capabilities, and will of the other.

Paraguay reacts by seizing Brazilian vessels on the Rio Paraguai and by attacking the province of Mato Grosso.

Solano Lopez, mistakenly expecting help from anti-Buenos Aires caudillos, sends his forces into Corrientes to get at Rio Grande do Sul and Uruguay and finds himself at war with both Argentina and Brazil.

In May 1865, those two countries and Colorado-led Uruguay sign an alliance that aims to transfer contested Paraguayan territory to the larger countries, to open Paraguayan rivers to international trade, and to remove Solano Lopez.

By September 1865, the allies have driven the Paraguayans out of Rio Grande do Sul, and they take the war into Paraguay when that country spurns their peace overtures.

The war is a disaster for Solano López apart from some Paraguayan victories on the northern front.

The core units of the Paraguayan army reach Corrientes in April 1865

By July more than half of Paraguay's thirty thousand-man invasion force has been killed or captured along with the army's best small arms and artillery.

The war quickly becomes a desperate struggle for Paraguay's survival.

Solano López's hostility even extends to United States Ambassador Charles A. Washburn: only the timely arrival of the United States gunboat Wasp saves the diplomat from arrest.

Paraguay's soldiers exhibit suicidal bravery, especially considering that Solano Lopéz shoots or tortures so many of them for the most trivial offenses.

Cavalry units operate on foot for lack of horses.

Naval infantry battalions armed only with machetes attack Brazilian ironclads.

The suicide attacks result in fields of corpses.

Cholera is rampant.

By 1867 Paraguay has lost sixty thousand men to casualties, disease, or capture, and another sixty thousand soldiers are called to duty.

Solano Lopéz conscripts slaves, and infantry units formed entirely of children appear.

Women are forced to perform support work behind the lines.

Matériel shortages are so severe that Paraguayan troops go into battle seminude, and even colonels go barefoot, according to one observer.

The defensive nature of the war, combined with Paraguayan tenacity and ingenuity and the difficulty that Brazilians and Argentinians have cooperating with each other, renders the conflict a war of attrition.

In the end, Paraguay lacks the resources to continue waging war against South America's giants.