Chaco War

At issue: Territorial claims to the Chaco region

Date: June 15, 1932-June 12, 1935

Location: Chaco regions of southern Bolivia and northern Paraguay

Combatants: Bolivians vs. Paraguayans

Principal commanders: Paraguayan, General José Félix Estigarribia (1888–1940); Bolivian, President Daniel Salamanca (1868–1935) and German mercenaries

Principal battle: Fort Carlos Antonia López

Result: Paraguay won the military victory, but a truce and finally a settlement were reached through mediation

Background

Bolivia and Paraguay failed to agree throughout much of the nineteenth century on the boundary line separating their territories in the largely uninhabited Chaco area. Several unsuccessful attempts to resolve the issue in the 1870’s and 1880’s brought no results. Both countries maintained historic claims to the disputed territory. The conflict intensified after World War I, when Mennonites from Paraguay began settling in the region and rumors of petroleum deposits surfaced. Both countries began preparations for war and sent garrisons into the region. Fighting erupted in 1928, but peace efforts by the League of Nations brought about a dubious truce.

Action

The Chaco War erupted in 1932, when Fort Carlos Antonia López was captured by Bolivian forces. The war was a long and costly conflict that would prove to be disastrous for Bolivia, which lost every major battle. Although Bolivian troops were well trained by German officers and much better equipped than their Paraguayan counterparts, the three years of fighting resulted in huge battle losses for Bolivia. Paraguay, meanwhile, drove more than 299 miles into Bolivia, occupying much more territory than it had claimed before the war.

President Daniel Salamanca of Bolivia made several strategic errors during the war, in part because of poor military intelligence and logistical problems in reaching the battle front. His troops, many of whom were highlands Indians drafted into the Bolivian military, were not committed to the war effort, resented the German commanders as unwelcome foreigners, and suffered low morale. Much more accustomed to the humid lowlands than the Bolivians, Paraguay’s military, under the capable leadership of General José Félix Estigarribia, literally wore down their enemy in a war of attrition and pushed the Bolivian forces out of the disputed territory. Frustrated by the poor performance of his troops, Salamanca traveled to the Chaco to take personal command of Bolivian forces in 1934. His arrival on the front, however, inspired a coup by his military commanders, who forced his resignation. The Bolivian vice president, José Luis Tejada Sorzano, who favored peace, was declared president.

Aftermath

The League of Nations failed at arbitration, but mediation by Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, and the United States finally brought about an armistice in 1935. Bolivia and Paraguay finally agreed to a treaty at Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1938. Under the terms of the agreement, Paraguay retained three-fourths of the disputed land that it occupied. Frustrated by failures on the battlefield, young Bolivian veterans who returned from the war accused Bolivian politicians of getting into the conflict to protect the interests of international oil companies. In 1936, veterans of the Chaco War ousted the civilian government of Bolivia.

Milestones in the Chaco War

Resources

Estigarribia, José Félix. The Epic of the Chaco. New York: Greenwood Press, 1969.

Farcau, Bruce W. The Chaco War: Bolivia and Paraguay, 1932–1935. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1996.

Zook, David H. The Conduct of the Chaco War. New York: Bookman Associates, 1961.