¹ Paraguay has an important, fascinating history which is largely unexplored. To date, the main historiographical stress has been to promote national glory, rather than sound historical studies. The best 19th century contemporary works on the War in English are: Washburn, Charles Ames (1822–1889). The History of Paraguay with notes of personal observations and reminiscences of diplomacy under difficulties, 2 Vols., Lee, 1871 Google Scholar. Washburn was United States Minister to Paraguay; he wrote an interesting account of the events, although his view is distorted due to personal differences with López, which resulted in his being ejected from the nation; Burton, Sir Richard (1821–1890). Letters from the Battlefields of Paraguay, London, 1870 Google Scholar. Though Burton is not a historian his is one of the more impartial and thought-provoking works on the war; Masterman, George Frederick, Seven Eventful years in Paraguay, Buenos Aires, 1911 Google Scholar. In Spanish the best studies include: Nabuco, Joaquim, La Guerra del Paraguay, Paris, 1901 Google Scholar. Nabuco gives a Brazilian viewpoint; Thompson, Jorge, La Guerra del Paraguay, 2 Vols., Buenos Aires, 1910 Google Scholar. Thompson participated in the Paraguayan army campaigns. He too, eventually suffered differences with López.

² The major historiographical themes in secondary sources are a) liberal-democratic, anti-clerical with emphasis on individual freedom. Major 20th century works along this line include: Box, Pelham Horton (1898–1937). The Origins of the Paraguayan War, New York, 1930 Google Scholar. Considered the classic work on the war by this British historian, a well researched document but biased in favor of Great Britaín; Cunningham Graham, R.B., Portrait of a Dictator, London, 1933 Google Scholar; Baez, Cecilio, El Mariscal Francisco Solano López, Asunción, 1926 Google Scholar. With few exceptions works of this school are generally quite poor, b) A strong revisionist school sprang up in response to the classic 19th century view. Revisionists are, by and large anti-imperialists, nationalistic and pro-Paraguayan. The better works along this line include: Pómer, Léon, La Guerra del Paraguay; gran negocio, Buenos Aires, 1968 Google Scholar. An Argentine scholar, Pómer demonstrates the role played by British imperialism; Domingo Laino, Paraguay, de la independencia al la dependencia, Buenos Aires, 1976. A Paraguayan historian Laino gives a panoramic sweep of events prior to and after the war. His anti-imperialist attitude has landed him in the jails of dictator Stroessner; Atilo Garcia Mellid (?-1972). Proceso a los falsificadores de la historia del Paraguay, Buenos Aires, 1963. A conservative Argentine writer whose well researched work drew an award from Stroessner’s government; Ortiz, Raul Scalabrini, Política británica en el Río de la Plata, Buenos Aires, 1950 Google Scholar; Trias, Vivian, El Paraguay de Francia el Supremo a la Guerra de la Triple Alianza, Buenos Aires, 1975 Google Scholar; White, Richard Alan, Paraguay’s Autonomous Revolution, 1810–1840, New Mexico, 1978 Google Scholar; Fornos, José Alfredo, The Fourth Ally: Great Britain and the War of the Triple Alliance, unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California at Los Angeles, 1979 Google Scholar; Phelps, Gilbert, Tragedy of Paraguay, London, 1975 Google Scholar; Plá, Josefina, The British in Paraguay, 1850–1870, Oxford, 1976 Google Scholar. The latter two are not revisionists but their works are of value. Plá is especially noteworthy in spite of her generally pro-British leanings.

³ In Uruguay the two main political parties were the Blancos and the Colorados. The Colorados were critical of Paraguay and supportive of the liberal ideals of laissez-faire capitalism. The Blancos were pro-Paraguayan, conservate federalist and strongly anti-Brazilian. These same divisions roughly existed in Argentina. The Colorados being equivalent to the Unitarios. The centralists or Unitarios advocated a strong central government with close links to Europe and the world market. Usually the political exiles from one country fled to the safety of their political brothers across the Rio de la Plata.

⁴ Paraguay also acted with the knowledge that Argentina was serving as an unofficial ally of Flores and Brazil.

⁵ Confiscated church lands served as the basis of these state farms which among other things produced tobacco, yerba mate and hardwoods which were exported as state monopolies. For further information concerning the internal development of Paraguay refer to: Laino, Domingo, Paraguay, dela independencia a la dependencia (Buenos Aires; Imprenta Negri, 1976)Google Scholar; Plá, Josefina, The British in Paraguay (Oxford, Kingprint., Ltd., 1976)Google Scholar; Whigham, Thomas, “The Iron Works of Ybycuí; Paraguayan Industrial Development in the Mid-Nineteenth Century”, The Americas, Vol. 35, Oct. 1978, No. 2 (Washington: Academy of American Franciscan History), pp. 201–218 Google Scholar.; Williams, John Hoyt, “Foreign Técnicos and the Modernization of Paraguay, 1840–1870.”, Journal of Inter-American Studies, Vol. 19, No. 2, May 1977 (Miami: University of Miami Press), pp. 233–257.Google Scholar

⁶ Thompson, Jorge, La Guerra del Paraguay, 2 Vols. (Buenos Aires: Talleres Gráficos de L. J. Rosso y Cia., 1910), Vol. 1., p. 137.Google Scholar

⁷ Washburn, Charles A., United States Minister to Paraguay to Secretary of State Seward, Asunción, November 9,1865, United States Department of State, Papers relating to Foreign Affairs, 1865/1866, 2nd Session, Thirty-Ninth Congress, Part II, 1865, pp. 548–549.Google Scholar

⁸ Marcos Paz, Vice-resident of the Argentine nation to General-President Bartolomé Mitre, Buenos Aires, 11 September 1867, Mitre, Archivo, Guerra del Paraguay, (Buenos Aires: ), Vol. 6., p. 248.Google Scholar

⁹ Maillefer, M., French Minister to Uruguay to M. Drouyn de Lhuys, French Secretary of State, Montevideo, 29th May, 1866, Montevideo Museo Historico Nacional, Vol. 25., p. 451 Google Scholar. Hereafter referred to as MMHN.

¹⁰ William Lettsom, British Minister to Montevideo to Lord Russell, Montevideo, February 28, 1865, Parliament, , Sessional Papers House of Commons, Correspondence Respecting Hostilities in the River Plate (London: 1864–1868), Vol. 62., Part I., No. 79.Google Scholar

¹¹ Lettsom to Lord Clarendon, Montevideo, February 10, 1866, Ibid., Vol. LXXVII, Part I., No. 2.

¹² Maillefer to Drouyn de Lhuys, Montevideo, July 29, 1865, MMHN, Vol. 25., p. 410.

¹³ Maillefer to Drouyn de Lhuys, Montevideo, June 14, 1866, Ibid., p. 456.

¹⁴ A porteño is a resident of the port city of Buenos Aires.

¹⁵ Hutchinson, Thomas J., Paraná (London: Edward Stanford, 1869), p. 363 Google Scholar. Hutchinson was British Consul in the city of Rosario in the interior of the Argentine provinces. See also de la Poëpe, Claude, La politique du Paraguay (Paris: Libraire E. Dentu, 1869), p. 113.Google Scholar

¹⁶ Speech of Senator Alsalon Ibarra, Senate Chamber of the Argentine Nation, 29th of September 1868, 55th. Meeting, 46th. Ordinary Sessión, de la Nación Argentina, Congreso, Diario de Sesiones de la Cámara de Senadores (Buenos Aires: Compañía Sud Americana de Billetes de Banco, 1892), p. 668 Google Scholar. See also Hutchinson, , Ibid., p. 363.Google Scholar

¹⁷ Guillermo Rawson, Minister of the Interior, to Mitre, Buenos Aires, 14 January 1867, Mitre, Archivo, Guerra del Paraguay, Vol. 1., p. 32 Google Scholar. See also Rawson to Mitre, Buenos Aires, 16th. February 1867, Ibid., p. 39.

¹⁸ General Asboth, United States Minister to Argentina, to Secretary of State Seward, Legation of the United States, Buenos Aires, December 15, 1866, Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, 2nd. Session 40th. Congress, 1866/1867, Part 2., pp. 110–112.

¹⁹ Geoffrey Mathew, British Agent in Uruguay to Lord Stanley, Montevideo, November 27,1867, British Sessional Papers, Vol. LXXVII, Part I., No. 40. See also Asboth to Seward, Buenos Aires, December 15, 1866, Ibid.

²⁰ Speech by Senator Nicasio Oroño, Senate Chamber of the Nation, Argentine, Diario de Sesiones, 28th September 1868, 54th Meeting, 6th Extraordinary Session, p. 649.Google Scholar

²¹ The unit of value in the region was the patacón, peso, piastre, or old piece of eight, roughly equal to a U.S. gold dollar of the era. The peso is a doubtful word meaning either silver or paper money. Refer to General Asboth to Seward, Department of State, Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, 1866/1867, 2nd Session, 40th Congress, Part 2, pp. 11–112.

²² Thompson, Jorge, La Guerra del Paraguay, Vol. 1., p. 124 Google Scholar See also Hutchinson, , Paraná, p. 426.Google Scholar

²³ Thompson, , Ibid., pp. 28–29 Google Scholar. See also Expilly, Charles, Le Brésil, Buenos-Ayres, Montevideo et le Paraguay devant la civilisation (Paris: Librarie de la Societe des gen de Lettres, 1866), p. 76.Google Scholar

²⁴ Burton, Sir Richard, Letters from the Battlefields of Paraguay (London: Tinsley Brothers, 1870), p. 201 Google Scholar. See also Thompson, , La Guerra, Vol. 1., pp. 72–74 Google Scholar. Sir Richard Burton was the well known British literary figure, soldier and diplomat. He was an actual eyewitness to many of the battles waged, and his excellent description is of great use to students of the war.

²⁵ The Montoneros were mounted bands of provincial Federalists led by local caudillos opposed to the central government. Their swift uprisings of challenge to the central government antedated the Paraguayan War continuing after its end as well.

²⁶ Rawson to Mitre, Buenos Aires, 16 February 1867, Mitre, Archivo, Guerra del Paraguay, Vol. 1., p. 39.Google Scholar

²⁷ Nicasio Oroño, Governor of Rosario Province, to Mitre, Rosario, 13 February 1868, Archivo Mitre, Ibid., p. 176.

²⁸ Kennedy, A.J., La Plata, Brazil and Paraguay during the Present War, (London: Edward Stanford, 1869), p. 230 Google Scholar. Also in Burton, , Letters, p. 329.Google Scholar

²⁹ Sarimento to Mitre, Buenos Aires, 20th September 1861, Archivo Mitre, Vol. IX., p. 360. Sarmiento followed Mitre as President 1868–1874.

³⁰ Asboth, to Seward, Buenos Aires, January 22, 1867, Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, 2nd Session, 40th Congress, 1866/1867, Part 2, p. 118.Google Scholar

³¹ Burton, , Letters from the Battlefields of Paraguay, p. 122 Google Scholar. The Orientals here are the Uruguayans. Uruguay is referred to as the Banda Oriental, i.e. the Eastern Band.

³² Edward Thornton, British Minister to Paraguay, to Lord Stanley, Rio de Janeiro, November 3, 1866, British Sessional Papers, Vol. LXXVII, Part I, No. 30.

³³ Asboth to Seward, Buenos Aires, February 2, 1867, Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, 2nd Session, 40th Congress, 1866/1867, Parat 2, pp. 130–131.

³⁴ Burton, Sir Richard, Highlands of the Brazil, 2 Vols. (New York: Greenwood Press, 1869., 1969), Vol. 1, p. 411.Google Scholar

³⁵ Asboth, to Admiral Godon, Buenos Aires, April 1, 1867, Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, 2nd Session, 40th Congress, 1866/1867, Part 2, pp. 163–164.Google Scholar

³⁶ Asboth, to Seward, Buenos Aires, May 9, 1867, Ibid., pp. 173–174.Google Scholar

³⁷ United States Congress, Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, Report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs on the Memorial of Porter C. Bliss and George F. Masterman, in relation to their imprisonment in Paraguay, 41st Congress, 2nd Session 1870, p. xxii.

³⁸ Washburn, Charles Ames, The History of Paraguay with notes of personal observations and reminiscences of diplomacy under difficulties, 2. Vols. (Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1871), Vol. 2, pp. 179–180.Google Scholar

³⁹ Washburn to Seward, Buenos Aires, December 15, 1866, Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, 2nd Session, 39th Congress, 1865/1866, Part 2, pp. 548–549.

⁴⁰ Asboth to Seward, Buenos Aires, August 20, 1867, Ibid., 2nd Session, 40th Congress, 1866/1867, Part 2, p. 217.