Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 October 2022
The Paraguayan War, or War of the Triple Alliance, fought by Paraguay against Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay (1864–1870), remains unique in the Latin American context in several respects. Dire in its duration and human toll, the war's underlying conflict was not directly related to specific boundary disagreements. Unlike other Latin American conflicts, the War of the Triple Alliance has stirred a passionate controversy involving heavy ideological connotations, with some analysts viewing it as a struggle between civilization (the Alliance) and barbarism (Paraguay) and others depicting it as a confrontation between British imperialism (the Alliance) and Latin American nationalism (Paraguay).
I would like to thank James Lee Ray for his many insightful suggestions on earlier versions of this manuscript, Ricardo Caballero for his comments, and the four anonymous LARR reviewers for their exacting and stimulating criticism. The errors of omission, commission, or interpretation remain mine.