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It has been described as a “tidal wave of human flesh” or as a “veritable mastodon with a peach-shaped face”.
But overweight and inappropriate facial expressions did not prevent Francisco Solano López (1827–1870) from imitating the poses of his great role model Napoleon I in every detail and from melting down the last metal supplies he could get hold of for his medals.
Because Lopéz considered himself the greatest general in America.
As is the case with “greatest generals”, someone had to pay their bill.
That was in López's case, Paraguay.
When he died on March 1, 1870, his country had lost about 56 percent of its total population (of about half a million) and 80 percent of the men of military age.
Measured against these numbers, the so-called Triple Alliance War, which raged from 1864 to 1870 between Paraguay on the one hand and Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay on the other, is considered to be one of the most costly conflicts in modern history.
"Veritable mastodon with a peach-shaped face": Francisco Solano López (1827–1870)
Source: picture alliance / imageBROKER
When it broke out, Paraguay was twice as big as it is today and one of the wealthiest countries in South America.
It owes it to José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, who rose to dictator after independence from Spain in 1811.
He imposed a radical modernization program on the country.
Large parts of the church and large estates were nationalized, land reform carried out and a tight administration established, in which corruption played an astonishingly minor role.
On the other hand, he sealed off the country and built a professional army based on the Prussian model.
In addition, a repressive apparatus emerged that suppressed all opposition.
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Shortly after Francia's death in 1840, his nephew Carlos Antonio López was able to seize power, who in turn passed it on to his son Francisco.
He did not want to be satisfied with the adequate prosperity of a landlocked country.
After he had increased his army to 80,000 men, a civil war in neighboring Uruguay gave him the chance to put his military genius to the test.
A soldier of the Army of Paraguay on a contemporary display
Source: De Agostini via Getty Images
Since Brazil took sides with the other side, he let his troops march into the east of the country.
When Argentina refused to grant him marching rights, he declared war on this neighboring state as well.
And after the opponents had prevailed in Uruguay, López was suddenly faced with a front whose total population was 30 times larger than the Paraguayans.
After all, he was supported by his Irish lover, Eliza Lynch, who posed as the niece of an officer who should have won with Horatio Nelson at Trafalgar in 1805.
They equipped their own “amazon regiments”, which stormed the enemy ranks with lances.
López himself made "victory or death" his military motto.
To make his people realize that he was serious about it, he had messengers who reported defeat shot.
If the commanders got away in time, their families would have to jump over the edge.
With "Amazons" regiments "against the enemy: Elisa Alicia Lynch
Source: Getty Images
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López mobilized all men between the ages of twelve and 60 for his war.
Many have already succumbed to training drill.
Then poor equipment and supplies took their toll.
Some of the soldiers had to face the modern armed troops of the enemy with loincloths and machete.
A sophisticated system of informers prevented his people from deserting en masse.
Every third fighter was authorized to spy on his neighbors and shoot them at the slightest sign of cowardice.
With his murderous methods, López turned out to be an innovative predecessor of Hitler and Stalin.
López also associated the excesses at the end of the war with the brown “Gröfaz” (greatest general of all time).
While his soldiers were starving to death, their leader was canonized in a bizarre ritual and urged men and women to copulate in his presence and indulge in various perversions, writes the British author Geoffrey Regan.
He had his own mother tortured for daring to bring him to reason.
After the Allies marched into Paraguay's capital Asunción in early 1869, Lopéz withdrew to the jungle with the last contingent and is said to have planned there to evade all responsibility with a mass suicide.
The attack by superior Brazilian troops on March 1, 1870 finally put an end to the madness.
A Brazilian priest with refugees from Paraguay in 1869 or 1870
Source: wikipedia
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In the peace treaty Paraguay had to do without 144,000 square kilometers.
That was fifty percent of its national territory, large parts of the country were occupied.
About 80 percent of the male population had fallen on López '"Killing Fields".
Paraguay became and has remained the poor house of Latin America ever since.
It is all the more astonishing that the following authoritarian regimes insisted on declaring López a national hero and in order to form a culture of remembrance for him that placed the "sacrifice on the altar of the nation" at the center.
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