Background
Francisco López was born on July 24, 1827, in Manorá, a barrio of Asunción, Paraguay, the eldest son of the dictator Carlos Antonio López and Juana Pabla Carrillo Viana.
Francisco López was born on July 24, 1827, in Manorá, a barrio of Asunción, Paraguay, the eldest son of the dictator Carlos Antonio López and Juana Pabla Carrillo Viana.
Tutored by his father and Padre Fidel Maiz, he obtained a fair education.
In 1844, his father commissioned him as a Brigadier General in the Paraguayan Army when he was just 18.
In 1853, Francisco Solano Lopez was posted in Europe as the officiating minister to Great Britain, France, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. During the Crimean War, he served as a foreign military observer in Europe, spending most of his time in Paris where he purchased large quantities of arms and military supplies on behalf of the Paraguayan military.
In 1855, he returned from Europe and was appointed as the Minister of War in his father's government. Two years later, he was elevated to the post of Vice President.
In 1862, after his father's death, he was unanimously declared as the President of Paraguay for a term of ten years. As president, he opted to continue most of the economic protectionism and developmental policies adopted by his father.
His ambition was to represent Paraguay as a dependable "third force" in the ongoing political and military rivalry between Argentina and Brazil. To succeed in this conquest, he formed an alliance with the President of Uruguay, Bernardo Berro.
Subsequently, he began a massive expansion and reorganization of his military. Under his reign, Paraguayan military grew to become the best-trained and most well-equipped force in the region.
In December 1864, he officially declared war on Brazil and dispatched a force to invade Mato Grosso. The force captured the town of Corumbá and took possession of the province and its diamond mines, together with an immense quantity of arms and ammunition.
When his forces tried crossing the Argentine soil to reach Uruguay to support the government of Atanasio Aguirre, they were denied permission to cross the intervening Argentine province of Corrientes. In April 1865, he declared war on Argentina, seizing two Argentine war vessels in the Bay of Corrientes.
Meanwhile the Brazilians had managed to overthrow Atanasio Aguirre as the President of Uruguay and had installed their ally, Venancio Flores, in his place. In May 1865, Brazil joined Argentina and Uruguay in signing the "Treaty of the Triple Alliance" which stipulated that they should unitedly pursue war against Paraguay until the existing government of Paraguay was overthrown.
A great war ensued between the Paraguayan forces and the troops of the Triple Alliance, which lasted until March 1870. The war was carried on with great aggression and Lopez's position increasingly weakened over the years.
In 1868, when the allies were pressing him hard, he became convinced that his Paraguayan supporters were plotting a conspiracy to defeat him. Thereafter, he ordered execution of several hundred prominent Paraguayan citizens, including his family members, cabinet ministers, military officers, bishops and priests and many others.
On March 1, 1870, the enemy forces badly wounded him and he died struggling with the soldiers who were trying to disarm and capture him.
Francisco Solano López was a noted dictator of Paraguay during the Paraguayan War (also known as the War of the Triple Alliance), in which Paraguay was practically destroyed by Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay.
1 March is a national holiday in Paraguay, called "Dia de los Heroes" (Heroes' Day), held in honor of López's memory.
In 2007, Argentine president Cristina Kirchner named an Argentinean military unit after Marshal Francisco Solano López.
Francisco López was the recipient of the numerous awards, including the National Order of Merit (Paraguay), the Legion of Honour (France), the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (Kingdom of Italy), the Order of Christ (Brazil) and the Supreme Order of Christ (Vatican City).
A man of strong will and accustomed to command, Francisco López enjoyed the good life and denied himself nothing. Short and stocky, he adorned himself with fine clothes and fancy uniforms. Socially he could be a polished, charming host; to subordinates he was a bullying tyrant.
Francisco Solano Lopez fell in love with an Irish woman, Elisa Alicia Lynch, who later became his mistress. Famous by the name of "La Lynch", she bore him six children, although the two never married.
Carlos Antonio López Ynsfrán served as leader of Paraguay from 1841 to 1862.
