Background
Francisco Solano López was born in Asunción on 24 July 1826. The first son of Paraguay’s second president, Carlos Antonio López.
government official politician president
Francisco Solano López was born in Asunción on 24 July 1826. The first son of Paraguay’s second president, Carlos Antonio López.
Francisco Solano López was largely educated by his father, who made him a brigadier general at the age of 19.
He participated in a short war against the Juan Manuel de Rosas regime in Argentina in 1845.
Between 1853 and 1856 Francisco Solano López was in Europe, heading an effort to seek immigrants, investments, and armaments. His mission was successful, and in addition to many contracts, he brought back an Irish mistress, Elisa Alicia Lynch. He had a new diplomatic assignment from his father in 1859, seeking to mediate a conflict between the Province of Buenos Aires and the Argentine Confederation.
When Carlos Antonio López died in 1862, Franciso Solano López became his father’s successor.
He was finally killed in the Battle of Cerro Cora in 1870, after which the war ended.
The first years of his rule were marked by economic prosperity. However, he led the country into a disastrous war with Argentina and Brazil (1865-1870) which cost Paraguay more than 150.000 square kilometers of territory, and led to the death of over half of the 550.000 Paraguayans alive at the beginning of the conflict. Of those 250,000 Paraguayans left alive at the conclusion of the war, only 14,000 were adult males.
The devastating War of the Triple Alliance (Argentina, Brazil, and a puppet government of Uruguay) against Paraguay began when Francisco Solano López declared war on Brazil because of Brazil’s invasion of Uruguay in 1865. Argentina denied the Paraguayan Army permission to cross Argentine territory to fight against Brazil, and when the Paraguayans did so anyway, they ended up in battle against both the Argentines and Brazilians.
Although the Paraguayans did well in the early years of the war, they were ultimately overwhelmed. Asunción was burned, and López was forced into the jungle with his troops.
