The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 54, July 1950 - April, 1951 Page: 250
544 p. : ill., ports., maps. (some col.) ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
they indicate as well "the inner motive power of the actions of
this leader, the real psychological key to his decisions, and his
personal style in approaching every problem." Dictated in Wash-
ington, D. C., between 1938 and 1939, they are now edited and
annotated by an editor who then served as counselor of the
Paraguayan legation and who collaborated in the original draft-
ing of the "personal recollections" found in this volume.
After a note to the effect that although "the Chaco problem
sprang from the lack of precision in the jurisdictional delimita-
tions of the different administrative divisions of the Spanish
colonial Empire in America," there was no early question about
Paraguayan jurisdiction over the Chaco because geographical dis-
tance and natural barriers of mountains and deserts separated
the region from Bolivian administrative centers. "Independent
Paraguay accordingly occupied the Chaco, in the habitable sec-
tions, without any objection, because Paraguay and the Chaco
practically form one indissoluble geographic unit." According to
Marshal Estigarribia, it was only after Bolivia's loss of her Pacific
coast that she "sought out a compensation somewhere else." War
with Paraguay followed.
The detailed campaigns of the war and, even more, the rea-
soning which led to Paraguayan success, will be of interest to
any student of military history. But of far more interest to the
general reader are Marshal Estigarribia's accounts of the inter-
ference of foreigners in the war: the work of General Hans
Kundt, to whom is attributed the initial Bolivian invasion plan;
the some 300 Chilean officers hired to serve in the Bolivian army
and the Chilean labor utilized to work Bolivian mines; the
Czechoslovakian military mission which visited the Chaco to for-
mulate suggestions for the conduct of the war. Bolivian forces
were largely supplied from Brazilian and Argentine territory, and
part of one Bolivian regiment is described as "clothed in brand
new uniforms with buttons of the United States army." Argentine
forces took over Fortin Sorpresa Vieja, a post established by the
Bolivians along the Pilcomayo and abandoned after defeat in
the battle of Zenteno, as Argentine officers sought to give their
country "some gratuitous participation in our recent great vic-
tory"; diplomatic pressure forced Paraguay's additional surren-
der of Fortin Sorpresa Nueva.250
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 54, July 1950 - April, 1951, periodical, 1951; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101133/m1/326/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.