The Rise and Fall of the Paraguayan Republic, 1800-1870

Autorentext

John Hoyt Williams (1940-2003) was Professor of History at Indiana State University.

Klappentext

Paraguay plays a very small role in the modern world, but for part of the nineteenth century it was a significant regional force. Between 1800 and 1865 it changed from an imperial backwater into a dynamic, dictator-led, financially sound nation. Then came the terrible War of the Triple Alliance, and by 1870 Paraguay had virtually been destroyed. John Hoyt Williams re-creates the era's people, places, and events in rich detail and a vigorous style, but this is much more than a mere narrative. His archival research in Paraguay and several other countries enables him to offer new facts and interpretations, correct a number of misapprehensions, and explode a few myths. He also provides the clearest, most objective portraits available of the three extraordinary men who ruled Paraguay during this time: Dr. José Gaspar de Francia, "El Supremo"; Carlos Antonio López, "the Corpulent Despot"; and López's flamboyant son Francisco Solano López. Discussions of social, economic, and cultural conditions round out a masterly account of a remarkable historical period.

Inhalt

• Preface
• Chapters
• 1. The “Provincia Gigante” in the Eighteenth Century
• 2. José Gaspar de Francia and the Paraguayan Revolution
• 3. Perpetual Means Forever: Francia and the Remodeling of Paraguayan Society
• 4. The Diplomacy of Isolation, 1820-1840
• 5. The Supreme Dictatorship, 1820-1840
• 6. The Old Order Changeth?
• 7. A New Paraguay is Stirring
• 8. The Economic Pulse Quickens
• 9. The Diplomacy of Frustration
• 10. Threat and Counter-Threat: The 1850s
• 11. Foreigners and the Modernization of Paraguay
• 12. “Francisco Solano’s Error: The War”
• 13. The Immolation of Paraguay
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index