Editing History of Paraguay (section)

==Under occupation, 1870–76==

[[File:Map of the Paraguayan War 1864-1870.png|thumbnail|left|Paraguay after the war with main battle sites (in yellow). Gran Chaco not included as it was still a disputed territory.]]
[[File:PARAGUAY. — La ville de l'Assomption occupée par l'armée alliée.jpeg|thumbnail|left|Allied warships in the port of Asuncion, 1869]]
The allied occupation of Asunción in 1869 put the victors in direct control of Paraguayan affairs. While Bolivia and Argentina pressed their claims to the [[Gran Chaco]], Argentina (with the [[Machaín-Irigoyen Treaty]]) and Brazil (with the [[Loizaga – Cotegipe Treaty]]) swallowed 154,000 square kilometers of Paraguayan territory.

Brazil had borne the brunt of the fighting, with perhaps 150,000 dead and 65,000 wounded. It had spent US$200&nbsp;million, and its troops formed the largest army of occupation in the country; as a result Brazil temporarily overshadowed Argentina in control of the country. Sharp disagreements between the two powers prolonged the Allied occupation until 1876.{{cn|date=June 2024}}

Ruined by war, pestilence, famine, and unpaid foreign indemnities, Paraguay was on the verge of disintegration in 1870. Its fertile soil and the country's overall backwardness helped it survive.{{cn|date=June 2024}} Paraguay's mostly rural populace continued to subsist as it had done for centuries, eking out a meager existence under difficult conditions.

During the Presidency of [[Juan Bautista Gill]] (1874–77), after the Machaín-Irigoyen Treaty was signed, the occupying Brazilian troops finally left the country in May 1876.<ref name="doratioto">{{cite book |last=Doratioto |first=Francisco |date=2004 |editor-last=Castro |editor-first=Celso |editor-last2=Kraay |editor-first2=Hendrik |editor-last3=Izecksohn |editor-first3=Vitor |title=Nova história militar brasileira |publisher=FGV Editora |pages=209–236 |chapter=A ocupação político militar brasileira do Paraguai (1869-1876) |isbn=8522513341}}</ref>

===Legionnaires===
[[File:Paraguayan Legion 1866.jpg|thumbnail|left|Paraguayan Legion soldiers in 1866]]
The post-war political vacuum was initially dominated by survivors of the anti-López [[Paraguayan Legion]]. This group of exiles, based in Buenos Aires, had regarded Solano López as a mad tyrant and fought on the Allied side during the war. This group signed the 1870 [[peace accord]]s, which guaranteed Paraguay's independence and free river navigation. Believing that more freedom would cure Paraguay's ills, they abolished slavery and founded a [[constitutional government]] as soon as they came to power. They based the new government on the standard classical liberal prescriptions of free enterprise, free elections, and [[free trade]].

The Legionnaires, however, had no more experience in the principles of republics than other Paraguayans. The 1870 constitution quickly became irrelevant. Politics degenerated into factionalism, and cronyism and intrigue prevailed. Presidents still acted like dictators, elections did not stay free, and the Legionnaires were out of power in less than a decade.

Free elections were a startling, and not altogether welcome, innovation for ordinary Paraguayans, who had always allied themselves with a ''patrón'' (benefactor) for security and protection. At the same time, Argentina and Brazil were not content to leave Paraguay with a truly free political system. Pro-Argentine militia chief [[Benigno Ferreira]] for a short time emerged as ''de facto'' dictator until his overthrow by [[Bernardino Caballero]] with Brazilian help in 1874. Ferreira later returned to lead the 1904 Liberal uprising, which ousted the Colorados. Ferreira then served as President between 1906 and 1908.

===Provisional government, 1869–70===
[[File:Cirilo Antonio Rivarola.jpg|thumbnail|left|Cirilo Antonio Rivarola]]
With Solano López on the run, the country lacked a government. Pedro II sent his foreign minister [[José Paranhos, Viscount of Rio Branco|José Paranhos]] to Asunción where he arrived on 20 February 1869, and began consultations with the local politicians. On 31 March a petition was signed by 335 leading citizens asking the Allies for a provisional government. This was followed by negotiations between the Allied countries who put aside some of more controversial points of the [[Treaty of the Triple Alliance]] and on 11 June an agreement was reached with Paraguayan opposition figures that a three-man provisional government would be established. On 22 July a National Assembly met in the National Theatre and elected a ''Junta Nacional'' of 21 men, which then selected a five-man committee to select three men for the provisional government. They selected [[Carlos Loizaga]], [[Juan Francisco Decoud]], and [[José Díaz de Bedoya]]. Decoud was unacceptable to Paranhos, who had him replaced with [[Cirilo Antonio Rivarola]]. The government was finally installed on 15 August, but was just a front for the continued Allied occupation.<ref name="books.google.lv"/>

The provisional government consisted of:
*President of the Council, Colonel [[Carlos Loizaga]].
*Secretary of the Interior, [[Cirilo Antonio Rivarola]].
*Secretary of the Treasury, [[José Díaz de Bedoya]].<ref name="google5">{{cite book|title=The Statesman's Year Book|last=matin |first= frederick|date=1870|url=https://archive.org/details/staesmansyearbo00matigoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/staesmansyearbo00matigoog/page/n580 546]|access-date=2017-01-07}}</ref>

After the death of López, the provisional government issued a proclamation on 6 March 1870, in which it promised to support political liberties, to protect commerce and to promote immigration, but the Provisional government did not last. In May 1870 José Díaz de Bedoya resigned and on 31 August 1870, Carlos Loizaga also resigned. The remaining member Antonio Rivarola was then relieved of his duties by the National Assembly which established a provisional Presidency to which [[Facundo Machaín]] was elected. He assumed the post on 31 August 1870, but was overthrown the next day in a coup which restored Rivarola to power.

===Post-war political conflicts===
The politics of the first post-war decade were heavily influenced by deeply personal conflicts between López loyalists and their more liberal opponents, but just as important was the backing of various politicians by Argentina and Brazil. In the end the Brazilian-supported politicians won, and established the rule of the Colorado party.

After Cirilo Antonio Rivarola resigned from the presidency in December 1871, [[Salvador Jovellanos]] came to power, backed by General [[Benigno Ferreira]]. Jovellanos was an accidental president, and after facing repeated revolts form López loyalists in 1873 and 1874, first Ferreira and then Jovellanos fled into exile. General [[Bernardino Caballero]] was the power behind the throne during terms of President [[Juan Bautista Gill]], who was assassinated in 1877, and his political mentor, President [[Cándido Bareiro]], who died from a stroke in 1880. At this point Caballero assumed the presidency and laid the foundations of the two-party system, remaining one of the most influential politicians until the 1904 Liberal revolution.