Editing History of Paraguay (section)

===Liberal rule===
On 25 November 1906, the old Liberal hero, General [[Benigno Ferreira]], was elected to the presidency.<ref name="uca">{{cite web|url=http://uca.edu/politicalscience/dadm-project/western-hemisphere-region/paraguay-1904-present/|publisher=uca.edu|title=6. Paraguay (1904-present)|access-date=2017-01-07}}</ref> By 1908, the Liberal ''radicales'' had overthrown him and the ''cívicos'', however. The Liberals had disbanded Caballero's army when they came to power and organized a completely new one. Nevertheless, by 1910 army commander Colonel [[Albino Jara]] felt strong enough to stage a coup against President [[Manuel Gondra]]. Jara's coup backfired as it touched off an anarchic two-year period in which every major political group seized power at least once and led to the Civil War of 1912. The ''radicales'' again invaded from Argentina, and when the charismatic [[Eduardo Schaerer]] became president, Gondra returned as Minister of War to reorganize the army once more. Schaerer became the first president since Egusquiza to finish his four-year term.

The new political calm was shattered, however, when the ''radicales'' split into Schaerer and Gondra factions. Gondra won the Presidential election in 1920, but the ''schaereristas'' undermined his power and forced him to resign. A full-scale [[Paraguayan Civil War (1922)|civil war]] between the factions broke out in May 1922 and lasted fourteen months. The ''gondristas'' beat the ''schaereristas'' decisively and held on to power until 1936.

[[File:Eduardo Schaerer.jpg|thumbnail|left|Eduardo Schaerer]]

Laissez-faire Liberal policies had permitted a handful of ''hacendados'' to exercise almost feudal control over the countryside, while peasants had no land and foreign interests manipulated Paraguay's economic fortunes. The Liberals, like the Colorados, were a deeply factionalized political oligarchy. Social conditions – always marginal in Paraguay – deteriorated during the [[Great Depression]] of the 1930s. The country clearly needed reforms in working conditions, public services, and education.