"What I'm more curious about is that Paraguay still has the courage to fight now."
Wen Desi felt a little incomprehensible.
He felt that Paraguay was too good at seeking death.
"Actually, it's not Paraguay who wants to fight this time, but Bolivia who is looking for trouble first."
Cafur also felt embarrassed.
The World War has only ended a few years ago.
Are these little South American countries so eager to increase their presence?
Throughout history, it may be difficult to select the country that is best at fighting, but it is relatively easy to select the first echelon, and Paraguay will definitely be firmly among them.
Paraguay in the 19th century was just a small landlocked country in South America, with a land area of less than 500,000 square kilometers and a population of less than 500,000.
But their president at the time, Sr.
Lopez, was a very ambitious man.
He wanted to make the country stronger, so he worked hard to cultivate the fields for decades.
Under his painstaking efforts, the once barren Paraguay rose rapidly.
Lopez Sr. encouraged foreign trade and introduced a large amount of foreign investment.
British and Austrian engineers were also invited to help build railways, shipyards, and steel plants.
It hired European and American doctors, engineers and technicians, opened factories and schools, and built the magnificent National Center for the Performing Arts.
By 1850, a Europeanized Paraguay emerged as a powerful country in Latin America.
By the time his son Francisco Solano López took over, Paraguay had become the only Latin American country without foreign debt.
If the findings are normal, the young President Lopez should continue farming to make his life more nutritious.
But this second generation is not a worry-free person.
He looked at the countries around him and felt that he was so powerful.
This is not completely yy.
Paraguay did have the most sophisticated army in South America at that time.
In 1845, in his first match as a fledgling, Lopez flew over Argentina in a car, thus becoming an instant success and gaining a lot of international reputation.
In 1859, a fierce conflict broke out between the central government of the Argentine Republic and the province of Buenos Aires.
Solano López volunteered to mediate, and the two parties successfully signed the famous Treaty of San Jose de Forest, and the Province of Buenos Aires agreed to join the Argentine Republic, successfully resolving the dispute.
Because of these political achievements, he was called the "Napoleon of America" and was widely respected in South America and had many fans.
Perhaps because he was praised too much by the fans, little Lopez also swelled up and felt that he was the son of the plane.
He finally believed that his soldiers were invincible and invincible troops.
During his visit to Europe, he also inspected the armies of France, Prussia and other countries.
However, after inspecting the armies of these powerful countries, he was not amazed by the advanced weapons and magnificent military appearance of the armies of the European powers.
Instead, he became more confident and proud of his own soldiers.
He expressed with confidence: My Paraguayan army is strong enough to deal with the attacks of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, even if Bolivia wants to give it a try.
A strong person wants to defy the heavens.
Little Lopez felt that he was so powerful, and there was no one around him who could beat him.
At that time, Brazil and Argentina had a dispute over the dispute between the red and white parties over Uruguay.
Lopez Jr. felt that an opportunity for expansion had come, so he was ready to take the opportunity to overthrow Brazil, take control of Uruguay, and find himself an outlet to the sea.
He warned Brazil not to intervene in Uruguay's civil war, but Brazil did not take it seriously.
In November 1864, Brazil marched into Uruguay to mediate the civil war between the Red and White parties with arms.
Lopez felt that he had been slapped in the face, so he declared war on Brazil.
At the beginning, the Paraguayan army did have the upper hand, occupying the Madoceroso province in Brazil and capturing a large amount of arms, food and various military supplies.
He originally wanted to surround Wei and rescue Zhao, but he did not expect that Brazil was not in a hurry to return to the army, but continued to attack Uruguay.
Soon all resistance was defeated and a pro-Brazilian government was established.
The new Uruguayan government immediately joined the Brazilian camp and in turn declared war on Paraguay.
Well, if that's all, forget it.
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But Lopez felt too good about himself.
Not only did he beat Brazil, he also beat Argentina as well.
That's right, Argentina was watching the fun, but they didn't expect that little Lopez would actually have a brain twitch and give them a brick.
Oh, according to what little Lopez said: "Let me borrow a way and I will go from your yard to burst the Brazilian chrysanthemums."
Even labor and management were fighting.
Argentina couldn't sit still anymore and joined the fight.
Then there was no more.
This war lasted for more than five years.
In the end, Paraguay completely attacked and ceded 160,000 square kilometers of land.
North of the Paraguay River was ceded to Brazil, and south of the Birgomayo River was ceded to Argentina.
The most important thing is that Paraguay's population has been reduced from the original 530,000 to less than 220,000, of which less than 30,000 are men, and most of them are children, the elderly and the wounded.
Since most men died on the battlefield and there were not enough men, women competed fiercely for men.
Paraguayan society thus became polygamous, with one man responsible for the reproduction of several or even a dozen women.
Fifty years after the war, 80 percent of children were illegitimate half-children.
In addition, the previous decades of farming results of old Lopez were all gone.
Paraguay's national infrastructure was almost completely destroyed, economic activities were completely stopped, and it had to bear war compensation totaling 1.39 billion pesos and was disbanded.
The army was occupied by the Brazilian military for 6 years.
It can be said that he rushed to the end of the street.
Paraguay is just a small country to begin with, but because of President Lopez Jr.'
s blind arrogance, he has offended two big countries, Brazil and Argentina, at the same time.
Surrounded by powerful enemies, Lopez Sr. maintained peaceful development in the country for nearly 50 years.
However, within five years of his coming to power, his shabby son completely destroyed his father's family fortune.
He is truly a typical prodigal son.
It turns out that this is not the end yet.
It has only been 55 years since the tragic Paraguay War, and the scars have not healed yet.
Now they have forgotten the horror of the beating.
Now I'm actually planning to do it again with Bolivia.
However, speaking of which, their opponent this time, Bolivia, has also suffered miserably.
Since its independence, it has suffered a complete defeat externally.
All wars with surrounding countries have come to an end.
Its current territory is only about two-thirds of what it was when it first became independent.
"Well, the biggest reason for this Bamboo conflict, apart from the previous territorial disputes, is that last year a group of European businessmen discovered oil at the foot of the Andes Mountains in the western border area of the Mansion Valley, so" Kafur said.
Wen Desi was a little dissatisfied: "There is indeed oil there, but not much.
The Mansion Valley is mainly dominated by natural gas, and oil is just a by-product."
Of course Mr.
Wen, who came from a later generation, knew what resources there were.
There was oil there, but not much.
The territory Bolivia and Paraguay are now preparing to compete for is the Valley of the Towers.
The Valley of Mansions, also known as Gran Chaco, is one of the most desolate areas in the world.
The Mansion Valley is bordered by the Paraguay River to the east and the Andes Mountains to the west.
It is an arid semi-desert area.
Until then the only significant economic value in the Mansion Valley area lay in the tannins extracted from the locally grown quebracho trees and the abundant grazing for cattle.
This is the mess left by the Spaniards.
After the independence of South American countries, this territory has always been a disputed area between the two countries.
Bolivians consider themselves the legal heirs of the Spanish colonial government, so they are naturally the masters of the Mansion Valley.
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However, Bolivia actually has very little contact with the Mansion Valley region.
No Bolivians live in the Mansion Valley, and no one develops the barren resources there.
The Bolivian government has not taken any action to develop the Valley of Mansions area.
Paraguayan pioneers began grazing cattle in the Mansion Valley area early on, and they also established local industrial facilities to extract tannins from quebracho.
The Paraguayan government actively developed the area, allowing immigrants from all over to settle in the Valley of the Towers, and selling large tracts of land to Argentine land developers and ranching companies.
There is also the Guaraní, the main ethnic group in Paraguay, who are closely related to the residents of the Mansion Valley area, both culturally and linguistically.
When Spanish rule ended, Paraguay's claim to the Valley of the Towers was based on actual use and possession, while Bolivia's claim was based on legal and theoretical grounds.
This kind of controversy cannot be clarified in a short time.
To put it bluntly, they are all colonists, and the indigenous people here are Indians.
If the situation continues like this, the conflict between the two sides may not be serious.
Although Bolivia claims sovereignty over the Mansion Valley area, they are not interested in this wilderness area at all, while Paraguay will slowly continue to develop it quietly. this area.
However, in 1884, Bolivia lost the Saltpeter War in the South American Pacific War and ceded all of their coastal areas to Chile.
This makes Bolivia a landlocked country far away from the sea.
These days, countries without an outlet to the sea are destined not to become strong, so Bolivia is eager to find a new outlet to the sea.
If it wants to regain its original territory, it must have a fight with Chile.
Although this is also an option, it is not too safe after all.
You know, Chile is stronger now than it was in the past.
Not only is it one of the top three in South America, it also has a very good relationship with China, the top power.
China has always been hungry for copper mines.
As the world's largest copper mine producer, Chile is China's key trading partner.
It imports a large amount of copper concentrate from Chile every year, accounting for approximately 75% of Chile's total copper mine exports. , the copper concentrate exported to China last year alone reached 2 million tons.
Especially after the start of World War I, Britain, which originally owned a large amount of resources in Chile, was severely damaged and its power shrunk significantly.
China took the opportunity to increase its investment in Chile.
Moreover, China's methods were more moderate and it was willing to share interests with Chile.
Happiness comes from comparison.
Compared with the shameless British and American capitalists, China's food and appearance are much better, so Chile is very happy to cooperate with China.
By the end of World War I, Chinese capital had basically controlled two-fifths of Chile’s copper mines.
Chile and China now have very close economic cooperation.
The two countries have not only cooperated to develop copper mines, but also developed mineral deposits such as saltpeter, iron, coal, iodine, lead, zinc, manganese, mercury and oil.
In addition, many Chinese companies are cooperating with Chile to develop local forestry and fishery resources.
Logs, pulp and aquatic products are also exported to China in large quantities.
The two countries have joint ventures such as copper smelting plants, paper mills, beverage factories, and canneries.
Deeply processed products have become the bulk of Chilean exports.
A large amount of Chile's natural resources have been exported to China, and at the same time, cheap and high-quality Chinese goods have also poured into Chile.
Moreover, the Chilean army has also introduced a large number of Chinese weapons.
Nowadays, many of the Chilean Navy’s ships and army’s weapons are Chinese products, and the Chilean Air Force is completely established in accordance with Chinese standards.
There are also a group of consultants and instructors from China in the Air Force. .
Moreover, Chile had already joined the Shanghai Economic Cooperation Organization in 1921 and was considered a semi-member of the Revolutionary Federation.
Therefore, Bolivia is quite entangled.
If it wants to take action against Chile, it must consider China's attitude.
With China's consistent style, it will never tolerate problems in its own copper mine production areas.
Chile alone is already a fortress.
If China is added to the list, it will be nothing.
Even if ten Bolivias were put together, they would only be able to kneel down.
What to do about the issue of access to the sea?
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Then we have to find a weak one.
If we can't defeat Chile, how can we defeat this street guy like Paraguay?
Well, some people may ask, Paraguay is not close to the sea, so Bolivia is giving it trouble.
Well, that’s right, Paraguay is not close to the sea, but there is a Paraguay River that leads directly to the sea.
This is also Paraguay’s main channel to the sea, and this river just flows through the Mansion Valley area.
At the beginning, Bolivia and Paraguay had no intention of taking action.
Paraguay was afraid of being beaten, and Bolivia was not absolutely sure.
Both sides tended to solve the problem through negotiation and achieve their own goals.
In addition, Argentina, the United States and other countries Through mediation, the two countries reached a series of arbitration agreements and interim solutions.
At this stage, both sides are basically talking and burying their heads in piles of old papers, trying to find evidence in their own favor from their own country’s history to support their claim of sovereignty over the Mansion Valley area, and the situation in the Mansion Valley area But it was relatively peaceful.
However, the situation took an unexpected turn last year.
A group of European geologists unexpectedly discovered oil here.
As a result, Bolivia is no longer calm.
With the aviation and automobile trends that started in China in 1910, as well as the continuous development of petrochemical products such as plastics and chemical fibers from World War I to the post-war years, oil became a hot commodity in various countries earlier.
The things that are held in hand have become important industrial raw materials and chemical raw materials earlier.
Having an oil field is equivalent to having a gold mine.
In fact, oil fields have been discovered in Bolivia in recent years, but because there is no outlet to the sea, they have to pay a large amount of transit fees to neighboring countries near the sea when exporting, which makes Bolivia very unhappy.
Now that there is not only a large oil field, but also an important outlet to the sea, it would be strange for Bolivia not to be excited.
"Well, Bolivia is trying to grab oil fields and seaports, so what are Brazil and Argentina doing?"
Wen Desi asked
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