The Boeing 737 roared safely from Silvio Petirossi International Airport in Asunción, the capital of Paraguay.The airport, also known as Asunción International Airport, is one of only two international airports in Paraguay and the largest airport in Paraguay.Asunción is the capital of Paraguay, the largest city in Paraguay, and one of the oldest cities in South America.When the Spaniards arrived on August 15, 1537, it was the Catholic feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.In Spanish, Ascension is pronounced "Asunción", hence the name of the city.In other words, the city is more than 480 years old!
However, despite its long history, the city is really not very developed.Paraguay itself is one of the poorest countries in South America, and as one of the only two landlocked countries in South America, Paraguay, like its neighbour Bolivia, is one of those poor countries.The country, with a population of only seven million people, has a GDP of less than $30 billion a year.Yang Jing's hometown, Tianqu City, has a total population of 5.8 million and a total annual GDP of 47 billion US dollars!
In other words, the total annual GDP of a fourth-tier city in China is 15 times that of Paraguay!
Paraguay is a country of poverty that can be imagined.In fact, there are not a few major cities in Paraguay, except for Asunción, which has a population of more than 500,000, the city of Oriente, located on the banks of the Paraná River, is the second largest city in Paraguay, and the combined population of the two cities of Asunción and Orientay accounts for one-eighth of the entire population of Paraguay!
As the capital of Paraguay, this city on the east bank of the Paraguay River does not have any high-rise buildings, and the only few buildings are only about 30 stories high, but it is said that the river beaches of Asunción are still very beautiful.Perhaps because Paraguay is a landlocked country, the inhabitants of Paraguay are so eager for beaches that they have built a large number of sandy beaches on the Paraguay River to mimic the sandy beaches of the sea.It's a bit sad to talk about it, but there's no way, I really can't help it, if you want to blame it, blame Quaresma In fact, Paraguay used to have access to the sea.At the beginning of the 19th century, from 1810 to 1825, the rise of the independence movement in Latin America forced Spain to abandon its colonial rule over most Latin American countries.Paraguay, a Spanish colony, also declared its independence in June 1811.Paraguay still has access to the sea on the west coast of the Atlantic Ocean, and Paraguay also had a very outstanding president at that time, Carlos Antonio López.This president replaced the dictatorship of the great dictator Francia in 1944 as the new president of Paraguay.During his presidency, López vigorously carried out reforms, he sent his son López Jr.'
s missions to Britain, France, Italy and other countries, and vigorously recruited immigrants, invited European technicians to inspect the military and purchase weapons.Under the painstaking management of President López, the once barren Paraguay has risen rapidly, and he has encouraged foreign trade and introduced a large number of foreign investment; Engineers from England and Austria were brought in to help build railways, shipyards, and steel mills; Recruit European and American doctors, engineers and technicians, and open factories and schools; In 1850, the National Theatre was inaugurated, and a Europeanized Paraguay emerged as a great power in Latin America.But just when Paraguay was thriving, President López died of illness, but before he died, he did something that stained the only one in his life, he named his son Francisco Solano López as the "legal" successor, and the result was that López Jr. became the new president of Paraguay.In fact, President López Jr. is also a very courageous person, but this guy has seen more knowledge because he traveled to European countries on behalf of his father in the early days, so his ambitions have begun to grow.President López Jr. had studied military affairs in Europe before, learned about the new development of military technology, knew the importance of army building, admired Napoleon Bonaparte, and highly respected the then French Emperor Napoleon III.In Paris, López meets Elisa Lynch, a high-courtesan Irish woman, who becomes López's mistress.And when López returned home, he brought back a large amount of weapons and military supplies, and also brought Lynch back home, who later had a strong influence on López's ambitious plans.Because of the diligence of President López Sr., when President López Jr. took over, Paraguay had become the only country in South America without foreign debt, and the strong economic strength made President López Jr.'
s ambitions even more inflated.President López López Jr. began to expand his armament in a major way, reorganizing his 7,000-strong army and implementing a plan of rapid expansion.Because of his own admiration for Napoleon, he required his army to be equipped with Napoleon's uniforms.Two years later, the total number of Paraguayan troops had reached 30,000, and the army alone had reached 25,000, enough to confront Brazil and Argentina.By this time, the Paraguayan army had 30 infantry battalions, 23 cavalry regiments and 4 artillery regiments.In addition, López Jr. also attaches great importance to the construction of the navy, requiring domestic shipbuilding enterprises to build world-class steamboats to be used as warships, update naval equipment, and strengthen naval forces.This allowed Paraguay to grow its naval strength considerably, with 1 sailor battalion and 1 artillery battalion, and the fleet used steam ships.At this time, two years after López Jr. came to power, in 1864, with the support of Argentina and Brazil, a coup d'état took place in Uruguay, and the leader of the Uruguayan Red Party, Venantio Flores, overthrew Bernardo Belo, the president of the Uruguayan White Party, supported by López Jr.Brazil then began to intervene in the Uruguayan war and allied itself with Argentina.Predicting that Brazil would soon be able to play the Uruguayan model against Paraguay and overthrow his rule, López Jr. decided to strike first.In November 1964, López Jr. declared war on Brazil, and the Paraguayan War began.Soon, Argentina sided with Brazil and came into conflict with the Paraguayan army.Six months later, Paraguay officially declared war on Argentina again.At the time, López Jr. probably did not expect that a Uruguayan civil war would eventually turn into the largest armed conflict on the South American continent.At that time, Paraguay was second to none in South America in terms of economic and military power, and under the strong military pressure of López Jr., Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay secretly signed the Triple Alliance Treaty against Paraguay in Buenos Aires on May 1, 1965, and formed the Triple Alliance Alliance.Thus, the famous Paraguayan War broke out.At the beginning, even in the face of the three-nation alliance, López Jr. was not afraid, after all, Paraguay's military strength was stronger than the other three countries at that time, and the beginning of the war also proved this.The series of victories at the beginning of the war made López Jr. ignore the logistical requirements of modern warfare, and while Paraguay's military power has few rivals in South America, Paraguay's strategic depth is too small, and most importantly, the country's population is too small.Victory in the early stages of the war does not mean that Paraguay will win the war.Therefore, with the advancement of time, the Paraguayan army, which was victorious on the battlefield at the beginning, gradually tasted the bitterness of logistical inadequacy, and then the war began to move from the early victory of the Paraguayan army to the strategic defense, and finally in 1970, this war that lasted for seven years and the four parties participated in more than 500,000 troops, ending with 300,000 Paraguayan killed, 100,000 Brazilians, 300,000 Argentine killed, and the Triple Alliance captured Asunción.The war had wiped out all the previous efforts of President López Sr., and although López Jr. still insisted on fighting guerrillas, the complete defeat of Paraguay was inevitable.At the same time as Paraguay failed, the country also lost 1.54 million square kilometers of land and access to the sea.A war that completely changed the future of Paraguay!
If López Jr. had not had such great ambitions, Paraguay would have been the most developed and richest country in South America by now, but it was because of the ambition of a dictator that a country would not be able to raise its head for the next 150 years, becoming one of the two poorest countries in South America.And because of the loss of access to the sea, the country is completely trapped in the rainforests of the interior of South America.The inhabitants here have even converted the river beach into a sandy beach, isn't that a sadness or something?
There is an old saying in China that is good - if you forget to fight, you will be dangerous, and if you are warlike, you will die!
In fact, the war that should not have happened in Paraguay 150 years ago is a true portrayal of "belligerence must die".At this time, standing in Asunción, the oldest city in South America, Yang Jing, who understands this period of history, is also helpless.The war brought shame to this beautiful city, completely ruined the country's development potential, and became a source of poverty in the country.Although all this has nothing to do with Yang Jing, since he has come here and seen this city, Yang Jing, who is familiar with that period of history, will inevitably feel embarrassed in his heart.However, Yang Jing and the others will not stay in this city, after all, the purpose of their coming here is not this city, but another small city called Ita.Ita, a small city under the jurisdiction of the central province of Paraguay, is only thirty-five kilometers from Asunción in a straight line.The city is not small, but it is also very old, only two years after Asunción.Founded in 1539 and now home to more than 80,000 people, Martín Baumán, who fled to Paraguay from Chascomus, Argentina, more than 60 years ago, died of stomach cancer after four years of seclusion, and was eventually buried in a cemetery in Ita