How Bolivia's and Paraguay's private companies' interests contributed to Chaco war outbreak
Introduction
According to studies, Chaco war is considered as the worst and bloodiest conflicts ever witnessed in South America. The three-year war was fought during the worst moments in time whereby the world was struggling to manage ongoing economic depressions that were increasingly becoming a menace to countries. The three-year war which occurred between two poorest nations, Paraguay and Bolivia was seen to have left nearly 100, 000 men dead, a figure that raised concern to the world. As stipulated in the studies, the cause of the war between the two countries was in relation to the disputed possession of Gran Chaco, a vast desert region which separated them.
Before the war began, it is said that there were conflicts at the border areas where the two countries continuously clashed. These conflicts were largely attributed to private company interest which was further instigated by global depression and politics. The vast Chaco region was not developed except for few old discoveries made by private companies such as the Royal Dutch shell and the Standard oil and in these two countries. With such interest from these private companies, Bolivia came to acknowledge the importance of this region after it had given up its outlets in the Pacific Ocean to Chile.
By securing the area, the Bolivian governments was confident of gaining an oil pipeline access to Atlantic oceans through Chaco to the river in Paraguay. This interest accompanies with the ongoing political pressures and economic depression widely contributed to this war. As this conflict continued to grow, the Bolivians and Paraguayans were forced to build several forts of a double line across the region as ways of protecting the already acquired territorial. However, this dispute didn’t take long before the Bolivian patrol surpassed by capturing Paraguayan fort at mid of 1932. This action was taken by the Bolivian patrol eventually triggered an escalation from the military resulting in a serious war conflict between these two countries.
Thesis
Even though many people, especially the historian believe that the Chaco war was primarily instigated by the disputed territory, there is an equal chance that the wars could have also been influenced by the atmosphere within the Bolivian governments particularly the private company interest in gaining control of the oil fields, the intense political changes, and economic problems. By discussing the atmosphere leading to this war, this study seeks to explain how the private company interests accompanied by an eroded global economy and political dynamics especially within the Bolivian government largely contributed to this war making it hard to avert the war
Discussion
Besides the border dispute being considered as the main cause of the war between the Paraguayan and the Bolivian government, study evidence equally points out to the economic interest of the private oil companies from the two companies, particularly from the Bolivian side. The standard oil company became wary of the ongoing global depressions and decided to take advantage of the political changes to push their interest in gaining control of the Chaco area. On the other hand the Paraguayan oil company, Royal Dutch Shell was not ready to let go of their oil fields they had discovered in the region. This led to the private companies in Bolivia taking advantage of the political changes and the resulting factions created to push for their interest by aligning to one side of the political wing.
It was during this epoch that Salamanca an esteemed economist was selected to become the candidate for the coalition. After taking the office, Salamanca realized that he was unable to suppress the ongoing social unrests from the private companies as well as solve some of the country’s economic problems which were seen to have been attributed by the global depression. Therefore, with such constant criticism of his administration continuing to mount, Salamanca who showed a lot of reluctance to engage into military conflicts with its neighboring country, Paraguay began to diminish. This pressure from the Bolivian society pushed him further into giving in to the war, a move that received a lot of support from the traditional groups and the military. In his first preparatory move for this war, Salamanca was forced to break the diplomatic relations that the country had established with the Paraguayan government as well as ensure the budgets for his military was increased. This move wasn’t welcomed by most of his subjects as it further worsened the country’s economic situation.
As the three-year war continued, the Bolivian army was punished as they lost all their major battles. According to studies, their defeat in this war is believed to have been attributed to may reason with main ones being, strategic errors, a logistical problem, poor intelligence and low morale among the Bolivian army. Besides the climate within the Chaco regions was seen to be more adverse for the Bolivian army to adapt. From the studies, the region is always known to have temperatures of 100 degrees F during the month between July and Aug accompanied by night frosts which often occurs in the winter. Despite the defeat, Salamanca was still determined to go on with the war whereby he decided to travel to Chaco and take command of the ongoing war. It was there that he got arrested and relieved of his duties. It took the initiative of a more trained Bolivian officer to stop the Paraguayan troops.
In various studies, most historians often rush to point out the Chaco land dispute to be the main cause of the war failing to looks at some of the factors that could equally contribute to this evidence. This study however through the evidence articulated in the study points out to the role that private companies in both countries played to cause this war. However, despite such different ideas, there is a common understanding that the incident was a critical point of change for the Bolivian governments and the nations as a whole. Pointing from the various evident available, the war instigated a lot of changes within the Bolivian government staring from leadership whereby the Bolivian people especially the writer’s, middle-class professionals and the young officers began to formulate ways to deal with different problems affecting the nation by first questioning their traditional leadership. Besides, the war also led to new reforms and developments within the military. For instance, the army gained more political awareness and began to act on the basis of their political goals. It equally saw the army retune to power after many decades since 1880.
Conclusion
Based on the various evidence discussed in this study about the atmosphere of the Chaco war, it becomes evident that the different interested shared by the private companies in the region largely contributed to this war. That is, were it not for these economic problems that country was facing as well as social unrest pushed by the private companies, Salamanca who was seen to be reluctant about engaging in such conflicted would have not submitted to going to war. Apparently, this view seems to be quite different from the knowledge addressed by many historians who only associate the cause to the territorial dispute.