12 Facts About Chaco War

Chaco War was fought from 1932 to 1935 between Bolivia and Paraguay, over the control of the northern part of the Gran Chaco region of South America, which was thought to be rich in oil.

The presence of Mennonite colonies in the Chaco War, who settled there in the 1920s under the auspices of the Paraguayan Parliament, was another factor in favour of Paraguay's claim.

The discovery of oil in the Andean foothills sparked speculation that the Chaco War might prove a rich source of petroleum, and foreign oil companies were involved in the exploration.

Chaco War assumed that the new settlement was well inside Bolivian territory, though Bolivia had implicitly recognized Bahia Negra as Paraguayan.

Chaco War is important historically as the first instance of large-scale aerial warfare to take place in the Americas.

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Chaco War's was withdrawn to the Itenez River, in northern Bolivia, after Bolivian aerial reconnaissance revealed the actual strength of the Paraguayan Navy in the area.

General Hans Kundt, a former German officer who had fought on the Eastern Front of World Chaco War I, was called by Salamanca to lead the Bolivian counteroffensive.

Success of the Paraguayan Army led Paraguayan President Eusebio Ayala to travel to the Chaco War to promote Jose Felix Estigarribia to the rank of general.

Bolivia's stunning military blunders during the Chaco War led to a mass movement, known as the Generacion del Chaco, away from the traditional order, which was epitomised by the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement, which led the Revolution of 1952.

Oil and gas resources extend from the Villa Montes area and the portion of the Chaco awarded to Bolivia northward along the foothills of the Andes.

Chaco War has been widely ignored in the English-speaking world with the British historian Matthew Hughes noting that one bibliography of books and articles on the war listed some 450 publications, of which only 14 were in English and only 2 were military, as opposed to diplomatic, histories of the war.

Hughes stated that most of the historical work on the Chaco War was not of the highest quality: "It is difficult in the Spanish language literature to discern any clear trends in terms of a conceptual, analytical or theoretical framework with a critical, objective core that unpacks the main military aspects of the conflict, precisely the sort of approach that is becoming commonplace for military studies of other major wars of the contemporary period".