Latin America is filled with military coups, uprisings and revolutions, left and right dictatorships. One of the longest dictatorships, which is assessed ambiguously by followers of different ideologies, was the rule of General Alfredo Stroessner in Paraguay. This man, one of the most interesting Latin American politicians of the twentieth century, ruled Paraguay for almost thirty-five years - from 1954 to 1989. In the Soviet Union, Stroessner's regime was assessed exclusively negatively - as right-wing radical, pro-fascist, associated with American intelligence services and providing refuge for Hitler's neo-Nazis, who moved to the New World after the war. At the same time, a less skeptical point of view is to recognize Stroessner's services to Paraguay in terms of the country's economic development and maintaining its political face.

The geographical location and historical features of the development of Paraguay largely determined its socio-economic backwardness in the twentieth century. Paraguay, deprived of access to the seas, was doomed to economic backwardness and dependence on larger neighboring states - Argentina and Brazil. However, at the end of the 19th century, numerous emigrants from Europe, primarily Germans, began to settle in Paraguay. One of them was Hugo Stroessner, a native of the Bavarian town of Hof, an accountant by profession. In local terms, his last name was pronounced Stroessner. In Paraguay, he married a girl from a local wealthy family named Eriberta Matiauda. In 1912, their son Alfredo was born. Like many others from Paraguayan middle-class families, Alfredo dreamed of a military career from a young age. In Latin America in the first half of the twentieth century, the path of a professional military man promised a lot - success with women, respect from civilians, a good salary, and most importantly, it opened up opportunities for career growth that were absent from civilians - with the exception of hereditary representatives of the elite. At the age of sixteen, young Alfredo Stroessner entered the national military school and graduated three years later, receiving the rank of lieutenant. Then the military career of the young and promising officer developed rapidly. This was facilitated by turbulent events, by the standards of Paraguay.

In June 1932, the Chaco War began - an armed conflict between Paraguay and Bolivia, caused by Bolivia's territorial claims to Paraguay - the Bolivian leadership hoped to capture the northern part of the Gran Chaco region, where promising oil fields had been discovered. The Paraguayan authorities, in turn, considered the preservation of the Gran Chaco region for Paraguay a matter of national prestige. In 1928, the first armed conflict occurred on the Paraguayan-Bolivian border. A squadron of Paraguayan cavalry attacked the Bolivian fort of Vanguardia, killing 6 soldiers, and the Paraguayans destroyed the fortification itself. In response, Bolivian troops attacked Fort Boqueron, which belonged to Paraguay. Through the mediation of the League of Nations, the conflict was resolved. The Paraguayan side agreed to restore the Bolivian fort, and Bolivian troops were withdrawn from the Boqueron fort area. However, tension in bilateral relations between neighboring states persisted. In September 1931, new border clashes occurred.

On June 15, 1932, Bolivian troops attacked the positions of the Paraguayan army near the city of Pitiantuta, after which hostilities began. Bolivia initially had a stronger and well-armed army, but Paraguay's position was saved by the more skillful leadership of its army's actions, plus the participation in the war on the side of Paraguay of Russian emigrants - officers, top-class military professionals. Twenty-year-old Lieutenant Alfredo Stroessner, who served in the artillery, also took part in the fighting during the Chuck War. The war between the two countries lasted three years and ended with the actual victory of Paraguay. On June 12, 1935, a truce was concluded.

Success in the war significantly strengthened the position of the army in Paraguay and further strengthened the position of the officer corps in the country's political elite. In February 1936, a military coup took place in Paraguay. Colonel Rafael de la Cruz Franco Ojeda (1896-1973) - a professional military man, hero of the Chak War - came to power in the country. Having begun his service as a junior artillery officer, Rafael Franco during the Chak War rose to the rank of corps commander, received the rank of colonel and led a military coup. In his political views, Franco was a supporter of social democracy and, having come to power, established an 8-hour working day, a 48-hour working week in Paraguay, and introduced compulsory vacations. For a country like Paraguay at that time this was a very big success. However, Franco’s activities caused great discontent in right-wing circles, and on August 13, 1937, as a result of another military coup, the colonel was overthrown. The country was led by an “interim president,” lawyer Felix Paiva, who remained at the head of state until 1939.

In 1939, General José Felix Estigarribia (1888-1940), who soon received the highest military rank of Marshal of Paraguay, became the new president of the country. Coming from a Basque family, General Estigarribia initially received an agronomic education, but then decided to connect his life with military service and entered a military school. Over the course of eighteen years, he rose to the rank of chief of staff of the Paraguayan army, and during the Chaca War he became commander of the Paraguayan troops. By the way, his chief of staff was former general of the Russian service Ivan Timofeevich Belyaev, an experienced military officer who commanded an artillery brigade on the Caucasus Front during the First World War, and then was an artillery inspector in the Volunteer Army.

Marshal Estigarribia was not in power in the country for long - already in 1940 he died in a plane crash. Also in 1940, the young officer Alfredo Stroessner received the rank of major. By 1947 he commanded an artillery battalion in Paraguari. He took an active part in the Paraguayan Civil War of 1947, eventually supporting Federico Chavez, who became the country's president. In 1948, at age 36, Stroessner was promoted to brigadier general, becoming the youngest general in the Paraguayan army. The command valued Stroessner for his resourcefulness and diligence. In 1951, Federico Chavez appointed Brigadier General Alfredo Stroessner as chief of staff of the Paraguayan army. At the time of his appointment to this high position, Stroessner was not yet 40 years old - a dizzying career for a military man from a relatively poor family. In 1954, 42-year-old Stroessner was awarded the military rank of division general. He received a new appointment - to the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Paraguayan Army. In fact, in terms of real possibilities, Stroessner turned out to be the second person in the country after the president. But this was not enough for the ambitious young general. On May 5, 1954, Divisional General Alfredo Stroessner led a military coup and, after suppressing the short resistance of the president's supporters, seized power in the country.

In August 1954, presidential elections were held under the control of the army, in which Stroessner won. Thus, he became the legitimate head of the Paraguayan state and remained as president of the country until 1989. Stroessner managed to create a regime with the outward appearance of democratic governance - the general held presidential elections every five years and invariably won them. But no one could blame Paraguay for abandoning the democratic principle of electing the head of state. In the context of the confrontation between the USA and the USSR in the Cold War, the Americans treated the staunch anti-communist Stroessner condescendingly and preferred to turn a blind eye to the numerous “vicissitudes” of the regime established by the general.

General Stroessner immediately after the coup that brought him to power declared a state of emergency in the country. Since the law could only declare it for ninety days, Stroessner renewed the state of emergency every three months. This went on for more than thirty years - until 1987. Fearing the spread of opposition sentiments, especially communist ones, in Paraguay, Stroessner maintained a one-party regime in the country until 1962. All power in the country was in the hands of one party - Colorado, one of the oldest political organizations in the country. Created back in 1887, Colorado remained the ruling party of Paraguay in 1887-1946, in 1947-1962. was the only party allowed in the country. In ideological and practical terms, the Colorado Party could be classified as right-wing populists. It is obvious that during the Stroessner years the party borrowed many features from the Spanish Francoists and Italian fascists. In fact, only members of the Colorado Party could feel like more or less full-fledged citizens of the country. The attitude towards Paraguayans who were not members of the party was initially biased. At least, they could not count on any government positions or even more or less serious work. Thus, Stroessner sought to ensure the ideological and organizational unity of Paraguayan society.

From the very first days of the establishment of the Stroessner dictatorship, Paraguay found itself on the list of the main Latin American “friends of the United States.” Washington provided Stroessner with a huge loan, and American military specialists began training officers for the Paraguayan army. Paraguay was one of six countries implementing the policy of Operation Condor - the persecution and elimination of the communist and socialist opposition in Latin American countries. In addition to Paraguay, the condors included Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Bolivia. American intelligence services provided comprehensive support and patronage to anti-communist regimes. The fight against the opposition in Latin American countries was viewed at that time in Washington not from the perspective of respecting or violating civil rights and human freedoms, but as one of the most important components of countering Soviet and communist influence in Latin America. Therefore, Stroessner, Pinochet and many other dictators like them received virtual carte blanche to carry out large-scale repression against dissidents.

Paraguay, if you don’t take Pinochet’s Chile, became one of the record holders in Latin America of the 20th century for the cruelty of repression. General Stroessner, who established a cult of his own personality in the country, did an excellent job of destroying the communist opposition. Torture, disappearances of opponents of the regime, brutal political assassinations - all this was commonplace in Paraguay from the 1950s to the 1980s. Most of the crimes committed by the Stroessner regime have still not been solved. At the same time, as a fierce opponent of the opposition in his own country, Stroessner generously provided refuge for fugitive war criminals and overthrown dictators from around the world. During his reign, Paraguay became one of the main havens for former Nazi war criminals. Many of them continued to serve in the Paraguayan army and police in the 1950s and 1960s. Being himself a German by origin, Alfredo Stroessner did not hide his sympathy for former Nazi soldiers, believing that the Germans could become the basis for the formation of the elite of Paraguayan society. For some time, even the notorious doctor Joseph Mengele hid in Paraguay, what can we say about the Nazis of a lesser rank? In 1979, deposed Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle left for Paraguay. True, even on Paraguayan territory he was unable to hide from the revenge of the revolutionaries - already in the next 1980, he was killed by Argentine left radicals, acting on instructions from the Nicaraguan FSLN.

The economic situation of Paraguay during the years of Stroessner's rule, no matter how the defenders of his regime tried to say the opposite, remained extremely difficult. Despite the fact that the United States provided enormous financial assistance to one of the key anti-communist regimes in Latin America, most of it either went to the needs of security forces or ended up in the pockets of corrupt ministers and generals.

Over 30% of budget funds were spent on defense and security. Stroessner, ensuring the loyalty of different groups of the military elite, turned a blind eye to numerous crimes committed by the military and to total corruption in the security forces. For example, the entire military under his rule was integrated into smuggling. The criminal police controlled the drug trade, the security forces controlled the livestock trade, and the Horse Guards controlled the smuggling trade in alcohol and tobacco products. Stroessner himself did not see anything reprehensible in such a division of functions.

The vast majority of the Paraguayan population continued to live in dire poverty, even by Latin American standards. The country lacked a normal system of accessible education and medical services for the general population. The government did not consider it necessary to solve these problems. At the same time, Stroessner allocated land to landless peasants in previously uninhabited areas of Eastern Paraguay, which slightly reduced the overall level of tension in Paraguayan society. At the same time, Stroessner pursued a policy of discrimination and suppression of the Indian population, which constituted the majority in Paraguay. He considered it necessary to destroy Indian identity and completely dissolve the Indian tribes into a single Paraguayan nation. In practice, this resulted in numerous killings of civilians, squeezing Indians out of their traditional habitat, removing children from families for the purpose of subsequently selling them as farm laborers, etc.

To be continued…

09.07.2013 ,

Russians of Paraguay. Or - how the Whites won the war in America

“If it was impossible to save Russia, it was possible to save its honor.”

Who do you think these words belong to? Regular readers of the blog have probably already guessed it. They belong to Ivan Timofeevich Belyaev, a tsarist general and national hero of the Republic of Paraguay, the younger brother of my great-great-grandfather. This year marks the 85th anniversary of the consecration of the Church of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin in the capital city of Asunzon, and I again have a long and exciting journey ahead of me. Since every reader of the blog is directly in contact with the life of the author, I try to talk about all the interesting events along the path of life. And in anticipation of the trip, I am again going to continue publishing materials about our family and the historical significance of the Russian people in the history of the distant Latin American state.

Today I am publishing material written by Alexander Azarenkov, the name of which is included in the title of the post. It was published on December 15, 2012 on the Russian Line website.

"…Street Official Serebriakov; city Fortin-Serebriakov ...Latin America.Paraguay...

The sound is unusual for the Russian ear, Spanish letres and palabras.

From what America Latina embosses Russian names dear to us in bronze font? Orthodox domes of chapels, old Russian script, carefully written letters - now more and more often in churchyards - no, no, but you will meet them in a foreign land...

Foreign land. “The wild goose has no intention of leaving a mark on the water. Water has no desire to hold the reflection of a goose,” said the ancient Chinese. A beautiful proverb. Just not for our white emigrants.

Valery Levushkin, artistic director of the Bim-Bom ensemble, writes: “Asuncion... The road, or rather the street, is divided into two parts, in the middle there is a grassy alley, where along the entire perimeter there are busts of military men on pedestals, well, in a word, everything is like ours, a kind of “Alley of Heroes”. I don’t know what made me read the names, written, of course, in Spanish, but the first name I saw was Belov. I thought that I had made a mistake in reading the Latin letters, but the next bust with the inscription “Malyutin” left no doubt. And then there were busts of Serebryakov, Kasyanov... etc. I, and everyone on the bus, did not immediately understand where we were... The mysterious situation was resolved...

As is known, in Russia the Red regime defeated the resistance of the White movement. The remaining troops were evacuated and received by different countries... But the last few Cossack divisions, which held back the Red assault almost to the end, could no longer be received by any city in Europe. And the command decided to go to Argentina. Argentina also did not agree to accept the Cossacks, but provided a “corridor” for the passage of troops with full weapons to Paraguay.

So, in 22, the first Cossack settlement was formed in Paraguay. And when Bolivia attacked little Paraguay, since the country did not have a regular army, the government turned to the Russians asking for help. And the Cossacks organized everything for them. Russian white emigrants formed the backbone of the high command of the Paraguayan army, leading it to victory in the Chaca War. The first commander-in-chief is Russian, the first chief of the general staff is Russian and, naturally, the best trained regiments are Russian Cossacks.

A few years later, Paraguay emerged from the war with honor, having driven out the invaders. After this, the “Alley of Heroes” was created in honor of the soldiers and officers who died in this war, which is highly revered by the local population, and indeed by all the ruling regimes of the country.

Old men and women, children and grandchildren of those Russian soldiers who could not defend their native Fatherland, but were able to defend someone else’s and found their second homeland in distant Paraguay, came to our concerts.

Regarding the “full armament” it may not be entirely true, and about the “last Cossack divisions” - it’s beautiful... After all, in fact, the first Russian mass settlement with a population of about 2 thousand people was officially called a “stanitsa...”. But, Levushkin, he’s still a good guy. To be honest, I did not expect such a wonderful story from the Honored Artist of the Russian Federation. There is a little inaccuracy in his story, but well, there were no diplomatic relations between Paraguay and the USSR, and the entry of Soviet citizens into that country was strictly prohibited. In the 2nd M.V. the republic chose neutrality, and only this period was somehow mentioned in passing in the Soviet press. Hence the lack of information, but that story is extremely interesting.

Several packages with photocopies were sent to me by the son of the White Drozdov officer, S.V. Khlistunov, who lives in Australia, therefore I am publishing some information with his permission and they formed the basis of this article.

The very first Russian officer in the Paraguayan service was Guard Captain Komarov. In 1912, he had the opportunity to take part in the civil war there...

On June 29, 1924, I. T. Belyaev was given permission from the President of Paraguay to create a Russian Hearth. He was also entrusted with attracting Russian specialists to improve the economy of the republic. From surveyors to agronomists. Among (atención!) first twelve was V.F. Orefyev-Serebryakov. Having read in the Belgrade newspaper General Belov’s appeal to Russian emigrants “to everyone who dreams of living in a country where he can be considered Russian” and free from the Bolshevik infection, he left to meet his fate.

The Paraguayan government was guaranteed that the new arrivals were not part of the Red Army under any circumstances. A little later, a similar 1948 amendment to the US Displaced Persons Act was approved by Congress and signed by Harry Truman in April 1950 (Article 14).

Brief information:

I. T. Belyaev (1875 † 1957) Guard Major General. In the White Army - artillery inspector of the Caucasian Army. Scientist, geographer, anthropologist, ethnographer, linguist. He studied Indian tribes in Chaco Boreal, a vast but little-studied province of the Gran Chaco. Until 1931 he made 13 expeditions. Compiler of Spanish-Indian dictionaries...

Among the first Russians to arrive were surveyor Averyanov, designer Makovetsky, forestry engineer S.S. Salazkin and others.

Orenburg Cossack of the Chelyabinsk district N.A. Cherkanin, arrived in Paraguay in October 1926 from Argentina with 12 pesos in his pocket. He was appointed director of agriculture in the colony of San Lazaro (960 hectares of land). The main goal, according to him, is to establish a Russian-Cossack settlement in the colony. “We must say frankly that this is not Mother Russia. Not the rich, watery Kuban, not the flowery Quiet Don, and not my dear Siberia,” wrote a Cossack colonist a little later. According to other sources, his last name is Chernin, since in 1928 he was listed as “Administrator of the colony of San Lazaro, near the Brazilian border.”

Offers to accept the Cossacks, given their great colonization skills, came from Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil and even the Antilles. It was also important that the governments of the countries recipients accepted such colonization on the principle of Cossack identity, i.e., the Cossacks were allowed to wear uniforms, weapons, and preserve Cossack self-government... The positive, centuries-old experience of the Cossack pioneers was taken into account “without exams.” Abroad, the Cossacks brought with them loyalty and natural uniqueness, and from the first steps of refugee they began to organize villages built on the principles of mutual revenue, equal land use, and collectivity. For a number of reasons, the plan was not fully realized, but back in the late forties and early fifties, Cossacks arrived in Paraguayan lands from all over the world. Even in the godforsaken town of Miranda, in the middle of the twentieth century, there was a Cossack group.

The first White Guard officer in Paraguayan service was a Cossack from the village of Novocherkassk, VVD, Golubintsev. He began his service in the Paraguayan Army as a junior officer in the dragoons at the end of 1921. The last rank of the Cossack Sacro Diablo is captain.

In publications of Cossacks abroad, I looked for various notes on a topic that interested me. Here are some extracts. “Cossack Union” (report No. 2, Dec. 1925-Jan. 1926). “M.B.T. wishes to enter into negotiations with the government of Paraguay to find out the possibility of placing in this country colonists who will be suitable in their moral and physical qualities. The Government of Paraguay is aware that most of the refugees do not have any means and that the sections located resources very limited. But we can count on finding funds if solid foundations for the said colonization are established. [Among them there are many Russian land surveyors, Ch. arr. Cossacks and German colonists from the Volga region, p. 43].”

"Paraguay. The mission arrived at Assuntsion May 1st and accepted by the President and Ministers... Paraguay is rightly called the country of eternal spring. It lies between two rivers, the Paranoya and the Paraguay. It is a country of hills covered with virgin forests and rich pastures, without high mountains. The fertility is almost incredible: cotton, tobacco, rice, cassava, bananas, oranges, sugar cane and many other tropical and subtropical plants grow without care.

Gg. Belyaev and Ern said that the climate of Paraguay is quite suitable for Russians and that it is less hot there than in the Caucasus “K. S.”, page 35.

Information close to the topic is from Colonel V. Kovalev’s letter to the magazine: “There are now more than a dozen Cossacks, mostly Don people. There is no [Cossack] organization yet, but everyone is close and friends, although there are different political beliefs. The majority are Cossacks in soul and body, then Russian..."

“The Paraguayan government is interested in the Cossacks and is ready to provide the Cossacks with good lands along the new railway on very favorable terms” (p. 49). The pages of the publication contain excerpts from a letter from Gen. I. T. Belyaev in the name of Donskoy Ataman (p. 53). About the territory of the Paraguayan Chaco, Belyaev casually reports: “The dispute over the borders has not yet been resolved, and it is impossible to bring the Cossacks into the disputed zone.”

The life of the Russians gradually improved, and the interests of their second homeland were accepted here as their own. Living and active participation in the life of the state was the contribution of our compatriots. Since 1933, it was for the Russian colonies that the government allocated lands between the Paraguay and Parana rivers. “The name of the South American river Paraguay (para + guay) means “river” + “river”, only in different languages” (Pospelov E. M., 1988).

During the Paraguayan winter, on June 15, 1932, the 2nd Chac War broke out between Bolivia and Paraguay. The conflict mainly took place over the disputed territory (Gran Chaco, 230 thousand sq. km), rich, as they thought, in oil, which later turned out to be not commodity quality. However, that territory was huge and the age-old question of its ownership was more than once resolved with the help of weapons. The war was started by the Uruguayan military. In August, Belyaev and a detachment of volunteers go up the Paraguay River to liberate Fort Carlos Antonio Lopez in the lagoon. Pitiantuta, captured by the Bolivians. Within a month, the valiant Ivan Timofeevich received the Paraguayan military rank - division general.

It should be noted that Belyaev actively recruited Indians into service as partisan saboteurs. The commander-in-chief himself was of Guarani origin. Allied tribes, to some extent, helped prevent Bolivian expansion. The death of the Indian leader Chiquinococ at the above-mentioned fort was later included in Belyaev’s libretto for the grandiose performance, which was successfully staged in the countries of South America. By the way, I have an extract that “a message appeared in American newspapers that an English expedition in the wilds of South America encountered an Indian tribe, whose leader turned out to be Russian. According to him, he is a Terek Cossack.”

By this year, all Russians lived in the republic about one hundred people. A military sailor of the old princely family, Tumanov, reports: “At the moment, 19 officers, 2 doctors and 1 veterinarian are serving in the service of the Military Department, the Army and the Navy, in other words, the Russian colony has mobilized more than 20 percent of its available personnel to defend the country. Of this number, 14 people are in Chaco, the majority are in the ranks of active troops, taking an active part in battles with the Bolivians...” But this is the very, very beginning of the war.

“In August 1932, a group of officers met to discuss the current situation. Nikolai Korsakov took the floor. “Almost 12 years ago we lost our beloved Imperial Russia, occupied by Bolshevik forces,” he said, addressing his compatriots. – Today Paraguay, this country that lovingly sheltered us, is going through difficult times. So what are we waiting for, gentlemen? This is our second homeland and it needs our help. After all, we are officers!”

The officers of the Russian Imperial Army and the White Guards rendered the greatest, and simply grandiose, service to the state, which was called Paraguay! Many, many of them were awarded the highest awards of the republic. In Paraguay there are streets, towns and cities named after Russians who gave their lives for this country.

Without exaggeration, we can write that in a foreign land our officers were the bearers of Russian military culture. Widely educated, with enormous life, military, combat and administrative experience, from this experience they draw their wise and calm attitude towards life, in the most fantastic situations and in the most exotic countries.

What names! General Staff Lieutenant General Stepan Leontievich Vysokolyan. At 1 M.V. on the Caucasian and Northwestern fronts, served in the White Army. Mathematician, and they say that he was the first in the world to solve Fermat’s theorem (dedicating this work to the murdered Royal Family). In Czechoslovakia he studied at the university and military academy (1933). During this war, starting with the rank of captain, he became commander of the artillery of the Paraguayan army. He was born near Kamenets-Podolsky, and died in Asunción in 1986. Professor at the Higher Military Academy, the Higher Maritime Academy and the Cadet Corps. He passed away at the age of 91, with the rank of army general, and National Mourning was declared in the state. Major General Ern died in the same city in 1972. Baron Wrangel held the post of p.d. general. army headquarters. Nikolai Frantsevich is an officer of the Life Guards Cossack Regiment, in exile one of the compilers of the History of his regiment. Since 1930, he was the head of the South American Department of the EMRO and all Russian formations in South America. Professor of the Academy of the General Staff, Inspector General of the Paraguayan Army... it is impossible to count everything, even the highest positions.

His brother, Colonel S. F. Ern, built fortifications in Paraguayan service. Markovets N.I. Gol(b)dshmidt became the head of the Cartography Department at the General Staff with the rank of major, and was killed at Cañada Stronguest on May 22, 1934. In total, of the Russian staff officers in senior positions in the Paraguayan ranks, there were, as they say, 4 lieutenant colonels, 8 colonels, among them Joseph Pushkarevich, but there were more Russian colonels in other ranks of Paraguay. For example: I. Astrakhantsev, E. Lukin, Prokopovich, Rapp, Chistyakov, Shchekin.

General of the Medical Service of Paraguay A.F. Weiss and Doctor (with a capital letter) M.I. Retivov, Major K. Gram(m)atchikov; Colonel-Markovite L.L. Lesh, and vice versa - General Staff Colonel of the Paraguayan service S.N. Kern, captain-Markovite (by the way, there are quite a lot of Markovites). In Ei Carmen, on May 29, 1934, Colonel Victor Kornilvich died. Colonel Kornilovets [b. beginning Kornilov Military School] N.P. Kermanov and, who later became Paraguayan Colonel A.N. Fleish(n)er, son of b. Terek Cossack Ataman. The Cossack officer Yesaul Khrapkov arrived, but not for long, as did Captain Ardatov...

Later, brigadier generals became: Alexander Andreev, Nikolai Shimovsky, Nikolai Shchegolev.

Sailor N.F. Zimovsky, who served in high positions in the White Army of the Northern Region, came to Paraguay in 1936, his last rank being major general. Another sailor, V.N. Sakharov, became a telegraph teacher.

Esaul-shkurinets (1920) Yu. M. Butlerov, began his service with the rank of major (descendant of the great academician Butlerov), finished his service with the rank of headquarters officer. A street in the capital is named after him: “Colonel Butlerov.” Captain 1st Rank Vsevolod Kanonnikov. “In the center of Asuncion, on Comandante Kanonnikov Street, named after Lieutenant Vsevolod Kanonnikov, hero of the Chak War of 1932-1935, in house No. 998 there is the office of the son of the hero of Paraguay Svyatoslav Kanonnikov, vice-chairman of the Association of Russians and Russian-speaking residents of Paraguay. Svyatoslav (Stanislav) Vsevolodovich is 67 years old. Since 1967, he led this association and was its chairman for many years” (Internet). On December 13, 1993, a story about him aired on our television.

The son of the famous Russian polar explorer, participant in the first voyages of the icebreaker "Ermak" Georgy Eckstein - Alexander von Eckstein-Dmitriev, Baron von Ungern-Sternberg, lieutenants, brothers Lev and Igor Orangereev (the latter - captain of the Paraguayan army), captains: B. Dedov, Yu. Shirkin, I. Grushkin, Milovidov, Bogdanov, captain B. Kasyanov. Captain Nikolai Khodoley, captain of the Kyiv Hussar Regiment, Baron Blomberg (in Paraguay - land surveyor).

Majors: N. Chirkov, commander of the 9th Cavalry Regiment N. Korsakov (former captain-ulan), Vladimir Sryvalin. The commander of the artillery regiment, Colonel A. Andreev...

The street "Engineer Krivoshein" is named after another national Paraguayan war hero. Name b. Don Medical Inspector Weiss is on another metropolitan street, and there are 17 of them in total! Pioneer in Paraguay Director of Public Works A. Bashmakov, participant in the Chak war, builder of strategic bridges.

...Captain 2nd rank of the Paraguayan service Prince Tumanov wrote:

“One of them has already thanked the country that sheltered him, sacrificing his life for it. On September 28, during the assault on Fort Boqueron [in Chaco], the battalion commander of the Corrales infantry regiment, captain of the Paraguayan service Vasily Fedorovich Orefyev-Serebryakov, former captain of the Don Cossack Army, died a heroic death.” The letter is dated October 12, 1932, Assunsion.

Here's a small digression. What is the name of our Cossack hero?

Tumanov writes "Vasily". Natalya Gladysheva, “Corner of Russia in Paraguay”, wrote down – “Vladimir”. Maybe brothers? Here we have examples: Lev and Igor Orangereev; Nikolay and Sergey Erny; Ivan and Nikolai Belyaev. But no, at the beginning of that war two Serebryakovs were killed, that’s too much.

Vasily Fedorovich Orefyev-Serebryakov, riding Cossack of the village of Archadinskaya, Ust-Medveditsky District of the Don Army. The last rank is esaul. After the evacuation he lived in Yugoslavia, and from the mid-20s in Paraguay. According to some sources: the last Paraguayan rank is major. Street Official Serebryakov; city Fortin-Serebryakov(Fort Serebryakov) - immortalized the name of the brave Cossack. He led the chains into a bayonet attack, himself in front, with a drawn saber... The last words of the Don: “I carried out the order. A beautiful day to die!” (“lindo dia para morir”), Major Fernandez recalled about that unprecedented battle. The hero was buried with full honors in Isla Poi. Then the coffin was transferred to Asuncion, to the Recoleta cemetery. According to other sources, in November 1932, the name “Oreffieff” was given to the former Bolivian fort of Haicubás, northwest of Boquerón...

Another captain lived and worked in Paraguay - D. A. Persianov, an active figure in the All-Cossack Association and the Russian Military-National Liberation Movement named after. Generalissimo A.V. Suvorov (Suvorov Union).

A bust of Commander Malyutin, who served with the rank of lieutenant (then captain), is installed in the capital. The cornet (centurion) of the 1st Yekaterinodar Regiment of the Kuban Cossack Army, Vasily Pavlovich - capitan Basilio Malutin, was killed at Paso Favorito (Pozo Favorito) on September 22, 1933. Don Cossack N. Blinov, fought with the rank of captain. Street "Captain Blinoff" in Asuncion, eternal memory of the romantic Cossack.

The road "named after Kasyanov", "Kasyanov Bridge" and "Major Kasyanoff" street. Captain of the Life Dragoon of Pskov E.I.V. Empress Maria Feodorovna regiment, B.P. Kasyanov died near Saavedra, February 16, 1933. Major of the Paraguayan service and his name is forever cast on a memorial plaque in the Pantheon of Heroes: “CAP. HC BORIS KASIANOV."

…Street Comandante Salazkin, in honor of “hc Sergio Salaski” a play was written: “Major Salazkin”. Captain S.S. Salazkin - Kornilovets-Tekin, died on October 30, 1933, commanding a regiment.

A correction should be made at this point: in Spanish, comandante is translated as commander; exactly major, or how commandant. That is, there are three options. It is possible that some of the narrators from whom I took information make an arbitrary translation. I tried to choose the most correct one, with help from my relative living in Spain.

In total, of the White Guard officers in the officer ranks of the Paraguayan service at that time, as they write, there were 23 captains, and 13 majors.

Today's Russian press reports that there were six dead Russian officers. But the data, as I understand it, was taken and put into circulation from the Sentinel magazine, published towards the end of 1933 (p. 28). The war had only lasted for six months. Other data is provided by the gene's report. Stogov, for 1936 (“Sentry”, NN 174, 175). But, during the war (and after), according to unverified data, about three thousand Cossacks and officers from the White Armies served in the Paraguayan army. The Lord knows how many Russian ordinary ranks were killed or died (from wounds or “chucha” fever). Very difficult climatic conditions in Chaco - crazy temperature changes - have played a cruel joke more than once. How many Russians came after the war?

Esaul Persianov reports to the magazine that by the 60s, the Paraguayan army included: “gen. -Lieutenant N.F. Ern, general. - majors S. L. Vysokolyan and N. F. Zimovsky, colonels Andreev, Frey, lieutenant colonels Fleisher and Butlerov, captain b. Odessa cadet Ossovsky and others. There are two Unions: one is headed by General. N.F. Ern, another retired major of the Paraguayan army N.A. Korsakov. There is a Russian library, which is headed by the widow of Severets S. M. Dedova, and the chairman of the library society is Odessa Ulan A. V. Nikiforov. There is a ladies' charitable society headed by the daughter of the general. Erna, widow of N.N. Retivova. The rector of the church is our Don Cossack b. Hieromonk Varlaam arrived..."

By the end of 1933, the Chief of the General Staff of the Army of the Paraguayan Republic Belyaev and his brother created the “Colonization Center for Organizing Immigration to Paraguay.” The center was located in Paris, and guardsman, Lieutenant General (1918) Bogaevsky was elected honorary chairman of the General Staff (1900). And if not for the death of Ataman, who knows how those events would have unfolded further.

“In March 1934, Belyaev received a letter from the president of the Russian Emigration to Africa society, Fedorov, with a request to assist in the departure to Paraguay of 1000 families of Russian Old Believers and Cossacks who had settled in Lithuania. At first they intended to go to Morocco, but after reading Belyaev’s manifesto in the magazine “Cossack”, calling for departure to Paraguay, they decided to try their luck on South American soil.

Since 1934, pioneer officer and poet Pavel Bulygin has been organizing the Russian Old Believer colony “Baltika”. A man of amazing destiny, like most Russian Paraguayans. In the Great War - an officer of the Life Guards, in the Civil War he participated in the 1st Ice Campaign, then the commander of the security detachment of the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna (reburied recently in St. Petersburg), through Harbin he arrived in the Kolchak Army: chief assistant to investigator Sokolov in the murder investigation Royal family. Belgrade-Paris-Berlin-Riga-Kaunas... from 1924 to 1934. - military instructor of the Emperor (Negus) of Abyssinia H. Selassie. And finally, in Paraguay, where he died and was buried in 1936 in the Russian cemetery in Asuncion.

In April 1934, the first steamship with our emigrants, and now immigrants [about 100 people. The eldest is Colonel Gessel]. In a letter to Belyaev, the chairman of the Colonization Center, Ataman Bogaevsky, noted the “confidence of the Cossacks in the patronage” of Belyaev and expressed hope for the “unimpeded continuation of the begun process” (Natalya Gladysheva “A Corner of Russia in Paraguay”). In May, letters of arrival were received from this Cossack group addressed to the editors of the Sentinel. The magazine is in my personal archive. Here are extracts: “...On the shore, stood a military man in a Prussian-style uniform, in general’s stripes - a general. Belyaev... The location of our village is 10 km away. from the city of Encarnacion... How unique everything is here, how different it is from the European... “and then there is a list of prices (everything is cheap), everyday sketches, about horses and service rations (a kilo of meat per person per day), etc. Army service was not touched upon in the correspondence.

In the same 1934, Prince Karachevsky, doctor-engineer M.D. Karateev, a future writer, arrived, however, then he was an “ordinary” Knight of St. George, a staff captain. He confirms: “with the incredible cheapness and record low currency of Paraguay (one dollar at that time cost 440 Paraguayan pesos).”

What uniform did the Paraguayan military wear? Very similar to the Austrian or German, both in color and cut. Shoulder straps are of the same German type. Steel helmets, like tropical ones - the latter for some reason were not liked by the locals - were German. Army Regulations, in general, too.

The armament ranged from old (7.65 mm) Argentine repeating Mauser rifles of the century before last to the Werke 1933 Mauser, and to be fair, it must be said that only a certain number of rifles purchased directly from the Arms Factory in Oberndorf, “Brothers Wilhelm and Paul Mauser”, model 1907 turned out to be the best! Local officials were in charge of procurement.

...Subsequent parties, several hundred people each, arrived periodically. A group of about 40 people left the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg that same year. Among them is Ossovsky. Within a few months, three groups left. The Sentinel magazine (N 135-136) reports: “To Paraguay!” On September 14, a group of the Kornilov Military School and EMRO officials in the city. Wiltz departed via Paris for Paraguay. The Luxembourg government complied with the group's wishes and gave them travel money and things to set up in a new place, including tents and hunting rifles. Before leaving Paris, a prayer service was served in the Gallipoli church... The commander of the Kornilov regiment blessed the head of the group [and the head of the Kornilov military school] regiment. Kermanov icon." And soon, the second group of Russians left Luxembourg.

“Europe has not lived up to our hopes. Paraguay - the country of the future" - under this motto, the bi-weekly Russian-language newspaper "Paraguay" "Le Paragoay" began to appear on the first page. However, few numbers were published. And in Paris, Gorbachev published a brochure.

That war (1932-35) claimed the lives of forty thousand Paraguayans and wounded three times that number. An order of magnitude more Bolivians died, and an incredible number were taken prisoners! The army defended its former borders and the war ended. In August 1935, a truce was signed between the countries.

The participation of White warriors - Cossacks and officers in the Chak War, played a positive and greatest role in the victory of the republic. Although the Cossacks never took part in dashing horse attacks, but still... The submachine gun turned out to be more handy here.

Generals, headquarters and chief officers, Russian and Paraguayan ranks. Fearless and brave warriors. No other country in the world knew such a significant contribution of Russian officers to the defense of a foreign country, which became a second Motherland. Two dozen of our heroes were awarded the Cross of Chaco medal, and six gentlemen received the Order of the Cross of the Defender of the [Motherland].

Karateev writes how he tried to compile a complete list of Russian participants in this war, and he managed to collect 86 names, but I think, he says, that this is not all. “Among them, two or three were chiefs of large headquarters, one commanded a division, twelve regiments, and the rest battalions, companies and batteries. Seven were killed in this war, many were wounded, some became famous for their exploits.”

“Paraguay appeared before them as undeservedly persecuted, fighting a just war.” And the White Cossacks and officers not only did not forget how to conduct combat operations, but also brilliantly showed the skill and greatest school of Russian Weapons - the Russian Imperial Army. After all, by the beginning of the 30s, the Paraguayans had small paramilitary squads instead of an army. By the end of the war, Russian officers created a fifty-thousand-strong regular army and navy. Doctors, artillery technicians and specialists, cartographers, veterinarians... Repair shops and laboratories for explosives, instructors for all types of weapons and specialists in the manufacture of aerial bombs. Only planes were purchased in France or Italy (by the way, the White Guards abolished the red stars in Paraguayan aviation as an identification mark - in all likelihood, Captain V. Parfinenko, a former naval pilot, had a hand in this).

“Invaluable assistance was provided to the Paraguayans by military doctors and, together with them, nurses: Vera Retivova, Natalya Shchetinina, Sofia Dedova, Nadezhda Conradi... Physicists, mathematicians, architects and engineers developed weapons and bombing systems that were new to Paraguay, instructed pilots, and trained their colleagues basics of advanced fortification" (A. R. Carmen). Professor General S.P. Bobrovsky, who arrived at the Academy of Engineering back in 1925, later founded the “Union of Russian Technicians in Paraguay.” From this Union subsequently arose the National Department of the Ministry of Public Works.

The rear service worked very well in collecting military booty - captured weapons, etc. Vickers and Colt machine guns; light machine guns ZB-26/30 and Madsen; mortars, etc. greatly supplemented the meager weapons of the Paraguayans.

Excellent training in schools, educational buildings, schools, academies, general staff courses and civilian institutions of the Russian Empire, plus the experience of the Great War, Civil War and additional study in countries that sheltered Russian exiles, gave brilliant results. After all, the Bolivian army absolutely dominated in military technology. By the beginning of the 20s, the Paraguayans had only one general!

It may be a small thing, but the Paraguayan soldiers even marched to drill songs translated from Russian. Model 1907 Mauser repeating rifle on the shoulder... bare feet. Golubintsev recalls how he, a cavalryman, was initially shocked by the locals wearing spurs over their bare heels! Let us note at the same time that, according to Karateev, the Paraguayans were very clean. He testifies that he saw Asuncion War Museum original certificate. This is an inscription in crayon on a board: “If it weren’t for the damned Russian officers, we would have driven your barefoot army across the Paraguay River long ago” (p. 39, cit. cit.).

Exoticism intertwined with reality. Esaul Serebryakov served in a regiment called “Corals”, other regiments were called Mono negro - “Black Monkey”, Hormiga muerta - “Dead Ant” (“Dead Ant” - hormiga muerta, as the Russians joked), etc.

As Prince Y. K. Tumanov wrote:

“The Paraguayan Government and people highly value the selflessness of the Russians and their participation in the defense of the country. Recognition of the merits of the Russian colony was revealed in the decrees of the Government, according to which the Russian Major Generals Ern and Belyaev were enlisted in the ranks of the Paraguayan Army with the ranks of Lieutenant General "honoris causa" [honorary title - A.A.], with all the rights and privileges of Paraguayan generals. The opinion of the Paraguayans about the courage of Russian officers in battle is unanimously enthusiastic. The heroic death of captain (esaul) Orefyev was marked by deeply sympathetic articles in the local press.” The prince himself, captain 1st rank of the Russian Imperial Navy, by 1936 had the rank of sea captain in the Paraguayan service. Later - Chairman of the Paraguayan branch of the EMRO. Princess Nadine Tumanova founded the School of Lyrical Singing.

After the death of the Honorary Citizen of Paraguay and so on and so forth... Belyaev, National Mourning was declared. The funeral service took place in the capital's Russian Church of the Holy Intercession (Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, where on the walls you can see memorial plaques with the names of Russian officers), in the presence of numerous high-ranking officials and Russian emigrants. Interestingly, Indians stood at the church and sang Our Father, as the general taught them.

The Guarani Indians (Tiger clan, to be more precise - Jaguars, Chimacocas) proclaimed the Russian general as their leader - Katsik. The general, in fact, was a member of this clan. They “carried an honor guard for two days, and when the coffin with Belyaev’s body on a warship was taken to an island in the middle of the Paraguay River, which he had chosen as his final resting place, when the military salute died down and the funeral speeches were heard, the Indians dismissed the whites. In the hut where their leader taught the children, they sang their funeral songs over him for a long time. After the funeral, they wove a hut over the grave and planted rose bushes around it” (N. Gladysheva). I found an additional extract in my old drafts. “After his death, the Indians asked for the body to come to them, built a wooden fence around the grave, declared a taboo and enrolled him in the god of their tribe...” Later, the Indians erected a bronze bust with their own money.

On the hero’s grave, “without a hill,” there is an inscription: “Here lies Belyaev.” Later, a monument was erected resembling a rocket from books of the first half of the 20th century. And the inscription on the sign: “General Belaieff 19 enero 1957.”

On February 21, 1999, there was a Paraguayan television report by Yu. Senkevich, who reported that during passportization all Indians Macca took the surname “Belyaev”!

The newspaper La Tribuna, among others, published an obituary on January 23, signed “Captain B. Dvinyanin”: “...Russian by birth and Paraguayan at heart.”

A memorial sign to Russian soldiers stands at the crossroads near Federacion Rusa Square.

In the post-war and subsequent years, Russian emigration boosted the country's economy. Culture, science (a number of departments at the University of Asuncion were headed by Russians, for example, the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics). Russian professors organized the Higher Polytechnic School, the first in the country. Road construction works, defense enterprises, energy, everything, right up to high positions in the Ministries - Russian White emigrants are everywhere, “Rusos Blancos”!!! Even the first Paraguayan female engineer and that Russian one was N. Sryvalina.

An example of fortification, Fort Nanava, was turned into an impregnable fortress connected by fortified areas. Minefields, areas with barbed wire; machine guns, mortars, flamethrowers, tanks and aircraft. The science of constructing defensive structures and practice have yielded extremely positive results. From January 10 to July 14, 1933, a grandiose battle for that time took place there, which ultimately ended in the complete victory of the Russian military school, as well as other episodes of that military campaign (for example, the battle of Campo Via).

The famous Paraguayan artist Jorge von Horosh also has Russian roots. His father fought in the Civil War against the Bolsheviks, and in the Chak War he served on the General Staff.

…Nuestra Senora Santa Maria de la Asuncion there is Profesor Sispanov street... But that’s another topic.

It should also be noted that the surge of emigration occurred during World War 2 and after 1949, when a new wave of old Russian emigrants or their descendants poured out of China. Among them are L. -Gv. Preobrazhensky Regiment Colonel Vedenyapin (in the Volunteer Army from November 1917). And even later, like, for example, the family of the elder of the Asunción church, Sergei Vasilyevich Karlenko (Korlenko), who fled from the Maoists. In the fall of 1949, several dozen people arrived from the island of Tubabao, the last refuge of Russian Far Eastern emigration. They in turn fled to the Philippines among five thousand Russian refugees, fleeing the Chinese Red Army. And now Latin America.

According to official data from the international organization in charge of refugees (IRO), two thousand people signed up to move to Paraguay in 1947.

From the European emigration there were people with interesting destinies, for example, Colonel of the Paraguayan Army N.M. Piven. In 1920, being a cadet of the Vladikavkaz cadet. corp., while still in Crimea, he entered the Crimean Cadre. corp., as part of which he was evacuated to Yugoslavia. He graduated from military school in 1931 as an infantry second lieutenant. Then his fate changes dramatically. Piven becomes a military pilot. During the war he was in the national detachments that fought against the communists. In 1945 he went to Austria, then to Germany and finally to Paraguay, where he entered military service. Nikolai Piven died three days earlier than Vysokolyan, and rests also in the Southern Russian Cemetery Recoleta of Asuncion.

According to the testimony of Viktor Davydenko, David Yakovlevich Sokotun (01.07.1897 † 27.05.1953), centurion of the Ussuri Cossack Army, was buried nearby.

At the beginning of 1953, among the Don and Kuban Cossacks (initiative group: A. Frolov, A. Sokotun, I Kovalev) a decision was made to establish a “Free Cossack village in Paraguay,” which was soon created.

When the article, in general, was already written, I sent it to the USA, N.L. Kazantsev, for analysis and consideration. God bless! The response from the old Russian emigration was positive. Moreover, in a personal letter dated 03.09.2006, the editor-in-chief of the oldest Russian Monarchist newspaper abroad, put forward a resolution: “Congratulations on the wonderful article about Paraguay...” and a wonderful addition that “Fr. John (Petrov), whom the authorities treated with great respect, later became Bishop of Argentina-Paraguay. During the Civil War, he was one of the first to break into the Ipatiev House when the Whites captured Yekaterinburg, and all his life he kept a piece of plaster from the wall under which the Royal Family was killed. Before his ordination he served in the Russian Corps in the Balkans.”

At one time, Major General Ern and Captain Persianov sent a welcoming letter to the Sentinel magazine, where they say that since 1939 there has been a “Russian Union” in Asuncion, approved by decree of the President of the Republic. In 1949, the chairman was N.F. Ern, the chairman’s comrades were Dr. M. Retivov and Colonel I. Astrakhantsev, the treasurer was engineer A. Lapshinsky, the secretary was D. Persianov. Among the members of the Union there was a surname: cornet B. N. Ern.

Nowadays, of Cossack origin, Nikolai (Nicholas) Ermakov headed the association of Russian emigrants and their descendants in Paraguay (1989), which is called the ARIDEP Association.

Alexander Azarenkov, member

liberals
23px Febrerists
23px communists Commanders Strengths of the parties

20 000

3 000

Losses

Civil War in Paraguay (1947)(Spanish) Guerra civil paraguaya de 1947 ) or Pinandi revolution , Also, Revolution Guarani , barefoot ) - an armed conflict between socio-political forces in Paraguay between March and August 1947.

Prerequisites for the conflict

War

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Excerpt describing the Paraguayan Civil War (1947)

– Do you want me to come again? – I asked with hidden hope.
Her funny face again shone with all shades of joy:
– Are you really, really going to come?! – she squealed happily.
“I really, really will come...” I firmly promised...

The days, loaded to the brim with everyday worries, turned into weeks, and I still could not find free time to visit my sweet little friend. I thought about her almost every day and swore to myself that tomorrow I would definitely find time to “unwind my soul” for at least a couple of hours with this wonderful, bright little man... And also another, very strange thought did not give me peace - very I wanted to introduce Stella’s grandmother to my no less interesting and unusual grandmother... For some inexplicable reason, I was sure that both of these wonderful women would definitely find something to talk about...
So, finally, one fine day I suddenly decided that I would stop putting everything off “for tomorrow” and, although I was not at all sure that Stella’s grandmother would be there today, I decided that it would be wonderful if today I finally visited I’ll introduce my new girlfriend, and if I’m lucky, I’ll introduce our dear grandmothers to each other.
Some strange force literally pushed me out of the house, as if someone from afar was very softly and, at the same time, very persistently mentally calling me.
I quietly approached my grandmother and, as usual, began to hover around her, trying to figure out how best to present all this to her.
“Well, shall we go or something?” the grandmother asked calmly.
I stared at her dumbfounded, not understanding how she could find out that I was even going somewhere?!
Grandmother smiled slyly and, as if nothing had happened, asked:
“What, don’t you want to walk with me?”
In my heart, outraged by such an unceremonious invasion into my “private mental world,” I decided to “test” my grandmother.
- Well, of course I want to! – I exclaimed joyfully, and without saying where we would go, I headed towards the door.
– Take a sweater, we’ll be back late – it’ll be cool! – the grandmother shouted after him.
I couldn't stand it any longer...
- And how do you know where we are going?! – I ruffled my feathers like a frozen sparrow and muttered offendedly.
“It’s all written all over your face,” the grandmother smiled.
Of course, it wasn’t written on my face, but I would give a lot to find out how she always knew everything so confidently when it came to me?
A few minutes later we were already stomping together towards the forest, enthusiastically chatting about the most diverse and incredible stories, which she, naturally, knew much more than I did, and this was one of the reasons why I loved walking with her so much.
It was just the two of us, and there was no need to be afraid that someone would overhear and someone might not like what we were talking about.
Grandmother very easily accepted all my oddities and was never afraid of anything; and sometimes, if she saw that I was completely “lost” in something, she gave me advice to help me get out of this or that undesirable situation, but most often she simply observed how I reacted to life’s difficulties, which had already become permanent, without finally came across on my “spiked” path. Lately it has begun to seem to me that my grandmother is just waiting for something new to come along, in order to see if I have matured at least a heel, or if I am still “stuck away” in my “happy childhood”, not wanting to get out of my short childhood shirts. But even for her “cruel” behavior, I loved her very much and tried to take advantage of every convenient moment to spend time with her as often as possible.
The forest greeted us with the welcoming rustle of golden autumn leaves. The weather was magnificent, and one could hope that my new friend, by “luck,” would also be there.
I picked a small bouquet of some modest autumn flowers that still remained, and a few minutes later we were already next to the cemetery, at the gate of which... in the same place sat the same miniature sweet old lady...
- And I already thought I couldn’t wait for you! – she greeted joyfully.
My jaw literally dropped from such surprise, and at that moment I apparently looked quite stupid, because the old woman, laughing cheerfully, came up to us and affectionately patted me on the cheek.
- Well, you go, honey, Stella has already been waiting for you. And we'll sit here for a while...
I didn’t even have time to ask how I would get to the same Stella, when everything disappeared again somewhere, and I found myself in the already familiar world of Stella’s wild fantasy, sparkling and shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow, and, without having time to take a better look around, I immediately I heard an enthusiastic voice:
- Oh, how good it is that you came! And I waited and waited!..
The girl flew up to me like a whirlwind and plopped a little red “dragon” right into my arms... I recoiled in surprise, but immediately laughed cheerfully, because it was the funniest and funniest creature in the world!..
The “little dragon,” if you can call him that, bulged his delicate pink belly and hissed at me threateningly, apparently hoping very much to scare me in this way. But when he saw that no one was going to be scared here, he calmly settled down on my lap and began to snore peacefully, showing how good he is and how much he should be loved...
I asked Stella what its name was and how long ago she created it.
- Oh, I haven’t even figured out what to call you yet! And he appeared right now! Do you really like him? – the girl chirped cheerfully, and I felt that she was pleased to see me again.
- This is for you! – she suddenly said. - He will live with you.
The little dragon funnyly stretched out its spiky muzzle, apparently deciding to see if I had anything interesting... And suddenly licked me right on the nose! Stella squealed with delight and was clearly very pleased with her creation.
“Well, okay,” I agreed, “while I’m here, he can be with me.”
“Aren’t you going to take him with you?” – Stella was surprised.
And then I realized that she apparently doesn’t know at all that we are “different” and that we no longer live in the same world. Most likely, the grandmother, in order to feel sorry for her, did not tell the girl the whole truth, and she sincerely thought that this was exactly the same world in which she had lived before, with the only difference being that now she could still create her own world.. .
I knew for sure that I didn’t want to be the one who told this little trusting girl what her life was really like today. She was content and happy in this “her” fantastic reality, and I mentally swore to myself that I would never and never be the one who would destroy this fairy-tale world of hers. I just couldn’t understand how my grandmother explained the sudden disappearance of her entire family and, in general, everything in which she was now living?..
“You see,” I said with a slight hesitation, smiling, “where I live, dragons are not very popular...
- So no one will see him! – the little girl chirped cheerfully.
A weight had just been lifted off my shoulders!.. I hated lying or trying to get out, and especially in front of such a pure little person as Stella was. It turned out that she understood everything perfectly and somehow managed to combine the joy of creation and the sadness of losing her family.

Abstract on the topic:

Civil War in Paraguay (1922-1923)

Plan:

Introduction

• 1 Political situation on the eve of the war
• 2 Paraguayan Army and Navy
• 3 Background to the Civil War
• 4 Strengths of the parties
• 5 Progress of hostilities
• 6 Results of the war
• 7 Russians in the Paraguayan Civil War

Introduction

Loyalist entry into Asuncion in 1923

Civil War in Paraguay (La Guerra Civil Parguaya 1922-1923) - one of the armed clashes between socio-political forces in Paraguay in the first half of the 20th century.

1. Political situation on the eve of the war

The Republic of Paraguay at the beginning of the 20th century was, even by South American standards, a relatively backward country. The basis of national production was agriculture. There was practically no export, most of it was Paraguayan tea - terere. All this was aggravated by the consequences of a relatively recent war, in which Paraguay lost about 80% of its male population.

At the same time, there were various political forces in the country, mainly expressing the interests of certain large landowners and representatives of the banking and financial elite. Individual representatives of the senior officers of the Paraguayan armed forces also enjoyed significant influence. Along with all this, the first decades of the 20th century, known in the history of Paraguay as Decades of Liberals (Liberal Decades), were full of intense political struggle, coups and armed clashes. For example, between the August Revolution of 1904 and 1922, Paraguay saw 15 presidents and 21 governments. The main struggle was between the so-called radicales And sivikos (sívicos). The Paraguayan armed forces repeatedly intervened in this fight.

2. Paraguayan Army and Navy

The army of the Republic of Paraguay in the early 1920s consisted of about 5,000 people. There were no regiments in the army, the infantry was divided into four three-company battalions and a sapper company, the cavalry was consolidated into four separate squadrons and a separate gendarmerie squadron. There were also two artillery batteries.

The fleet consisted of two river gunboats and several armed boats. Military aviation practically did not exist.

All military units were divided into four zones and located in various points of the country - in Encarnacion, Paraguari, Villarique and Concepcion. The Minister of War led the armed forces. The senior officers consisted of one general and five colonels. Officers were trained at a military school with a five-year course and midshipman classes for naval officers located in the capital of the country, Asunción.

Germanophile sentiments were strong in the armed forces: even the army uniform was a copy of the German one from the First World War. There were also a large number of foreign officers serving in the army, many of whom were German. At the same time, many Paraguayan officers were in opposition to the growing influence of Germanophiles in the army.

3. Prerequisites for the civil war

In 1911, radical President Manuel Gondra ( Manuel Gondra) was already losing power as a result of a coup carried out by the commander of the armed forces, Colonel Albino Jara ( Albino Jara) for the benefit of the Civicos. A year later, during which the country had four presidents (Albino Jara, Liberato Martial Rojas, Pedro Pablo Pena and Emiliano Gonzalez Navero), power again passed to the radicals in the person of the new president Eduardo Scherer ( Eduardo Schaerer), in whose government the same Manuel Gondra became Minister of War. However, soon among radicals a split emerged - factions emerged from them schaereristas And Gondrists (gondristas). When Manuel Gondra won the presidential election again in 1920, the Chererists began to actively prepare for his forcible removal.

On October 29, 1921, the Shererist Minister of War, Colonel Adolfo Chirife ( Adolfo Chirife) with the support of an infantry battalion stationed in the capital, forced President Gondra to resign. However, the country's Parliament supported the Gondrists, and Vice President Felix Paiva, who took office as president of the country, Felix Paiva) removed Chirife from his post and transferred him to a remote district. At the same time, a split arose in the army: most of the officers (mostly foreigners) supported Chirife, while the minority supported Parliament. One of the prominent Gondraists, Eusebio Ayala ( Eusebio Ayala).

The district commanders, Colonels Mendoza, openly went over to Chirife's side ( Pedro Mendoza) and Brizuela ( Francisco Brizuela), only the new Minister of War, Colonel Rojas ( Rojas) and the head of the military school, Colonel Skenoni Lugo ( Manuel Schenoni Lugo). Commander - General Escobar ( Escobar) - in view of the events taking place, he retired to his estate, citing illness.

4. Strengths of the parties

In May 1922, Chirife openly rebelled and sent his supporting military units to occupy the country's capital, Asuncion. The rebels began to call themselves constitutionalists(one of their demands was to change the country's constitution); forces united around the current president, parliament and government are called loyalists. At the beginning of the rebellion, the preponderance of forces was on the side of the constitutionalists: in general, they were subordinate to two infantry battalions, a cavalry squadron, a separate infantry company, two machine-gun companies, two batteries of mountain guns - a total of about 1,700 people. However, these units were scattered throughout the country, located in different districts (military zones). Loyalist units were concentrated in the capital of the country: an infantry company, a sapper company, a machine gun platoon, two cavalry squadrons (including - Escolta of the President), military school cadets - about 600 people in total. Also on the side of the loyalists was the fleet: the training ship Adolfo Riquelme ( Adolfo Riquelme), patrol vessels Triunfo ( El Triunfo) and "Coronel Matrines" ( Coronel Martinez), each of which was armed with a 76-mm Vickers gun.

5. Progress of hostilities

The first clash took place on June 8, 1922, when rebel forces approached the outskirts of Asuncion. In these battles, the loyalists actively used their superiority in cavalry, scattering enemy infantry with surprise attacks. Volunteer units (about 1,000 people) also played a significant role in the defense of the capital, the initiative in the formation of which was taken by the port workers' union. After successfully repelling the attack on the capital, the loyalists began to push the enemy to the southeast, in the direction of the cities of Jaguaron and Paraguari.

Chirife, awaiting reinforcements - the infantry battalion of Colonel Brizuela - with whom he was separated by 500 km, retreated to the south of the country, to the Cordillera. At this stage, the loyalists began to use the first aircraft of the Paraguayan military aviation: one fighter SPAD Herbemont S.XX, two scouts SAML A.3, two fighter-bombers Ansaldo SVA 5, and one bomber Ansaldo SVA 10, who arrived along with the English and Italian pilots who flew them. In addition, new infantry, cavalry and artillery units were formed at an accelerated pace.

On July 31, 1922, loyalists occupied the city of Villarica in the southeast of the country, the second largest city in Paraguay. In August of the same year, an armored train with 190-mm naval guns, manufactured in the Asuncion arsenal, appeared on the side of the loyalists, and on the side of Chirife, three aircraft arrived through Argentina. Ansaldo SVA 5 and one Ansaldo SVA 10(two planes will fly to Argentina in October 1922, and the remaining two will be captured by loyalists).

In November 1922, loyalist troops began a heavy assault on the city of Encarnacion, located on the banks of the Parana River. After the loss of Encarnacion, the rebel units were forced to retreat to sparsely populated areas in the northern part of the country.

On May 18, 1923, the leader of the rebellion, Colonel Chirife, died of pneumonia, and the new Constitutionalist commander, Colonel Mendoza, drew up a plan to advance his troops, bypassing large population centers controlled by the loyalists, to capture Asuncion. This plan was a success, and on the evening of July 9, 1923, Lieutenant Colonel Brizuela’s units entered the capital of the country practically without resistance. However, the government, together with the treasury, managed to leave Asuncion in advance, and all food and clothing supplies were also removed from the city. The morale of the rebels, who were hoping for rich spoils, was undermined, and in view of the approaching large forces of loyalists, Brizuela retreated to the town of Villeta, on the border with Argentina, where he laid down his arms.

6. Results of the war

As a result of the civil war of 1922-1923, Paraguay's economy was significantly damaged. However, at the same time, Paraguay received a more armed and powerful army. It also included a new branch of the military - the air force.

The fighting demonstrated the talents of young Paraguayan officers - the future commander of the Paraguayan army, and later dictator José Felix Estigarribia ( Jose Felix Estigarribia), Francisco Caballero Alvarez ( Francisco Caballero Alvarez), Nicholas Delgado ( Nicholas Delgado), Carlos Fernandez ( Carlos Fernandez), Rafael Franco ( Rafael Franco) - who received the opportunity to occupy fairly high positions in the army.

These factors contributed greatly to Paraguay's victory over the much stronger Bolivia in the Chaca War 10 years later.

7. Russians in the Paraguayan Civil War

In 1911, the only Russian officer, Captain Komarov, acted on the side of the rebels against President Gondra. In 1922, the only Russian officer in the Paraguayan army - Captain Golubintsev - acted on the side of the government and received the nickname Sacro Diablo, and even at one time commanded Escolta, the escort squadron of the President of Paraguay.