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| Preceded by Carlos Antonio López |
President of Paraguay 10 September 1862 – 1 March 1870 |
Succeeded by Cirilo Antonio Rivarola |
| Francisco López Carrillo has Latin American ancestry. Join: Latin America Project Discuss: latin_america |
López was made Brigadier General of the Paraguayan Army by his father at the age of 18, in 1844, during the spasmodic hostilities then prevailing with Argentina.
He was sent in 1853 as minister plenipotentiary to the United Kingdom, France, and Italy, and spent a year and a half in Europe. He purchased large quantities of arms and military supplies, together with several steamers, and organized a project for building a railroad and establishing a French colony in Paraguay. He also became infatuated with the empire of Napoleon III and with Napoleon Bonaparte himself. López equipped his army with exact copies of uniforms of Napoleonic army. He ordered for himself an exact replica of Napoleon's crown. While there, he met a Parisian courtesan, the Irishwoman Eliza Lynch, and brought her with him back to Paraguay. There she was his mistress and de facto first lady till his death, strongly influencing his later ambitious schemes.
Returning to Paraguay, Solano López became Minister of War in 1855. He was appointed as Vice President by his father.
In November 1859, López was on board the war steamer Tacuari, which was attacked by British Royal Navy ships attempting to pressure his father into releasing a British citizen from prison. The British consul who ordered the attack was Sir William Thornton, who would later personally support Argentina in the War of the Triple Alliance.
When his father died in 1862, López called a congress that unanimously chose him as president for ten years.
López initiated grandiose building schemes and then led his country into a disastrous war with Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. The War of the Triple Alliance (1865–70) was one of the fiercest and bloodiest ever fought in the New World. It halved the population of Paraguay and left the country in a state of economic collapse; López himself was defeated and killed.
March 1st is a national holiday in Paraguay, called "Dia de los Heroes" (Heroes' Day), held in honor of López's memory. It is the most important holiday in the country next to the independence day. To date, López is considered to be the greatest Paraguayan national hero and his remains are located at the "Panteon de los Heroes" (National Pantheon of the Heroes) in Asunción.
Sources
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (1998, July 20). Francisco Solano López. Retrieved April 30, 2021, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francisco-Solano-Lopez
- Various contributors. (2004). Francisco Solano López. Retrieved April 30, 2021, from https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Francisco_Solano_L%C3%B3pez
- Francisco Solano López. Oxford Reference. Retrieved 30 Apr. 2021, from https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100114693.
- Wikipedia contributors. (2021, April 6). Francisco Solano López. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:15, May 1, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Francisco_Solano_L%C3%B3pez&oldid=1016286398
