The end, the beginning and the middle

the seizure of the Marquês de Olinda and the captivity of the first Brazilian prisoners of war from the memories of the survivors

Abstract

The seizure of Brazilian steamer Marquês de Olinda by the Paraguayan gunboat Tacuari was the episode that marked the beginning of the war between Paraguay and Brazil, and that dragged Argentina and Uruguay into the bloodiest conflict in South America. This research presents the reasons the Paraguayan president Francisco Solano López to order this action and restored how the capture of Brazilian officers who traveled as passengers and who became the first prisoners of war took place, aspects that are rarely mentioned in the historiography of that conflict. Based on the narratives of two surviving former prisoner officers from that group, the dynamics of the Paraguayan prisoner camps were reconstructed, realizing their deficiencies and the routine of indiscriminate executions, one of the characteristic facets of that Paraguayan authoritarian leader over almost five years.