Free Military Quiz III

Hint: This war was definitely the bloodiest on its continent.

 

Hint: This war started when the American Civil War drew to a close.

 

Hint: It did not take place in the "old world".

 

Nobody an idea?

Last hint: The countries involved start with A, B, P and U.

 

I can guess that you're talking about Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia... But was that war bloodier than the US civil war?

 

No, but I considered North and South America to be 2 different continents.

However, it's not perfectly right yet.

 

The question isn't perfectly right yet. I agree, but that's all I can answer right now.

But this is not right at all. America is a huge continent from Bering's strait to Magallane's strait, with many, many countries in it.

 

Ok, then it was the 2nd bloodiest war on its continent. However, you mean the right thing, but your answer is still a little faulty. Don't give up, 5 min more research will do the job.

 

I finally have it!

Carlos Antonio Francisco Solano López succeeded his father, Carlos Antonio López as president of Paraguay when the latter died in 1862. Paraguay was a prosperous country and a very militirised one. The country had a large and efficient Army, a fluvial Armada and numerous fortresses. The new president wanted to make of the country a more powerful one in the River de la Plata region. In November 1864, Solano López ordered the capture of a Brazilian war ship and then gathered a large Army to fight the Brazilians, who had recently ivaded Uruguay. But to fight the Brazilians in northern Uruguay, Paraguayan troops had to go through Argentina; the government asked Buenos Aires for permission to let the troops pass by and the Argentinians, of course, refused. Paraguay then declared war on Argentina. Then Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay formed an alliance against Paraguay.

During 1864 and 1865, the Uruguayan Army had some succeses when invading southern Brazil near the Bolivian frontier, capturing the cities of Coimbra, Albuquerque and Corumbá, but were finally defeated in June 1865.

In the south, another Army took the cities of São Borja, Itaquí and Uruguaiana. In the latter, a whole Army was surrounded and defeated by Argentinian and Brazilian forces in the battles of Jataí and Uruguaiana in September 1865.

There was also the battle of Corrientes, the only Argentinian large town to fall to the Paraguayans in 1864 and that were defeated in October 1865. From then on, the war degenerated in a defensive warfare in Paraguayan territory. For four years, the defenders held the fortress of Humaitá, a strategic position in the junction of rivers Paraná and Paraguay with tremendous men losses.

However, there were still Paraguayan attacks against southern Brazilin 1867, when the city of Nioaque fell. But again, Paraguayans were driven out and defeated at Bela Vista and Laguna, Paraguay that same year.

It wasn't until an attack from the rear up through Paraná river that the fortresses in the rivers junstions were finally taken one by one until finally, in January 1869, Asunción, the capital, fell. Unfortunately, that year surged a cholera epidemic that increased death and misery. Solana López and the rest of his Army withdrew up north anf fought a campaign in the mountains of the eastern centre of Paraguay and finally withdrew to Cerro Corá, where he was trapped between Allied armies in the south and from the north. A Brazilian cavalry charge finished bloodily the war, where Solana López himself died in March 1870. A Brazilian occupation of six years followed to the second bloodiest war in America.

My turn, isn't it?

 

Yup.

 

Still in America.

This 'war' between France and _______? was called the 'Cakes war'. Why?

 

Found it at onwar:

The Pastry War 1838

During the early years of the Mexican republic, foreigners often found their property destroyed during civil strife. Unable to secure compensation from Mexico, they looked to their own goverments for help. A French pastry cook, claiming his shop had been ruined by looting Mexican soldiers, appealed to France's King Louis-Philippe (1773-1850); France demanded 600,000 pesos for damages to its natinals and sent a fleet, which bombarded and sized the Mexican fortress of San Juan de Ulua, near the port of Veracruz. Lopez de Santa Anna (1795?-1876) came out of retirement and, without authority, led the Mecican forces against the French at Veracruz, which the French occupied briefly. Soon the Mexican government of President Anastasio Bustamante (1780-1853) promised to pay the 600,000 pesos, and the French forces withdrew. In a skirmish at Veracruz, Santa Anna was wounded in a leg, which had to be amputated.

 

Very good, Knight! Though the causes of the war are far deeper than that, it's on to you!

 

Thx Friedrich. The real reason was a French lady shouting: "Let them eat pastry!" - right?

Next question, probably easy:

Who was the last military commander in WW1 to surrender?

 

Ludwig von Reuter, commander of the German fleet (?)

 

no

 

Hint: He did not fight in one of the main theaters.

 

Gentlemen, I am awestruck seeing your knowledge you proved in the quizes so far, I REALLY didn't expect to be any difficult...

Hint: He was German, but the major part of his troops were of non-German origin.

 

One more hint...

He did not surrender before... two weeks after the armistice. But he was not insubordinate, he simply wasn't informed instantly.

 

I definitely wonder... nobody ever heard of Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, the only German commander resisting in the colonies till the end?


Well then, new question. Which battle was, regarding (fatal as well as total) casualties, the worst military defeat of a European colonial power against a genuine African army?