Book Review, The Paraguayan War 1864-70

The Paraguayan War 1864-70

Osprey Campaigns CAM342

Author   Gabriele Esposito

Illustrator   Guiseppe Rava

ISBN 978-1-4728-3444-7

        More than just a campaign this is an outline history of the entire conflict. It covers the causes, leaders, armies and military planning in the run-up to war. This conflict was the largest, most lethal, war in the 19th century in all of South America. Paraguay still bears the scars from it to this day. Overshadowed in the Anglophone world by conflicts such as the U.S. Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War this is nonetheless a crucial conflict in the political development of the nations involved. 

      Physically the book is a standard 96 page Osprey Campaigns format; unfortunately it also suffers from the standard Osprey problems; three pages dedicated to a chronology that would be easily enough derived from a reading of the text, and six full-page maps that are nearly devoid of any useful information. The maps consist of an entire page of pale green with the occasional terrain feature (such as unnamed rivers) in an equally faint color, they border on useless. All of the information conveyed by these maps could be reduced to a single page. All of the period maps are printed in half-page format but easily convey many times more information. Between these two useless features a full ninth of the book is consumed, doubtless Mr. Esposito would have greatly enjoyed nine more pages to expound on the matter at hand.

 

a photo of one of the maps, 

no suggestion of the path the troops traveled, 

or the terrain they were crossing and a grand total of one date!

I have seen more information on a postage stamp

      That aside, Mr. Esposito provides a clearly delineated history of the war with an easily understood time-line and an engagingly direct text that is a breeze to read. The major battles are covered in some detail and many minor combats and skirmishes are alluded to (which might have found room for expansion if the book wasn't burdened with nine useless pages). The trademark 3-D maps are nice and clear although the double-page spread once again demands that the reader risk ruining the book to get a glimpse of the crucial center of the map. I really wish that Osprey had seen fit to shrink these into one-page maps and allow the author a free hand with adding more detail. The margins are used to add lots of period photos and sketches while some delightfully simple drawings of the troops by Benedetto Esposito convey the uniforms of the soldiers involved. The inclusion of some period maps greatly clarifies the terrain and troops dispositions for a number of the battles.

        Mr. Rava provides three great double-page pictures of battles from the war. These convey a great deal of energy and atmosphere but lack the razor-sharp detail seen in his work from the Man-At-Arms series. Once again these paintings are printed across two pages depriving the reader of the center of the artist's work. The bibliography contains a fair number of English language titles, which is particularly useful to a monophone such as I.

         This is a useful introduction to the conflict, it would be better if Osprey would let go of the editorial demand for chronologies and horrid maps (something that I don't see changing any time soon). I greatly appreciate Esposito and Rava for bringing the Latin military tradition to the Anglosphere, I only hope that some day they will team up to conduct an in-depth study of this war.

          Recommended, but with the stated reservations.