Armies of the War of the Triple Alliance 1864–70: Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay & Argentina (Men-at-Arms)

This excellent book looks at all the combatants of the War of the Triple Alliance, a war which would be incredibly disastrous for the country of Paraguay. This Osprey volumes provides a credible thumbnail description of the war, along with maps and a chronology. The photos and the artwork are excellent and the artist takes into account the changes in uniform brought about by the length and field conditions in which the war was fought. If you are only going to read one book on this pivotal South American conflict, make it this one. If you are reading another book on the topic, read this one... it will give you a better undertsanding of the war.

The "Triple Alliance" war was undoubtely the largest ever happened in South America, but unfortunately still there is very little information about it, even in Brazil. The title - "Armies of the War of ..." correctly announces what it is all about: armies, not battles. As such, even though it was not the author's purpose the describe battles, it is kind of frustating to read about the confronting armies and then to find little about the ensuing battles. It also frustating to find almost nothing about the naval battles, which were key to the outcome of the war.Praise for the color planes, depicting uniforms.However as a Brazilian I could not but notice that Brazil's independence from Portugal happened in 1822, not in 1825, as mentioned. And Porto Alegre, the capital of the key Brazilian Rio Grande do Sul state, is completely misplaced in one of the maps. I hope Argentinian, Uruguaian and Paraguaian cities were not misplaced.

This book covers a topic very few outside of South America realize occurred. The casualties were the highest in the history of South America. The book discusses various battles and strategies of each army. The art work displaying each nation’s uniforms is detailed and thoroughly discussed. However, the book needed more and better maps. Not being familiar with the geography of that section of Paraguay and Brazil, I found the battle descriptions hard to follow.

Tells the story and describes the fighting of the dark and bloody war between the four largest South American countries at the time

I highly recommend this book as an introduction to this obscure conflict. The illustrations are the usual high quality that is expected from this publisher.

Great book. Just to add, it has some failures like little lack of information about the battles but thats a characteristic of the series. They could public whole books about some of the battles like Tuiuty, Curupaity or Riachuelo (naval), but in 48 pages theres no space to focus on that. I think that the book really focus on the objective of giving a review about the war and showing in some detail all armies. If you want something more complete get THE PARAGUAYAN WAR: Armies of the Nineteenth Century:The Americas (Armies of the 19th Century: The Americas).

I received my copy of Osprey's book on the War of the Triple Alliance yesterday. After their awful book on the Chaco War I approached buying this book with some trepidation, but I was pleasantly surprised. The plates are good and the synopsis of the War is short but well done. And there are useful maps thank goodness.I would recommend this to anyone interested in this very interesting War, expert or novice.

Good general coverage of a war that is little known in the US.

I had read about the War of the Triple Alliance or Paraguayan War before but on very basic information on Wikipedia. This book offers a great introduction to the origins and battles of war as well the organisation of the four armies involved.Considering that there is not the range of literature on this war available in English, compared to others that Osprey cover, this book is well worth buying.

Fascinating read, about an interesting, brutal, and little known war.

A comprehensive and interesting history.

Well written as usual. great summary of the war and excellent uniform and organisation information

very good