It was the women of Paraguay who, having been driven at the point of the
lance to labour in the fields in order to feed the army, now came
forward of their own free-will in the time of peace and utter need, and
heroically set themselves to agricultural toil. After a while the rich
soil of the Republic yielded sufficient harvest to satisfy the
attenuated population of the land, but it was many years ere anything
approaching a normal state of affairs was able to assert itself.
The war, indeed, had caused every nation involved a heavy amount of
blood and treasure. In some respects it is said to have served a useful
purpose. The Argentines, for instance, claim that this struggle
intensified the national spirit of the Republic, since it was the first
modern war on a large scale in which the South American States had been
concerned. It seems likely enough that there is some justification for
this claim. The result was, perhaps, evident in a rather lesser degree
in the case of both Brazil and Uruguay.
The political effect of the campaign upon Paraguay was, of course, still
more important. The allies had announced that they were fighting, not
against the Republic, but against the personality of its despot, Lopez.
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