Tuesday, December 06, 2005
OBSCURITY 101
WHO IS THIS MAN?
In the interests of promoting obscure knowledge, I hereby post a scan of one of the postage stamps in my childhood stamp album ... and impart a modest bit of information to place the gentleman commemorated upon it into context for those who are drawn to useless data.
Mariscal Francisco Solano Lopez was the Dictator of Paraguay who got himself involved in a war against the triumvirate of Brazil, Argentina, and Uraguay. What followed was the bloodiest war in South American history, pretty much unknown in the U.S. because it was fought from 1864 to 1870 (almost simultaneously with our own Civil War). A half million people perished in this conflict. Some sources report that 80% of Paraguay's male population were killed.
# posted by Clear Creek Girl : 6:50 PM
