Casualty estimates for the Paraguayan War vary wildly because Paraguay had some ludicrously absurd census returns both before and after the war. Officially, the population went from 240,000 in 1846 to 1,337,000 in 1857, which is impossible without incredible levels of immigration for which there is zero evidence; modern estimates are that the population was between 300,000 and 500,000 when the war started. Post-war, the official population was 166,351 in 1870 and 329,645 in 1888, which again implies a very rapid increase in population, nearly doubling in 18 years. And again, there's no evidence for large-scale immigration during that time.
Thus, estimates of the casualty rate for the war thus range from a low 7% (Vera Blinn Reber) to a high of 69% (Whigham and Potthast) depending on assumptions made by the estimator regarding the pre-war population and the post-war demographics and which figures they believe from the various censuses.
__________________
The poster formerly known as The Dark
The Vespers War - Ninety years before the Twilight War, there was the Vespers War.
|
11-15-2019, 06:20 PM
Hybrid Mode
