Triple Alliance Leaders
Dom Pedro II de Alcantara, Emperor of Brazil (1840-1889) - At the age of five Pedro II suceceeded under a regency his father, D.Pedro I, who abdicated in 1831 after facing many revolts and a war with Argentina for the control of Uruguay. Pedro II was declared of age in 1840 when Brazil  central government was dealing again with increasing internal revolts. His long reign was characterized by great social change, material progress, a lasting internal peace (the last revolt ended in 1845) and wars with neighboring nations.
The Emperor was extremely popular, but the economic and social tendencies of his time betrayed him. In 1850 the slave trade was prohibited; in 1871 a law was passed providing a gradual emancipation and, in 1888, slavery was abolished. Brazil's modernization led to widening divisions within society. Growing urban populatin and new export sectors increased pressure for participation in the political system, which was indeed on the hands of the agrarian sectors. When the military class emerged into politics after the war with Paraguay in 1870  in favour of the middle urban and export sectors, advocating the creation of a modern republic that would support the new economic interests, the monarchy rapidly entered into question. In 1889, Pedro II was exiled, spenting the rest of his life in Europe until his death in 1891. During the campaign against Lopez, Pedro II, on the contrary of his Argentine and Uruguayan counterparts, put the affairs of war on the hands of his offices. Only in the surrender of the Paraguayan troops in Uruguaiana  he came close to battlefield.
Bartolome Mitre, President of Argentina (1862-1868), Commander-in-Chief- of the Triple Alliance Forces (1865-1868) - A Buenos Aires native, Mitre is known not only because of his participations on the fight against Lopez, but also (and mainly) as intellectual, writer and politician. He started in politics when his writtings attracted the attention of Juan Manuel Rosas, President of Argentina (1835-1852), leading Mitre into exile for several years. When a revolt led by Justo José Urquiza and backed by Brazil and Uruguay succeeded he returned to Argentina while Rosas fled to England. Soon Mitre and Urquiza were in disagreement about the role Buenos Aires had to play in the Argentinean Confederation. At first Mitre was defeated by Urquiza's forces at the Battle of Cepeda (1859). Two years later, however,  Mitre gained a decisive victory at Pavon.
During the war against Paraguay, Mitre assumed command of the three allied armies. This  fact caused him many troubles. Brazilian officers, in particular,  were doubtful of Mitre's capability of conducting war operations. On the other hand they could not understand why the supreme command was given to an Argentinean while Brazilians troops performed not less than two-thirds of the entire force when the conflict broke out. After Curupaity, Mitre turned his eyes to the inner-conflicts in the Argentineans Provinces, where Felipe Varela, who advocated the end of the war against Paraguay, had raised a considerable force to give combat to Buenos Aires government. In 1868 Mitre lost the run for another mandate to Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, who was inclined to reduce Argentina's participation in the war. Mitre returned to his life as journalist and in 1870 he founded La Nacion newspaper where he kept his political influence. He would run for presidential elections in 1891 for the last time, but without succes. He died in 1906 in Buenos Aires.
Venancio Flores, President of Uruguay (1854-1855 and 1865-1868), Commander-in-Chief of Uruguayan Army (1865-1866) - Flores started his political career taking part in the campaign against Brazilian troops in 1825. Later he fought Fructuoso Rivera's government (1836) and in the civil war against the Blanco Party (1839-1851) led by Manuel Oribe. As leader of the Colorado party,  he was appointed as member of the triumvirate that assumed power in the small country of La Plata region in 1853. When the two other members of government died in the following year he assumed office for a short period. His authoritarism displeased the political elite and Flores was forced out of government in 1855. In 1863 he made an alliance with Buenos Aires and Brazil governments and started a revolt to displace the Blanco government under Bernardo
Prudencio Berro. Uruguay's invasion by Imperial troops in Florte´ aid in October of the following year led Solano Lopez to declare war on Brazil in November. Once again in power, Flores persecuted his enemies and imposed an authoritarian government. He, himself, commanded his forces in the battlefield in Paraguay until September, 1866.  On February 15, 1868 Berro headed an uprising to dismiss Flores. Despite Flores death in the hands of the conspirators, the plan failed. Berro and many others were killed. The Colorado hegemony would last almost a century in Uruguay's politics.
Lt. General Manoel Luís Osório (Marquis of Herval) - Osório was a cavalry soldier who received his first brevets during the Independence Campaign. He served as captain in the Cisplatine War (1825-1828) and in campaign against Oribe in Uruguay (1851) as colonel. Osório was known by his leading temper, sometimes exposing himself to peril during the campaigns he took part. When the war against Lopez broke out he was appointed as commander of Brazilian Army being one of the first allied officers to land on the Paraguayan territory on April 15, 1866. When Caxias took command of all Imperial
Forces in October, 1866, Osório was given command of the newly-formed III Corps of the Imperial Army. Ahead of the Allied onslaught onto the Paraguayan positions he was wounded in the Battle of Avahy on December 11, 1868. the general had to retire for some months. When he returned to battlefield, Caxias had already left Paraguay. The  Brazilian forces were then under command of Prince Gastão de Orleans, Count D'Eu, with whom Osório did not have a good relationship. He would leave the theater of operations before Lopez was finally killed at Cerro-Cora on March 1, 1870. He died some months before his old friend Caxias in Rio de Janeiro in 1879.
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