Pikysyry campaign

Pikysyry campaign
	Part of the Paraguayan War
	; Crossing of the bridge over the river Ytororó, one of the defining moments of the campaign
Date	August 1868 – December 1868
Location	Current Central Department, Paraguay
Result	Allied victory Sacking of Asunción;
Belligerents
Paraguay	Empire of Brazil; Argentina; Uruguay;
Commanders and leaders
Francisco Solano López; Francisco Isidoro Resquín; Bernardino Caballero;	Luís Alves de Lima e Silva; Joaquim Marques Lisboa; Manuel Luís Osório; Juan Andrés Gelly y Obes; Wenceslao Paunero; Emilio Mitre; Enrique Castro;
Strength
15,000	43,000 Brazilian soldiers; 7,000 Argentine and Uruguayan soldiers

The Pikysyry campaign was the Paraguayan War's fourth phase. It lasted from August 1868 to January 1869, and was a comprehensive allied victory.

After success in the Mato Grosso campaign and failure in the Corrientes campaign, the Paraguayan Army was pushed back into Paraguay itself. After years of fighting around the formidable fortress of Humaitá, allied pressure around the fortress's defensive line forced it to be abandoned; a new, shorter, defensive line was set up around the Pikysyry river. The Paraguay river remained blocked by a new coastal battery in Angostura, but these were avoided by Brazilian troops, who marched through the Paraguayan Chaco and attacked the Paraguayan positions from the rear, seizing them.

With the defeat of the Paraguayan army, Asunción, the capital, was occupied and sacked in January 1869. Over the following months, the war became an irregular conflict, as allied forces chased Paraguayan president Francisco Solano López and his remaining troops over the countryside.