The second world war brought all public attention to Europe and the Pacific.
With shifting alliances, occupations, and new nations joining each faction, warring
against one another.
However, one such war during the time didn't result from a clash of these faction, and
instead would be the result of over a century longs territorial feud, one that would take
another 50 years to finally settle.
This, was the Ecuadorian-Peruvian war of 1941, known locally as simply, the war of 41.
The dispute between Ecuador and Peru dates from 1840.
It revolved around whether Ecuador's territory extended beyond the Andes mountain range to
the Amazon river, including the Amazonian basin.
As per usual, colonial boundaries tended to be extremely vague and arbitrarily drawn,
which led to much confusion as to whom the very important stretch of land belonged too.
In 1829, Peru fought against Gran Colombia, a state that encompassed the present day nations
of Colombia, Ecuador, and Panama of which the disputed lands were a part.
They signed a treaty in 1829, known as the Treaty of Guayaquil, which specified that
the Gran Colombian-Peruvian border was to be the same border that had existed between
the Spanish colonies already.
When Ecuador seceded from the Gran Colombia in 1830, Peru decided not to follow the treaty
of Guayaquil or the protocol agreements afterwards, stating that all treaties were null and void,
due to the dissolved of Gran Colombia.
Diplomatic disagreements continued for decades following this.
Peru occupied parts of the disputed lands in 1851, after signing a treaty with Brazil,
who also had claims on the region and other Peruvian land.
Peru began occupying the missionary villages in the Maynas region following the treaty
with Brazil, claiming the Amazonian Basin up to the Caqueta River in the north and toward
the Andes Mountain range, depriving Ecuador and Colombia of all their claims to the Amazon
Basin.
Peru and Ecuador would fight a brief war over the territory in 1860, but due to the on-going
civil war in Ecuador, the nation wasn't able to really establish the boundary lines in
a peace treaty, so the matter was laid to rest for some time.
In 1880, the matter was sent to the Spanish King to act as an arbitrator over the disputed
land.
The resulting Herrera-Garc�a Treaty in 1890 was expected to resolve the conflict permanently.
However, the Parliament in Peru would only ratify the treaty after introducing modifications.
Ecuador then withdrew from the process in protest at the Peruvian modifications, and
which ended with Peru signing the Salomon-Lozano Treaty on March 24, 1922.
Ecuador protested this treaty, since Colombia gave away Ecuadorian claimed land to Peru
that Ecuador had given to Colombia in the 1916 treaty, thus, Ecuador was surrounded
to the east, by Peruvian territory.
By 1938 both Ecuador and Peru, were once again holding minor border skirmishes, and many
anti-Pervuan protests were occurring in Ecuador, and thousands of troops were sent into the
disputed territory of Zarumilla.
Peru matched this, and started to build up it's military, sending troops into the disputed
zone as well.
Yet fighting wouldn't erupt until July 5th of 1941.
According to Peruvian accounts, some Ecuadorian troops from the garrison of Huaquillas, which
then served as the status quo line in the extreme left of the Ecuadorian-Peruvian border,
crossed into the Peruvian border post at Aguas Verdes, and opened fire on a Peruvian patrol.
This led to wide-spread fighting all across the border.
According to Ecuadorian Col. Luis A. Rodr�guez, commander of the Ecuadorian forces defending
the province, some Peruvian civilians, protected by policemen, were clearing a patch of land
on the Ecuadorian side of the river.
Upon seeing the patrol, the Peruvian policemen opened fire, killing one soldier.
This was followed by the widespread exchange of fire between troops.
The much larger and better equipped Peruvian force of 13,000 men quickly overwhelmed the
1,800 Ecuadorian covering forces, driving them back from the Zarumilla and invading
the Ecuadorian province of El Oro.
The Peruvian army had at its disposal a company of armor made up of Czech tanks, with artillery
and air support.
They had also established an air force paratroop detachment in the region and used it to great
effect by seizing the port city of Puerto Bol�var, on July the 27th, marking the first
time in the Americas that airborne troops were used in combat.
Ecuador promptly requested a cease-fire, which went into effect on July 31st.
Yet, Ecuador still carried out guerrilla attacks on the Peruvian troops.
Diplomatic talks between the two nations, finally led to the signing of the Protocolo
de R�o de Janeiro on 29 January 1942.
With it being ratified by the congress of both nations on February the 26th.
By the terms of the Protocol, Ecuador agreed to withdraw its long-standing claim for rights
to direct land access to the Mara�on and Amazon rivers; with Peru agreeing to withdraw
military forces from Ecuadorian territory.
An area of 200,000 km of in the Maynas region was awarded to Peru, which had been established
to be the de facto possessor of the land since the end of the 19th century.
The status quo line defined in the 1936 Lima Accord was used as the basis for the definitive
border line; the previous border recognized current possessions, but not sovereignty.
Relative to the 1936 line, Ecuador ceded 18,000 km of territory to Peru, while Peru ceded
5,000 km of territory to Ecuador.
This protocol was meant to finally settle this dispute between the two nations.
But as is usual with politics, it wasn't long-lasting.
Two more wars would be fought over the boundary for the rest of the century.
And it wouldn't be until 1995, with the signing of the Itamaraty Peace Declaration that one