The War of the Triple Alliance is considered the bloodiest war in Latin American history, taking place from 1864 to 1870. In a seemingly unequal match, the country of Paraguay has joined forces with an alliance of three countries: Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. Paraguay sparked this conflict during the reign of Francisco Solano López, the country's dictator. What would drive Fransisco Solano López, dictator of Paraguay, to exponentially increase his military forces and attack an alliance of three countries, two of which are much larger than Paraguay? I will use operational code to study the dictator who started the war and examine why he made such a rash and risky decision. After examining Francisco Solano López's operational code, I will delve deeper into the topic of prospect theory to further evaluate the reasons for mobilizing an army and starting a war, as well as the risks that this entails. The subject of militarized interstate conflicts, otherwise known as MIDs, will be the last subject I will address in relation to the causes of the war, and I will explain its motivations for the conflict as well as the motivations of the opposition. Operational CodeWhen examining the causes of a decision, it is important to look at the decision maker himself and see what his operational code was. By understanding López's operational code, we are able to better see his organic roots and motivations in the decision he made. The operational code is an indication of how an individual will make a decision, based on their education, previous experiences, and ideologies in general that would help them make a decision. In Levy and Thompson's Causes of War, the operational code is explained by sayi...... middle of paper ......rancisco Solano López and the ruin of Paraguay: honor and self-centeredness. New York: Rowan and Littlefield, 2007. Print.Box, Pelham Horton. The origins of the Paraguayan War. New York: Russell & Russell, 1967. Print. Kraay, Hendrik and Thomas Whigham. I die with my country: perspectives on the Paraguayan war, 1864-1870. Lincoln, Neb. : University of Nebraska, 2004. Print. Levy, Jack S. and William R. Thompson. Causes of war. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Print. The Paraguayan War: the forgotten war. Real. Denis Wright. Quilombo Films, 2009. DVD. Vasquez, John A. "The Probability of War, 1816-1992. Presidential Address to the International Studies Association, March 25, 2002, New Orleans." International Studies Quarterly 48.1 (2004): 1-27. Print. Whigham, Thomas. The Paraguayan War. Lincoln, Neb. : University of Nebraska, 2002. Print.