It started when supporters of candidate Adolfo Chirife attempted to forcefully restore the implementation of presidential elections canceled by President Eusebio Ayala.

On 27 May 1922, following the failure of two weeks of negotiations between the two sides, Adolfo Chirife ordered his military and civilian supporters in Paraguarí to launch an offensive on the capital, thus beginning a civil war.

The Gondristas continued their advance, taking Itapé and Salitre Cué (a village with a railway station), and finally entering Villarrica without firing a single shot on July 31.

A Gondrista aircraft of the same model then took off, piloted by British aviator Patrick Hassett, who fired at the bomber and forced it to retreat to Cangó, in an engagement that is considered to be the first recorded dogfight in South America.

[2] The following day another Constitutionalist SVA.5 attacked Salitre-cué, only to be forced down near Cangó by Hassett after an intense dogfight, making him the first airmen to shoot down another aircraft over South America.

On 13 November, a loyalist detachment marched on Caí Puente, while a second column perpetrated a surprise attack on the Constitutionalist rearguard, capturing Carmen del Paraná.

Three days later Gondrists took the Schaererirst stronghold of Caí Puente, but many Constitutionalists managed to escape detention, reorganising and moving north towards the unprotected capital.

Passing through the densely forested areas of Carapeguá, Itá and San Lorenzo, Mendoza entered the capital on 9 July 1923 without encountering significant resistance.

[2] As Sapienza (2018) notes: "The insurgents, led by Lt. Col. Brizuela, advanced against only limited resistance, mainly from the police force in the capital, reaching the center of the city by the evening of 9 July.

The following day, with victor apparently in their grasp, the insurgents were undermined by their old nemesis, defective logistic support, and ran out of ammunition and had to retreat in the face of a resolute counter-attack; coincidently as the Loyalist forces from the north arrived at the outskirts of Asunción, taking them in the rear.