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The Brazilian Armed Forces and the Overthrow of the Monarchy: Another Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

June E. Hahner
June E. Hahner*
Affiliation:
State University of New York, at Albany
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Extract

In mid-November of 1889, elements of the armed forces stationed in Rio de Janeiro formally overthrew the Brazilian monarchy. Analyses of these events always include the discontent of the army as one of the major factors in the downfall of the empire, along with the disillusionment of the planters following the abolition of slavery without compensation, the gradual acceptance of the inevitability of a republic by Brazil's political elite, and the “religious question,” that is, the conflict between secularism and ultramontanism in the 1870's. Many of the older studies of these events, such as Oliveira Vianna's, stress the armed forces as the major factor in the downfall of the empire; however, several more recent works, for example, that of José Maria Bello, relegate the officers to a far less important role. In this article, both these views will be considered, and then the composition and activities of the Brazilian armed forces will be examined in greater detail.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 26 , Issue 2 , October 1969 , pp. 171 - 182
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1969

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References

1 Vianna, F.J. Oliveira, O occaso do império (São Paulo, 1925)Google Scholar; Bello, José Maria, História da república (1889–1954) 4th ed. (São Paulo, 1959).Google Scholar

Other useful accounts of the overthrow of the monarchy include Otôni, Christiano Benedicto, O advento da república no Brasil (Rio de Janeiro, 1890),Google Scholar and Lyra, Heitor, História da queda do império 2 vols. (São Paulo, 1964).Google Scholar The traditional account in English is that by Martin, Percy Alvin, “Causes of the Collapse of the Brazilian Empire,” Hispanic American Historical Review, 4 (Feb. 1921), 4–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar A much more recent analysis is that by Boehrer, George C. A., “The Brazilian Republican Revolution: Old and New Ideas,” Luso-Brazilian Review, 3 (Winter, 1966), 43–57.Google Scholar Also of interest are “Sobre as origens da República,” Anais do Museu Taulista, XVIII (1964), 63–120, and “A proclamação da República,” Anais do Museu Pontista, XIX (1965), 169–207, by Emilia Viotti da Costa.

2 Vianna, Oliveira, O occaso do império, p. 135.Google Scholar

3 Lyra, Heitor, História de queda do império, 2, 132.Google Scholar

4 See especially editorials in O Republicano (Rio de Janeiro), A Federação (Porto Alegre) A Denúncia (Porto Alegre), and Diário de Notícias and O País in Rio de Janeiro in 1889.

For a careful account of support which certain republicans gave to various officers in their squabbles with the imperial government, see Boehrer, George C. A., Da monarqua á república. História do Partido Republicano do Brasil (1870-1889) trans. Xavier, Berenice (Rio de Janeiro, 1954), pp. 291–300.Google Scholar

5 Deodoro to Clodoaldo da Fonseca, Rio de Janeiro, Sept. 30, 1888, and Oct. 16, 1888, Clodoaldo da Fonseca Papers, in the possession of Dr. Roberto Piragibe da Fonseca, Rio de Janeiro.

6 Quintino Bocaiúva to Gabriel Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Feb. 19, 1889, Archivo do Museu Histórico Nacional, uncataloged.

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12 Jornal do Comércio, June 25, 1893, p. 1; see also de Oliveira Freire, Felisbello Firmo, História da revolta de 6 de setembro de 1893 (Rio de Janeiro, 1896), p. 75.Google Scholar

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15 See, for example, Vianna, Oliveira, O occaso do império, p. 136 Google Scholar; Ottoni, , O advento da república no Brasil, p. 80 Google Scholar; Freire, , História constitucional da república, 1, 191.Google Scholar

16 One sympathetic contemporary observer who holds to this view is Seixas, Démetrio, in O golpe d’;estado de 15 de novembre. (Ao exército e à armada) (Porto Alegre, 1890), p. 171 Google Scholar; Jacques Ourique, a politically inclined officer, also criticized the imperial government for its treatment of the army after the conclusion of the Paraguayan War, and held that the officers began to perceive this and protest. (“A revolução de lì de novembre,” in Jornal do Comércio, Jan. 4, 1890, p. 2.)

A recent compilation of secondary sources, Simmons, Charles W., Marshal Deodoro and the Fall of Dom Pedro II (Durham, N. C, 1966),Google Scholar summarizes this point of view by saying that the army officers returning from the war, “influenced by contact with their Republican brothers-in-arms from the Rio de la Plata, now had a desire for political power.” (Ibid., p. 36.).

17 That the army was poorly paid, instructed, and organized is even contended by Eduardo Prado, a die-hard monarchist, at the time when he most opposed political activities by the officers, shortly after the fall of the empire ([pseud: Frederico de S.] Fastos da dictadura militar no Brazil. 3rd ed. Lisbon, 1890), pp. 5–6).

18 Brazil, , Ministério da Guerra, Relatório apresentado à Assemblea Qeral Legislativa na terceira sessão da vigesima legislatura pelo ministro e secretario de estado dos negocios da guerra Thomaz José Coelho d’Almeida (Rio de Janeiro, 1888), Anexos, p. 3 Google Scholar; Magalhães, João Batista, A evolução militar do Brasil (Anotações para a História) (Rio de Janeiro, 1958), pp. 312–319 Google Scholar; Barroso, Gustavo, História militar do Brasil (São Paulo, 1935), p. 83 Google Scholar; Jerram, Charles S., Armies of the World (New York, 1900), p. 30 Google Scholar; Lopes, Theodorico and Torres, Gentil, Ministros da guerra do Brasil (1808–1950) 4th ed. (Rio de Janeiro, 1950), p. 30 Google Scholar; Macedo, Roberro, A administração de Floriano. Vol. 5. of Floriano. Memorias e documentos (Rio de Janeiro, 1939), p. 246)Google Scholar; Nogueira Cobra, Amador Pereira Gomes, Brios de gente armada (Pàginas republicanas na História do Brazil) (São Paulo, [1924?]), p. 180.Google Scholar

19 In 1888, out of a total of 11,748 men in the army, 1,839 were stationed in Rio de Janeiro, and in 1889, with 13,152 men in the army, 1,911 were garrisoned in Rio. (Brazil, Ministério da Guerra, Relatório, 1888, Annexos, p. 3; Brazil, Ministério da Guerra, Relatório, 1889, Annexos, p. 12.)

20 Campos Salles, Manuel Ferraz, Da propaganda à presidencia (São Paulo, 1908), p. 54.Google Scholar

21 de Carvalho, José Carlos, O livro da minha vida. Na guerra, na paz e nas revoluções (1847-1910) (Rio de Janeiro, 1912), pp. 100–119 Google Scholar; Corrêa, Serzedello, Uma Figura da república. Páginas do passade 2d ed. (Rio de Janeiro, 1959), pp. 44–46 Google Scholar; de Mello, Custódio José, O governo provisório e a revolução de 1893 (São Paulo, 1938), 1, 18, 37–39, 56–62Google Scholar; Gazeta de Notícias, Nov. 25, 1891, p. 1; Santos, Noronha, A revoluçã de 1891 e suas consequèncias. Vol. 2 of Floriano. Memórias e documentos (Rio de Janeiro, 1939, pp. 79–87.Google Scholar

22 Carvalho, , O livro da minha vida, pp. 171–180 Google Scholar; de Abranches, Dunshee, ed., O golpe de estado. Atas e atos do governo Lucetta (Rio de Janeiro, 1954), pp. 133–139 Google Scholar; articles of F. G. in O Dia, April 10, 1901, p. 1, April 11, 1901, p. 1, April 12, 1901, p. 1, April 13,, 1901, p. 1.

23 See de Villeroy, Augusto Ximeno, Benjamin Constant e a política republicana (Rio de Janeiro, 1928), p. 2,Google Scholar and Cardoso, Vicente Licinio, “Benjamin Constant,” in À margem da História da república (Ideaes, crenças e affirmações) (Rio de Janeiro, 1924), p. 296.Google Scholar

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25 Luz, Nícia Villela, “O papel das classes mídias brasileiras no movimento republicano,” Revista de História, No. 57 (Jan.-Mar. 1964), 13–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

26 Atas of Club Militar, Session of General Assembly, Nov. 5, 1890.

27 Ourique, Jacques, Correio da Tarde, Dec. 31, 1895, p. 1.Google Scholar

28 Ibid.

29 Ferreira Caldas, Honorato Candido, [pseud. Kleber,] A legalidade de 23 de novembre. Coordenação didáctica de tres elementos syntheticos: Secção militar d’ O Combate, documentos históricos, Congresso Nacional de novembre de 1891 a setembro de 1892 (Rio de Janeiro, 1892), p. 47.Google Scholar

30 Manifesto of Admiral Melo, Jornal do Comércio, Sept. 7, 1893, p. 1.

31 Manifesto of Saldanha da Gama, Ilha das Cobras, Dec. 7, 1893, in de Abranches, Dunshee, A revolta da armada e a revolução rio grandense. Correspondencia entre Saldanha da Gama e Silveira Martins (Rio de Janeiro, 1914), I, 11–13.Google Scholar

32 See Notas de um revoltoso. (Diário de bordo). Documentos authenticos publicados pelo “Commercio de S. Paulo” anonym. (Rio de Janeiro, 1895), pp. 135–139, 146–150; Mello, , O governo provisório, 2, 34–36, 300–301Google Scholar; de Abranches, Dunshee, A revolta da armada, 1, 29–30, 68–69, II, 25–29Google Scholar; de Souza, Augusto Carlos e Silva, , O almirante Saldanha e a revolta da armada. Reminiscencias de um revoltoso (Rio de Janeiro, 1936), pp. 302–305 Google Scholar; Saldanha to Carlos Landares, Montevideo, Oct. 9, 1894, Arquivo do Serviço Geral da Marinha, Box 70; Conde de Leopoldina to Rui Barbosa, Lisbon, Dec. 17, 1893, Jan. 8, 1894, Feb. 7, 1894, Arquivo da Casa de Rui Barbosa, Pasta Conde de Leopoldina.

33 For a fuller discussion of these events, see Hahner, June E., “The Paulistas’ Rise to Power: A Civilian Group Ends Military Rule,” HAHR. XLVII (May, 1967), 149–165.Google Scholar