During Brazil's First Republic (1889–1930), the Brazilian Army was one of several land-based military forces present in the country. The army was equipped and funded by the federal government, while state and local chiefs had the Public Forces ("small state armies") and irregular forces such as patriotic battalions.
The First Republic began and ended with political interventions by the army—the Proclamation of the Republic and the Revolution of 1930, respectively—and the army was additionally deployed in several internal conflicts. Profound army reforms, inspired by European standards and competition against Argentina, increased the Brazilian Army's capabilities both for war and for participation in society. The army's function was twofold: external defense and maintenance of internal order. These were reflected in its territorial distribution, concentrated mostly in Rio Grande do Sul and in the federal capital in Rio de Janeiro.
At the beginning of the First Republic, the army was a small force of less than 15,000 men, organized in small battalions or equivalent isolated forces, without larger permanent units. Mobilization was difficult. Soldiers were recruited through voluntary service or forced conscription, they had no routine military training and served long "professional" careers without being incorporated into a reserve. Officers had academic education of a civilian nature at the Military School of Praia Vermelha (EMPV), the "scientists", or little to no education, the "tarimbeiros". In the violent 1890s, the army exhibited a poor performance in campaigns such as the War of Canudos, motivating reforms implemented by successive administrations in the Ministry of War from the turn of the century. The General Staff of the Army (EME) was created in 1896 to serve as the highest body, but it was not clear whether command of the army would be exercised by the Minister of War or the head of EME. A new system of coastal fortifications was built in Guanabara Bay over several decades.
The Imperial German Army became the main outside influence in 1908, under Hermes da Fonseca's War Ministry. Officers sent to train in Germany launched a movement for military reform upon their return, earning the nickname "Young Turks". Until 1921, a modern order of battle was established, with military regions, regiments, brigades and divisions, although many units were not created or were understaffed. New German weapons equipped the troops and the Vila Militar was built in Rio de Janeiro. Mandatory military service was instituted through the Sortition Law in 1908, but only during the First World War, when the importance of the Armed Forces increased, did it come into effect in 1916. Through this new mechanism, soldiers became a temporary component of the force and a constant increase in personnel was possible, which reached up to 50,000 men in 1930.
German influence gave way to the French Military Mission, hired in 1919. Sergeants gained importance at the head of the new tactical units, the combat groups, and the army acquired its first armored vehicles and aviation. Almost all equipment was imported, as the country's arms industry was inexpressive. In the 1920s, a new generation of officers had already emerged, professionalized at the Military School of Realengo, which succeeded the EMPV. Career progression came to depend on new or reformed schools such as the Officers Improvement School and the General Staff School. Defense plans were prepared against Argentina, which had a more modern army. Military authorities hoped that the reforms would produce officers more loyal to the hierarchy, but the result were the lieutenant revolts from the lower ranks. In the long run, the strengthening of the army's leadership and the expansion of the concept of national defense, initiated in this period, allowed for military interventions by generals that occurred later in Brazilian history, such as the 1937 coup d'état.
Background
The officers within society
The republic was established in Brazil by a coup d'état by officers dissatisfied with the civilian elite of the Empire. As these soldiers were not united, after two military governments (Deodoro da Fonseca and Floriano Peixoto) power passed to the civilian oligarchies in 1894. The Old or First Brazilian Republic, which lasted until the Revolution of 1930, was marked by the predominance of the elites of São Paulo and Minas Gerais in the country's political scene, the large autonomy of the states and coronelism in local politics. The country's economy relied on agricultural exports, with the coffee cycle reaching its peak, but industrialization and urbanization also advanced.
In this context, army officers were marginalized and resentful of the civilian elite. They came from the small educated portion of the population, but still from the middle strata, with no money to pay for a law or medical school for their children; some were from traditional military families. A military career was a form of social ascension. The pay was modest and, below the rank of colonel, the standard of living was outside the middle class. The low number of army soldiers from São Paulo and Minas Gerais was an indication of the divorce with the civilian elite: in 1895, there were eight generals from Rio Grande do Sul, one from São Paulo and none from Minas Gerais; in 1930 there were eight from Rio Grande do Sul and none from Minas Gerais or São Paulo. Officers were not apolitical: bonuses and bribes helped to co-opt senior officials, who worked politically through appointments and promotions and sometimes used their prestige to win elections. The urbanization and industrialization of the period created new allies in society for officers opposed to the dominant oligarchies.
The coastal towns were the origin of a large part of the officialdom. The intellectual officers who served in the cities were appalled at the conditions encountered by their colleagues sent to units in the vast interior of the country. From then on, the officers' self-image as a civilizing force was born, which would mark the presence of the State in the most remote borders of the country, transmit civic and military instruction to its populations and transform Brazil into a nation state.
The army among the defense forces
The Brazilian Navy competed with the army due to institutional rivalries and the benefits received from those in power. Due to its distance from the proclamation of the republic, it lost priority to the army in the first republican governments. After the admirals' participation in the naval revolts, the navy was greatly weakened and only recovered after Rodrigues Alves's government (1902–1906), implicitly as a counterweight to the army. The profile of navy officers was more aristocratic, isolated and more professionally trained, making the navy more open to civilian elites. The navy's political participation is lower than that of the army in the period.
The army was not the only land-based military force, as local leaders and state oligarchies had their own troops. On paper there were still units of the National Guard, subordinated to the Ministry of Justice, with officers formed by local political elites, whose soldiers were men under their command. It was more common for these political chiefs to arm and mobilize their peons and henchmen in "patriotic battalions", enforcing their will by force.
The biggest problem was the military police (Public Forces), which prevented the Armed Forces from gaining complete internal military control. Taking advantage of the privileges of federalism, the oligarchies of the most powerful states transformed their police forces into small armies, some of which were better equipped for war than the federal army itself. The Public Force of São Paulo hired a French training mission before the Brazilian Army and maintained its own aviation. In São Paulo and other states, state troops outnumbered federal ones. These state armies secured the political power of the states and made federal intervention difficult. In contrast to these forces, the federal army had national presence and interests, serving as a strong arm of the central power against regionalist tendencies.
Mandatory military service made the National Guard redundant. It was extinguished in 1919 and replaced by the 2nd line of the army, but this force had no effective organization and was also extinguished in 1921. In 1917–1918 the Public Forces and Fire Brigades were, by agreement, considered auxiliary forces of the army, while the National Guard was considered the 2nd line of the army. For minister Caetano de Faria, a great challenge had been overcome and the army had gained control of the military forces. However, the problem would only be truly resolved after 1930.
The army's purpose
Operational history
The Brazilian Empire was overthrown in a bloodless military coup, but the next decade was a bloody one. The greatest threat to the new regime was the Federalist Revolution of 1893–1895, when Rio Grande do Sul entered a state of civil war, which spread to Santa Catarina and Paraná and connected to the second navy revolt, which started in the capital. The Federalist Revolution and the War of Canudos (1896–1897) resulted in thousands of deaths.
After this period, in 1900–1902, Brazilians faced Bolivians in the Acre War, when the only missions against a neighboring country took place in the period. The army participated in the repression of the Vaccine Revolt, in 1904, but the Military School of Praia Vermelha launched a rebellion at the same time. From 1912 to 1916, the Contestado War was fought, a conflict with similarities to Canudos, but which took place over a vast area. Brazil declared war on Germany in 1917, joining the Allies in World War I, but only the navy went abroad. The army was also called upon to intervene in some of the numerous local "civil wars" when state forces were unable to resolve them.
The combat experiences of the 1890s ruined the army rather than strengthening its professionalism. The army was already weakened in the last two decades of the Brazilian Empire, and in the first years of the republic, its operability was sometimes inferior to that of rebels. In Canudos, the army needed to mobilize 40% of its personnel and send several expeditions to defeat peasants unprepared for war. The officers' consensus in the early 20th century was that their force was inefficient and backward, with low budgets, poor facilities, and uneven weaponry making training and maintenance difficult. Poor performance in campaigns such as Canudos and Contestado convinced the high command of the need for reforms.
In the 1920s, a new cycle of revolts began from the lower ranks of the army, tenentism: the Copacabana Fort revolt, the 1924 uprisings in São Paulo, Sergipe, Amazonas and Rio Grande do Sul and the Prestes Column until 1927, among others. Tenentism was just a revolt within the army, whose command remained loyal to the government. The tenentists were only successful when they allied with Liberal Alliance politicians to overthrow the First Republic in the Revolution of 1930, inaugurating the Vargas Era.
Reformist movements