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Professionalization and Politicization as Mativational Factors in the Brazilian Army Coup of 15 November, 1889

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

Extract

One of the clearest trends in Latin American government during the past decade has been the establishment of military dictatorships in many South American countries, some of them long-term. Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay have all had this experience. In efforts to explain this phenomenon, many scholars have delved into the political history of civil-military relations in Latin American society since 1930. A recent penchant for contemporary history, promoted in part by the availability of funds for policy-oriented research, has stimulated this concern. In the process, however, the deeper historical roots of the institutional development of the Latin American military have been neglected.1

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Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976

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References

1 An exception to this statement is Nunn's, Frederick M. helpful article ‘The Latin American Military Establishment: Some Thoughts on the Origins of its Socio-Political Role and an Illustrative Bibliographical Essay,’ The Americas, XXVIII, 2 (10, 1970), 135–51.Google Scholar

2 An important guide to these works is Lang, Kurt, Military Institutions and the Sociology of War, A Review of the Literature with Annotated Bibliography (Beverly Hills, California, 1972).Google Scholar

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5 For an evaluation of these recent studies, see Rankin, Richard C., ‘The Expanding Institutional Concerns of the Latin American Military Establishments: A Review Article,’ Latin American Research Review, IX, 1 (Spring, 1974), 81108.Google Scholar

6 Much of this material is in the form of articles in such collections as Johnson, John J. (ed.), The Role of the Military in Underdeveloped Countries (Princeton, 1962);CrossRefGoogle ScholarJanowitz, Morris (ed.), The New Military: Changing Patterns of Organization (New York, 1964);Google ScholarBienen, Henry (ed.), The Military Intervenes: Case Studies in Political Development (New York, 1968);Google ScholarDoorn, Jacques Van (ed.), Military Profession and Military Regimes: Commitments and Conflicts (The Hague, 1969);Google Scholar and a three-volume series, Van Gils, M. R. (ed.), The Perceived Role of the Military: Contributions to Military Sociology, Vol. 1, Studies Presented at the Social Science Conference on the Perceived Role of the Military, France, 1970. (Rotterdam, 1975);Google ScholarJanowitz, Morris and Van Doorn, Jacques (eds.), On Military Intervention: Contributions to Military Sociology, Vol. 2, Studies Presented at Varna International Sociological Association Conference, 1970, Part I;Google ScholarJanowitz, Morris and Van Doorn, Jacques (eds.), On Military Ideology: Contributions to Studies on Military Sociology, Vol. 3, Studies Presented at Varna International Sociological Association Conference, 1970 Part II (Rotterdam, 1971).Google Scholar

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8 MacKinlay, R. D., ‘Professionalization, Politicization and Civil Military Relations,’ in Van Gils, M. R. (ed.), The Perceived Role of the Military, pp. 250–1.Google Scholar

9 Finer, , op. cit., pp. 88–9.Google Scholar

10 Ibid., pp. 86–7, 140–8; MacKinlay, , op. cit., pp. 252–3;Google ScholarAbrahamsson, , op. Cit., pp. 153–6.Google Scholar

11 Finer, , op. cit., pp. 148–51;Google ScholarMacKinlay, , Op. Cit., p. 254.Google Scholar

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13 Ibid., pp. 257–8.

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18 Ibid., p. 17.

19 Increasing governmental concern over internal security has thrust the military into domestic peace-keeping roles with obvious political implications. Alfred Stepan has treated this theme with respect to both the United States and Brazil. See Russet, Bruce and Stepan, Alfred (eds.), Military Force and American Society (New York, 1973),Google Scholar and Stepan, Alfred, ‘The New Professionalism of Internal Warfare and Military Role Expansion’, in Authoritarian Brazil: Origins, Policies, and Future (ed. Stepan, Alfred, New Haven, 1973), pp. 4765.Google Scholar

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23 For a traditional approach to the period 1831–70, see Batista Magalhāes, Joāo, A evolução militar do Brasil (Rio de Janeiro, 1958), pp. 293312.Google ScholarSodrù, Cf., op. cit., pp.127–43.Google Scholar New information pertaining to the social origins of the officer corps and pre-Paraguayan War reforms can be found in John Schulz, ‘O exùcito e o impùrio’, in Buarque de Holanda, Sergio (ed.), História geral da civilizaçāo brasileira, Brasil monárquico: de-clínio e queda do impùrio, 11, 4 (São Paulo, 1971), 235–49.Google Scholar

24 Estimates vary for the number of Brazilians who served in Paraguay. The figures used here are those of Augusto Tasso Fragoso who gives a gross figure of 139,000, including 9,000 for the navy and 130,000 for the army. He only specifically accounts for 111,650. See Fragoso, Tasso, Hisiória da guerra entre a tríplice aliança e o Paraguai (5 vols., 2nd ed., Rio de Janeiro, 1960), V, 260–5.Google Scholar

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35 Joaquim do Nascisnento e Silva, Manoel (ed.), Consultas do conselho de estado sobre negócios relativos ao Ministùrio da Guerra, 1887–1889 (Rio de Janeiro, 1890), pp. 4951.Google Scholar

36 Brasil. Ministùrio da Guerra (hereinafter cited as BMG), Relatório, 1872, Annexo A, pp. 151.Google Scholar

37 Ibid., p. 47.

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40 For detailed descriptions of military displays probably viewed by the Brazilian officers, see Thurston, Robert H., Reports of the Commissioners of the United States to the International Exposition held at Vienna, 1873 (4 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1876), 1, 105–6, 190–I; III, 436–9; IV, 76–82.Google Scholar

41 London, 1874.

42 Ibid., p. 15.

43 Ibid., p. 223.

45 Ibid., pp. 236–43.

46 Coleçāo das leis do impùrio do Brasil (hereinafter cited as CLIB), 1874, Decree 5,529 of 17 Jan. 1874. For the historical context of this change, in terms of Brazilian military education, see Peregrino, Umberto, História e projcçāo das instituiçōes culturais do exército (Rio de Janeiro, 1967), pp. II13, 47–52.Google Scholar

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52 Only briefly mentioned here, this condition is documented in my article ‘Institutional Sources of Officer Discontent in the Brazilian Army, 1870–1889’, Hisçanic American Historical Review, 55:1 (02 1975), pp. 4465.Google Scholar

53 CLIB, 1873, Decree 2,105 of 8 02 1873; CLIB, 1887, Decree 9,697 of 15 01 1887. The pay rise became effective during, and perhaps as a result of, the ‘quesāo militar’.Google Scholar

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55 O Soldado, an official semi-weekly newspaper, appeared for a period of approximately three months, from 18 March 1881 to 28 June 1881. Publication resumed as Tribuna Militar from 3 July 1881 to 16 March 1882, under the editorship of Captain Joaquim Silvùrio de Azevedo Pimentel (‘J. Pimentel’) and Major Antônio da Rocha Bezerra Cavalcanti (‘Major Bezerra’).

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59 ‘Publicações a pedido,’ Gazeta dc Notícias, No. 227 (18 08 1881), pp. 23. See also the editorial ‘Construcçāo naval’, Tribuna Militar, No. 35 (30 10 1881), p. 2, in which the editors endorse Silveira da Mota's nationalistic views.Google Scholar

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61 ‘Eleições-município neutro,’ Gazeta de Notícias, No. 301 (I 11 1881), p. 1.Google Scholar

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63 Revista do Exùrcito Brasileiro, 7 vols., 18821888; this journal was published for much of its life at the Tipografia da Tribuna Militar, Rua da Carioca, No. 31, Rio de Janeiro. The founding editors were Alfredo Ernesto Jacques Ourique and Antônio Vicente Ribeiro Guimarāes. Both were officers in the engineering corps and later prominent members of the Military Club in Rio de Janeiro.Google Scholar

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67 ‘Dùcima sexta palestra (28 de junho de 1885)’ REB, IV (1885), 358–23.Google Scholar

68 This event, known as the ‘military question’, has been extensively discussed in Brazilian historiography on the fall of the Second Empire. Cf. Magalhācs, op. cit., 1, 206–86;Google ScholarLyra, Heitor, Queda do impùrio (2 vols., Sāo Paulo, 1964), 1, 42144Google Scholar and Monteiro, Tobias, Pesquisas e depoimentos para a história, pp. III–61.Google Scholar

69 e Silva, Nascimento, Consultas do consclho, pp. 45–6.Google Scholar

70 Pelotas compared the crisis to that which precipitated the abdication of Dom Pedro I in April 1831. See Magalhães, , op. cit., l, 266.Google Scholar

71 CLIB, 1888, Decree 10,015 of 18 08 1888.Google Scholar

72 Magalhāes, , op. Cit., II, 79.Google Scholar

73 For the most complete account of the coup d'ùtat see Lyra, , op. cit., II, 145 ff.Google Scholar

74 Nunn, Frederick M., ‘Emil Körner and the Prussianization of the Chilean Army: Origins, Process, and Consequences, 1885–1920,’ Hispanic American Historical Review, L, 2 (05 1970), 300–22;CrossRefGoogle ScholarNorth, Liisa, Civil-Military Relations in Argentina, Chile, and Peru (Berkeley, 1966), pp. II20.Google Scholar

75 Torres, Oliveira, A democracia coroada (Petrópolis, Brazil, 1964), pp. 491–2.Google Scholar

76 For a selective guide to military writing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, see Ruas Santos, Francisco, Coleçāo bibliográfica militar (Rio de Janeiro, 1960).Google Scholar However, it omits substantive reference to the important review A defeza nacional. For an interpretation of Brazilian military institutional development based partially on writings in A defeza nacianal, see Nunn, , ‘Military Professionalism and Professional Militarism in Brazil, 1870–1970: Historical Perspectives and Political Implications’, Journal of Latin American Studies, IV, 1 (05 1972), 2954.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

77 The basic monograph on the emergence of the Brazilian military as a ruling group in recent times is Alfred, Stepan, The Military in Politics: Changing Patterns in Brazil (Princeton, 1971).Google Scholar