I’ve been studying Brazilian history and it’s just fascinating. I’ve been wanting to contribute more to the forum and I didn’t know how. So I thought I’d write some brief stories about Brazil. I suppose that if even just a handful of people finds it useful, that’s a success already.
Brazilian history in short stories
- Thread starter Dovana
- Start date
Getúlio Vargas: Dictator, President and “Father of the poor”
(19 April 1882 - 24 August 1954)
“Once again, the forces… against the people condemn me and unfold upon me. […]
I follow the fate imposed on me. After decades of plundering from… international groups, I made myself leader of a revolution and I won. I installed… social liberty. [Then] I had to renounce. [Then] I returned, on the arms of the people[…]. I wanted to create national freedom in the potentialization of our riches through Petrobras[…], Eletrobras was impeded to dispair. They don’t want the worker to be free.
[…] I took office in an inflationary spiral that was destroying the worker. […]
Foreign profit reached 500% a year. We tried to protect [our industry] and the response was a violent pressure on our economy […].
I have fought month by month, day by day, hour by hour, resisting a constant… pressure, bearing in silence, forgetting all, renouncing myself, to defend the people, who now lie in neglect. No more can I give, but my blood. If the eagles want someone’s blood, if they want to suck the blood of the Brazilian people, I offer in holocaust my own life.
I choose this means to always be with ye. When be ye humiliated, you shall feel my soul suffering by your side. When hunger knock on your door, you shall feel in your chest the energy to fight for ye and your children. When they sly, you shall feel the force for reaction. My sacrifice shall unite ye and my name shall be the banner of the struggle. Every drop of blood will be an immortal fire in your consciousness, and shall maintain the sacred consciousness for the resistance. To hatred, I answer with forgiveness.
And to those who think have defeated me, I respond with my victory. But this people, to whom I was slave, shall be no one’s slave. My sacrifice will be forever in their soul, and my blood is the price of ransom. […] I have fought with an open chest. I gave you my life. Now I offer you my death. I have no concerns. Serenely I take my first step in the path of eternity and I leave life, to enter History.”
On the morning of the 24 of August 1854, around 7:45AM a shot was heard in the presidential Catete Palace. Four people rush to president Vargas’s bedroom. He was in his pajamas, still alive, half of his body hanging out of the bed, with his heart wounded and with blood gushing out of his chest. “He stopped. Gave the impression of feeling great emotion. At this moment, he dies”.
“It was a desolating scene”.
Thus ended Getúlio Vargas’s second mandate as a president. He had apent 15 years as a national dicator, from 1930-1945. He was then deposed. In the same year, 1945, he ran for senator for his state, Rio Grande do Sul/Southern Great River (brazil’s Southernmost state), and won by an overwhelming majority, with people from several other states voting for him, as if he was running for their states - which he wasn’t. The flood of voting was so overwhelming that he won as a senator and a congressman in several of those states for which he didn’t run, nor could he in any way officially take office.
Vargas was born in São Borja/Saint Borja, very close to the border with Argentina, in the last decade when Brazil was an Empire under Pedro II. His ancestors were mainly Portuguese from Azores and the founders of São Paulo (Brazil’s largest city), including the patriarch Amador Bueno. Some genealogists have found indigenous origins to him.
He studied in Minas Gerais/General Mines, got involved in a fight which ended in a death, so he and his brother came back to Rio Grande do Sul. He became a soldier in 1898, at the age of 16. He stayed in the army for 5 years, and it is said this was a formative experience and lead him to modernize the forces when he was in office later.
Vargas then went to law school from 1904-1907, and there he found influential friends and started his involvement with politics in the students’ movements.
In 1909 state-level representative for Rio Grande do Sul (RS). Spent around 10 years in the house - non-consecutives.
In 1923, he ran and won for national congressman, then became Minister of the National Expendetures (Fazenda) in 1927. He participated and signed active monetary reforms.
He ran and won as governor of RS (Rio Grande do Sul) in 1928. He became very well known for being an “articulator”, and being able to have opposing groups to work together.
Now, the juicy part. He then ran for president. This requires a bit of context:
1889 there was a military coup that started the Republic we live today. Pedro II, then emperor, exiled himself in France after 48 of reign.
Pedro enjoyed very large public support, abolished slavery, challenged UK itself to a naval war, and made the country a world economic power. Practicaly no one was expecting the change. The group of militaries that marched toward the palace was quite small, and people thought it was just a parade. Pedro offered no resistance. It was quite an unenthusastic proclamation of republic.
Soon afterwards, the expected civil struggles started, and the republic was basically an oligarchy, where mainly two states would have minor squabbles or gentlemanish agreements on who’s having the next president for the next 4 years. Vote frauds and corruption war rampant and out in the open. Oligarchs would tell people on whom to vote, and they did. There was no right to secrecy of vote.
So this is where Vargas comes in to be president, proposing women’s votes and secret vote.
Well, he lost the election to a candidate from São Paulo. Some say there was an agreement they’d let RS win this time, to make the alternance between São Paulo and Minas Gerais states look a bit less ridiculous, and for a bit of power sharing. His party accused São Paulo of fraud. Everyone was accusing everyone of fraud, for that matter, and most likely it was largely true. Then a governor in the North called João Pessoa was murdered in broad daylight. Civil chaos ensued.
So in 1930 he enacted a coup, stopping São Paulo candidate take office. A “Provisory State” was put in place, and all governors were to be chosen by him, and all mayors chosen by the governors. He remained head of state in a a long crisis that ensued until 1945.
Some notable events are:
• He was unsure whether to side with Nazis or US-ers. A very bizarre series of supposedly nazi submarines sinking brazilian commercial fleet happened, and the US was “insisting” Brazil sided with the american neighbors - apparently there were plans (Plan Rubber) to invade Brazil if She remained neutral - So Vargas did comply with the US.
• Inplemented an economic plan to deal with the market crash in 1930. Revolved around managing the price of coffee.
• Crated the Law of Sindicalization
• Created the Ministry of Labour, Industry and Commerce. Created the National Counsel of Labour, and the Labour Court. Created the “labour card” (CLT), which gave the workers ample new rights.
• Fought an insurgency mainly from São Paulo.
• Severely persecuted communists, despite being having very strong “left-leaning” measures. There were supposed plans for a big communait coup in 1935, but it was thwarted.
Many of the directives creates in this period remain to this day, especially the labour-related ones.
Opposition accumulated and he resigned in 1945. Again, it seems there were plans for military intevention. No prob. The same year he runs for senator again, and the country says “hell yeah!”. That’s when the votes from the whole country came gushing in.
In 1950 he started a presidential campaign, with the slogan - no joke: “he will be back!”. And back he was. There were many legal actions to stop him from running, mainly accusing him of having enacted a coup and having been anti-democratic. Myself, I find those quite hard to argue against, but the judges didn’t think so. The judges rejected the suits and Vargas ran normally.
A quote from the opposition sounds very familiar today, especially for US-ers. Carlos Lacerda said: “[Vargas] musn’t be a candidate to presidency. Being candidate, musn’t be elected. Elected, musn’t take office. Taking office, we must make use of revolution to impede him from governing”. Doesn’t that sound and feel incredibly familiar?
Well, he did get elected in 1950. He earned 3.849.040 votes, far ahead of second place Brigadier Eduardo Gomes, a leader in the air force, who earned 2.324.384 votes.
People close to him said the man was tired. He was 68 by then. But boy, was he productive. Here’s just a few measures taken in his mandate:
• Law 1.521: criminalizing ponzi schemes. Remains to this day.
• Law 1.522: allows govt to intervene to ensure distribution of necessary products to people. Changed in 1962.
• Decree 30.363: limits returns on investment to foreign companies to 8%. Revoked in 1991.
• Decree 31.546: regularized the work of a a labour apprentice. Ramined until 2001.
• Law 1.802: regarding crimes against the State and Social and Political Order. Changed in 1967.
• Law 2.004: The state shall have monopoly over the exploration of national oil. Revoked in 1997.
• Law 2.083: Regarding Freedom of Press. Remained until 1967.
• The SUMOC instruction n•70, which created multiple currency exchanges and currency auctions.
• Law 1.628: National Bank for Development created. Strong and exists to this day.
• Law 2.004: Petrobras was created. Strong and remains to this day.
• Law 1.649: Bank of Northeast created. (It’s the country’s poorest region).
• Law 2.145: creation of the Wallet of Foreign Commerce at the Bank of Brazil
• sanctioned law 2.252: against the corruption of minors. Remained until 2005.
• An agreement of military co-operation with the US. Revoked in the 70’s.
In his last days, there was intense political turmoil. There were corruption scandals coming out. Vargas said he was sitting on a “sea of mud”. The whole press was against him, except for a close ally.
One of the very bold measures he was pushing was to increase minimum wage by 100%. Yes, 100%. Apparently the military - for some reason - were particularly unhappy about it.
So, if you see the laws above, they imply, at least at first glance, that he was:
• directly opposing foreign interests
• creating some sort of social order (unity creates power, you know)
• acting truly democratically, to a point where the freedom of the press he protected turned against him
• practicing very drastic plans to create prosperity for the poor
And the military were unhappy… I think you can see where this is going...
If there weren’t enough patterns yet, there was a murder of another important high-profile murder - very similarly to 1930.
Remeber Carlos Lacerda from a moment back? The one who said “he musn’t…”. Well, right in front of the building he lived, in Rio, a major from the airforce was killed, and in the same incident Lacerda himself was shot in the foot. Reminder: the second place in the presidential run was a brigadeer from the air force.
The crime was attributed to a man called Alcino from Vargas’ personal guard. The newspapers would speak of barely anything else. The air force does a parallel investigation. The suspects are chased down and captured, personally lead by a man named Délio de Matos, who would then become Minister of Air Force. Even a helicopter - novelty for the time - was used.
Vargas’ personal protection guard was dismantled on the 8 August 1954. Alcino was captured on the 13 August 1954.
Because of the scandal, there was intense pressure for Vargas to step down. 19 generals signed a letter saying they “sympathize” with the airforce, and that they “judge… best… the stepping down of the president”.
Vargas conceded, and said he would do that, and said “I determine the military must maintain the order. If order is kept, I shall be in license from office. Otherwise, the insurrectors will find here my dead body.”
On a ministerial meeting on the 23 August, he signed a document right at the end. No one dared ask what it was. He gave his close friend Tancredo Neves, minister of Justice, a Parker 51 golden pen, and said “to the certain friend during uncertain hours!”
After this night - anniversary to the Night of Saint Bartholomew -, he takes his last action. The rest is History.
—————
What he signed in front of the ministers was a sort of a first version of his “will-letter”. It has a similar message, but not as powerfully worded, refined or self-less sounding as the second, which is the one this post started with.
The chief of Vargas’ guard, Gregório Fortunato, confesses to having called the hit on the airforce major. In 1956 the accused parts were trialed. Fortunato was sentenced to 25 years in prison. A future president lowered it to 20. Another president to 15. In 1962, Fortunato was killed in prison.
Alcino Nascimento, the main suspect of the murder of the airforce major, was interviewed at the age of 82, in 2004. He insists the first shot which killed the major came from Carlos Lacerda - the one got shot in the foot. A eyewitness gave a testimony to Tv Record in 2004 saying Lacerda was never shot at all. The documents of Lacerda’s stay at the hospital disappeared never to be found.
Vargas is one of the 72 “Heroes of the Nation”, whose names are inscribed in the Book of Steel. The “Pantheon” carries the name of the Minister who got the golden pen as a gift, is the one quoted describing what he saw during Vargas’ last breath: Tancredo Neves.
Much happened since. It is not coincidence many of his laws were revoked in the 90’s. Many tactics, even speeches word by word remain the same. And about the immortal fire, nurtured by the man’s blood? Well, that remains to be seen. We are 200.000.000 in this country. We shall see how many will step up to the plate and stoke the fire of freedom.
Sources: mainly Wikipedia, and bits from history classes in school.
(19 April 1882 - 24 August 1954)
“Once again, the forces… against the people condemn me and unfold upon me. […]
I follow the fate imposed on me. After decades of plundering from… international groups, I made myself leader of a revolution and I won. I installed… social liberty. [Then] I had to renounce. [Then] I returned, on the arms of the people[…]. I wanted to create national freedom in the potentialization of our riches through Petrobras[…], Eletrobras was impeded to dispair. They don’t want the worker to be free.
[…] I took office in an inflationary spiral that was destroying the worker. […]
Foreign profit reached 500% a year. We tried to protect [our industry] and the response was a violent pressure on our economy […].
I have fought month by month, day by day, hour by hour, resisting a constant… pressure, bearing in silence, forgetting all, renouncing myself, to defend the people, who now lie in neglect. No more can I give, but my blood. If the eagles want someone’s blood, if they want to suck the blood of the Brazilian people, I offer in holocaust my own life.
I choose this means to always be with ye. When be ye humiliated, you shall feel my soul suffering by your side. When hunger knock on your door, you shall feel in your chest the energy to fight for ye and your children. When they sly, you shall feel the force for reaction. My sacrifice shall unite ye and my name shall be the banner of the struggle. Every drop of blood will be an immortal fire in your consciousness, and shall maintain the sacred consciousness for the resistance. To hatred, I answer with forgiveness.
And to those who think have defeated me, I respond with my victory. But this people, to whom I was slave, shall be no one’s slave. My sacrifice will be forever in their soul, and my blood is the price of ransom. […] I have fought with an open chest. I gave you my life. Now I offer you my death. I have no concerns. Serenely I take my first step in the path of eternity and I leave life, to enter History.”
On the morning of the 24 of August 1854, around 7:45AM a shot was heard in the presidential Catete Palace. Four people rush to president Vargas’s bedroom. He was in his pajamas, still alive, half of his body hanging out of the bed, with his heart wounded and with blood gushing out of his chest. “He stopped. Gave the impression of feeling great emotion. At this moment, he dies”.
“It was a desolating scene”.
Thus ended Getúlio Vargas’s second mandate as a president. He had apent 15 years as a national dicator, from 1930-1945. He was then deposed. In the same year, 1945, he ran for senator for his state, Rio Grande do Sul/Southern Great River (brazil’s Southernmost state), and won by an overwhelming majority, with people from several other states voting for him, as if he was running for their states - which he wasn’t. The flood of voting was so overwhelming that he won as a senator and a congressman in several of those states for which he didn’t run, nor could he in any way officially take office.
Vargas was born in São Borja/Saint Borja, very close to the border with Argentina, in the last decade when Brazil was an Empire under Pedro II. His ancestors were mainly Portuguese from Azores and the founders of São Paulo (Brazil’s largest city), including the patriarch Amador Bueno. Some genealogists have found indigenous origins to him.
He studied in Minas Gerais/General Mines, got involved in a fight which ended in a death, so he and his brother came back to Rio Grande do Sul. He became a soldier in 1898, at the age of 16. He stayed in the army for 5 years, and it is said this was a formative experience and lead him to modernize the forces when he was in office later.
Vargas then went to law school from 1904-1907, and there he found influential friends and started his involvement with politics in the students’ movements.
In 1909 state-level representative for Rio Grande do Sul (RS). Spent around 10 years in the house - non-consecutives.
In 1923, he ran and won for national congressman, then became Minister of the National Expendetures (Fazenda) in 1927. He participated and signed active monetary reforms.
He ran and won as governor of RS (Rio Grande do Sul) in 1928. He became very well known for being an “articulator”, and being able to have opposing groups to work together.
Now, the juicy part. He then ran for president. This requires a bit of context:
1889 there was a military coup that started the Republic we live today. Pedro II, then emperor, exiled himself in France after 48 of reign.
Pedro enjoyed very large public support, abolished slavery, challenged UK itself to a naval war, and made the country a world economic power. Practicaly no one was expecting the change. The group of militaries that marched toward the palace was quite small, and people thought it was just a parade. Pedro offered no resistance. It was quite an unenthusastic proclamation of republic.
Soon afterwards, the expected civil struggles started, and the republic was basically an oligarchy, where mainly two states would have minor squabbles or gentlemanish agreements on who’s having the next president for the next 4 years. Vote frauds and corruption war rampant and out in the open. Oligarchs would tell people on whom to vote, and they did. There was no right to secrecy of vote.
So this is where Vargas comes in to be president, proposing women’s votes and secret vote.
Well, he lost the election to a candidate from São Paulo. Some say there was an agreement they’d let RS win this time, to make the alternance between São Paulo and Minas Gerais states look a bit less ridiculous, and for a bit of power sharing. His party accused São Paulo of fraud. Everyone was accusing everyone of fraud, for that matter, and most likely it was largely true. Then a governor in the North called João Pessoa was murdered in broad daylight. Civil chaos ensued.
So in 1930 he enacted a coup, stopping São Paulo candidate take office. A “Provisory State” was put in place, and all governors were to be chosen by him, and all mayors chosen by the governors. He remained head of state in a a long crisis that ensued until 1945.
Some notable events are:
• He was unsure whether to side with Nazis or US-ers. A very bizarre series of supposedly nazi submarines sinking brazilian commercial fleet happened, and the US was “insisting” Brazil sided with the american neighbors - apparently there were plans (Plan Rubber) to invade Brazil if She remained neutral - So Vargas did comply with the US.
• Inplemented an economic plan to deal with the market crash in 1930. Revolved around managing the price of coffee.
• Crated the Law of Sindicalization
• Created the Ministry of Labour, Industry and Commerce. Created the National Counsel of Labour, and the Labour Court. Created the “labour card” (CLT), which gave the workers ample new rights.
• Fought an insurgency mainly from São Paulo.
• Severely persecuted communists, despite being having very strong “left-leaning” measures. There were supposed plans for a big communait coup in 1935, but it was thwarted.
Many of the directives creates in this period remain to this day, especially the labour-related ones.
Opposition accumulated and he resigned in 1945. Again, it seems there were plans for military intevention. No prob. The same year he runs for senator again, and the country says “hell yeah!”. That’s when the votes from the whole country came gushing in.
In 1950 he started a presidential campaign, with the slogan - no joke: “he will be back!”. And back he was. There were many legal actions to stop him from running, mainly accusing him of having enacted a coup and having been anti-democratic. Myself, I find those quite hard to argue against, but the judges didn’t think so. The judges rejected the suits and Vargas ran normally.
A quote from the opposition sounds very familiar today, especially for US-ers. Carlos Lacerda said: “[Vargas] musn’t be a candidate to presidency. Being candidate, musn’t be elected. Elected, musn’t take office. Taking office, we must make use of revolution to impede him from governing”. Doesn’t that sound and feel incredibly familiar?
Well, he did get elected in 1950. He earned 3.849.040 votes, far ahead of second place Brigadier Eduardo Gomes, a leader in the air force, who earned 2.324.384 votes.
People close to him said the man was tired. He was 68 by then. But boy, was he productive. Here’s just a few measures taken in his mandate:
• Law 1.521: criminalizing ponzi schemes. Remains to this day.
• Law 1.522: allows govt to intervene to ensure distribution of necessary products to people. Changed in 1962.
• Decree 30.363: limits returns on investment to foreign companies to 8%. Revoked in 1991.
• Decree 31.546: regularized the work of a a labour apprentice. Ramined until 2001.
• Law 1.802: regarding crimes against the State and Social and Political Order. Changed in 1967.
• Law 2.004: The state shall have monopoly over the exploration of national oil. Revoked in 1997.
• Law 2.083: Regarding Freedom of Press. Remained until 1967.
• The SUMOC instruction n•70, which created multiple currency exchanges and currency auctions.
• Law 1.628: National Bank for Development created. Strong and exists to this day.
• Law 2.004: Petrobras was created. Strong and remains to this day.
• Law 1.649: Bank of Northeast created. (It’s the country’s poorest region).
• Law 2.145: creation of the Wallet of Foreign Commerce at the Bank of Brazil
• sanctioned law 2.252: against the corruption of minors. Remained until 2005.
• An agreement of military co-operation with the US. Revoked in the 70’s.
In his last days, there was intense political turmoil. There were corruption scandals coming out. Vargas said he was sitting on a “sea of mud”. The whole press was against him, except for a close ally.
One of the very bold measures he was pushing was to increase minimum wage by 100%. Yes, 100%. Apparently the military - for some reason - were particularly unhappy about it.
So, if you see the laws above, they imply, at least at first glance, that he was:
• directly opposing foreign interests
• creating some sort of social order (unity creates power, you know)
• acting truly democratically, to a point where the freedom of the press he protected turned against him
• practicing very drastic plans to create prosperity for the poor
And the military were unhappy… I think you can see where this is going...
If there weren’t enough patterns yet, there was a murder of another important high-profile murder - very similarly to 1930.
Remeber Carlos Lacerda from a moment back? The one who said “he musn’t…”. Well, right in front of the building he lived, in Rio, a major from the airforce was killed, and in the same incident Lacerda himself was shot in the foot. Reminder: the second place in the presidential run was a brigadeer from the air force.
The crime was attributed to a man called Alcino from Vargas’ personal guard. The newspapers would speak of barely anything else. The air force does a parallel investigation. The suspects are chased down and captured, personally lead by a man named Délio de Matos, who would then become Minister of Air Force. Even a helicopter - novelty for the time - was used.
Vargas’ personal protection guard was dismantled on the 8 August 1954. Alcino was captured on the 13 August 1954.
Because of the scandal, there was intense pressure for Vargas to step down. 19 generals signed a letter saying they “sympathize” with the airforce, and that they “judge… best… the stepping down of the president”.
Vargas conceded, and said he would do that, and said “I determine the military must maintain the order. If order is kept, I shall be in license from office. Otherwise, the insurrectors will find here my dead body.”
On a ministerial meeting on the 23 August, he signed a document right at the end. No one dared ask what it was. He gave his close friend Tancredo Neves, minister of Justice, a Parker 51 golden pen, and said “to the certain friend during uncertain hours!”
After this night - anniversary to the Night of Saint Bartholomew -, he takes his last action. The rest is History.
—————
What he signed in front of the ministers was a sort of a first version of his “will-letter”. It has a similar message, but not as powerfully worded, refined or self-less sounding as the second, which is the one this post started with.
The chief of Vargas’ guard, Gregório Fortunato, confesses to having called the hit on the airforce major. In 1956 the accused parts were trialed. Fortunato was sentenced to 25 years in prison. A future president lowered it to 20. Another president to 15. In 1962, Fortunato was killed in prison.
Alcino Nascimento, the main suspect of the murder of the airforce major, was interviewed at the age of 82, in 2004. He insists the first shot which killed the major came from Carlos Lacerda - the one got shot in the foot. A eyewitness gave a testimony to Tv Record in 2004 saying Lacerda was never shot at all. The documents of Lacerda’s stay at the hospital disappeared never to be found.
Vargas is one of the 72 “Heroes of the Nation”, whose names are inscribed in the Book of Steel. The “Pantheon” carries the name of the Minister who got the golden pen as a gift, is the one quoted describing what he saw during Vargas’ last breath: Tancredo Neves.
Much happened since. It is not coincidence many of his laws were revoked in the 90’s. Many tactics, even speeches word by word remain the same. And about the immortal fire, nurtured by the man’s blood? Well, that remains to be seen. We are 200.000.000 in this country. We shall see how many will step up to the plate and stoke the fire of freedom.
Sources: mainly Wikipedia, and bits from history classes in school.
Brazil is a fascinating country. Are you from Brazil? I just finished reading “Brazilian diary” by P. K. Page. She was a Canadian artist and poet, the wife of an ambassador, and she was in Brazil from 1957 to 1959. I think Brazil is a magical country, where nature is impressive and also a country of contrasts. But I know very little about this huge country. Would you have any writers to recommend?
That was wonderfully informative, thank you Dovana. It's amazing how some people are just names in a history book but you have added flesh to the bones. Many thanks.
Just one small error the above AUGUST 1854 should be 1954 even though I think everyone knows what you mean. Thanks again, I really enjoyed it.
Glad to hear. Oh, I missed that in proof-reading. Thanks.
Yes
What kind of writing are you into? Romance or more journalistic? Realistic or more surreal? More dry or more poetic?
If you can name a few examples of what you’re looking for, recommendation can be more on spot.
I was thinking about literature. I know some good South American writers but I never read writers from Brazil.
My favorite writer is Guimarães Rosa. Favorite book, The Devil to Pay in the Backlands (Grande Sertão: Veredas).
He only wrote one romance. He called his books “poetry”, even though they’re all in prose, and I find it more than well-deserved.
Some (mostly Brazilian, of course) say this is greatest work of literature in the 20th century. I have no way to tell myself, but I can get behind that.
Someone I know often has this book on her bedside, and opens it in random parts, and it’s a life-lesson every time. “A book to read like the bible”, she says.
It’s the story of a very poor and very insightful man in the Backlands. It’s packed with action, gorgeous description of nature, costumes, and permeated by existential liveliness: “what is God? Who’s the Devil? Does Evil exist?”. Frequently a bit dense.
Other works I recommend:
Machado de Assis: the Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas.
More hystorical. Sociological/psychological. Playwright-like. Humorous.
Jorge Amado: Captains of the Sand
Adventure, somewhat epic. Plight of the poor. Emotional.
Monteiro Lobato: The Yellow-Woodpecker Farm
Child-Friendly. Fantasy. Uplifting.
I thank you very much for this list Dovana. I will check what I can find.
Books about what? What kind of books do you like as suggestions?
Oh, I meant suggestions for you. I’m assuming Thuatha is Brazilian as well. So I thought they, or anyone reading the thread might have a suggestion for you.
Pedro II of Brazil: Father of the Nation
“May God concede to me these last wishes - peace and prosperity to Brazil” - were the man’s last words.
“This is land of my country. I wish it be placed in my coffin, if I die away from my fatherland”, read the writing on a bag that contained a handful of soil from all provinces of Brazil - so was the man’s last wish.
And he did die away from his fatherland. On 5 December 1891, at the age of 66. He had very powerful friends, who reportedly paid for his stay in a comfortable but not luxurious hotel in Paris, which became his deathbed. The emperor of Brazil, Pedro II died with nearly no possessions.
His coffin was to be carried from Paris to Portugal. His daughter wanted a closed and intimate ceremony, but his daughter abided by the insistence of the French government and allowed a public procession. And it was public, indeed.
On the following day, at the Church of La Madeleine, monarchs were present: Frances II of Two Sicilies, Isabel II of Spain, Louis Phillipe Count of Paris, and many others.
Politicians were present: General Joseph Brugère representing the French President, and the presidents of the French Congress and Senate.
Scientists were present: almost all members of the French Academy, Institute de France, Academy of Moral Sciences, and Academy of Fine Arts.
Countries were present: envoys came from Turkey, Persia, China and Japan.
There was rain and very low temperatures. Around 300.000 people were present.
The coffin then headed to the cemetery of the Bragança - his family - only to be brought back to Brazil in 1921, 30 years later.
———
How’d it come to this? Well, let’s take a looksie at what was happening in Europe around a hundred years earlier.
A famous guy by the name of Napoleon was causing quite a stir. Eventually, the churn reaches Portugal. It is said there was an agreement signed with Nap that he wouldn’t enter Portugal, but then word came that he did.
The Royal Family fled from the country to Brazil, escorted by the British. Thus, old plans to move the capital to America came to fruition, the family reached Rio de Janeiro on 7 March 1808, and the city soon becomes the capital of The United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and Algarves.
Pedro II was born at 2:30 AM on 2 December 1825. That was the same year Portugal recognized Brazil as independent, and his father, Pedro I, was crowned emperor of Brazil. Right the following year, the king of Portugal dies and Pedro the father becomes technically king of Portugal, but he gave up the European throne. Also, his mother, the empress, died giving birth to a stillborn in 1826. Eventful year.
In 1831, though, Pedro I had fought bitterly with local politicians and then decided to go back to Portugal. Again escorted by the British. That means he also gave up the throne in Brazil. Five-year-old Pedro II was the only male heir to the throne, so the kid was consecrated as emperor, to be crowned at the age of 18.
A ceremony is held for the kid: the imperial flag is hoisted, the army parades and presents their weapons as sign of loyalty, all the politicians stand in formation - the toddler had to stand on the throne; otherwise no one could see him.
One interesting fact is that Pedro I was in town when his soon-to-become-functionally orphan 5-year-old son was consecrated as emperor, but didn’t show up to the ceremony. He very soon went to Portugal, where he supported one of his daughter’s claims to the European throne.
Predictably, in Brazil severe civil unrest ensued. Revolts were crushed but kept popping up. Some politicians gathered up and decided to make laws to end the regency period and finally crown Pedro II emperor before he turned 18 - he was 15 at the time. Besides, the kid seemed to be a sort of prodigy and very diligent. They were both out of options and optimistic.
Said and done.
15-year-old Pedro II becomes the emperor of the 11th largest nation in history.
What could go wrong? Well, out of all things, relatively very little went wrong. The kid was intensely dedicated to the work, and even though some jovial mistakes were predictably made, he quickly garnered a very long list of major successes.
Here’s a few things that made him famous:
Work Ethics:
• Hard working, sleeping at 2:00 and waking up at 7:00
• Strongly Stimulated politicians to work 8 hours a day - imagine that!
• Stricly hired public workers based on competence and morality
Simplicity:
• Insisted in wearing commoners’ clothes
• Abolished all balls and events of the court from 1852 onwards (30 y.o. at the time)
• Refused all proposals to increase his personal and management stipend
• Reduced Imperial stipend percentage of public spending from 3% to 0,5%, almost a 90% decrease
• “I understand needless spending is theft of the Nation.”
Mercy:
• Never passed capital punishment to rebels and was said to be somehow able to have them join him
Economic planner:
• Country’s income quadrupled between 1840-1860.
Seems this happened through decisions such as:
- Expansion of agricultural lands
- Construction of railroads
- Expansion of telegraphic network
- Making use of economic dynamics, such as de-valuing currency to keep the price of exports (this wasn’t such commonplace at that place and time as it is today)
- Creation of the Code of Commerce in 1850
- Creation of a complex juridic system to regulate urban and agricultural commerce and social interactions
- Banning slave-trafficking, therefore liberating capital for other activities
- Heavily taxing importation (a bold move which confronted colonial powers)
Emancipation:
• Abolished slavery
This came as the culmination of decades of gradual limitation to slavery. It is said that only two parties wanted the end of slavery: Pedro II and the slaves. He made enormous efforts to gather support for emancipation. Almost every free man had a slave himself.
Pedro called slavery “a national shame.”
29% of Brazilians were slaves in 1823. In 1872 - 15,2%.
(He was crowned in 1841)
First, no new people could be trafficked, then the ones over 60 were to be emancipated, then no one born in Brazil could be a slave (“Free Womb Law”), and then finally, the emancipation.
He received the news in Milan on 22 May 1888 during an official trip. He had spent two weeks on the verge of death - he had even received the last rites.
With a faint voice and tears in his eyes, he utters: “Let us thank God. A great people! Great people!” and cries profusely.
The law of emancipation was called “the Golden Law.”
War Leader:
• Paraguay kidnaps a Brazilian governor, invades two provinces (Mato Grosso/Thick Jungle and Rio Grande do Sul/Great Southern River). Pedro II wants to go to the front. The ministerial cabinet disagrees with his decision. A council is summoned. The council agrees with the ministers and officially disallows him to go.
Pedro II says, I’m going:
“If politicians can stop me from going forth as emperor, I’ll abdicate and go on as a Volunteer of the Fatherland” - so were called the volunteer soldiers.
Thus, he became known as “The First Volunteer of the Fatherland.”
He and the provisions crew traveled 72km per day for four weeks. They crossed swamps, plains, harsh winds, foggy weather. In a specific 2-day period, 240 bulls and horses died.
For the first time 3 South-American heads of state meet: Brazil’s Pedro II, Uruguay’s Flores, and Argentina’s Mitre. Pedro sleeps in barracks, not in an imperial camp.
He arrives in the Paraguay-seized Brazilian city called “Urugaiana” on 11 September 1865. 18 September, 7 days later, the Paraguayan commander hands his sword to the emperor of Brazil.
By the way, just 5 days later he receives a very interesting emissary from the Brits. More on that a bit further.
Articulator:
• Coordinated and pacified internal nearly all political strife
In a letter to his daughter Isabel:
“It is a necessity that the emperor, keeping himself free from party-related preventions, and therefore not considering also as excessive the natural and just aspiration of the parties, seek to list, but with discrete personal opinion, the honest and most intelligent people of all parties; and be thoroughly informed of all that is said in the press of whole Brazil the Houses of legislation - general and provincial. It is not prudent to nudge any other means of information, and it fits to accept them tentatively”.
There in person:
• Visited the whole country, cities big and small
• Travelled to Europe, US, Egypt, always leaving an excellent impression - and with little to no pomp.
• In trips, insisted people didn’t call him “Pedro II” or by any title, but instead simply “Pedro of Alcantara.”
Intellectual:
• Spoke and wrote in Portuguese, (presumably also in Brazilian), Spanish, French, Italian, and Provençal. Also in Latin and Greek. In Hebrew and Arabic. In Sanskrit. In Chinese. And in Tupi (local common indigenous language).
• Was a polymath with an interest in anthropology, medicine, geology, chess, music, astronomy, drama (the list is very long)
• Corresponded with and was lauded by practically all famous scientists of the time you have heard about, such as Nietzsche, Darwin, Graham Campbell, Pasteur, Wagner, and many others.
• Victor Hugo: “Sir, you are a great citizen, the grandson of Marcus Aurelius”
• Became a member of the (British) Royal Society, Russian Academy of Sciences and Belgian Academy of Arts and Sciences, and (US) Geographic Society. He was elected member of the Académie des Sciences - the only two other statesmen that were elected were Napoleon (Nap!) and Peter the Great of Russia.
• First Brazilian photographer, having bought the daguerreotype in 1840
Educator:
• Created an extensive network of schools and superior institutes. The most prestigious middle school in the country bears his name.
• “If I weren’t emperor, I would be a teacher. I know no nobler task than… preparing the men of tomorrow.”
• Charles Darwin: “the emperor does so much for Science that every Sage is bound to show him the utmost respect.”
Policies implemented:
• Creation of Directory for General Inspection for Primary and Secondary Instruction[…]
• Creation of Brazilian Historical and Geographical Institute, strengthened the Brazilian College of Fine Arts
• Creation of a Model School (today called “Pedro II College[sic].”
• Financed the creation of Institute Pasteur and Wagner’s opera house Bayreuth Festspielhaus
• After the end of the war with Paraguay in 1870, the General Assembly proposed raising a knightly statue of him to celebrate victory. He refused and preferred using the money to create primary schools
Freedom protector:
• Had a remarkably free press
By the end of the empire, Brazil had possibly one of the most extensive telegraphic network in the world, probably the biggest in South America.
Even sleepy provinces had their own press. The Gazeta Paranaense/Gazette of Parana, founded in the then the last province created, issued a manifesto on 01 January 1888:
Public opinion “has produced revolutions of thought, evolution of ideas, civilization of peoples, repression of despotisms, the guiding of nations and the lever of great and utilitarian transformations through the press.”
That’s coming from a pro-monarchy (“conservative”) media outlet.
• Protected religious freedom
It is said 80% of the population were non-catholics (“fetishists”).
Catholicism was officially the state religion, but Pedro II (a non-mason) intervened in favor of the masons in 1877 in the “Religious Question.”
• Promised to respond to the UK with naval war when they threatened to do it first. Bought the ships to do it. Brits say they were just kidding and ask to take issues to international courts.
Brits were stalling in international courts, so he cut diplomatic ties.
On 23 September 1865 Edward Thorton - in charge of English businesses in Argentina - travels all the way to the Uruguaiana Front, where the man was winning a war. Thorton gives him a letter from the Queen saying “sorry.”
The list goes on and on.
Gets married in 1843. 4 kids, 2 girls and 2 boys. Both boys die.
It is not very clear to me why, but it seems he lost enthusiasm as time went by. For one thing, he was orphaned very early and his childhood is described as miserable, and it ended with the extremely heavy burden of becoming emperor at the green age of 15. Barely ever had time for his personal needs.
It is said he didn’t think the country would let itself be led by a woman. Many historians agree. So he didn’t prepare any of his daughters for this. He was consciously letting the monarchy die with him.
On 15 November 1889 some military folks marched toward his palace to enact a coup. The emperor was exceedingly popular, the country was enormously wealthy, stable, and had weathered two wars and the Brits’ direct threat.
So the coup… well, it was successful. Pedro offered no resistance.
His response to the coup was: “If so it is, this will be my retirement. I’ve worked too much and now I’m tired. Now I’ll rest.”
People thought it was just a parade. They were told later that now the country was a republic. “Republic” was something people didn’t care for, so the whole situation is quite bizarre. Civil war ensues (who could’ve known!) and Pedro is sent to exile with his family, who go live in Paris.
Brazil’s foreign debt started in 1824, just two years after independence. When Pedro II became emperor in 1841, the amount of debt - around 5£ million - had been practically the same ever since. It only started to change in 1865 with the Paraguayan War. Then, it rose to around 15£ million. In 1889 it was 30£ million. In 11 years of republican government it soared even more and more uniformly, reaching 45£ million in 1900. Could that be a telling clue of how it all came to this?
If the funeral ceremony was left to his preferences, this story would probably have a very anti-climatic ending. He was a discrete guy.
———
After his death, the republicans seemed to have become publicly and intensely guilty for the coup. They lauded him extensively; “the most enlightened and pure incarnation of a republic we have yet had.”
His mortal remains were brought to Brazil in 1921. “The old ones cried. People kneeled. All clapped. None separated Republicans and Monarchists. They were all Brazilians.” The black people were even more intensely fond of him - he fought bitterly for emancipation. He was seen as Father of the People personified.
How do people talk about him today? More important, I think, is to recognize that we almost only talk because of him. The man founded Brazil. Even in nominal GDP, Brazil today is richer than Canada. In 2015 She was about to become richer than France as the world’s 5th richest nations when very “untimely” political events unfolded and severe instability ensued.
Pedro I, his father, is an official National Hero. D. Fonseca, the leader of the 1889 coup, is an official national hero.
Pedro II isn’t.
A referendum that needed only 20.000 popular votes to make a law to include him in the Book of Steel got only 235.
The history session on him from the govt’s educational website calls his coronation “the coup of adulthood” (because he was 15 and not 18) and the 1889 coup the “Proclamation of the Republic.”
The Empire is called “the Second Reigning.” “Rei” means king in Brazilian and Portuguese. There was no such title in the country at the time.
The economic prosperity of the empire is attributed to the slaver São Paulo farmers, who “used, in the beginning slave workers, but along the decade of 1880, this was changed for immigrants”. 1880 wasn’t the “beginning” of São Paulo slavers’ farms, nor their use of slavery, and it happened to be the decade it became finally entirely illegal after many other severe restrictions. This date actually indicates those farmers were holding on to slaves to the last of their resources. There is little indication their ending of abusing black people when it became illegal was a fruit of a sudden flash of goodwill.
About the political system that “… the emperor interfered in politics whenever necessary to guarantee his interests.”
That is, the man who wrote in his diary: “I’d prefer the position of President… or minister. If at least if my father would still reign I would have been for 11 years a senator, and would have traveled the world”.
“Our principal necessity is the freedom of election. Without this, and [freedom] of the press, there is no system of constitution in reality.”
“Lower administrative centralization is urgent, as well as better distribution of general, provincial, and municipal wealth.”
———
The player wearing t-shirt number 10 in the football team is the practically official living national hero, a demigod. Pelé, a player who has won more World Cups than almost all countries, started the tradition and is called “The King.”
In my mind, since Pelé is The King, then Pedro II is The Emperor. Pelé founded the lineage of heroes to the country. Pedro founded the country.
“Pedro, Father of the People.
Pedro, Volunteer of the Fatherland
Pedro, Founder of Brazil.”
———
Sources:
1. Wikipedia
2. A bit from school years
3. Pedro II do Brasil (MOSSÉ & RIO BRANCO, Barão do)
4. Liberdade Religiosa no Brasil (SANTOS, Cristiano Rocha)
5. Políticas e Diretrizes Econômicas no Segundo Reinado (BENTIVOGLIO, Julio)
6. O Imperador e o Visconde: Dois Projetos de Modernização Divergentes Orientadoa pelo Rigor Científico (CRUZ, Gabriela Cilda Chaul)
7. História Geral da Civilização Brasileiro (BURAQUE, Sérgio de Holanda de)
8. A Imprensa do Segundo Reinado no Processo Político-Constitucional: Força Moral e Opinião Pública (LOBO, Judá Leão & PEREIRA, Luiz Fernando Lopes)
9. Diaries and Letter of Pedro II
10. Paulo Rezutti - “D. Pedro II na Guerra do Paraguai e fim da questão Christie” (Youtube)
11. Atlas Histórico do Brasil. FVG, CPDOC. (A dívida externa do século 19 | Atlas Histórico do Brasil - FGV)
“May God concede to me these last wishes - peace and prosperity to Brazil” - were the man’s last words.
“This is land of my country. I wish it be placed in my coffin, if I die away from my fatherland”, read the writing on a bag that contained a handful of soil from all provinces of Brazil - so was the man’s last wish.
And he did die away from his fatherland. On 5 December 1891, at the age of 66. He had very powerful friends, who reportedly paid for his stay in a comfortable but not luxurious hotel in Paris, which became his deathbed. The emperor of Brazil, Pedro II died with nearly no possessions.
His coffin was to be carried from Paris to Portugal. His daughter wanted a closed and intimate ceremony, but his daughter abided by the insistence of the French government and allowed a public procession. And it was public, indeed.
On the following day, at the Church of La Madeleine, monarchs were present: Frances II of Two Sicilies, Isabel II of Spain, Louis Phillipe Count of Paris, and many others.
Politicians were present: General Joseph Brugère representing the French President, and the presidents of the French Congress and Senate.
Scientists were present: almost all members of the French Academy, Institute de France, Academy of Moral Sciences, and Academy of Fine Arts.
Countries were present: envoys came from Turkey, Persia, China and Japan.
There was rain and very low temperatures. Around 300.000 people were present.
The coffin then headed to the cemetery of the Bragança - his family - only to be brought back to Brazil in 1921, 30 years later.
———
How’d it come to this? Well, let’s take a looksie at what was happening in Europe around a hundred years earlier.
A famous guy by the name of Napoleon was causing quite a stir. Eventually, the churn reaches Portugal. It is said there was an agreement signed with Nap that he wouldn’t enter Portugal, but then word came that he did.
The Royal Family fled from the country to Brazil, escorted by the British. Thus, old plans to move the capital to America came to fruition, the family reached Rio de Janeiro on 7 March 1808, and the city soon becomes the capital of The United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and Algarves.
Pedro II was born at 2:30 AM on 2 December 1825. That was the same year Portugal recognized Brazil as independent, and his father, Pedro I, was crowned emperor of Brazil. Right the following year, the king of Portugal dies and Pedro the father becomes technically king of Portugal, but he gave up the European throne. Also, his mother, the empress, died giving birth to a stillborn in 1826. Eventful year.
In 1831, though, Pedro I had fought bitterly with local politicians and then decided to go back to Portugal. Again escorted by the British. That means he also gave up the throne in Brazil. Five-year-old Pedro II was the only male heir to the throne, so the kid was consecrated as emperor, to be crowned at the age of 18.
A ceremony is held for the kid: the imperial flag is hoisted, the army parades and presents their weapons as sign of loyalty, all the politicians stand in formation - the toddler had to stand on the throne; otherwise no one could see him.
One interesting fact is that Pedro I was in town when his soon-to-become-functionally orphan 5-year-old son was consecrated as emperor, but didn’t show up to the ceremony. He very soon went to Portugal, where he supported one of his daughter’s claims to the European throne.
Predictably, in Brazil severe civil unrest ensued. Revolts were crushed but kept popping up. Some politicians gathered up and decided to make laws to end the regency period and finally crown Pedro II emperor before he turned 18 - he was 15 at the time. Besides, the kid seemed to be a sort of prodigy and very diligent. They were both out of options and optimistic.
Said and done.
15-year-old Pedro II becomes the emperor of the 11th largest nation in history.
What could go wrong? Well, out of all things, relatively very little went wrong. The kid was intensely dedicated to the work, and even though some jovial mistakes were predictably made, he quickly garnered a very long list of major successes.
Here’s a few things that made him famous:
Work Ethics:
• Hard working, sleeping at 2:00 and waking up at 7:00
• Strongly Stimulated politicians to work 8 hours a day - imagine that!
• Stricly hired public workers based on competence and morality
Simplicity:
• Insisted in wearing commoners’ clothes
• Abolished all balls and events of the court from 1852 onwards (30 y.o. at the time)
• Refused all proposals to increase his personal and management stipend
• Reduced Imperial stipend percentage of public spending from 3% to 0,5%, almost a 90% decrease
• “I understand needless spending is theft of the Nation.”
Mercy:
• Never passed capital punishment to rebels and was said to be somehow able to have them join him
Economic planner:
• Country’s income quadrupled between 1840-1860.
Seems this happened through decisions such as:
- Expansion of agricultural lands
- Construction of railroads
- Expansion of telegraphic network
- Making use of economic dynamics, such as de-valuing currency to keep the price of exports (this wasn’t such commonplace at that place and time as it is today)
- Creation of the Code of Commerce in 1850
- Creation of a complex juridic system to regulate urban and agricultural commerce and social interactions
- Banning slave-trafficking, therefore liberating capital for other activities
- Heavily taxing importation (a bold move which confronted colonial powers)
Emancipation:
• Abolished slavery
This came as the culmination of decades of gradual limitation to slavery. It is said that only two parties wanted the end of slavery: Pedro II and the slaves. He made enormous efforts to gather support for emancipation. Almost every free man had a slave himself.
Pedro called slavery “a national shame.”
29% of Brazilians were slaves in 1823. In 1872 - 15,2%.
(He was crowned in 1841)
First, no new people could be trafficked, then the ones over 60 were to be emancipated, then no one born in Brazil could be a slave (“Free Womb Law”), and then finally, the emancipation.
He received the news in Milan on 22 May 1888 during an official trip. He had spent two weeks on the verge of death - he had even received the last rites.
With a faint voice and tears in his eyes, he utters: “Let us thank God. A great people! Great people!” and cries profusely.
The law of emancipation was called “the Golden Law.”
War Leader:
• Paraguay kidnaps a Brazilian governor, invades two provinces (Mato Grosso/Thick Jungle and Rio Grande do Sul/Great Southern River). Pedro II wants to go to the front. The ministerial cabinet disagrees with his decision. A council is summoned. The council agrees with the ministers and officially disallows him to go.
Pedro II says, I’m going:
“If politicians can stop me from going forth as emperor, I’ll abdicate and go on as a Volunteer of the Fatherland” - so were called the volunteer soldiers.
Thus, he became known as “The First Volunteer of the Fatherland.”
He and the provisions crew traveled 72km per day for four weeks. They crossed swamps, plains, harsh winds, foggy weather. In a specific 2-day period, 240 bulls and horses died.
For the first time 3 South-American heads of state meet: Brazil’s Pedro II, Uruguay’s Flores, and Argentina’s Mitre. Pedro sleeps in barracks, not in an imperial camp.
He arrives in the Paraguay-seized Brazilian city called “Urugaiana” on 11 September 1865. 18 September, 7 days later, the Paraguayan commander hands his sword to the emperor of Brazil.
By the way, just 5 days later he receives a very interesting emissary from the Brits. More on that a bit further.
Articulator:
• Coordinated and pacified internal nearly all political strife
In a letter to his daughter Isabel:
“It is a necessity that the emperor, keeping himself free from party-related preventions, and therefore not considering also as excessive the natural and just aspiration of the parties, seek to list, but with discrete personal opinion, the honest and most intelligent people of all parties; and be thoroughly informed of all that is said in the press of whole Brazil the Houses of legislation - general and provincial. It is not prudent to nudge any other means of information, and it fits to accept them tentatively”.
There in person:
• Visited the whole country, cities big and small
• Travelled to Europe, US, Egypt, always leaving an excellent impression - and with little to no pomp.
• In trips, insisted people didn’t call him “Pedro II” or by any title, but instead simply “Pedro of Alcantara.”
Intellectual:
• Spoke and wrote in Portuguese, (presumably also in Brazilian), Spanish, French, Italian, and Provençal. Also in Latin and Greek. In Hebrew and Arabic. In Sanskrit. In Chinese. And in Tupi (local common indigenous language).
• Was a polymath with an interest in anthropology, medicine, geology, chess, music, astronomy, drama (the list is very long)
• Corresponded with and was lauded by practically all famous scientists of the time you have heard about, such as Nietzsche, Darwin, Graham Campbell, Pasteur, Wagner, and many others.
• Victor Hugo: “Sir, you are a great citizen, the grandson of Marcus Aurelius”
• Became a member of the (British) Royal Society, Russian Academy of Sciences and Belgian Academy of Arts and Sciences, and (US) Geographic Society. He was elected member of the Académie des Sciences - the only two other statesmen that were elected were Napoleon (Nap!) and Peter the Great of Russia.
• First Brazilian photographer, having bought the daguerreotype in 1840
Educator:
• Created an extensive network of schools and superior institutes. The most prestigious middle school in the country bears his name.
• “If I weren’t emperor, I would be a teacher. I know no nobler task than… preparing the men of tomorrow.”
• Charles Darwin: “the emperor does so much for Science that every Sage is bound to show him the utmost respect.”
Policies implemented:
• Creation of Directory for General Inspection for Primary and Secondary Instruction[…]
• Creation of Brazilian Historical and Geographical Institute, strengthened the Brazilian College of Fine Arts
• Creation of a Model School (today called “Pedro II College[sic].”
• Financed the creation of Institute Pasteur and Wagner’s opera house Bayreuth Festspielhaus
• After the end of the war with Paraguay in 1870, the General Assembly proposed raising a knightly statue of him to celebrate victory. He refused and preferred using the money to create primary schools
Freedom protector:
• Had a remarkably free press
By the end of the empire, Brazil had possibly one of the most extensive telegraphic network in the world, probably the biggest in South America.
Even sleepy provinces had their own press. The Gazeta Paranaense/Gazette of Parana, founded in the then the last province created, issued a manifesto on 01 January 1888:
Public opinion “has produced revolutions of thought, evolution of ideas, civilization of peoples, repression of despotisms, the guiding of nations and the lever of great and utilitarian transformations through the press.”
That’s coming from a pro-monarchy (“conservative”) media outlet.
• Protected religious freedom
It is said 80% of the population were non-catholics (“fetishists”).
Catholicism was officially the state religion, but Pedro II (a non-mason) intervened in favor of the masons in 1877 in the “Religious Question.”
• Promised to respond to the UK with naval war when they threatened to do it first. Bought the ships to do it. Brits say they were just kidding and ask to take issues to international courts.
Brits were stalling in international courts, so he cut diplomatic ties.
On 23 September 1865 Edward Thorton - in charge of English businesses in Argentina - travels all the way to the Uruguaiana Front, where the man was winning a war. Thorton gives him a letter from the Queen saying “sorry.”
The list goes on and on.
Gets married in 1843. 4 kids, 2 girls and 2 boys. Both boys die.
It is not very clear to me why, but it seems he lost enthusiasm as time went by. For one thing, he was orphaned very early and his childhood is described as miserable, and it ended with the extremely heavy burden of becoming emperor at the green age of 15. Barely ever had time for his personal needs.
It is said he didn’t think the country would let itself be led by a woman. Many historians agree. So he didn’t prepare any of his daughters for this. He was consciously letting the monarchy die with him.
On 15 November 1889 some military folks marched toward his palace to enact a coup. The emperor was exceedingly popular, the country was enormously wealthy, stable, and had weathered two wars and the Brits’ direct threat.
So the coup… well, it was successful. Pedro offered no resistance.
His response to the coup was: “If so it is, this will be my retirement. I’ve worked too much and now I’m tired. Now I’ll rest.”
People thought it was just a parade. They were told later that now the country was a republic. “Republic” was something people didn’t care for, so the whole situation is quite bizarre. Civil war ensues (who could’ve known!) and Pedro is sent to exile with his family, who go live in Paris.
Brazil’s foreign debt started in 1824, just two years after independence. When Pedro II became emperor in 1841, the amount of debt - around 5£ million - had been practically the same ever since. It only started to change in 1865 with the Paraguayan War. Then, it rose to around 15£ million. In 1889 it was 30£ million. In 11 years of republican government it soared even more and more uniformly, reaching 45£ million in 1900. Could that be a telling clue of how it all came to this?
If the funeral ceremony was left to his preferences, this story would probably have a very anti-climatic ending. He was a discrete guy.
———
After his death, the republicans seemed to have become publicly and intensely guilty for the coup. They lauded him extensively; “the most enlightened and pure incarnation of a republic we have yet had.”
His mortal remains were brought to Brazil in 1921. “The old ones cried. People kneeled. All clapped. None separated Republicans and Monarchists. They were all Brazilians.” The black people were even more intensely fond of him - he fought bitterly for emancipation. He was seen as Father of the People personified.
How do people talk about him today? More important, I think, is to recognize that we almost only talk because of him. The man founded Brazil. Even in nominal GDP, Brazil today is richer than Canada. In 2015 She was about to become richer than France as the world’s 5th richest nations when very “untimely” political events unfolded and severe instability ensued.
Pedro I, his father, is an official National Hero. D. Fonseca, the leader of the 1889 coup, is an official national hero.
Pedro II isn’t.
A referendum that needed only 20.000 popular votes to make a law to include him in the Book of Steel got only 235.
The history session on him from the govt’s educational website calls his coronation “the coup of adulthood” (because he was 15 and not 18) and the 1889 coup the “Proclamation of the Republic.”
The Empire is called “the Second Reigning.” “Rei” means king in Brazilian and Portuguese. There was no such title in the country at the time.
The economic prosperity of the empire is attributed to the slaver São Paulo farmers, who “used, in the beginning slave workers, but along the decade of 1880, this was changed for immigrants”. 1880 wasn’t the “beginning” of São Paulo slavers’ farms, nor their use of slavery, and it happened to be the decade it became finally entirely illegal after many other severe restrictions. This date actually indicates those farmers were holding on to slaves to the last of their resources. There is little indication their ending of abusing black people when it became illegal was a fruit of a sudden flash of goodwill.
About the political system that “… the emperor interfered in politics whenever necessary to guarantee his interests.”
That is, the man who wrote in his diary: “I’d prefer the position of President… or minister. If at least if my father would still reign I would have been for 11 years a senator, and would have traveled the world”.
“Our principal necessity is the freedom of election. Without this, and [freedom] of the press, there is no system of constitution in reality.”
“Lower administrative centralization is urgent, as well as better distribution of general, provincial, and municipal wealth.”
———
The player wearing t-shirt number 10 in the football team is the practically official living national hero, a demigod. Pelé, a player who has won more World Cups than almost all countries, started the tradition and is called “The King.”
In my mind, since Pelé is The King, then Pedro II is The Emperor. Pelé founded the lineage of heroes to the country. Pedro founded the country.
“Pedro, Father of the People.
Pedro, Volunteer of the Fatherland
Pedro, Founder of Brazil.”
———
Sources:
1. Wikipedia
2. A bit from school years
3. Pedro II do Brasil (MOSSÉ & RIO BRANCO, Barão do)
4. Liberdade Religiosa no Brasil (SANTOS, Cristiano Rocha)
5. Políticas e Diretrizes Econômicas no Segundo Reinado (BENTIVOGLIO, Julio)
6. O Imperador e o Visconde: Dois Projetos de Modernização Divergentes Orientadoa pelo Rigor Científico (CRUZ, Gabriela Cilda Chaul)
7. História Geral da Civilização Brasileiro (BURAQUE, Sérgio de Holanda de)
8. A Imprensa do Segundo Reinado no Processo Político-Constitucional: Força Moral e Opinião Pública (LOBO, Judá Leão & PEREIRA, Luiz Fernando Lopes)
9. Diaries and Letter of Pedro II
10. Paulo Rezutti - “D. Pedro II na Guerra do Paraguai e fim da questão Christie” (Youtube)
11. Atlas Histórico do Brasil. FVG, CPDOC. (A dívida externa do século 19 | Atlas Histórico do Brasil - FGV)
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HI Dovana, I'm Irish actually but don't hold that against me.
