RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In 1888, the Golden Law officially abolished slavery, but the Empire was in crisis.
On the one hand, it was believed that the former slavers had embraced Republican ideals to overthrow the royal family. But the scenario was much broader.
Dom Pedro II was very ill and his successor would be Princess Isabel, who was married to a Frenchman, Count D’Eu, considered unpopular, a man who had also sparked conflicts with the military at the time of the Paraguay War.
“Count D’eu’s involvement in the Paraguayan War is one of the factors behind his unpopularity. He was arrogant. They say he promoted massacres. He had no aptitude to manage,” says historian Catia Faria.
The Viscount of Ouro Preto, head of the Empire’s cabinet and known for his hard-line stance, also enjoyed little prestige among the military. He was appointed by Dom Pedro II to carry out the reforms that the Republicans were seeking.
In 1870, Brazil emerged victorious from the Paraguayan War and the military had not received the recognition they expected from the emperor.
Brazil was experiencing an economic crisis as a result of its debts, mainly due to the war. The Monarchy’s system of government was considered backward.
“Republican ideals reach Brazil from France, from the ideology of positivism. Basically, it is a state bureaucracy based on competence,” explains Maria Cristina Vieira, professor of the History of Brazilian Law.
For some historians, the first Brazilian republic was not proclaimed but rather acclaimed for the little resistance it met from the Monarchy. One of the pictures portraying the scene is the canvas Proclamação da República (“Proclamation of the Republic”), by Benedito Calixto.
Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca, one of the commanders of the Paraguayan War, lived in the vicinity of Campo de Santana and the Duque de Caxias Palace.
“Without Deodoro, there wouldn’t be a republic,” concludes Colonel Antônio Ferreira, a historian with the Army’s Center for Studies and Research.
On November 15th, 1889, Marshal Deodoro, along with a troop of about a thousand soldiers, left his home in downtown Rio, near the Central Station, to proclaim the Republic .
The Brazilian republic set a deadline for the royal family to leave the country.
After the expulsion, Dom Pedro II wrote: “I decide, yielding to the Empire of circumstances, to leave with all my family tomorrow, leaving this homeland of ours trembling. I will preserve the most nostalgic memory of Brazil, wishing it greatness and prosperity.”
Source: Agência Brasil