The Brazilian Civil War, also known as the Revolution of ‘27 or the Interstate War, was a conflict fought between the Brazillian state of São Paulo and its allies and the country’s federal government which was controlled by the state of Minas Gerais. The war’s causes lay in the traditional balance of power between the country’s two largest states which broke down as a result of economic depression. Though the federalists held the initiative at first, most of the other states eventually came to São Paulo’s side, resulting in a rebel victory.
Background[]
When the First Brazilian Republic was established in 1889, the centralized Brazilian Empire was replaced by the federal United States of Brazil. Each state had considerable power independent of the federal government, and each state government was controlled by their local oligarchies in a system known as coronelismo or “rule of the colonels”. The oligarchies themselves represented the agrarian interests that dominated Brazil’s export-oriented economy. The federal government was dominated by the two wealthiest and most populous states, São Paulo and Minas Gerais. By agreement, the two states would alternate the presidency between them, giving rise to the term cafe com leite politics, as coffee and milk were their respective chief industries.
Brazil’s economy had never fully recovered from the disruptions of the Weltkrieg as exports were unable to regain pre-Weltkieg levels and the internal market remained small. Unemployment rose slowly throughout the early 1920s and the rural poor flooded into the growing cities. Uprisings in Rio Grande do Sul and São Paulo states were put down by federal troops. The latter received support from the trade unions, signaling the growing influence of socialist ideology among the working class. Another radical movement, far-right integralism, also came into prominence during this period. At the same time, a rift began to form in the federal government. Minas Gerais, whose oligarchs supported the development of the internal market, created a legislative coalition with Ceará, Rio Grande do Sul, Bahia, and other states against Sao Paulo and its ally Paraiba, whose economies remained very export-focus.
In 1926 the effects of the British Revolution and the New York Stock Market Crash caused a major depression in Brazil as Britain and the United States were the country’s largest trade partners. The price of coffee plummeted and unemployment shot up throughout the country. The country’s nascent industry, which still depended on investment from the agrarian elite, was also badly affected. São Paulo legislators proposed buying and burning the excess coffee crop in order to stabilize prices, but the motion was angrily struck down by Minas Gerais, Pernambuco, and Rio de Janeiro.
Though the government postponed elections at first, the public outcry forced them to be moved back up. By custom the next president was to be from São Paulo, and the Paulistas were divided between supporting Vice President Fernando Prestes de Albuquerque or governor of the state Washington Luis. Though the former seemed like the obvious choice, his reluctance to suppress the revolt in ‘24 made Prestes seem too sympathetic to the radicals, and in any case his sudden death on May 26th put an end to his candidacy and Luis was chosen instead. In a break with tradition, Minas Gerais put forward its own candidate, Fernando de Melo Viana. With support from most of the other states, de Melo won the election.
The new government, consumed by political gridlock, proved ineffective in addressing the deteriorating economic situation. Food relief was enacted in the major cities, but attempts to push through serious land reform failed. Labor unrest increased in the cities and banditry became a rampant problem in the countryside, especially in the poor and arid northeast. The federal army was largely incapable of suppressing the bandits as it was itself hobbled by increasing radicalism and polarization among the junior officers. In the chaos, the individual states became increasingly responsible for local security through their own military units. The success of certain state presidents, such as João Pessoa in Paraíba and Getulio Vargas in Rio Grande do Sul, in maintaining order by taking great powers for themselves cast the central government in a weak light.
On April 23rd, 1927, an anti-government right-wing revolt took place in the city of Extrema in Minas Gerais. After a few weeks of banditry, the rebels were attacked by Mineiro soldiers and forced to flee west towards the state of São Paulo. President de Melo declared that he would call up federal troops to pursue the bandits. In response, Washington Luis criticized the move and led the Paulista delegation in a walk-out at the Chamber of Deputies. Only hours later, Luis was assassinated in his hotel by unknown assailants. Deputy governor of São Paulo Armando Sales took power and immediately called upon the other state presidents to join in revolt against de Melo and the federal government.
Course of the War[]
The federalist armies advanced from Minas Gerais into northern São Paulo state and from Rio de Janeiro up the Paraíba River valley, making swift gains in the first few days. However, they soon met with hard resistance as Paulista troops were swiftly deployed by the state’s superior road network. They took up positions along the Paraíba and the Sierra Cantareira, and soon the battles devolved into Weltkrieg-style trench warfare. Elsewhere in the state small bands of Paulistas waged guerilla warfare against the federalists, or whole prefectures came under the control of local radicals or bandits. The federalists attempted to outflank the opposition by marching through Mato Grosso and attacking across the Paraná from the northwest, but they met resistance from the locals who were sympathetic to the Paulistas.
Controlled by the federalists, the navy was initially ordered to blockade the port of Santos, but while underway the threat of mutiny caused most of the ships to withdraw. The group that remained loyal bombarded the coastal towns of Paraty and Ubatuba, but on the whole the navy would not play a decisive role for the remainder of the war.
The presidents of most of the other states declared themselves neutral at the outbreak of hostilities, while at the same time taking their own initiatives. In order to prevent incursions from Argentina, state forces from Paraná, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul reinforced the border, as most of the federal army was indisposed fighting in São Paulo.
When the governor of Espirito Santo was assassinated and his replacement immediately declared his support for Rio de Janeiro, the mood among the other states began to turn against the federalists. On August 27th, Paraíba governor João Pessoa--who was also justice minister in the federal government--released a letter known as the Carta do Nego, the Letter of Denial. It called for the immediate resignation of President de Melo, cessation of hostilities by both parties, new elections using the secret ballot, and the drafting of a new constitution. Pessoa claimed to have written the support of Pernambuco, Bahia, Ceará, Rio Grande do Sul, and Santa Catarina after its publication the presidents of Rio de Janeiro, Mato Grosso, and Goiás also endorsed its terms.
Although the battle lines did not shift following the Letter of Denial, it became clear that the neutral states had begun to favor the Paulistas and that the federalist cause was waning. Desertion in the national army increased as the state guards mustered their troops and began to send supplies to São Paulo. In early 1928, soldiers from Bahia and Paraíba moved into Espírito Santo and northern Minas Gerais. Around the same time, transports from Rio Grande do Sul and Paraná coming up the Paraná River drove federalist forces out of Mato Grosso. With their stronghold in Minas Gerais almost surrounded and almost out of funds, the federalist cause had no choice but to give in to the rebels’ demands. On July 23, 1928, Fernando de Melo and his remaining cabinet resigned in Rio de Janeiro, bringing the civil war to an end.
Aftermath[]
Vice President Borges de Medeiros took over the reigns of government after de Melo’s resignation. Though the fighting had been relatively small-scale and localized, the war caused considerable economic devastation in São Paulo and the surrounding states. The reconstruction of infrastructure was the immediate concern of the new government, and in this it was aided by the resumption of foreign investment, particularly by the Entente powers, who ended up pleased by the anti-federal victory.
The civil war marked the end of ''coffe with milk'' politics, as a new form of mass politics emerged and parties became increasingly more defined by ideological orientation than regional interests. Under the new constitution, the 1929 election was the first in Brazil’s history to use the secret ballot and it was won by João Pessoa and his Republican Party. His government pursued many of the reforms that had been proposed before the war while suppressing the growing syndicalist and integralist movement. At the same time, the federal government remained relatively weak and the states retained much of their original powers, and even with the new changes, electoral fraud is still common across the nation.