Deodoro da Fonseca was born in the municipality of Alagoas of Alagoas da Lagoa do Sul (which is now called marshalDeodorant), on August 5, 1827. He was one of the most outstanding Brazilian soldiers, having reached the rank of field marshal. It was he who led the military movement of November 15, 1889, who deposed the throne Dom Pedro II and instituted the republican regime in Brazil. He was also the firstpresident of the country under this regime.
Military career dedicated to the Empire
Despite having gone down in history as a republican icon, Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca was, until a few days before the coup that ousted Dom Pedro II, a dedicated official of the Empire. He was even a personal friend of the emperor. Your esteem for D. Pedro II and the monarchic regime was due to the long military career that he followed.
Deodoro and his older brother, HermesErnesto (father of the future president Hermes da Fonseca), were children of a career military who had served since the Time courseJoanino
. Like their father, the two brothers decided on the same fate. At the age of 21, Deodoro, who was already a first-class cadet, fought his first combats, in Pernambuco, fighting against the rebels of the so-called Revolutionbeach, which took place in 1848.In the 1850s and 1860s, Deodoro continued to serve the Empire in countless battles. The high point of his presence in combat occurred in 1865, during the Paraguay War, in which he led the then Second Battalion of Volunteers of the Motherland. As he fought, his military rank increased. From the 1870s onwards, Deodoro assumed strategic military leadership positions, such as that of Colonel Commander of the Mallet Regiment, in Rio Grande do Sul, and the Brigadier, at the Fronteira do Livramento-Quaraí.
In the 1880s, Deodoro continued to rise through the ranks of the military, still in southern Brazil. In 1885, he was appointed Commander of Arms of the Province of Rio Grande do Sul and also received the rank of field marshal, through which he became even more known and influential. The following year, Deodoro temporarily assumed the presidency of the Province of Rio Grande do Sul and started to have a series of divergences with political leaders, which ended up causing an institutional crisis involving the then head of officeImperial of D. Pedro II, the Baron of Cotegipe.
Revolt against the imperial cabinet and the “15th of November”
This crisis, which alienated military leaders from civilian politicians, resulted in a mobilization whose peak was the Proclamation of the Republic. One of Deodoro's enemies, the senator Silvagarden, was quoted to take over the Cabinet after Cotegipe and GoldBlack. This possibility led the marshal to join the supporters of the republican cause. The final conviction of the marshal was entrusted to leaders such as Benjamin Constant, as well as historian Boris Fausto reports:
On November 11, 1889, civil and military figures such as Rui Barbosa, Benjamin Constant, Aristide Lobo and Quintino Bocaiuva, met with Marshal Deodoro, trying to convince him to lead a movement against the regime. Deodoro's participation was important as a conservative and prestigious figure in the Army. He resisted because he was a friend of the Emperor and didn't like the presence of civilians in the conspiracy. The problem seemed to him to be of a strictly military order. But a series of rumors spread by young soldiers, talking about the arrest of Deodoro, the reduction of the troops or even the extinction of the Army, led Deodoro to decide at least to overthrow Gold Black. [1]
First president of Brazil
As we know, the mobilization of troops to dissolve the Imperial Cabinet also ended up putting an end to the monarchic regime. The royal family went into exile, and the Republic was then “proclaimed”. The initial difficulty was to establish the new political bases of the new regime. To do so, a new Constitution, in which the new institutions would be defined. Marshal Deodoro undertook to be the country's provisional president until the new political bases were ready.
In 1891, the new Constitution was approved, with strong inspiration in the political-institutional model of the United States of America and also in the political philosophypositivist in AugusteComte and of his Brazilian disciple, the gaucho Julio de Castilhos, known to Deodoro. That same year, the first indirect elections for president and vice president of the Republic were held. Deodoro was elected president and another military man, florianoPeixoto, vice.
Deodoro's constitutional government began with serious economic turmoil stemming from the interim period. These turmoils ended up becoming an ingredient for political opposition and popular uprisings. In order to resolve the impasse, the marshal dissolved Congress on November 3, 1891. This coup d'état was, in the following days, confronted by the Armada do Brasil (naval force that preceded the Navy). Under the command of Admiral Custodio de Melo, the ship Riachuelo battleship was positioned with the cannons facing the city of Rio de Janeiro. If the marshal did not resign, the bombing order would be given by the Admiral.
Deodoro, under pressure, ended up resigning on November 23 of the same year. Floriano Peixoto, as deputy, assumed the position.
Death
Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca died a year after his resignation, on August 23, in Barra Mansa, Rio de Janeiro, due to a bout of dyspnea.
GRADES
[1] FAUSTO, Boris. history of Brazil. EDUSP: São Paulo, 2013. P. 200.
By Me. Cláudio Fernandes
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/datas-comemorativas/deodoro-fonseca.htm