THE Straw War is considered one of the main conflicts that mark the period between the fall of the monarchy and the installation of the republican regime in Brazil. However, before knowing more details about the formation of the Canudos Village and the beginning of the battles, we must contemplate some passages from the life of its main leader: Antônio Conselheiro.
Born in the village of Quixeramobim, in the interior of Ceará, Antônio Vicente Mendes Maciel grew up in a family with an average standard of living. During his childhood he had a diverse education that offered him contact with geography, mathematics and foreign languages. At twenty-seven, after his father's death, he took over the family business. Not succeeding, he abandoned the activity. At the same time, he married a cousin and exercised legal functions in the cities of Campo Grande and Ipu.
With his wife's abandonment, Antônio began to wander through the northeastern hinterland. He then became involved with a sculptor named Joana Imaginária, with whom he ended up having a child. In 1865, Conselheiro abandoned his wife and son and returned to his country pilgrimage. During these wanderings, he began to build churches, cemeteries and had his figure marked by a gray beard, a blue coat, leather sandals and his hand supported by a staff.
At that time, from the perspective of someone influenced by personal setbacks and problems In the backlands, Antônio Conselheiro began a religious preaching in defense of a Christianity primitive. He defended that men should get rid of the oppressions and injustices that were imposed on them, seeking to overcome problems according to Christian religious values. With words of faith and justice, Conselheiro attracted many backlanders who identified with the message he delivered.
From the beginning, ecclesiastical authorities and dominant sectors of the population saw the social and religious renewal of Antônio Conselheiro as a threat to the established order. In 1876, authorities arrested him on the grounds that he had killed his wife and mother, and sent him back to Ceará. After his release, Conselheiro headed for the interior of Bahia. With the increase in his number of followers and the preaching of his ideals contrary to the current order, Conselheiro founded – in 1893 – a community called Belo Monte, on the banks of the Vaza-Barris River.
Consolidating a community not subject to the orders of the representatives of the current power, Canudos, the name given to the community by its opponents, became a threat to the interests of the powerful. On the one hand, the Church attacked the community alleging that Conselheiro's followers were wedded to heresy and depravity. On the other hand, politicians and landlords, using the media at the time, said that Antônio Conselheiro was a monarchist and led a movement that aimed to overthrow the republican government, installed in 1889.
Incriminated by influential and powerful sectors of society at the time, Canudos was the target of republican troops. Contrary to government expectations, the community managed to resist four military assaults. Only in the last expedition, which had machine guns and cannons, was the population able to fight (men and boys) massacred. The community was reduced to a few hundred women, the elderly and children. Antonio Conselheiro, in fragile health, died days before the last combat. When they found his body, they cut off his head and sent him to study the characteristics of the skull of a “mad fanatic”.
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By Rainer Sousa
Graduated in History
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
SOUSA, Rainer Gonçalves. "War of Straws"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/historiab/canudos.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
