1914-1918 1930-1945







First Republic, Part III : 1918-1930



Foreign Policy : Brazil became a founding member of the League of Nations in 1920, but withdrew in 1926.

The Economy : The Brazilian industry developed, a steel plant with Belgian investment in Minas Gerais (1924), a cement factory in Sao Paulo (1926) were established. Refrigeration technology was introduced, a great improvement for Brazil's cattle industry (centered on Rio Grande do Sul). Attempts to establish rubber plantations in Brazil (so successful in Malaya and on Sumatra) failed. Brazil had significant foreign debts, the largest of any Latin American country.
The year 1930 saw a sharp fall in prices for Brazil's leading exports, most notably that for coffee; the Great Depression had an impact on Brazil.

Political Groupings : While the oligarchies of Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais continued to aarange presidencies alternating between candidates from these two states (the "milk and coffee arrangement") the growing urban elite sought to reform Brazilian democracy, to establish clean elections. They were joined in their opposition by the representatives of Rio Grande do Sul, who felt excluded by the Paulista-Mineiro clique.
A revolt of military officers in July 1922 marks the beginning of a series of events which is seen as indicators of dissatisfaction with the 'Old Republic', which came to an end in 1930. President Arturo da Silva Bernandes (1922-1926) lacked popularity. In 1924 further military rebellions occurred, they temporarily took control of Sao Paulo. The rebels remained in armed opposition to the government until 1926. The rebels criticized the republic for its oligarchic structure - a literacy clause excluded the vast majority of Brazilians from the voting process, and a caste of corrupt politicos was in control.
When President Washington L. Pereira de Souza (1926-1930) in 1930 failed to stick to the agreement and named another Paulista his candidate for the presidency (it was the Mineiro's turn), the Mineiros withdrew their support. The same year Getulio Vargas, Governor of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, took over in a coup d'etat.
In 1922, the Brazilian Communist Party was founded.






EXTERNAL
FILES 		History of Brazil, from Wikipedia (Engl., Port.)
DOCUMENTS
REFERENCE Boris Fausto, A Concise History of Brazil, Cambridge Concise Histories, 1999
Donald E. Worcester, Brazil, from Colony to World Power, NY : Scribner 1973
Mitsuru Shimpo, Indentured Migrants from Japan, pp.48-50 in : Robin Cohen, The Cambridge Survey of World Migration, Cambridge : UP 1995, KMLA Lib.Sign. 304.809 C678c
Article : Brazil, in : Statesman's Yearbook 1919 pp.711-723, 1924 pp.704-716, 1925 pp.715-727, 1926 pp.693-705, 1928 pp.702-714, 1929 pp.696-708 [G]
Article : Brazil, in : Americana Annual 1927 pp.117-121, 1928 pp.107-110, 1930 pp.121-124, 1931 pp.118-121 [G]
Article : Brazil, in : New International Year Book 1919 pp.110-113, 1920 pp.97-100, 1921 pp.97-99, 1922 pp.98-100, 1923 pp.99-102, 1924 pp.101-106, 1925 pp.101-105, 1926 pp.107-111, 1928 pp.107-110, 1929 pp.112-116, 1930 pp.107-111 [G]



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2001, last revised on September 2nd 2007

Click here to go Home
Click here to go to Information about KMLA, WHKMLA, the author and webmaster
Click here to go to Statistics