A New World with New Ideas - A Brazilian Timeline

[CobraFumante]

Chapter XXX - Regime de Melo

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With the Liberals back in power they thought the time was right for some major structural changes in the nation so as to ensure the conservatives wouldn’t be back for quiet a while, so in 1819 they passed the Lei do Voto which expanded suffrage by lowering the necessary income to be able to vote, coincidentally the demography which now was able to vote just so happen to be the medium bourgeoisie which just so happen to be Liberal supporters, this of course angered conservatives whose main supporters were big farmers and weirdly enough your average peasant, so the Liberals sought to bring the commoners out of the conservative sphere of influence and into their own, for that they went after the church which if you need to reminded was essentially more influential to the common people then even the government, this was of course a colonial legacy as well as a legacy of the Coronelismo, which although was effectively gone by the turn of the 19th century still exerted influence in its ghostly form, so the Liberals sought cooperation from the Catholic Church to sway more voters to their ranks, problem was that the Liberals were fervent supporters of the separation of church and state, something which for modern people seems reasonable but back then was a pretty radical position, despite all of this the Liberals sought to influence the education (which was essentially a church monopoly) by introducing a formal curriculum to church education, this however caused more harm then good since this clashed with the idea of federalism as people began to ask how could the central government force provinces to adopt a centralized way of teaching.

This was a major controversy for the Liberals as they more and more seemed like hypocrites, think began to take a turn for the worse in the 1822 elections which were fiercely fought between the conservatives and the liberals, with both sides used voter suppression, blackmailing as well as full blown assassination. Things were so bad that people began to think wether Brazil would actually make it through the crisis and wether they were right to go for liberalism, things however would only get worse and as votes were counted it was announced that Henrique Garcias won his re-election, which of course was full of fraud and things democracies don’t usually do, however since he knew how precarious his position was and recognizing the need to approach the conservatives he choose the speaker of the house to be a conservative (aka the guy who would successes him if he died) and so fate began to act and on the 7th of June 1823 Henrique died the most pathetic way ever… falling down a flight of stairs… yep. This however meant that the speaker of the house a guy named Enzo de Paula Souza e Melo became PM after a short vote in both houses and o boy was he going to enact some vengeance, in fact this period from 1823-1829 became known as the “Regime de Melo” which lets just say was not a nice place to be if you were a Liberal.

First and foremost a lot of Liberals who just so happened to oppose him found themselves charged with corruption and embezzlement with many of them being thrown into prison or simply being stripped of their positions, and what a surprise that the replacements for them were people who agreed with him, after the little purge which became know as the “Noite das Garrafadas”[1] he sought to implement his agenda upon the nation, first and foremost the tariffs put on by the Liberals were once again repelled meaning that any hopes of building a National industry were once again lost, next came the centralization of power something which Melo supported and so began a process of centralizing the nation, he managed also managed to repeal to “Lei do Voto” as well as create a new law called the “Lei do Governo justo” which allowed the government to appoint a new Governor to a province in case the province’s Governor had either died or been sent to jail, it just so happened that in 1825 the governor of Grão-Pará had died from yellow fever and the governor of Pernambuco was arrested on dubious corruption charges, seeing an opportunity to gain control over 2 traditionally liberal provinces Enzo wasted no time in appointing 2 of his cronies as governors of Grão-Pará and Pernambuco, something which would eventually come to bite him in the ass.

Now of course like all people who seize power and create a proto-dictatorship we need censorship, it just so happens that most news articles and journals are opposed to your regime so of course he went all in and cracking on dissent, many journals had their headquarters raided and not by government troops but rather by squads of goons loyal not even to the Conservative party but to Enzo himself, it was also at this point that the crown in Lisbon essentially had enough of all of this bullshit so the king sent a letter chastising him for his anti-Democratic actions and that he either needed to step down or undo most of his work as PM, now a normal person might have looked at the letter and realize that he had gone to far and needed to stop, but not Melo instead he wrote a letter back to Lisbon calling the king a “pig in his royal pigsty” this was of course to be kept a secret but, in 1826 an Italian journalist living in Brazil by the name of Liberio Badaró leaked the content to the press, Melo then promptly got rid of him as he was found dead a couple days later, this was of course the preaching point o for most people as he had essentially completed the dictatorship tutorial and they didn’t want to be the next.

So in December of 1826 a group of Liberal and Conservative politicians gathered in order to oppose the madman, their plan was to remove him by force and instigate a rebellion in the North and Northeast of Brazil and with Portuguese assistance remove the tyrant from São Sebastião, they need to act quickly tough less they wanted to be hanged, thankfully for them their bid proved successful as the North and Northeast specially the provinces of Grão-Pará and Pernambuco were highly discontent with the current situation, by April of 1827 they made contact with Lisbon which supported their bid for revolution, so on the 13th of May of 1827 at the city of Pernambuco a mob led by the Liberal politician Bermudo de Carvalho Leão overthrew the unpopular governor and proclaimed that they were going to save Brazil from the mad tyrant, similarly in Grão-Pará the governor was also overthrown and a Liberal governor replaced him, during the spam of 4 weeks all provinces north of Nova Beira had rebbeled against Enzo, they elevated Bermudo as their provisional leader and declared that “it’s not anymore a matter of conservative against liberal but rather the people of Brazil are be free or not” and so begins the Brazilian Civil-War.



[1] “The Night of the Bottle Battle” so called for after the members of parliament were arrested a mob sought to stop the arrest and fought the soldiers by throwing bottles at them only to be met by a hail of fire before dispersing

 

[CobraFumante]

Chapter XXXI - Civil War p1

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Now that the northernmost provinces of Brazil had risen up against the wanna be tyrant we can properly begin to call this “THE BRAZILIAN CIVIL WAR”, now here was the deal the rebels were in a bit of pickle because you see, the most important and populated provinces were in Melo’s side, what they had however was both support from the crown and support from the majority of the populous which were ardent monarchists and naturally chose the side of the king which was also in the rebel’s side, Melo meanwhile would have to suppress discontent throughout the war but this was easier said then done as there was no way of knowing who was loyal and who wasn’t, this paranoia would dominate the relation between the government members, however despite all of this the odds seemed to favor Melo as he called upon the soldiers and generals who decided to remain loyal to him to assemble for war.

Starting on the 17th of June of 1827 the Melonistas (how we are calling their side) started to drive deep into Bahia as they faced limited opposition from local militias who were quickly dealt with, the exception came to be at Vila de Nova Vigo[1] where after arriving on the 7th of June they were faced with the first organized rebel resistance, the Menolistas quickly scattered the army on the field however the rebels soon took to the safety of the city where they hopped to hold on until reinforcements could arrive, said reinforcements however were still being formed and would never make it to the battle for after 2 weeks of siege the walls were broken and the soldiers pored into the town massacring the rebels as well as a big chunk of the town’s population, this delaying action however bought the rebel army now under the commander of Major General Guilherme de Guimarães Óconor[2] set forth to fight the traitors.

The two sides eventually met on the 21st of July at the battle of São Paulo[3], there the Melonistas numbered around 30,000 troops and the rebels around 25,000, unfortunately for the rebel their army was made mostly of fresh recruits where the actual number of professionals being only around 10,000, their enemies meanwhile possessed some 20,000 professional soldiers, so in spite of their best efforts they were defeated suffering heavy casualties including Óconor himself as he died trying to rally his men, from there on the battered army sought to delay the enemy advance by barricading themselves in the town of São Lorenzo[4], not wanting to rest being sneaked on from behind the Melonistas saw fit to besiege the town and the troops there, the rebels however had the navy which defected en mass to fight against Melo, as such they were able to be resupplied by sea, the insurgents now led by Guilherme’s subordinate João Batista Lavigne held out for an entire month all the while being bombarded by constant artillery fire, and just when all seemed lost and the Melonistas were ready for the final assault on the horizon the white banner with the armillary sphere apppeared, this could only mean one thing, the Portuguese army had arrived.

A Morte do General - by Sancho Groenwald - 1885

The Portuguese who numbered 30,000 + some other 20,000 rebels arrived just at the right moment, the usurpers who numbered 30,000[5] were no match for the combined Portuguese-Rebel forces and soon after 6 hours of battle the Melonistas were routed as they fled southwards ending any possibility of a northwards advance, from there the Portuguese pressed on arriving at Nova Vigo where the enemy had entrenched itself, unwilling to face something similar to what happened during the Siege of São Lorenzo only half of the men were used to attack the defenses as the other half made guard in case of an enemy counter-attack, however no such thing came to be as Melo after hearing of the defeat concentrate his forces in Vera Cruz, despite knowing no help was coming the rebels sought to hold out and managing to do so for 3 weeks before being overwhelmed and slaughtered.

Up north in the province of Grão-Pará however things would soon get violent, the ex-governor who had been deposed managed to escape jail and reunite with his supporters now they planned to coup the new government and from there open a second front against the rebels, the counter-coup happened on the 18th of August and was a success, however the Governor now faced starch opposition from the population specifically from the Indians who feared that in the case of a Melonista victory they would be one of the first to suffer the consequences (Melo always had a very anti-native rhetoric), so to kill two birds with one stone it was ordered that the Indians must be slaughtered, this became known as the Massacre das Lágrimas[6] and it is estimate that it resulted in the death of up to 50,000 Indians, this however proved to be his downfall for while he was busy in the arduous task of slaughtering innocent civilians an army of 10,000 men half of whom were Guyanese French managed to retake Grão-Pará and arrest the governor, however after seeing the atrocities there committed some soldiers became so enraged that they broke into the prison the governor was held, kidnapped him, tortured him for days before killing him and hiding his bones in an unmarked place.



[1] The OTL city of Ilhéus - BA
[2] The guy had Irish ancestry as his surname was a Lusification of the name O’Connor
[3] The OTL town of Moro de São Paulo - BA
[4] The OTL town of São Roque do Paraguaçu - BA
[5] To make for their losses at São Paulo they pressed people they found along they way into their army, however at their first opportunity the fled the battle field
[6] the “Tears Massacre” known as such because once you saw the bones it was impossible not to cry.

 

[Maxmello]

Thats a cruel civil war. Until where do you to lead this TL? Until current days? 20 century?

 

[CobraFumante]

Thats a cruel civil war. Until where do you to lead this TL? Until current days? 20 century?

Well, I plan to continue this timeline until December of 2023 and as time moves on Brazil will interfere more and more with the TL and when the TL is over it will be a recognizable tough ultimately different world

 

[CobraFumante]

Chapter XXXII - Civil War p2

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As the 2nd siege of Nova Vigo the Portuguese and Brazilian forces were starting to amass for an offensive on São Sebastião, meanwhile the Melonistas were entrenching themselves for a prolonged war against the rebels, the Portuguese for their part pulled an ace up their sleeve, National Mobilization, having learn a few tricks from the French back in the Napoleonic wars the Portuguese new that the best weapon known to man was an army of peasants, as such the government issued the Lei de Mobilização Nacional which among other things began drafting people into the army, this was of course massively unpopular in the country and riots broke out in the major cities, however these were put down by the army who started to act pretty tyrannical for a government claiming to fight for freedom, this was of course exploited by the Melonistas in their PR campaign who framed the rebels as hypocrites and despots, this however would do little to save them from what was about to come.

After campaign season had resumed (Campaing seasons stopped in the summer due to how hot and humid it could be) the Portuguese launched their attack with the aim of capturing Nova Brugos, for this end a massive army of 75,000 men was assembled with manpower being drawn from all corners of rebel controlled territory as well as the massive Portuguese army already there, the army promptly left Nova Vigo on the 17th of April 1828 and headed south where they met the first line of enemy fortifications, the fighting there was brutal as each fortification was a mini fortress which needed to be taken individually meaning there were some pretty hefty casualties, from there however they marched south and headed towards Nova Brugos, there however was where the Melonistas hopped to stop them in its tracks as they had not sat idle throughout all this time and instead had assembled an army of 60,000 men to oppose the invasion, their plan was to attack them from the rear while the Portuguese sieged the city, however ever paranoid about what happened in São Lorenzo the Portuguese refused to fully commit to the siege and instead launched a prolong takeover of the city, this paranoia however would pay off as the Melonistas thinking that their plan worked left their hiding spot to confront the Portuguese, however the Portuguese were prepared for this.

As the enemy armies closed in on the besiegers the Portuguese-Rebel army under the command of General Luís Carlos de Mato Grosso, the Melonistas for their part where under the leadership of General Raúl da Costa de Oliveira, the two armies met on 1st of May and from there all hell would break loose, first and foremost there was the clear numerical superiority in the Portuguese side, however the army of conscripts the rebels had drafted was demoralized and would easily break if the Melonistas did a determined push, so after their intelligence revealed that the rebels would position themselves in the right flank they knew their plan of attack, as sun rose on the 2nd of May and both armies formed battle lines a massive artillery barrage was inflicted on the Portuguese right flank this was followed by a massive charge by the usurpers who slaughtered to deal a decisive blow to their enemy, however as they moved closer they noticed that they were not charging against the undisciplined recruited troops but rather the Portuguese professionals who had swapped places with the draftees at the last minute, the Portuguese plan had worked better then expected and now the Melonista charge turned into a slaughter, by the end of the charge half of all men who attacked the Portuguese would be killed, captured or wounded, after that the Portuguese cavalry was able to flank the enemy army and in a pincer movement capture the remainder of the enemy left flank (yes, you read that right captured, the surprise was such that the Melonistas were not able to form proper battle lines and were all caputred), following that the Melonista forces began to surrender en mass and it became clear as day that the battle was over and a total rebel victory.

Painting of the Battle of Nova Brugos - Author unknown

The victory in Nova Brugos paved the way for an attack on São Sebastião itself, the army after capturing Nova Brugos began its move south, however their March was suddenly stopped when they realized one thing, that an attack from Nova Beira would completely cut them off from any sort of help or retreat avenue, so it was decided to first take the Province before continuing their March, this of course gave the Melonistas more then enough time to fortify the Provinces of Guanabara and Aurélia, thankfully for the Portuguese however someone was ahead of them, a relatively unknown officer by the name of Jorge Peeters do Santos who began to march down the São Pedro river with only 12,000 men against his superior’s orders, now that may sound like a small amount of men but in his hands it was more then enough, his first course of action was to capture an entire army of 9,000 men sent to oppose him something which he accomplished in a brilliant night attack where the leader of the unit was killed and his men fled with their tails between their legs, then he continued his march capturing more and more cities whilst always being chased in some form or another by an enemy army, one time some 12,000 enemy soldiers came to kill the guy, and whilst they were making battle formations he led a charge against the center breaking his enemy’s thin lines and sending them running, after a while of humiliating his opponents he capturing the provincial capital of Diamantina and securing the city for the rebels, accomplishing all of this in 3 months he was then appointed to the rank of general basically catapulting him from an obscure figure to one of the top commanders in the rebel movement.

With their flanks now secured it was time to move for the finishing blow, the Portuguese army resumed marching and entered the province of São Sebastião only to find it turned into a mega-fortress which would need to be taken, they began their attacks on the 29th of August against enemy positions in Campos Verdes[1] where after some time of struggle they managed to capture it however as they began to march on São Sebastião itself a surprise attack followed which resulted in the Portuguese army having to retreat from the province, however as the dead began to be counted they noticed that General Luís had been killed in the fighting.

Now leaderless the Portuguese army retreated back to Nova Brugos as they were followed by the Melonista army, thankfully the Portuguese a managed to arrive without many other noteworthy loses, then it became a question of who would succeed him and while there were many competing choices, in the end the man chosen to lead the bartered army was non other then Jorge himself, now it was his turn to unleash hell against Melo and his regime.



[1] OTL Campos do Goycatazes - RJ

 

[Aluma]

What have you done, Padre Fabio de Melo!

Great chapter as always

 

[CobraFumante]

Chapter XXXIII - Civil War finale

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Since the beginning of hostilities in 1827 the outcome of the civil-war was yet uncertain, sure the North had the support from the royal armies of Portugal but the South had far more manpower as well as economic output, in a conventional war it was clear that as time passed the balance of power would shift in favor of the South, however what was unexpected was the competency in which the North though in the struggle for the future of Brazil, for until now they were able to not only hold the line but also expand at the expense of the Melonistas, however the defeat at Campos Verdes paved the way for one of the most famous Brazilians to take to himself to bring the war to a close and reunite his country, his name of course was Jorge Peeters.

Now under the command of the Portuguese and Rebel armies he was ready to unleash hell, however he had in his own ranks many opponents who saw his appointment as a nonsense, he went from an insignificant officer to the top General overnight all because of his Nova Beira campaign which to many was a result of sheer luck, thankfully for the rebel cause they didn’t allow their grievances to get in the way of victory, so after reorganizing and replenishing their strength the rebel army marched “away down south in the land of traitors”, their first obstacle would be the fortifications that were rebuilt in the province of Guanabara, now the Melonista plan was to attack the enemy army whilst they were bogged down against the forts, which was something they were definitely going to do and not say cross the Serra do Mar[1] with their entire army for a suprising attack in Aurelia, wait what was that? Jorge moved his entire army across the Serra do Mar for an attack in Aurelia, well can’t say I saw that one coming.

The Aurelian campaign began on the 1st of March 1829 when an Jorge led 40,000 men in a surprise attack against the richest province in the country, now for some it seems a little crazy that the most populous and wealthy province would simply be open like that, bit considering how uneven and treacherous the terrain was it was fought that leading a massive army would be impossible and that they only needed to defend a few key passes, however Jorge proved everyone wrong by quickly moving in and capturing the capital of Vila Rica on the 13th and getting the governor of Aurelia to formally surrender to the rebel forces which allowed the provisional government in Olinda to enjoy a good flow of cash for the remainder of the struggle, from there Jorge moved his force southwest towards the province of Tieté and from there march on São Sebastião from the rear, the march began on the 20th of the same month and it caught Melo with his pants down as they thought there was no need for fortifications protecting the capital from behind, in a panic the armies of the Melonistas began to tirelessly march their main army to meet the enemy in battle, however by the time they caught up to him in April of 1829 they arrived tired, hungry and demoralized just the way Jorge intended.

On the 9th of April 1829 both sides of the conflict organized their armies in battle formation, the rebels possessed an army of 35,000 men of which around 7,000 were cavalry as well as 76 cannons, the Melonistas in their part had amassed and army of 60,000 men with around 8,000 cavalry and 115 cannons, the battle begun as both sides traded cannon fire but without much effect on either side, the Melonistas were however hungry and tired as they had spent the night marching thinking the enemy forces were way ahead when in actuality they were right there, the rebels on the other hand had spent the day before resting and preparing for conflict, this was possible thanks to the rebels superiority in reconnaissance something that Jorge thought of as essential to every military engagement, after one hour of battle the Melonistas sent their cavalry as shock units to tear a whole in the rebel line allowing for them to be split in two and be taken separately, sadly for the southerners the rebels had anticipated this move and laid the battle with sticks other such anti-cavalry measures, as the horses of the Melonistas drew closer they noticed this fact, but before they could try anything the rebels slaughtered them, with the enemy cavalry neutralized the rebels employed their own horses which in unison with the infantry broke thought the enemy lines and strikes at the head of the army itself capturing the genralmand forcing the army to surrender, it was a “bloody battle” with both sides suffering a total of 8,000 dead and 12,000 injured, which is why this day became the 2nd bloodiest day in Brazilian history.

With that army dealt with the rebels marched south and entered the city of Tieté which they stayed for a while before summing marching, this time however their course was eastwards with the aim to strike at the viper’s nest, the march took about a month before the rebel army arrived in São Sebastião on the 14th of May 1829, the militia stationed there tried to form a defense but it was all in vain and after less then a day of struggle their defenses broke and the city was flooded by enemy troops, knowing his fate all to well if captured Melo decided to go to hell the easy way and simply shot himself, after the fighting was over Jorge entered congress where after learning of the traitors death submitted and unilaterally surrendered to the General, it was finally over, all those deaths and all the suffering could finally come to an end and a new Brazil was to be born from the ashes.

 

[Maxmello]

How big is the Brazilian population now?

 

[Aluma]

How big is the Brazilian population now?

Go home Melo you already lost the civil war!

 

[CobraFumante]

How big is the Brazilian population now?

As of 1830 the Brazilian population sits at 6,010,494 people; further details will be in the next chapter when the first Brazilian census will happen

 

[CobraFumante]

Chapter XXXIV - A New Hope

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With the Civil War finally over it was time to rebuild, first things first a new Prime-Minister was to be chosen, however due to the instability and chaos in the immediate aftermath of the conflict the PM was to be chosen by a vote from the provisional congress rather then the people, making it the only time a PM was elected without the popular vote and the lucky guy was none other then Bermudo Leão himself, who during the course of the war made a name for himself by being a competent with finances and an able administrator in the province of Pernambuco, his administration proved crucial for the reconstruction of the country as the masterfully managed to get the funds to rebuild without increasing the national debt to much, one of his most accomplished achievement would be the restoration of São Sebastião which got badly damaged during the taking of the city, however his main legacy would not be about reconstruction but rather about the structure of the government.

Chiefly amongst these would be the constitution which although was a pretty impressive document for the time it had some serious flaws which allowed for the executive branch to dominate the nation, so it became paramount that the other two branches be strengthened, for this end the Supreme Court gained some new powers like being able to overturn legislation considered unconstitutional as well as create amendments themselves, however many feared that this would turn the judiciary into the dominating body of the nation, to counter this it was agreed that for the Supreme Court to be called upon the cases needed to first be held in a municipal court, then be contested in a provincial court before Viana ly being presented to the Supreme Court, the other branch the legislative branch also gained many powers from the executive which allowed them to directly depose a Prime Minister if 50% of both Upper and Lowe houses agree to it. Another one of his achievements would be the 1830 Brazilian census, the first of its kind in the modern Brazilian state, the census showed that the Brazilian population had reached a whopping 6,010,494 people with about 90% of them living in rural areas whilst 10% of them lived in urban areas, with the biggest city being the capital of São Sebastião with a population of 78,958, there was also a provincial census which showed the population of each province with the most populated of which beign Aurélia with a population of 1,378,274 and the least populated was the province of Mato Grosso which had a measly 58,019 people, finally there was the ethnic census which described the Brazilian population as 92% European, 7% Mestiços and Indians and 1% Blacks and Mulatos (tough keep in mind that many of those who called themselves Europeans actually had native ancestry tough it was pretty diluted due to generations of mixing), and all of this being achieved before the elections of 1830.

The elections of 1830 also show how Brazilian was healing from the conflict, the election showed no major frauds and no major instances of political violence, this goes to show that the war had a deep impact on the people and that it made the country more united, with the first sings of a Brazilian indents really emerging, as stated before the election was smooth and ultimately Bermudo won his first real receiving a whopping 397,465 votes (or around 66,2% of the votes) and prepared himself for his second term.

Already in the beginning of his “first” term a very important thing happened that being the publishing of the book Madeira de Brazil in the year of 1831, this book marks the beginning of Romanticism in Brazil more specifically the nationalist phase of romanticism which would last until 1852 and become a pain in the ass for Brazilian kids in the future, also one of his most important pieces of legislation during this period would be the Lei da Reforma de Imigração Estrangeira which passed both houses and was signed into law, this piece of legislation made it much easier for Europeans to migrated to Brazil as well as obtaining citizenship, this led to a huge boost in immigration with the chamber of immigration registering the entering of 172,367 foreigners between 1830-1840, most of which were Portuguese though there were significant numbers of Spaniards, French, Irish, Italians and Flemish; those new comers would also mostly settle in the southeast thanks in part by the economical miracle the region was experiencing which was largely due to the widespread cultivation of coffee which began to be cultivated in large quantities in the provinces of Tieté and Guanabara, this meant that the local economy boomed and began the process in which these two provinces ascended to a primordial status within the country, another marking event of this this of course made Bermudo extremely popular which allowed him to be elected for technically his second term in 1834, receiving some 496,036 votes (70,2% of the total amount) his second term was largely calm and peaceful one without any major changes or innovations… well expect one thing.

The first industrial boom was a phenomenon which occurred between 1835-1847, and it resulted in the first of three (technically 4) mass industrialization processes in Brazil, it all started in 1835 when the Tarifa Carvalho de Leões passed both houses and became law, the tariff consisted in the increasing of tariffs over industrialized products in particular and this plus the wealth accumulated by coffee farmers allowed for a wide investment and industry and manufactures, the industry quickly grew and led to the rapid rise of a new urban industrial middle class as well as the rise of the urban proletariat, both of which would become key components of 20th century Brazilian politics, the year of 1837 also became pretty endemic as it marked the construction of the first Brazilian railroad which linked the cities of São Sebastião and Tieté further showing how both cities and provinces were growing in influence, with all of this you would expect Bermudo’s popularity to be sky high and a third term all but guaranteed, and you would be right if not for Bermudo himself who wished to leave national politics and dedicate his life to his passion of Botany.

In all cases the year of 1838 arrived and a new election was held this time the Liberal candidate was none other than Jorge Peeters do Santos who after being elected by the Liberal convention was put on the ballot against the conservative and progressive candidates Milton Amado de Bosques and Guilherme da Costa Toiriz respectively, the election was however a resounding victory for Jorge who was a renowned war hero and received a gran total of 528,835 votes (59,8% of the votes) and on the 1st of January 1839 he ascended as the newest Brazilian a prime Minister.

 

[CobraFumante]

Chapter XXXV - More of the same

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As Jorge ascended as Prime Minister he made a mind-blowing revelation about his premiership, nothing was going to change. Well nothing is a bit of an exaggeration but all in all things were calm from the Brazilians who woke up day after day in a country who was rapidly growing in both population and industry as shown in the previous chapter, during his first term some important landmarks were made, for example we have the São Sebastião - Nova Bragança railroad which was built in 1839 and linked some of the two most important Brazilian cities, another important achievement would be the founding of the Banco Toiriz which became a leading lender to industrialist as well as newbies who were entering in the industrial business world, this of course led to resentment by the coffee farmers who looked at their new urban elite with distrust and sometimes outright hostile something which would lead to a very messy election.

1840 also saw the second Brazilian census which marked that the Brazilian population had grown by 28,3% and grown from 6,010494 to 7,711,483, that thanks in part to the increasing numbers of immigrants coming to Brazilian shores, an interesting phenomenon was that there was also emigration from Brazil to other Portuguese colonies as many young men sought to get rich quickly, this specially in Angola would be reflected by their accents as Portuguese Brazilians tended to descended from Northern Portuguese and Galicians and carried on these northern accents whilst Portuguese immigrants in Africa came overwhelmingly from the South and Center of Portugal meaning that just by looking at the Portuguese someone spoke you could see if the area was settled mainly by Portuguese or Brazilians, another way Brazilians influenced the Portuguese empire would be by culture as Brazilian literature was slowly but surely making its way in reading circles in the North of Portugal.

1841 also saw the publication of Contos do Exílio a very important romanticist text about the sufferings of being away from one’s homeland, this book was written by the author Sancho Vineiro Américo and would become pretty famous among immigrant communities who adapted the song to their native languages, all in all this surge in literature would in 1843 cause the creation of the Liga do Português Brasileiro which became the ancestors of what would one day be the ABL and latter the ATLL, as 1842 came elections were soon to follow and Jorge as expected won a re-election with some 62% of the popular votes (some 523,000 votes) and secured himself a second term.

In his second term he would however have to content with a rising problem in Brazil, the constant bickering between coffee farmers and industrialist who would constantly try to get Jorge on their side and this coupled with his heavy smoking and drinking had a pretty nasty effect on his health, by the middle of his second term he suffered a heart attack which nearly killed him, but if you think that was enough to take him down you’re dead wrong and instead he just cut down on the drinking and smoking.

But really besides all of this there is only really one thing of interesting that happened in his second term, you see the Brazilian population was overwhelmingly Catholic and very devout, so what do you think happens when some weird religious leader in the northeast springs out of nowhere and begins preaching that the end is near and that by 1850 the world was going to end? Well panic and unadulterated chaos, things became so messy that the National Guard had to be called in and states like Pernambuco faced armed resistance by the fanatics, in the end after a bit of chatting with their leader Antônio Câmara César the movement decided to form a community in the middle of the Sertão alway from the vices of mankind and waiting the inevitable end of the earth, suffice to say that when the end did not come many simply abandoned the settlement and returned to their homes

After this weird incident the year if 1846 came and new elections are to come, this time Jorge decided not to participate due to his health, however in his absence the Liberals failed to rally around any candidate and this paved the way for Milton Bosque of the Conservative party Otto get into power and begin an era of conservative domination of politics

 

[CobraFumante]

Chapter XXXVI - Build and they will Come

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After some 16 years away from power the Conservatives were able to reclaim their throne tough things could never be as they used to, Milton although a very reactionary conservative at core knew that if Brazil was to keep going steady in its course compromises would be necessary, first and foremost he won the election standing upon 3 major points. The 1st being Agriculture as he sought to reinvigorate the agrarian sector by lowering import duties and making it easier for Brazilian coffee, tobacco and cacao to be exported to the world, however he was a shrewd politician and knew that any attempt to violently curtail this burgeoning industrial sector would result in a crisis and this would certainly mean an end to his career, so for things to run smoothly it would require careful planning and action. His 2nd point was immigration, despite his party being generally against the incoming of large numbers of immigrants he himself was all for immigration (European that is, he was still incredibly racist), which he assumed would help the agricultural sectors by both providing markets as well as a much needed labor force as well as help expand the Brazilian frontier deep to the Sertão. 3rd being imperialism as he sought to secure Brazil’s position of Portugal’s number one child which remained loyal to the Mother country and helped her in her Imperial plans.

Now for Milton he hoped for the first part of his plan to come slowly but things across the Atltanticnwere about to change his plans, you see since the Columbian Exchange foodstuffs native to the Americas made their way to Europe, the most important of which being the potato which could produce more calories per acre then wheat and so became a staple of European diets, however in the end of the 1840’s a plague swept across Europe and destroyed potato fields wherever it appeared and this led to a food crisis in Europe, Ireland and Flanders in particular were severely affected and this combined with the 1848 revolutions in Europe led to general instability and crisis, it’s no wonder then that many chose to try their luck across the Atlantic, noticing this the Bosque’s government passed the Lei do Legitimo Estrangeiro which made it easier for Europeans to obtain citizenship in Brazil, this measures were successful and soon tens of thousands of people were arriving in Brazilian ports, most of which beign German, Flemish and Irish as well as relinquishing the Portuguese as only the 4th largest group of new arrivals, usually these “Novos Imigrantes” as the Brazilians called them were very Poor and Catholic and usually chose Brazil since as a Catholic nation they would face less discrimination there, unlike in the US whose immigrants were usually wealthier and Protestant (expect the Irish which were around 75% Catholic), also unlike in the Us the government in São Sebastião made huge land grants for immigrants to settle deep in the interior of the country, so while in the US Irish Americans tended to live in cities in Brazil the Irish were a countryside people, this huge wave of immigration would continue throughout the 1840’s and 50’s and help jump the Brazilian population from 7,711,463 people in 1840 to 10,194,554 in 1850 and 13,314,107 in 1860, an increase of over 5,6 million people thanks in large part due to the Irish, Flemish and Germans.

Starving Irishmen

This new mass of people needed land to settle and farm, so with the momentum on his side Bosques went for the Agricultural part of his reforms lowering the tariffs on exports and making huge land grants in the provinces of Paraná, Mato Grosso, Iguassú and Araucária, many of these new settlers also turned to coffee production whose prices were beginning to exploded due to its huge demands in the industrialized cities of Europe, North America and even Brazil, of course this was met with opposition from the new industrial middle-class which were seeing some 16 years of privilege being thrown away in favor of their political rivals, however Milton managed to maintain just enough tariffs that the industrialists wouldn’t be too angry at him, this also came in nicely with the occupation of the interior and also gave birth to the Sertanista movement which was essentially how the movement to explore and occupy the Brazilian interior would be called, for this end some pieces of literature like Meu Sertão of Fernando da Cunha Holanda which romanticizes the life of a “Paranaian” farmer and serves a major nationalist text as it praises Brazil and the Brazilian people.

All of this was achievement before 1850 and greatly boosted his popularity specially among the immigrants, so when the elections came about he managed to win his re-election and got a second term, and in his second term he was about to put in practice his 3rd goal, this pocibility came about in the island of Timor which until now was only partially controlled by the Portuguese with the rest being controlled by the natives, this changed when the Portuguese government decided to send an expedition there to subdue the rest of island, problemhowever was that the Portuguese were unused to the tropical and malaria ridden biomes of Southeast Asia, for this end they came to the Brazilians for help as many Brazilians who lived in the Amazon had developed ways to resists the harsh environment of the jungle, anxious to put Brazil on the spotlights the government dispatched some 8,500 men from the provinces of Grão-Pará and Guyana, the whole affair known as the Bosques expedition arrived in Timor on July of 1850 which in the Southern Hemisphere was winter and thus would present less of a challenge to the soldiers, the whole affair was however pretty brutal as the soldiers without any way of oversight took their stress on the locals with young woman being specially vulnerable to abuse and mistreatment, however the hole ordeal was success and the island was brought entirely under the heal of the Portuguese. The second act of imperialism by the Brazilians would come in the 6th Argentine Civil-War in which the Unitarians fought against the Federalists, the civil-war was a a major destabilizing factor in the Platine region and threatened “Portuguese” (Brazilian) commercial interests, so the Portuguese government after pleas from the Brazilian authorized the government of Milton to restore order in the region, by this end the Brazilian army stationed in Mesopotâmia and Cisplatina crossed into Argentina as allies of the Unitarians against the federalist led by Juan Manuel de Rosas, the fighting was short as the Brazilians had the advantage of manpower and organization, so they quickly entered Buenos Aires and deposed Juan from power allowing for stability to return (temporarily that is).

An so the rest of Bosques’s were pretty uneventful as he did what he had hoped to do since the beginning, he would run for a 3rd term in 1854 and managed to win becoming the first PM to go for a third term but that is a story for another

 

[CobraFumante]

Also I’m happy to say that we will finally be able to go back to 2 posts per week

 

[Aluma]

Also I’m happy to say that we will finally be able to go back to 2 posts per week

Im so happy
Hope you're doing great

 

[CobraFumante]

Chapter XXXVII - Back to Square Zero

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Now that Milton’s wildest dreams were coming true he could finally show his true colors, see all this talk about balancing industry and agriculture was pretty much a facade so he could be elected and then re-elected but now that he has a pretty sizable base of support he could finally move against them, something he did by lowering tariffs even further, this of course had its consequences and as foreign products made their way to Brazil it caused a crash in the Brazilian economy resulting in the panic of 1855 which was a 2 year long economic crisis which tore the industrial establishment to pieces, now Milton was counting on the assumption that his popularity alone would be enough to keep him afloat, but fun fact no; some months after the crash a mention of parliament was created with the objective of removing Milton from power so a new PM could be chosen, and in the end the motion was passed by both houses and resulted in Bosques being booted out of power and in his place the conservative MP Leonardo Pena de Carvalho assumed his place marking the first time a PM was removed from office, this also proved to show that the legislative new powers were not to be trifled with.

Upon Leo’s accession he needed to fix the absolute mess the economy was in, thankfully to his aid came coffee whose prices were skyrocketing thanks to the equally growing demand, and since Brazil controlled over 80% of the global supply this meant that it could dictate the prices for this popular commodity, this of course did not sit well with the urban elites who now abandoned any and all support for Leonardo who instead needed to content himself with the conservatives who would often at times be an even greater pain in his ass, but anyhow his main contribution as PM would not be an economical one but diplomatic as during his governorship “Portugal” and the US began to enjoy closer economic and diplomatic cooperation as American and Brazilian merchants made a great deal of profit from trade, this is not to say that there weren’t any disagreements between the two power, since the US criticized Brazil’s choice for an antique Monarchy in a continent full of republics, Brazil meanwhile countered this by pointing who’s much more stable (at least since the civil-war) they were in comparison to their neighbors.

One event in Pena’s stay in office that should not be overlooked was the translation of both the Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital something which down the line would lead to struggle between the “Forças Tradicionais” and the “Forças Novas” but that is still far from where we are, another important event was the publication of Vida Nossa in 1856 which was the most successful book of the 2nd phase of Romanticism which although did not start in that year was defined by it and its author Luís Amado Ferreira, but besides that there was not a lot that happened during his first term, the only expedition to this would be beginning of border conflicts between Brazil and Bolivia as Brazilian settlers went beyond the provinces of Mato Grosso and Paraguay and into b then Bolivian Chaco, but anyway in 1858 there was an election and the Conservative party managed to win a majority of seats and thus keep Leonardo in power and during this second term 2 big diplomatic crisis would occur.

The first one was the Bolivian crisis as the Brazilian settlers in Chaco were refusing to pay taxes as well a battle with the locals for land, problem was they were already outnumbering the locals in some areas and there was a feeling with the Bolivian government that if this was allowed to continue something similar to Texas would happen with Chaco, so Bolivian authorities were cracking down on these settlers and deporting them back, this however reached the ears of São Sebastião as well as Lisbon and the common consensus was that the settlers had no right to be there and as such deporting was ok, tough there were some demands by the Brazilians who insisted that the expulsions be done humanely and any stories of abuse would have consequences, as such Bolivia took every precaution so nothing of bad would happen and soon most settlers were back to Brazil where they promptly settled in the province of Mato Grosso forever with a grudge against the Bolivians.

Brazilian horsemen in the Bolivian Chaco

The second major diplomatic crisis would be something called the American Civil War as support from Brazil would be vital and could turn the tide of war, problem was nobody was sure who Brazil would sup… and let’s not kid ourselves they chose the union, Brazil had a long and deep abolitionist history beign the only country in the Americas where slavery was always illegal and many American slaves over the course of the decades managed to reach Brazil and become freeman, tough make no mistake the numbers of escapees were never really big numbering only a few dozens per year, however now that the opportunity to fight against slavery presented itself men signed up in droves with some 40,000 Brazilians serving in the Union army throughout the war, these soldiers were organized into the Brazilian-American Regiment led by General Oswald dos Campos Smith as Brazilian of English and Portuguese decent as well as a veteran of the Brazilian Civil War, the Brazilian fought bravely winning many victories against the Confederates, this would eventually culminate in a Union victory at the battle of Cold Harbor[1] where the Brazilians played a key role in ensuring victory, this would lead to a Union victory in the war by November of 1864 and as struggle was over all men were made free, Leonardo due to some “issues” back home wasn’t able to meet with President Lincoln and instead his successor Eugênio da Costa went to DC in February to meet him.


However funnily enough after the war there was a major exodus of people from the American south to Brazil as southerners left in fear of retribution fly the freeman, about 42,000 came with most of them establishing themselves in the interior of Tieté founding the city of Dixia[2] who to this day still has English as a co-official language as well as some very controversial Confederate memorial days.

Sadly for Leonardo he wouldn’t really see the end of his term as he died due to a stroke on July of 1862, he was immediately succeeded by Eugênio da Costa, the Conservative party then managed to once again win the elections securing themselves as the dominant party and securing da Costa would continue to be PM.



[1] In OTL this battle was an American defeat and prolonged the war by some time, here due to help from the Brazilians the Union was able to secure victory
[2] OTL Americana - São Paulo

 

[Revalus]

However funnily enough after the war there was a major exodus of people from the American south to Brazil with, about 42,000 came with most of them establishing themselves in the interior of Tieté founding the city of Dixia[2] who to this day still has English as a co-official language as well as some very controversial Confederate memorial days.

This is really odd, as the only reason these Confederates migrated to Brazil was because slavery was still legal there. An anti-slavery Brazil would not be a destination of choice for these Confederates. Rather, they'd go somewhere else where slavery was still legal. Realistically, their immigration to Brazil would be butterflied away and diverted to some other destination. Cuba (abolished slavery in 1886)? The European colonies in Africa? Or any of the other states that abolished slavery late, as shown in this Reddit map?

Was Lincoln's assassination butterflied away?

 

[Maxmello]

There is no Acre then?

 

[Strategos' Risk]

Confederates tried to establish a colony in abolitionist Mexico, they get around

Confederates in Mexico: Lost Cause or New South Vanguard?

Jamie Starling reviews Todd W. Wahlstrom's The Southern Exodus to Mexico: Migration across the Borderlands after the American Civil War (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2015).

southernspaces.org

Confederates in Mexico – Abbeville Institute

www.abbevilleinstitute.org

 

[CobraFumante]

This is really odd, as the only reason these Confederates migrated to Brazil was because slavery was still legal there. An anti-slavery Brazil would not be a destination of choice for these Confederates. Rather, they'd go somewhere else where slavery was still legal. Realistically, their immigration to Brazil would be butterflied away and diverted to some other destination. Cuba (abolished slavery in 1886)? The European colonies in Africa? Or any of the other states that abolished slavery late, as shown in this Reddit map?

Was Lincoln's assassination butterflied away?

1st - The reason these confederates settled in Brazil is different from out TL, in OTL most of these left as you said due to their pro-slavery sentiment as Brazil became the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery, here however most settlers are left due to their fears of retribution from the newly emancipated blacks and they settled the province of Tieté due to its mild climate as well as Brazil giving away land for settlers (also some creator bias since I find this prospect extremely funny)

2nd - Yep, Old Abe is alive and well but decided to not run for a 2nd term and instead allowed for Grant to take the helm