I mean, OTL Brazil is pretty great. What do you guys have against it?
Empire and Liberal Democracy are not mutually exclusive.
I saw a map a while ago about a balkanized brazil that later developed a Baathist-like pan-movement. That is by far the coolest Brazil I've seen. From the options, I'd like one in union with Portugal, because somebody has to love LusoWanks, and that's me.
As a inhabitant of OTL Brazil, I have a entire list of issues that all trace back to that day in 1889 some positivist officers decided to depose the Rightful Emperor Dom Pedro II. If I could kill people with sheer hate, all the conspiracy would be dead and I would be living in the Brazilian Empire right now, wearing a monocle. Also there would be Airships.
I like the idea of an imperial Brazil. The right POD might be in having Isabella mary Prince Pierre instead of Prince Gaston. There's something impressive about there being an enduring Catholic empire in the world, and unlike plenty of states that have had emperoris, the title actually fit the Brazilian monarch given the sheer size of his realm.
I have to say I'm a little troubled by the perception that Brazil's 'potential' and capacity to have influence on the continent is somehow dependent on a king ruling it.
Changing her husband wouldn't work. You need to avoid Isabel as heir completely. Give Pedro II a surviving son, or make his grandson Pedro of Saxe-Coburg and Braganza be the heir. But even that wouldn't be sufficient. Republicanism wasn't linked to the dislike of a person, but was a political belief that was strong among the educated middle classes.
How would changing his heir fix that?
Because Isabel wasn't raised to be a monarch, but rather to be a good housewife, and she was exactly that. She hated everything related to government, and the political elite believed that her foreign husband would be the true ruler. A male heir would be treated differently. But it would only diminish the Republican support, not extinguish it.
How would changing his heir fix that?
So, at what point would it be right for Pedro II to start grooming Pedro III?
Just makes his heir survives.
But I don't know if this would work. The Empire felt mainly by political reasons (lack of reforms, lack of Provincial representation and autonomy,ostracization of the Army, lack of support of Conservative landowners after the Abollition, etc), not dynastic ones,
President of Venezuela at the time when he heard about the end of the Empire: "There goes the only true democracy in South America!"
Do you recall the name of that president? All I can find is Juan Pablo Rojas Paúl and I cant find a quote of him saying that (however true it may be).
It was him. Although he used the term "republic" instead of "democracy". José Murilo de Carvalho, history teacher at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, presents the current quote and disserts about the Republican values of Pedro II in the following article...
In Portuguese: http://www.revistadehistoria.com.br/secao/capa/imperador-republicano
In English:
http://www.brasil.gov.br/sobre/history/republic/d.-pedro-ii-and-republican-values/print
Ahh thank you for that, it's always nice to see where these quotes originally come from for reference![]()