Copacabana Revolt in Brazil 1922

The reformist critique of the Brazilian military would become part of the thinking that underlay the tenente or lieutenants' revolts of the 1920s, beginning with the Copacabana Revolt in 1922. The general feeling of alienation in the military, after the presidential election of 1922, was also a factor in the revolt by young officers who wanted to use the military to modernize the nation and were opposed to the domination of the planter-dominated system. Many of the tenentes came from poor, backward states lacking in political influence. Lieutenant Luiz Carlos Prestes participated in the planning, but when the moment of truth arrived, an attack of typhoid fever kept him from the actual insurgency. On July 5, 1922, at Fort Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro, the plotters launched their revolt, calling on the Brazilian president, Artur da Silva Bernardes, to resign. The coastal artillery guns situated at the fort were fired seaward as a signal to other armed forces to join the rebellion. However, the rest of the military remained loyal to the government. On July 6th the battleship Sao Paulo was ordered to bombard the fort; firing her 12 inch from a range of about 7000 yards with great effect, she silenced the fort's guns. Mena Barreto commanded an infantry brigade sent to suppress the revolt. Faced with failure, eighteen (17 lieutenants and a civilian) conspirators refused to surrender. They abandoned the fort and marched onto the beach where they resisted until they were killed or overwhelmed. Sixteen young officers killed. The survivors, Eduardo Gomes and Siqueira Campos, became folk heroes. The revolt was put down but it showed how easy it was to revolt.

References

The Brazilians, 427; Revolta do Forte de Copacabana; "Mina Gerais" Class Operational History; João de Deus Mena Barreto; Historical Text Archive: Brazil: 1899-1964; Synopsis of Brazilian History; Brazil: A Revisionist Great Power, or Fragmented Development?; Brazil - A Country Study.

Category

TBD

Region

TBD

State(s)

TBD

Belligerents

TBD

Dispute

TBD

Initiation Date

TBD

Termination Date

TBD

Duration

TBD

Outcome

TBD

Fatalities

TBD

Magnitude

TBD