Talk:José Paranhos, Viscount of Rio Branco

Translation from the portuguese wiki
The portuguese article about Paranhos is very good. If someone had the patience to translate it to english, it would be great. --Lecen (talk) 18:42, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

Children? 2nd Viscount of Rio Branco?
Did he have any children? Who succeeded him as the 2nd Viscount of Rio Branco? Surtsicna (talk) 14:17, 13 July 2010 (UTC)
 * No one. In Brazil, the nobility was not hereditary. See Empire of Brazil. His elder son became later Baron of Rio Branco on his own. I haven't finished this article yet, I will mention his children in the "Diplomat" section. Regards, --Lecen (talk) 17:35, 13 July 2010 (UTC)

"Progressist League"?
I changed instances of "Progressist" to "Progressive", noting that the sources seem to refer to the latter. I was promptly reverted, with a claim that they do not "seem" to do so. Let's test that proposition, shall we?


 * "Progressist League" has 5 hits on Google Books, all of which refer to a British group.


 * "Progressive League" has a number of relevant hits, some of which I will link to:, , , , , , , , , etc.

So yes, the sources do indeed "seem" to refer to a "Progressive League", do they not? (I know it's called the Liga Progressista in Portuguese, but in English, it has a different name, and we should reflect that.) - Biruitorul Talk 14:59, 22 November 2010 (UTC)
 * Liga Progressista is translated as "Progressist League". Liga Progressiva is translated as "Progressive League". And yes, there is a word "progressist" in English grammar. You want to translate as Progressive? Do it, then. I don't care anymore. I'm quite tired of all this. Nominating articles to Featured status is boring and most of the time, is a a complete and total loss of time. --Lecen (talk) 15:19, 22 November 2010 (UTC)


 * First of all, I stand corrected on one matter: "progressist" does exist in English, although it is, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, "now chiefly historical" (i.e., obsolete). That said, the point here is that I have shown, from English-language sources, that the Liga Progressista is known in English as "Progressive League". The sources determine how we call entities. Do you wish to contest that? (And no, I'm not trying to be picky, but FAC is a demanding process. You've written a great article, but there are a few minor improvements to be made.) - Biruitorul Talk 18:53, 22 November 2010 (UTC)
 * Nope. If it is the correct translation, go ahead. You may undo my revert. --Lecen (talk) 19:30, 22 November 2010 (UTC)

Prose review
I'm going to review this article for prose, and post my comments on each section. This may take several days.

Lead --Gyrobo (talk) 21:27, 29 April 2011 (UTC)
 * You might want to link midshipman, because the term doesn't appear anywhere else in the article. Perhaps you may want to change terms here, or add it in the body?
 * "In the same year" might read better as "Later that year", or just "That same year".
 * "Instead of following a military career..." might read better as "Instead of continuing his military career..." or "Rather than continue to serve in the military".
 * "...site of the national capital of the same name." This is a little unclear to me. Is this a province that has the same name as the capital city, or did it later become the capital itself?
 * " In 1853 he joined the Marquis of Paraná's..." unclear who "he" is, a lot of names were just mentioned.
 * "Rio Branco was again sent to Uruguay as a diplomat in 1864, with the mission to end the war between Uruguay and Brazil." could be rephrased as "Rio Branco was sent to Uruguay in late 1864, tasked with bringing a diplomatic end to the Uruguayan War." or perhaps, "A skilled diplomat, Rio Branco was tasked/charged with ending the 1864 war with Uruguay."
 * "...this time to negotiate an end to its war with Brazil." could use a link to the appropriate war.
 * "...and Pedro II ennobled him..." could use a link to Nobility, ennoblement isn't a common term.
 * "Rio Branco's popularity was enhanced by his role in passage of this law." could be rephrased as "the passage of this law increased Rio Branco's popularity."
 * "...plagued by a long crisis with the Catholic Church..." I don't know if "crisis" is the right word, I need to read the rest of the article. Perhaps "dispute"?
 * Catholic Church could use a link.
 * Oral cancer could use a link.
 * Thanks for taking your time to review the article, Gyrobo. Some answers:
 * You might want to link midshipman...' - Yes, it does. Check the thrid paragraph of the first section ("Early years"):"'In 1841, when he was 22, he graduated with the rank of midshipman, enrolling in the Army's Military Academy''".
 * Is this a province that has the same name as the capital city, or did it later become the capital itself? Rio de Janeiro is the name of both a city (widely known simply as "Rio") and of the Brazilian province (nowadays called "state"). The city is located in the state (during the Empire, province) of the same name.
 * unclear who "he" is - He is Paranhos, the Viscount of Rio Branco
 * I don't know if "crisis" is the right word - Crisis is the correct term. You'll see it once you read the article.
 * I'm going to adress all issues raised by you. Please, continue with your review. Regards, --Lecen (talk) 21:44, 29 April 2011 (UTC)

Early years --Gyrobo (talk) 16:46, 1 May 2011 (UTC)
 * "...where his own family originated." would read better as "where Agostinho's own family had originated."
 * It would be nice to have the date of his parents' wedding, if the sources have it.
 * "...since what remained of..." could be rephrased as "since the remnants/remainder of..."
 * Should "second-lieutenant" have a hyphen? Second Lieutenant doesn't, would that be an appropriate article to link to?
 * "After Paranhos graduated from the Military Academy in 1843 as a second-lieutenant in the engineer corps..." should be cut down a little, you already mentioned the part about him being promoted to second lieutenant, in the previous paragraph.
 * I made all changes as you suggested. Unfortunately, the biographies I own about Rio Branco do not tell the year of this parents' marriage.Also, notice that Rio Branco became a second lieutenant in bith the Army and the Navy. Same ranking, but different branches of the Armed Forces. Apparently that was allowed, then. --Lecen (talk) 14:21, 2 May 2011 (UTC)

Religious Question
I've corrected a number of inaccuracies and omissions from this section. I realise that there is a lot of pride in the building of this into a Featured article, and this does not detract from this achievement but I would caution against wholesale reversion to changes simply out of a feeling of armour propre.

JASpencer (talk) 20:20, 16 September 2012 (UTC)


 * I'd also add that there were reasons given in each of the edit summaries. By all means point out where this was insufficient, but don't say that "no reason was given" as this is misleading. JASpencer (talk) 20:23, 16 September 2012 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 11 October 2014
179.236.168.75 (talk) 06:03, 11 October 2014 (UTC)
 * Padlock-silver-open.svg Not done: According to the page's protection level and your user rights, you should be able to edit the page yourself. If you seem to be unable to, please reopen the request with further details. Cannolis (talk) 06:17, 11 October 2014 (UTC)

Diplomat
Unless there are well founded objections, I propose to add the following section immediately under the heading 'Diplomat', before the subheading 'Uruguayan War'. As follows:

"Mission to Paraguay

In January 1858 Paranhos was sent to Asunción to procure Paraguayan compliance with an 1856 treaty which was supposed to give Brazil the right to navigate the River Paraguay in order to access her province of Mato Grosso. The government of Paraguay had been obstructing the passage.. As described in Professor Whigham's The Paraguayan War: "The councillor cut an impressive figure. He was well over six foot tall with piercing sky-blue eyes. His resplendent diplomat's uniform, which he used on all occasions, shone brightly with gold brocade and included a high collar with white gloves, even in the tropical heat.  Such fashion was calculated to give him a larger-than-life presence, symbolic of the enormous empire he represented.  Paraguayans were sensitive to subtleties in appearance and they understood such an image...  In appearance he suggested a modern European statesman, a man who combined shrewdness and easy familiarity with power...

The empire was willing, Paranhos stated bluntly, to go to war to enforce the 1856 treaty. Francisco Solano López [representing the Paraguayan government] chose to take the councillor's threat at face value. On 12 February 1858 the two men signed a convention that ended the restrictions ..." "

Adding this source:

The purpose of adding this vignette is that it brings him to life as a diplomat. The quotation from Whigham, acknowledged, is not excessive by fair use standards.

Ttocserp 10:41, 12 September 2017 (UTC)