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The Proclamation of the Republic (Proclamação da República) was a military coup d'état that established the First Brazilian Republic on 15 November 1889. It overthrew the constitutional monarchy of the Empire of Brazil and ended the reign of Emperor Pedro II.

The coup took place in Rio de Janeiro, then the capital of the Empire, when a group of military officers of the Imperial Army, led by Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca, staged a coup d'état without the use of violence, deposing Emperor Pedro II and the President of the Council of Ministers of the Empire, the Viscount of Ouro Preto.

A provisional government was established that same day, 15 November, with Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca as President of the Republic and head of the interim Government.

The Religious Question
Article five of Brazil's Imperial Constitution made Roman Catholicism the state religion, but Catholicism as the country's religion had been instituted by Portugal during the colonial period. The continuation of Catholicism as the state religion dually meant that Brazil would utilize any former laws invented by the Portuguese in regulating the religion, which also mean that papal bulls, as the Portuguese had decided, would be regulated. In the Empire they only had effect after the Emperor's approval. Meanwhile, the Masonic Order had gained momentum in Brazil while it was under attack in Europe for its anti-Catholic propaganda there, and the church and state existed in a fragile harmony.

Military coup of November 15, 1889
In Rio de Janeiro, Republicans insisted that Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca, a monarchist, head the revolutionary movement that would replace the monarchy with the republic.

After much insistence from the revolutionaries, Deodoro da Fonseca agreed to lead the military movement.

According to historical accounts, on November 15, 1889, commanding a few hundred soldiers moving through the streets of Rio de Janeiro, Marshal Deodoro, as well as a large part of the military, intended only to overthrow the then Chief of the Imperial Cabinet (equivalent to the Prime Minister), the Viscount of Ouro Preto. "The main culprits of all this [the proclamation of the Republic] are Count of Eu and the Viscount of Ouro Preto: the last to persecute the Army and the first to consent to this persecution," Deodoro later wrote.

The military coup, which was scheduled for November 20, 1889, had to be anticipated. On the 14th, the conspirators issued a rumor that the government had arrested Benjamin Constant Botelho de Magalhães and Deodoro da Fonseca. Later it was confirmed that it was even rumor. Thus, the revolutionaries anticipated the coup, and in the early hours of November 15, Deodoro was willing to lead the movement of army troops that put an end to the monarchist regime in Brazil.

The conspirators went to the residence of Marshal Deodoro, who was sick with dyspnea, and they finally convinced him to lead the movement. Apparently decisive for Deodoro was to know that, as of November 20, the new President of the Council of Ministers of the Empire would be Silveira Martins, an old rival. Deodoro and Silveira Martins had been enemies since the time when the marshal had served in Rio Grande do Sul, when both fought for the attention of the Baroness of Triunfo, a very beautiful and elegant widow who, according to the reports of the time, had preferred Silveira Martins. Since then, Silveira Martins did not miss an opportunity to provoke Deodoro from the Senate floor, insinuating that he misused funds and even challenging his effectiveness as a military leader.

In addition, Major Frederico Solon de Sampaio Ribeiro had told Deodoro that an alleged arrest warrant had been issued against him, a false argument that finally convinced the old marshal to proclaim the Republic on the 16th and to exile the Imperial Family by night, in order to avoid an eventual popular commotion.

Convinced that he would be arrested by the imperial government, Deodoro left his residence at dawn on November 15, crossed the Campo de Santana, and on the other side of the park called the soldiers of the battalion there, where the Duke de Caxias Palace is now located, to rebel against the government. They offered a horse to the marshal, who rode on it, and, according to testimony, took off his hat and proclaimed "Long live the Republic!" Then he alighted, crossed the park again, and returned to his residence. The demonstration continued with a parade of troops on Direita street until the Imperial Palace. Recent studies indicate that Marshal Deodoro shouted "Long live His Majesty the Emperor!" however, for until then he was convinced to testify to the cabinet, not to proclaim the republic, and only did so when it was falsely told that his rival would take the Position.

The rioters occupied the headquarters of Rio de Janeiro and then the Ministry of War. They deposed the Cabinet and arrested their president, Afonso Celso de Assis Figueiredo, Viscount Ouro Preto.

In the Imperial Palace, Viscount de Ouro Preto, the president of the cabinet (prime minister), had been trying to resist asking the commander of the local detachment and responsible for the security of the Imperial Palace, General Floriano Peixoto, to confront the mutineers, explaining to General Floriano Peixoto that there were enough legalist troops on the scene to defeat the rioters. The Viscount of Ouro Preto reminded Floriano Peixoto that he had faced much more numerous troops in the Paraguayan War. However, General Floriano Peixoto refused to obey the orders given by the Viscount of Ouro Preto and thus justified his insubordination, responding to the Viscount of Ouro Preto: "Yes, but there (in Paraguay) we had enemies in front and here we are all Brazilians!"

- Floriano Peixoto

Then, adhering to the republican movement, Floriano Peixoto gave a prison sentence to the head of government.

The only one wounded in the episode of the proclamation of the republic was the Baron of Ladario, Minister of the Navy, who resisted the arrest warrant given by the mutineers and was shot. It is said that Deodoro did not address criticism of the Emperor Pedro II and that he hesitated in his words. Despite this, it was known that Deodoro da Fonseca was with Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Constant at his side and that there were some civilian republican leaders at that time. But Deodoro favored the republic only after the death of the Emperor: "I would like to carry the coffin of the Emperor," he said.

On the afternoon of November 15, at the City Hall of Rio de Janeiro, the Republic was solemnly proclaimed.

At night, in the Municipal Council of the Neutral Municipality, Rio de Janeiro, José do Patrocínio drafted the official proclamation of the Republic of the United States of Brazil, approved without a vote. The text went to the newspaper charts that supported the cause, and, only the next day, November 16, was announced to the people the change of the political regime of Brazil.

Pedro II, who was in Petrópolis, returned to Rio de Janeiro. Thinking that the aim of the revolutionaries was only to replace the office of Ouro Preto, the Emperor still tried to organize another ministerial cabinet, under the chairmanship of the councilor José Antônio Saraiva. The Emperor, in Petropolis, was informed and decided to go down to the Court. Upon learning of the coup, the Emperor acknowledged the fall of the Ouro Preto Cabinet and sought to announce a new name to replace the Viscount of Ouro Preto. However, since nothing had been said about Republic until then, the most exalted Republicans spread the rumor that the Emperor had chosen Gaspar Silveira Martins, political enemy of Deodoro da Fonseca since Rio Grande do Sul, to be the new head of government. Deodoro da Fonseca then persuaded himself to join the Republican cause. The Emperor was informed of this and, disillusioned, decided not to offer resistance.

The next day, Major Frederico Solon de Sampaio Ribeiro gave Pedro II a communication, informing him of the proclamation of the republic and ordering his departure for Europe, in order to avoid political upheavals. The Brazilian Imperial Family was exiled in Europe, only being allowed to return to Brazil in 1920 by President Epitácio Pessoa.

Reactions
Despite the lack of any will to resist from Pedro II, there was significant monarchist reaction after the fall of the Empire, which was thoroughly repressed. A few examples can be given. On 17 November 1889, upon hearing the news of the Emperor's fall, the 25th Infantry Battalion resisted by attacking the local Republican Club in Desterro (present-day Florianópolis). They were defeated by Republican militias and policemen and several were killed. Others were executed. According to the source, other battalions across the country also unsuccessfully fought against policemen and militias loyal to the Republic. In Rio de Janeiro, then-the Brazilian capital, on 18 November between 30 and 40 monarchist soldiers rebelled. Other monarchists rebellions occurred in Rio. On 18 December 1889, the 2nd Artillery Regiment – around 50 men – rebelled in a restorationist attempt. It led the government to ban freedom of the speech and exile or arrest several monarchist politicians. Another far more serious monarchist rebellion occurred on 14 January 1890, when 1 Cavalry Regiment, 2 Infantry Regiments and 1 Artillery Battalion attempted to overthrown the republic It had more than 100 casualties, and 21 officers and soldiers who took part of it were executed and more monarchist politicians were arrested.

In 1891 the so-called Revolta da Armada, a rebellion movement promoted by units of the Brazilian Navy against the dictatorial government of Deodoro da Fonseca, supposedly supported by the monarchist opposition to the recent installation of the republic, in which the navy threatened to bomb the federal capital, happened in Rio de Janeiro. The Navy, still resented by circumstances and outcomes of the coup that had put an end to the monarchy in Brazil. Again between 1893 and 1894, before the dictatorship and the rights curtailment promoted by the government of Floriano Peixoto, the navy monarchist rebelled against the government. In that episode the Republicans had aid of the American navy to defeat the monarchists.

The Riograndense Federalist Revolution, that occurred from 1893 to 1895, between federalists, monarchists and even republicans, led by the monarchist leaders Gaspar da Silveira Martins, Custódio de Melo and Saldanha Da Gama against the republican government resulted in the death of 10,000 men.

The War of Canudos was a conflict between the state of Brazil and a group of some 30,000 settlers who had founded their own community in the Northeastern state of Bahia, named Canudos. After a number of unsuccessful attempts at military suppression, it came to a brutal end in October 1897, when a large Brazilian army force overran the village and killed nearly all the inhabitants. This was the deadliest civil war in Brazilian history. The community of Canudos was led by Antonio Conselheiro, in the interior of the state of Bahia against the great farmers supported by the Republican army. Rumors were created that Canudos was armed to attack neighboring towns and leave for the capital to depose the republican government and reinstall the monarchy. Only 300 survived the massacre caused by Republican Army troops in 1897.

An event little known, but very interesting was the Revolt of Ribeirãozinho. Also called the Ribeirãozinho Revolution, it was a conservative movement of the early twentieth century that occurred in the city of Ribeirãozinho (now Taquaritinga), in São Paulo, and whose fundamental objective was the restoration of the monarchy and the coronation of Prince Luiz of Orléans-Braganza, son of Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil. Unhappy with the First Brazilian Republic, the São Paulo monarchists had planned an uprising that was supposed to take place on August 23, 1902, and which was to topple then President Campos Sales. In fact, the uprising had only been carried out in Ribeirãozinho and Espírito Santo do Pinhal, a neighboring town. This attempt to restore the monarchy lasted one day.