The War of Canudos (, , 1895–1898) was a
conflict between the
First Brazilian Republic
The First Brazilian Republic, also referred to as the Old Republic ( pt, República Velha ), officially the Republic of the United States of Brazil, refers to the period of Brazilian history from 1889 to 1930. The Old Republic began with the d ...
and the residents of
Canudos
Canudos is a municipality in the northeast region of Bahia, Brazil. The original town, since flooded by the Cocorobó Dam, was the scene of violent clashes between peasants and republican police in the 1890s.
The municipality contains part of th ...
in the
northeastern state of
Bahia
Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest ...
.
It was waged in the aftermath of the
abolition of slavery in Brazil (1888) and the
overthrow of the monarchy (1889), which resulted in a millenarian religious revival led by
Antônio Conselheiro (who began attracting attention around 1874).
The inhabitants of Canudos were "so numerous, employed such artful strategies and so committed" that it took four military campaigns to defeat them.
The conflict came to a brutal end in October 1897, when a large fraction of the
Brazilian army was deployed to bombard and overrun the settlement, raze it and slaughter nearly all its inhabitants. This conflict marked the deadliest
civil war
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polic ...
in
Brazilian history.
Background
The conflict had its origins in the former settlement of
Canudos
Canudos is a municipality in the northeast region of Bahia, Brazil. The original town, since flooded by the Cocorobó Dam, was the scene of violent clashes between peasants and republican police in the 1890s.
The municipality contains part of th ...
(named ''Belo Monte'' by its inhabitants, meaning "Beautiful Hill" in
Portuguese) in the
semi-arid backcountry (or ''
sertão'') of Bahia. In the late 19th Century, the region suffered with poverty, with an economy based on
subsistence agriculture
Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow food crops to meet the needs of themselves and their families on smallholdings. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements, with little or no s ...
and cattle raising, severely lacking infrastructure. The disenfranchised population drew equally from rural and urban portions of the region and represented a "broad spectrum of ethnic and economic origins".
It was a fertile ground for the growth of dissatisfaction with the new Republic, proclaimed on November 15, 1889, after a military coup against the ruling emperor,
Pedro II. While the republic was strongly supported by much of the urban population,
the old emperor was still beloved by the common people. For the ''sertanejos'', "the only change" that came with the establishment of the republic was "an increase in taxes."
This period was characterized by considerable political, social and economic instability, as the military fought to put down revolts all over the country.
It was, therefore "immensely unpopular" and dangerous to be known as anything other than republican during this time.
At the onset of this early republican era, a man by the name of Antônio Vincente Mendes Maciel, also known as
Antônio Conselheiro (''Antônio, the Counselor'') began rising to prominence. He was one of the many itinerant religious figures in the backcountry of Brazil.
He traveled from village to village with his followers, assisting the local communities and garnering support from small farmers, "collecting money and organizing labor for the construction of churches, dams and cemeteries".
As an increasing number of supporters joined his cause, Conselheiro drew the attention and hostility of the local landowners, who disapproved of his ideals.
Conselheiro claimed to be a
prophet
In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...
and predicted the return of the legendary Portuguese king
Sebastian
Sebastian may refer to:
People
* Sebastian (name), including a list of persons with the name
Arts, entertainment, and media
Films and television
* ''Sebastian'' (1968 film), British spy film
* ''Sebastian'' (1995 film), Swedish drama film
...
(see
Sebastianism). He held that "it was the monarch’s God-given right to rule", which caused him to be progressively branded as a
monarchist figure by the unstable Republic at the time.
The ultra-conservative doctrine he preached, implicitly criticizing the "wayward behavior" of many priests, was "attractive" to many ''sertanejos'', and led the Church hierarchy to view him as a "threat to the Church's authority and popularity".
After wandering through the states of
Ceará
Ceará (, pronounced locally as or ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. It is the eighth-largest Brazilian State by population and the 17th by area. It is also one of th ...
,
Pernambuco
Pernambuco () is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.6 million people as of 2020, making it seventh-most populous state of Brazil and with around 98,148 km², being the ...
,
Sergipe
Sergipe (), officially State of Sergipe, is a state of Brazil. Located in the Northeast Region along the Atlantic coast of the country, Sergipe is the smallest state in Brazil by geographical area at , larger only than the Federal District. S ...
and
Bahia
Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest ...
, he eventually decided to settle permanently in 1893 with his followers in the backlands of Bahia, in the farming community of
Canudos
Canudos is a municipality in the northeast region of Bahia, Brazil. The original town, since flooded by the Cocorobó Dam, was the scene of violent clashes between peasants and republican police in the 1890s.
The municipality contains part of th ...
, near
Monte Santo, Bahia
Monte Santo () is a municipality in the state of Bahia in the North-East region of Brazil.
See also
*List of municipalities in Bahia
This is a list of the municipalities in the state of Bahia (BA), located in the Northeast Region of Brazil. Ba ...
on the
Vaza-Barris River. The village was very small but offered the ''Conselheiristas'' protection, as the location was hard to access. Within two years, as the religious community prospered, Conselheiro convinced several thousand followers to join him,
eventually making it the second-largest urban center in Bahia at the time.
The settlement was supported by cultivation of crops and export of leather, with residents allowed to retain private property and businesses. "The poor were maintained through donations to the community".
Basis of history
Determining what exactly happened in the war is problematic, as the two main historical source groups consist of military chronicles (written to justify the army's actions) and far-from-impartial journalistic reports.
According to Peter Robb, "
e foreign correspondents who covered what was soon being called the War of Canudos, as if it were a conflict between nations rather than the extermination of a tiny community within a single country, were nearly all embedded with the army of the Brazilian republic."
Military campaigns
Initial military campaign
The incident that served as the catalyst for Canudos’ eventual destruction was a dispute over delivery of lumber. Conselheiro had placed an order of wood from a business in the neighboring town of
Juazeiro he often did business with to construct a new church.
However, a new local judge, Arlindo Leoni, opposed Conselheiro and prevented the delivery.
Some ''Canudenses'' then took it upon themselves to go to Joazeiro to claim the wood.
Hearing of this plan, the judge responded by requesting police forces from state governor, Luis Viana, claiming an imminent "invasion" of his town by Conselheiro and his followers.
Viana recounts that he had been informed by Leoni of "rumors which were current, and which were more or less well-founded, to the effect that the flourishing city in question
uazeirowas to be assaulted within a few days by Antônio Conselheiro’s followers."
While the troops were initially dispatched for the sole purpose of preventing the assault, Leoni managed to convince their commander Pires Ferreira to march on Canudos.
With scant information about terrain and the defensive resources of Canudos' population, a small, 100-man force commanded by Ferreira was sent towards the settlement on 4 November 1896.
However, the ''Canudenses'' marching from the religious settlement to Joazeiro surprised the troops at ''Uauá'' and a fierce battle ensued.
Estimates of the number of ''Conselheiristas'' that engaged in the battle varied anywhere from 1,000 to 3,000 men, and accounts report that they were armed with "old muskets, pikes, scythes, long poles, and implements of the land."
Despite some considerable losses, estimated at around 150 men, the Canudenses drove the state police soldiers off.
The troops then retreated to Juazeiro and awaited reinforcements from the state of Bahia.
The government and the local media quickly publicized the soldiers’ defeat in the backlands of Bahia. The media (i.e. newspapers) played an essential role in escalating the conflict, spreading rumors that rather than being a local and unsophisticated uprising, the ''Conselheiristas'' were allied with other monarchists scheming to launch a "restoration" of the monarchy.
The unstable political climate along with the scarcity of military resources in Bahia, led the state government to seek aid from the federal government to crush the increasingly threatening settlement.
Since the
First Brazilian Republic
The First Brazilian Republic, also referred to as the Old Republic ( pt, República Velha ), officially the Republic of the United States of Brazil, refers to the period of Brazilian history from 1889 to 1930. The Old Republic began with the d ...
had only recently been founded, it saw the rebel settlers as a
monarchist and
separatist threat to its authority to be made an example of.
The
President of Brazil
The president of Brazil ( pt, Presidente do Brasil), officially the president of the Federative Republic of Brazil ( pt, Presidente da República Federativa do Brasil) or simply the ''President of the Republic'', is the head of state and head o ...
at the time,
Prudente de Morais
Prudente José de Morais e Barros (; 4 October 1841 – 3 December 1902) was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who was the third president of Brazil. He is notable as the first civilian president of the country, the first to be elected by dire ...
, ordered another punitive military expedition to Canudos. A second 104-man force, again commanded by Ferreira, began its preparations in November 1896, and attacked the settlement on November 21, 1896.
The settlement was fiercely defended by a band of 500 armed men, shouting praises to Antônio Conselheiro and the monarchy, and the attacking force faced problems
similar to the first expedition. The Brazilian soldiers retreated after incurring severe losses and killing around 150 of the settlers, who were armed only with
machete
Older machete from Latin America
Gerber machete/saw combo
San_Agustín_de_las_Juntas.html" ;"title="Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San Agustín de las Juntas">Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San Agustín de las Juntas, Oaxaca uses a machete to carve wood. ...
s, primitive
lance
A lance is a spear designed to be used by a mounted warrior or cavalry soldier ( lancer). In ancient and medieval warfare, it evolved into the leading weapon in cavalry charges, and was unsuited for throwing or for repeated thrusting, unli ...
s and
axes.
Second military campaign
The defeat of the Pires Ferreira campaign produced sensationalist media reports about the ferocity and fanaticism of Canudos’ inhabitants, which provoked an outcry, and calls for reprisals against the settlement. Rather than causing its inhabitants to flee, the armed conflict caused the settlement to grow exponentially, and it now numbered over 30,000 residents.
On January 12, 1897, Republican troops, which comprised 547 men, 14 officers, and 3 surgeons, left Juazeiro for Canudos.
The attack on the ''Conselheiristas'' began on January 18, and led to the death of 115 ''Canudenses'' with minimal losses on the army's side,
which had some initial success with
artillery
Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieg ...
against the villagers' trenches. However, the soldiers were eventually surrounded by more than 4,000 insurrectionists.
Running short of ammunition, food and water, and with the rebels continuing to fight despite heavy losses, the Republican soldiers retreated to nearby
Monte Santo to await reinforcements.
''Canudenses'' celebrated their victory against the expedition in a particularly destructive way;
burning ranches and farm buildings, creating a ring of
scorched earth
A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy that aims to destroy anything that might be useful to the enemy. Any assets that could be used by the enemy may be targeted, which usually includes obvious weapons, transport vehicles, commun ...
within a radius of seven miles of Canudos.
With the ''Canudenses'' crushing victories and journalists responding with cries of alarm, the national military and civilian authorities labeled Canudos a dangerous threat to national order and to the prestige of the armed forces and the new government.
Third military campaign
An experienced colonel,
Antônio Moreira César
Antônio Moreira César (July 9, 1850 – March 4, 1897) was a Brazilian army officer who fought on the side of the government forces in the Navy Revolt, the Federalist Revolution and the War of Canudos. He was governor of the state of Santa Cata ...
, set out with 1,300 troops; three
infantry
Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and m ...
, one
cavalry and one
artillery
Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieg ...
battalion
A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...
s, all newly armed and trained, reportedly carried "seventy rounds of cannon-balls and sixteen million rounds of ammunition."
On February 20, Moreira and his soldiers arrived at Monte Santo.
Antônio Moreira César had recently crushed another
insurrection in southern Brazil where he earned the nickname "cutthroat".
Although forewarned about the numbers and resolve of the rebels, the military thought it impossible that the rebels could resist such a strong regular army force.
A day after arriving in Monte Santo, completely disregarding "the intense heat and parched land," the force advanced on Canudos.
Their equipment quickly turned out be inadequate for the ''
Sertão'' of Bahia. Wagon trains that carried supplies "sank up to their hubs in sand."
This was also disregarded and the troops continued their forced march to Canudos.
Attacking the settlement, the troops found the artillery barrages had turned the settlement of huts into a "maze" that was impossible for the advancing soldiers to navigate.
On March 6, 1897, after only two days of fighting, the surviving officers had no choice but to vote to retreat.
Moreira César's protests were overlooked,
and he died before dawn due to a fatal wound.
(Antônio Moreira César shocking failure may have been brought on by epileptic seizures.)
Starting to retreat, the soldiers panic and a disastrous rout ensues, many are killed by pursuing ''Canudenses'',
[ Many abandon their weapons and ammunition, which are recovered by the rebels.] The artillery maintain good order but are attacked and slaughtered by the rebels who take possession of its weapons and ammunition.[
In ]Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of the same name, Brazil's List of Brazilian states by population, third-most populous state, and the List of largest citi ...
and São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...
, the country’s largest cities, where monarchism was very unpopular, demonstrations in the streets turn into riots and four monarchist newspaper offices are destroyed, and the owner of one lynched.
Fourth expedition and final destruction of Canudos
Pressured, the Federal government sent a new expedition under General Arthur Oscar de Andrade Guimarães, assisted by four other generals, and with the direct involvement of Carlos Machado de Bittencourt, the Minister of War
A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in ...
, who went with his entire staff to Monte Santo, the nearby city which had served as the gathering point for the army and where the large military force was being assembled. Machine guns and large artillery pieces, such as mortars and howitzers, including a powerful Whitworth 32 (nicknamed ''Matadeira'' (Killer)) went with the 3,000-man force, and had to be hauled with enormous effort through the unforgiving roadless landscape.
The troops set off on June 16. This time, the attackers were aided by the rampant hunger
In politics, humanitarian aid, and the social sciences, hunger is defined as a condition in which a person does not have the physical or financial capability to eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs for a sustained period. In t ...
and malnutrition
Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is "a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients" which adversely affects the body's tissues ...
(and most of all thirst) among the inhabitants of Canudos, and the heavy losses they had suffered in the previous attacks. They were hindered by the fact that the rebels now possessed "some of the most advanced weapons of the time" (repeating rifles "like the Austrian Mannlicher and the Belgian Comblains"), abandoned by fleeing republican troops.
Accounts of the expedition differ. Robert Levine writes that hundreds of men in the first battalion of 2,350 were trapped by the ''Canudenses'' and slaughtered. Fearing another failed expedition, the troops retreated to the town of Monte Santo.
Walnice Nogueira Galvão and Levine agree there was a siege and starvation.
A month later a second campaign began with over 8,000 soldiers who encircled and laid siege to Canudos. This starved the population of into submission.
A few days before the end, a surrender was negociated. However, to the chagrin of the army, the only insurrectionists who actually
surrendered were about three hundred women, who had been reduced to walking skeletons by extreme hunger, accompanied by their children and a few old men.
Reports of the fighting state that hundreds of Canudos defenders and federal soldiers died every day. The last assault persisted until the beginning of October, when the military forces set off 90 dynamite bombs in the settlement, thus marking the defeat of the settlement of Canudos. Galvão writes that the fighting ended on October 5, 1897, when there was no surrender, but no more fire from the rebels.
Levine writes that throughout this expedition, an undetermined number of ''canudenses'' fled the settlement. Others accepted an offer of surrender with the promise of their lives being spared. This offer was not honored however. One of the forces' generals had the men "rounded by soldiers, and hacked to death in front of hundreds of witness, including many of their wives and children." Immediately after the final assault, soldiers "smashed, leveled, and burned all 5,200 in the settlement."
Aftermath
It was eventually determined that Conselheiro himself had likely died of dysentery on September 22. Before Canudos was burned down and dynamited, Conselheiro's body was exhumed, the head was removed, and it was "displayed on a pike" to be "held high at the front of a military parade for all to see." According to Peter Robb, it "was taken to the Medical Faculty of Bahia to be studied for abnormalities." When all resistance ceased and "peace" was restored, only 150 survivors remained.
Estimates for the number of dead in the War of Canudos vary. Euclides da Cunha (1902) estimated approximately 30,000 (25,000 residents and 5,000 attackers) died; Roelofse-Campbell also gives this estimate. Robert M. Levine, gives a lower figure of around 15,000. Joel Singer estimates only 5000 dead.
Euclides da Cunha did not see the fighting but did bear witness afterward, Robb says, and his "obsession with progress and modernity, the scientific racism that told him the people of the northeastern interior were doomed to backwardness by their mixed race" led him to tell a story filled with preconceptions — which is, however, the only story we have. Barbara Celarent describes Euclides da Cunha point of view of the war as "a tragic encounter between atavistic barbarism and modern civilization," where "civilization itself reverted to barbarism".
According to Walnice Nogueira Galvão, one of the most important results of the war was the complete "solidification of the republican regime" and final exorcism of "the specter of monarchical restoration". But over time, "public opinion underwent a striking about-face". about the danger of a monarchist conspiracy. "The desperately poor peasants" had been fighting by themselves without help, and had "no connection whatsoever with real monarchists – white, upper-class urbanites, who were horrified at the very thought of associating with such a 'riffraff' of 'fanatics'" The war "turned out to have been an inglorious massacre of destitute wretches", in which the military had made a "common practice – approved by the commanders" – of tying up prisoners and beheading them in public.
Canudos today
Although the original town of Canudos has been covered by the reservoir of the Cocorobó Dam, built by the military regime in the 1960s, the Canudos State Park
The Canudos State Park ( pt, Parque Estadual de Canudos) is a state park in Bahia, Brazil.
It protects the area of the War of Canudos, where peasants of mixed blood were massacred by Republican soldiers in 1896–97.
Location
The Canudos State P ...
, established in 1986, preserves many of the important sites and serves as a monument to the war. The stated purpose of the park is "to make it impossible to forget the martyrs led by Antônio Conselheiro".
Bibliography
* Calasans, José. No Tempo de Antônio Conselheiro. Salvador, Livraria Progresso Editora, 1959.
* Arinos, Afonso. Os Jagunços.
* Macedo Soares, Henrique Duque-Estrada de. A Guerra de Canudos.Rio de Janeiro: Typ. Altiva, 1902
* Benício, Manoel. O Rei dos Jagunços. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Fundação Getúlio Vargas. 2a. edição, 1997
* Mario Vargas Llosa
Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquess of Vargas Llosa (born 28 March 1936), more commonly known as Mario Vargas Llosa (, ), is a Peruvian novelist, journalist, essayist and former politician, who also holds Spanish citizenship. Vargas Ll ...
. The War of the End of the World. Novel. 1981
Media
* ''Guerra de Canudos'' (The Battle of Canudos). Motion picture directed by Sérgio Rezende
Sérgio Rezende (born April 9, 1951) is a Brazilian filmmaker. He was born in Rio de Janeiro, and is best known for directing several biographical films, such as ''Lamarca'', ''Mauá - O Imperador e o Rei'', and ''Zuzu Angel'', about guerrilla ...
, with José Wilker, Cláudia Abreu, Paulo Betti
Paulo Sérgio Betti (born 8 September 1952) is a Brazilian actor, playwright, and stage director. He also works occasionally as film producer and director.
Biography
Paulo Sérgio Betti was born on 8 September 1952 in Rafard, a small town in the ...
, and Marieta Severo. Brazil, 1997
IMDB record
* ''Sobreviventes – Os Filhos da Guerra de Canudos'' (Survivors, the Children of the War of Canudos). Documentary film by Paulo Fontenelle, Brazil, 2007.
* ''Canudos''. Documentary film by Ipojuca Pontes, with Walmor Chagas, Brazil, 1978
IMDB record
* ''War of Canudos in Brazil''. Documentary radio broadcast, BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...
. Mon 9 Jun 2014 07:50 GMT
BBC iPlayer
See also
* Revolutions of Brazil
* List of wars involving Brazil
* Land reform by country
References
External links
Witness History: War of Canudos in Brazil
from the BBC
Heroic rebel town rises from deep
from ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide ...
''
{{Authority control
Conflicts in 1896
Conflicts in 1897
First Brazilian Republic
Peasant revolts
Rebellions in Brazil
1896 in Brazil
1897 in Brazil
Wars involving Brazil
Massacres in Brazil
Politicides
Bahia
Brazilian rebels
Brazilian Army
Civilians in war