The War of Straws took place in the village of Canudos, in the interior of Bahia, between 1896 and 1897.
The place was led by Antônio Conselheiro and had become a pole of attraction for the marginalized populations of the Northeast.
In this way, the government of Bahia and the central government decided to end its facilities. The conflict is considered the biggest resistance movement to the oppression of large landowners carried out in Brazil.
The Canudos War was described by Euclides da Cunha in the book “Os Sertões”, published in 1902.
Causes of the War of Canudos
The village of Canudos was formed by residents who fled the extreme poverty in which they lived in the northeastern hinterland.
In a short time, the place gathered 25,000 people, constituting, according to the landowners, the focus of monarchists who wanted to overthrow the newly established republic. However, the sertanejos only went to the place in search of better living conditions.
It must be remembered that the change of political regime did not mean significant changes in the country's economy. Brazil's economic structure was based on large estates, where monoculture and the exploitation of labor that lived in poverty prevailed.
The Canudos Community
Around 1893, a group of faithful, followers of Antônio Conselheiro, gathered in the village of Canudos, on the banks of the Vaza-Barris River, in Bahia. This was a blessed, born in Ceará, who preached the salvation of the soul to those who followed him.
The blessed or advisors they walked through the hinterland, preaching a form of popular Catholicism and were followed by dozens of faithful. Therefore, they were also seen as a threat by the Catholic Church.
After wandering through the sertões of Pernambuco and Sergipe, Conselheiro walked through the interior of Bahia and settled in Canudos. In this place they built the “holy city of Belo Monte”, which became a refuge for the poor in the region.
Canudos was a community where there were no social differences, where the herds and crops belonged to everyone. This socio-economic model attracted thousands of sertanejos.
In 1896, the year the war began, Belo Monte had more than 5,000 families. The defense of the redoubt was maintained by ex-jagunços, men who worked as security guards for farmers or ex-cangaceiros, people who lived in bands in the sertão and attacked rural properties.
The Destruction of Canudos
For the sertanejos, the village was the “promised land”. However, for the priests who lost the faithful, and the landowners who lost their workers, it was a “redoubt of fanatics” that had to be eliminated.
Priests and colonels pressured the governor of Bahia to destroy Arraial. He sent two military expeditions that were defeated by Conselheiro's men.
Vice President Manuel Vitorino, who held the presidency as Prudente de Moraes' replacement, sent the third expedition, commanded by Colonel Moreira César. For the government it was a matter of military and national honor to annihilate the “fanatics”. However, this expedition was defeated and Moreira César was killed in action.
The successive military defeats were explained by the fact that the vast majority of soldiers did not know the caatinga region, so familiar to the people of Canudos. In addition, the Counselor's men fought for survival and soul salvation, believing they were fighting a holy war.
In Rio de Janeiro, the president was accused of weakness in repressing the movement, considered by many to be monarchist.
Prudente de Moraes ordered the Minister of War, Marshal Bitencourt, to embark for Bahia and assume direct control of the operations. A new expedition was then organized, with more than 5000 men under the command of General Artur Oscar, with the order to destroy Canudos.
After intense cannon bombardment, the mission was accomplished. Canudos was completely destroyed on October 5, 1897.
Consequence of the War of Canudos
The destruction of Canudos was complete and thousands of peasants died in the conflict.
The official troops took no prisoners and even went so far as to dig up the body of Antônio Conselheiro to photograph him. His head was cut off and taken as a trophy, repeating a practice that came from colony times.
The central government would still face several revolts in the countryside and in the city, such as the Contestado War and the Vaccine Revolt.
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