The tenentism was a movement that emerged among the Brazilian military that questioned the political practices of the period of the First Republic. This movement was characterized by the adhesion of low-ranking military personnel and, at various times throughout the 1920s, it started to engage in armed confrontation against the established governments.
What was tenentism?
Tenentismo was a political and military movement organized by young low-ranking officers of the Brazilian army against the political regime of the First Republic. This movement was largely made up of lieutenants dissatisfied with the course of Brazilian politics and the domination imposed by the oligarchies .
The 1920s, from a retrospective point of view, is seen as a moment of crisis for the First Republic. The emergence of tenentismo intensified the erosion of this regime. It all started during the presidential campaign process between Artur Bernardes and Nile Piece in 1922.
The candidacy launched by Artur Bernardes had the support of the São Paulo and Minas Gerais oligarchies. Nilo Peçanha's candidacy, in turn, had the support of a series of other smaller oligarchies, which were dissatisfied with the domination of Brazilian politics by São Paulo and Minas Gerais. Nilo Peçanha's electoral campaign was called Reação Republican and sought to win the vote of the urban middle classes.
They held rallies in different parts of the country and defended the fight against the growth of inflation and a proposal against the action of the big states in the defense of coffee, demanding that other national products receive greater attention. The composition of Nilo Peçanha's political agenda was largely influenced by the Rio Grande do Sul oligarchy.
It was during this electoral process that Artur Bernardes' relationship with the low level of officialdom in the Brazilian army frayed. Fake letters allegedly written by Artur Bernardes criticizing members of the army were released in October 1921. Shortly thereafter, it was announced that the letters were fake, however, the army's relationship with Artur Bernardes was already quite frayed.
The situation worsened when the government of Epitácio Pessoa ordered the closing of the Military Club and the Hermes da Fonseca prison after criticism from the Military Club against measures by the current government. The combination of these factors led to the emergence of tenentismo as a movement in opposition to oligarchic governments.
Tenentismo as a movement operated from 1922 to 1927 and, throughout this period, a series of rebellions named as tenentistas uprisings took place. The first major revolt came a few weeks after the closing of the Clube Militar. It became known as Revolta do Forte de Copacabana and took place on July 5, 1922.
Other movements of this period were the Commune of Manaus and the Paulista Revolt of 1924 , led by Isidoro Dias Lopes and supported by Miguel Costa. The unfolding of the 1924 Paulista Revolt gave rise to the Costa-Prestes Coluna, when São Paulo lieutenants united with rebel lieutenants in Rio Grande do Sul.
The Column was the biggest revolt carried out by the lieutenants and took place between 1925 and 1927 during the governments of Artur Bernardes and Washington Luis . Column troops marched over 25,000 kilometers, crossing twelve Brazilian states and sometimes fighting small groups of federal troops. The Column disbanded in 1927 when they were exiled to Bolivia.
What were the ideals of the lieutenants?
Ideologically speaking, the lieutenants positioned themselves as opponents of the regime existing in the First Republic, above all if they were opposed to the rule that the oligarchies had in Brazilian politics, as they claimed that the control of the oligarchies, especially in the countryside, contributed to aggravating the situation of social inequality existing in the country.
In this sense, the lieutenants are seen by historians as salvationists, as they saw themselves as the saviors of the Republic in the fight against the oligarchs. The dissatisfaction of the military went beyond issues directly related to politics, as it also involved the discontent of the military with the “few investments” dedicated to the corporation. Thus, the actions of the lieutenants sought to cause changes both in politics and in the corporation itself.
Another important point of the tenentista ideology is the criticism of the federalist system that had been in force in Brazil since 1889. Tenentistas claimed that federalism generated political fragmentation, and this allowed for the strengthening of regional political groups, seen as the great evil of the Brazilian republic.
Tenentistas, in general, defended the application of the principles of liberalism in Brazil . Historians, however, point out the contradiction existing in the lieutenants, since the principle of liberalism, for them, was reduced to economic issues, since politically they were defenders of the imposition of an authoritarian republic - which goes directly against the principles of liberalism in itself, which preaches the defense of individual and democratic freedoms.
Nevertheless, an important observation to be made is that the tenentista movement, despite being mostly liberal, had cadres that defended other political proposals, such as those that defended communism or policies more left.
The proposals of the lieutenants for the economy defended the idea of carrying out the economic development of Brazil based on the modernization and industrialization of the economy, above all to combat excessive dependence on coffee. They also proposed changes in the educational system, in the electoral system and attacked the high levels of inequality existing in Brazil.
The performance of the lieutenants, however, was disorganized, as there was no political project that thought about the imposition of their ideals or that planned the rise (politically speaking) in power of Brazil . Thus, the actions of the lieutenants took place much more through action – the various revolts exemplify this – than through organized discourse. The political disputes of that period meant that the lieutenants were directly involved with the Revolution of 1930, a coup that ended the First Republic.