War of Tatters

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War of Tatters
Date September 19, 1835 – March 1, 1845 Location Southern Brazil Result Imperial Military Victory; Republican Political Victory
Combatants
Rio-Grandense Republic	Empire of Brazil
Commanders
Bento Gonçalves da Silva Antônio de Souza Netto Giuseppe Garibaldi	General Lima e Silva

War of Tatters (in Portuguese: Guerra dos Farrapos, Revolução Farroupilha) was a Republican uprising that began in the southern Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina) in 1835. The rebels, led by generals Bento Gonçalves da Silva and Antônio de Souza Netto with the support of the Italian warrior Giuseppe Garibaldi, surrendered to imperial forces in 1845. The war rushed the coronation of Dom Pedro II, at that time a 15 year old, in direct violation of Brazilian constitution. It is considered the bloodiest civil war to have ever occurred in Brazil.

[edit] The war

Apparently the uprising began due to the secondary role that the Rio Grande do Sul state played in Brazilian regencial politics because, unlike the other provinces, the state economy focused in the internal market rather than exporting commodities. The state's main product, the charque (bovine dried and salted meat), suffered the hard competition of charque from Uruguay and Argentina, which had free access to Brazilian market while the gauchos had to pay high taxes inside Brazil.

To keep the south border safe from foreign invasion, Rio Grande do Sul had a high war awareness and many military outposts. A few years before, the Argentina-Brazil War was fought there, but there was little political gain. The army leaders and province governor were still sent by the Imperial capital, Rio de Janeiro.

In 1835 Antônio Rodrigues Fernandes Braga was nominated as province president. At first his name pleased the liberal farmers, but that soon changed. In his first day in the office, he accused nominally many farmers of being separatists.

On September 19, 1835, General Bento Gonçalves captured the capital Porto Alegre, beginning the uprising. The province president fled to Rio Grande, 200km south, and the rebels, also known as Farroupilhas, elected Marciano Pereira Ribeiro as the new president. The Brazilian regent, Diogo Feijó, appointed a new president to the province, who should have taken office in Porto Alegre; instead he went to Rio Grande to take the presidency. This further upset the rebels.

On September 11, 1836, Antônio de Souza Netto declared the independence of the Piratini Republic. Bento Gonçalves was nominated as president. However, soon after it, Bento was arrested by imperial forces and jailed. Bento escaped from prison in 1837, went back to the province and took the revolution to its zenith. It was already possible to imagine an independent Piratini Republic. But the war still had many turnarounds. Porto Alegre was recaptured by the empire and the rebels never managed to conquer it again.

The Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi joined the rebels in 1839. With his help the revolution spread through Santa Catarina, in the northern border of Rio Grande do Sul. Laguna was taken but after only four months it fell into imperial hands once again.

[edit] Peace

Amnesty was offered to the rebels in 1840, which they refused although it was clear that they had no chances of winning. In 1842 a republican constitution was issued, as a last effort of rebels. In the same year general Lima e Silva (soon Duke of Caxias) took office and tried to find a diplomatic settlement to the issue.

In 1845, the peace negotiations led by Lima e Silva and Davi Canabarro (replacing Bento Gonçalves) ended. March 1, 1845 was celebrated the Ponche Verde Treaty. It included:

• full amnesty;
• the rebel soldiers would be incorporated to the imperial army;
• the Farroupilhas would choose the next province president (they chose Lima e Silva, due to his noble and decent position during the peace talks);
• the debts of the short-lived republic would be paid by the Empire;
• taxation of 25% to the imported charque.