1889 Republican plot
| 1889 Republican plot | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Monarchist Comemoration, by Oscar Pereira da Silva (1897) | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Empire of Brazil
|
Republican rebels | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Pedro II Viscount of Maracaju Deodoro da Fonseca Marquis of Tamandaré
|
Benjamin Constant Floriano Peixoto | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 1 | 0 | ||||||
The 1889 Republican plot in Brazil was a failed attempt of instauring a positivist republican regime in Brazil, the movement was lead by Colonel Benjamin Constant although the monarchist Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca was used as a pawn to the realization of the coup until he discovered the scheme after the Emperor agreed to his demands. This discovery is what allowed the loyalist forces take imediate action to crush the rebels, narrowly avoiding the coup and managing to keep the Brazilian monarchy alive.
Context
Write here about the Empire being falling in popularity
The Event
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On the following day, all military colleges were temporarily closed and the high officers were supposed to present themselves at the Supreme Tribunal of Justice. Fonseca had revealed many names of the conspiracy to the Emperor himself in a private conversation. All were tried and found guilty of all charges, receiving 10 years in prison as a punishment, except for the important politician Prudente de Moraes and the officers Floriano Peixoto and Benjamin Constant, all whom got life imprisonment. In the next month the Emperor who had already become weary of the crown and disillusioned with the future of the monarchy, declared his resignation and the throne was passed to Isabel.
The "Reconstruction"
After the failed coup it came to the attention of the monarchy that it had to renewal their alliances and legitimacy to continue ruling and a process of "renconstruction" of the system began.
The Catholic Church was one of the first groups to reconcile with the monarchy after the event. The Church still enjoyed great relevance in the Empire and the status quo was threatened by the secular positivists, meanwhile the then Princess Isabel was a devout follower of the Catholic faith which lead to the Archbishop of Salvador condemming the republican movement. The lords from Paraíba Valley that had broken with the monarchy after the abolition of slavery saw now that if they didn't return into the monarchist fold their influence would suffer heavy damage, and soon they distanced themselves with them. The Armed Forces also recieved several benefits such as veteran's pensions under the Macaraju government and purges were done so only loyalists and to a lesser extant "last hour monarchists" would stay in high places. The coffee barons of São Paulo were at first confused at what to do next, but Emperess Isabel and Macaraju engineered a plan to get them back in the fold. Nobility titles were given by the Emperess to the most prominent landowners, D. Isabel would also later concede the long-pursued political powers by appointing members of the local oligarchies to seats in the Senate in order to serve as a counterweight to the traditional elites, dominating the Parliament. Furthermore, she along with following cabinets would also increase the budget of the province of São Paulo, as well as the power of local municipal chambers, in detriment to the central government. While these autonomy politics would cause problems with other provinces, it satisfied the coffee barons desires. Their empowerment however, would come with a price following the system that was later stablished known as the "Liberal Conservative Era" where the monarch's power was actively curbed by figures mainly alligned with the same oligarchies.