LIVE DE REVISÃO ENEM 2025 - ERA VARGAS E REPÚBLICA VELHA

Summary

The live review covers Brazilian history from the proclamation of the Republic in 1889 through the end of Getúlio Vargas’s Estado Novo in 1945. Débora Aladim emphasizes political structures, popular revolts, and the ways constitutions and electoral rules shaped power—topics she identifies as useful for the ENEM exam.

1. The Republic of the Sword and the 1891 Constitution

• The first two presidents were military officers: Deodoro da Fonseca, who led the coup that established the Republic, and Floriano Peixoto.
• Deodoro tried to strengthen his authority, including by declaring a state of siege. After failing to secure sufficient support, he resigned, and Floriano took over.
• The early Republic also faced financial instability. The government encouraged business creation through loans and increased money issuance, contributing to inflation, speculation, and fraudulent or “shell” companies.

The 1891 Constitution:

• Was enacted through a constitutional process rather than imposed by a ruler.
• Made Brazil a secular state. It no longer had an official religion, and civil registration and marriage were no longer confined to the Catholic Church.
• Established electoral rules that restricted political participation. Illiterate people could not vote, and women were also excluded, among other groups. The lecture stresses that these restrictions helped keep political power in elite hands.
• Provided for open voting, making voters vulnerable to pressure, threats, and vote-buying.
• Gave states representation in Congress in proportion to population, contributing to Minas Gerais’s political influence.

2. The Oligarchic Republic and electoral control

The period is often associated with the “coffee with milk” arrangement: São Paulo, wealthy from coffee production, and Minas Gerais, with a large population and strong congressional representation, formed a powerful political alliance.

The lecturer describes this as an elite system in which only a small portion of the population could vote and political leaders sought to control election outcomes. The term oligarchy refers to power concentrated in the hands of a few.

Methods of electoral manipulation included:

• Vote-buying and coercion, commonly associated with voto de cabresto (“halter vote”).
• Electoral corrals, where local bosses gathered voters and directed how they should vote.
• Voting in other people’s names, including deceased people, along with other forms of ballot fraud.
• “Bico de pena” elections, in which written records could be manipulated.
• The verification of powers commission, which could reject or alter election results when they did not favor ruling groups.

The politics of the governors depended on clientelism: local bosses and coronéis delivered votes to state governors, while governors supplied money, public works, jobs, or other favors in return. The lecture connects this system to nepotism and patronage.

3. Revolts during the Old Republic

• Vaccine Revolt (1904): Poor sanitation in Rio de Janeiro contributed to disease outbreaks. The government made vaccination compulsory and authorized forceful enforcement. According to the lecturer, coercive implementation and inadequate public explanation helped trigger resistance.
• Revolt of the Lash (Revolta da Chibata): Sailors—many of them Black—protested harsh physical punishment and poor conditions. Although the government initially promised concessions, it later repressed the revolt.
• Canudos: In drought-stricken Bahia, Antônio Conselheiro helped form a community for people facing poverty and landlessness. The settlement became a symbol of mutual support and resistance. Government forces eventually destroyed it in a brutal campaign.
• Contestado War: In disputed territory between Paraná and Santa Catarina, land displacement connected to railway construction helped fuel a movement led by the preacher José Maria. After his death, followers continued to organize, believing he would return. Government forces ultimately crushed the movement.

4. The 1930 movement and Vargas’s rise

The lecturer presents the breakdown of the “coffee with milk” arrangement as a key cause of the 1930 political crisis. President Washington Luís, from São Paulo, backed another São Paulo candidate instead of a candidate from Minas Gerais.

Minas Gerais joined Rio Grande do Sul and Paraíba in supporting Getúlio Vargas for president and João Pessoa for vice president. Vargas lost the election. João Pessoa was later assassinated in Paraíba. In the lecture’s account, Vargas used the killing as a political rallying point, and the military movement of 1930 removed the elected government and brought him to power.

The lecture divides the Vargas Era into three stages:

1. Provisional Government: Vargas ruled without a constitution.
2. Constitutional Government: A new constitution was established in 1934.
3. Estado Novo: Vargas’s dictatorship, established in 1937.

The term “Old Republic” was popularized by Vargas to disparage the political order that preceded him and present his own government as new and progressive. The lecturer compares this kind of politically loaded naming to the term “Dark Ages.”

5. The 1934 Constitution and Vargas’s centralization of power

The Constitution of 1934 introduced or formalized measures including women’s suffrage, secret voting, electoral justice, and labor protections. The lecture highlights the minimum wage, paid vacations, weekly rest, and regulation of women’s and children’s work. It also describes the expansion of public education and the requirement for children to attend school.

Vargas weakened the old oligarchic system by centralizing decision-making, dismissing state governors and replacing them with appointees, and ending the previous form of governor-led political bargaining. The lecturer also credits Vargas with establishing public-service examinations, reducing the old practice of distributing government jobs through political patronage.

Vargas’s appeal to workers and poorer Brazilians is described as populist: he introduced policies that benefited broad groups while also using them to build support and remain in power.

6. The Estado Novo dictatorship

As Vargas’s term approached its end, he staged a coup in 1937 and used the alleged Cohen Plan—presented as a communist conspiracy—as a pretext for taking power. The lecture says the plan was fabricated.

The 1937 Constitution, nicknamed the “Polish Constitution” in the lecture because of its authoritarian character and associations, formalized dictatorial rule. Under the Estado Novo, Vargas accumulated extensive authority, appointed state leaders, suppressed political opposition, and allowed arrests and torture.

Two political movements featured in the lecture were:

• The Brazilian Integralist Action (AIB), described as a fascist movement.
• The National Liberation Alliance (ANL), described as antifascist.

Vargas initially aligned with the Integralists and repressed the ANL, then banned political parties. Integralists later turned against him and attempted to remove him by force.

Economically, Vargas pursued national developmentalism, promoting Brazilian industry and using state action and foreign loans to reduce dependence on imported goods. The lecture cites industrial and mining enterprises, including CSN and Vale do Rio Doce, as examples.

Vargas also invested heavily in publicity and political messaging. The lecture discusses his promotion of labor laws, worker-focused imagery, radio broadcasts, and his presentation as the “father of the poor.” It also notes the censorship of criticism.

The lecture credits his governments with expanding health and education institutions, social security, vocational training, and higher education, while stressing that these policies coexisted with authoritarian repression.

7. Vargas’s departure in 1945

During World War II, Brazil fought alongside the United States against the Axis powers. This created a contradiction: Vargas’s government was authoritarian, yet Brazil fought in a war framed around democracy.

After 15 years in power, Vargas faced growing pressure to restore elections. His association with workers’ rights also helped generate the Queremista movement, whose supporters wanted him to remain in power.

Political opponents feared Vargas might stage another coup. The military removed him from office in 1945, ending the Estado Novo. The lecturer summarizes Vargas’s political career as involving coups at his rise, during his rule, and at his removal.

The session closes by previewing Vargas’s later return to politics and the next review on Brazil’s democratic period and dictatorship.

Exam-focused lessons

• Focus on how political rules and institutions shaped power, rather than memorizing every date. The lecturer specifically says exact constitutional years need not be memorized.
• Be able to explain the links among open voting, electoral fraud, coronelismo, clientelism, and oligarchic rule.
• Remember the major stages of Vargas’s rule and the contrast between the 1934 Constitution’s reforms and the 1937 Constitution’s dictatorship.
• Treat labels such as “Old Republic” as politically meaningful, not neutral descriptions.

Speakers and sources featured

• Débora Aladim — the teacher and presenter throughout the live review and course-promotion segments.
• Boris Fausto — cited by Débora as a historian; he does not speak in the video.
• Débora Aladim’s course materials and slides, including a free written summary of the Vargas Era, are referenced as the basis for the lesson.
• Chat participants appear through comments, but the subtitles do not identify any other distinct speakers.