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Period: to
First Brazilian Republic
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Wall Street Crash
Plummeting coffee prices by 50%. Coffee was the main export product of Brazil. This caused the Brazilians to take some rather extreme measures. Getúlio Vargas also implemented some different strategies to try and get the country up and running again. -
Period: to
Estado Novo
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Brazilian Revolution
Led by the states Minas Gerais, Paraíba and Rio Grande do Sul. São Paulo broke the coffee with milk policy with the mineiros of Minas Gerais. After a dispute about who should be elected president, with the support of the urban middle class (their movement against the government in São Paulo, called Tenentism, had been going on for about 8 years), the 3 states led a coup d'etat which resulted in the end of the Old Republic and started Estado Novo under the rule of Getúlio Vargas. -
Great Purge
Also known as the great terror, it was a political campaign with the goal to eliminate enemies of the state. The deaths are estimated between 600.000 and 1.200.000. It was carried out mostly by the NKVD, the secret service of the Soviet Union. The campaign ended when the current leader of the NKVD, Yezhov, was executed and replaced by the Georgian Lavrentiy Beria. -
Period: to
Great Purge
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Getúlio Vargas
Born on the 19th of April 1882, Brazilian-born Getúlio Dornelles Vargas grew up to be a lawyer, politician and President during two periods. The first period was from 1930 until 1945, where he started as an interim president until 1934. He then was the constitutional president for three years, which was followed by an eight-year-long dictatorial reign. He returned to power in 1951 a democratically elected president. He then served until the 24th of August 1954, the day he committed suicide. -
Jozef Stalin
secretary-general of the communist party of the Soviet Union between 1922-1953 and premier of the Soviet state between 1941-1953. he was the one who transformed the Soviet Union into a great world power. It was also him who orchestrated the great purge. another thing that was initiated by him was the blockade of Berlin. he died in 1953. -
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Changed the alliance of Brazil in the years leading up to World War II. The final shift was made in 1940, which was an indirect result of the 1939 World Fair. By implementing his Good Neighbour Policy, he was able to convince Getúlio Vargas to shift his alliance away from the Axis powers. This did cause quite some problems in Brazil since they had been relying on the trade with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. -
Period: to
Fourth Brazilian Republic
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Berlin Blockade
the blockade of Berlin refers when the Soviet soldier blockaded all roads, rail- and waterways into western berlin. this was done by Stalin in retaliation to when the U.S, France and England combined their occupation zones into one economic unit, and later they also implemented the new deutsche mark, which the Soviets considered a violation of the agreemenets made with the Allies. when the blockade was underway the allies created an "airlift" and supplied western Berlin through it. -
Maracanaço
Known in Brazil as the Agony of Maracanã, the World Cup of Football in 1950 was concluded in the decisive match between odds-on favourite Brazil and Uruguay. When Uruguay surprisingly won, the Brazilian crowd was baffled and the country went into a state of disbelief. This resulted in several football fans committing suicide after the match. -
Moacir Barbosa Nascimento
First goalkeeper of the Brazilian team in 1950. He was held accountable for the defeat in the final game of the 1950 World Cup. Before his death in 2000, he gave an interview in which he mentions the following: "The maximum prison sentence in Brazil is 30 years, but I served 50 years.". This clearly shows the impact this match had on the Brazilian culture in the years to come. -
Hungarian uprising
The Hungarian revolution of 1956, was a revolution that swept the whole nation as they attempted to fight against the Hungarian People's Republic, who adhered to Soviet policies. It started as a student protest, however, when a student delegation entered a radio building in order to broadcast their demands, they were arrested. When the people wanted their release, they were shot at. this started the Hungarian uprising. It ended in a massacre as the Soviet army violently suppressed the revolution -
Abraham Lincoln Gordon
United States Ambassador to Brazil for 1961 until 1966. He was very influential in the years leading up to the 1964 coup d'etat. Informing and speaking with President Kennedy, later on with Lyndon B. Johnson, on matters regarding all of South America. These meetings eventually led up to the United States intervening in Brazil and helping out the army to lead a successful coup d'etat, overthrowing João Goulart (who they believed to be shifting towards a more communistic approach). -
Nikita Khrushchev
After the death of Stalin, there was a power and the winner of this struggle was Khrushchev. Before he was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, he was at first a metal worker and during the Second World War, he became a political commissar. one of the first things that he did during his reign is the "secret speech" in which he completely decimated Stalin's reputation. his period was also categorised with high tensions, the best example would be the Cuban missile crisis -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a response to the bay of pigs invasion of 1961 and the presence of American nuclear missiles in Turkey and Italy. Khrushchev and Fidel Castro made a secret agreement to construct a number of missile launch facilities on Cuba. When America found out about this it led to a lot of tension between the two superpowers. In the end, the Soviets agreed to remove the missiles and America also declared not to attack Cuba again, they also agreed to remove missiles from Turkey -
Leonid Brezhnev
the fifth leader of the Soviet Union, he succeeded Khrushchev as general secretary of the communiar party of the Soviet Union. Brezhnev increased the Soviet army massively and performed a campaign of military intervention, known as the "Brezhnev doctrine". he was also responsible for the "Brezhnev stagnation," a period of socioeconomic decline. -
Period: to
Militaristic Brasil
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Coup d'etat to end the Fourth Republic
In the United States, concerns over the state of the Brazilian President, Goulart, started in July 1962. A private meeting between John F. Kennedy, Richard Goodwin, and Lincoln Gordon to discuss Goulart's activity, and their concern over whether or not he was leading the country towards Communism. The discussion concluded that they would support paramilitary forces in opposition to Goulart and that they would send a "fellow" who was fluent in Portuguese to be their contact within the military. -
Prague spring
the Prague spring started on the 5th of January 1968 when Alexander Dubcek became first secretary of the communist party of Czechoslovakia. It was a period political reforms in which Dubcek wanted to have "socialism with a human face". when the Kremlin heard about this, they immediately send half a million Warsaw pact soldiers to the country. Czech citizens resisted the invasion fearlessly and it took almost eight months to subdue. -
Ernesto Geisel
Started the relaxation of dictatorship during his reign. This meant that a more acceptant stance towards political opposition was taken. He also implemented a more open foreign policy, which resulted in diplomatic relations with, for example, the People's Republic of China. Despite being deeply anti-communist, Geisel realised the importance of shifting Brazil's foreign policy to meet its economic needs. This did mean that a growing distance between Brazil and the United States was imminent. -
Period: to
New Republic of Brazil
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João Figueiredo
Continued the process of redemocratization that Geisel had started, sanctioned a law decreeing amnesty for all political crimes committed during the regime. His term was marked by a severe economic crisis and growing dissatisfaction with the military rule. Figueiredo opposed direct elections and in 1984 Congress rejected the immediate return of direct elections, in favour of an indirect election by Congress. Figueiredo retired after the end of his term and died in 1999. -
Mikhail Gorbachev
last General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, he believed that the Soviet Union needed immense reforms in order to keep existing. two of the most well known reforms would be glasnost and perestroika. The goal of glasnost was to enhance the freedom of speech and press and perestroika sought to decentralize the economic decision making in order to try and make it more efficient. Gorbachev has been praised on several occasions for his role in ending the cold war. -
Collapse of the Soviet Union
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Hyperinflation in Brazil
The Plano Real was a set of measures taken to stabilize the Brazilian economy in 1994, during the presidency of Itamar Franco. Its architects were led by the Minister of Finance and succeeding president Cardoso. The Plano Real was based on an analysis of the root causes of hyperinflation in the New Republic of Brazil. The Plano Real intended to stabilize the domestic currency in nominal terms after a string of failed plans to control inflation. -
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
A popular and ambitious politician, he is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence for numerous corruption charges. The introduction of social programs such as Bolsa Família and Fome Zero were hallmarks of his time in office. As President, Lula played a prominent role in international matters including activities related to the nuclear program of Iran and global warming, being described as "a man with audacious ambitions to alter the balance of power among nations".
