Brazil History Canudos Campaign, 1893-1897

The War of Canudos (Portuguese: Guerra de Canudos, pronounced [ˈɡɛʁɐ dʒi kɐˈnudus]) was a conflict between the First Brazilian Republic and the residents of Canudos in the northeastern state of Bahia, between 1896 and 1897. It was waged in the aftermath of the abolition of slavery in Brazil and the overthrow of the monarchy. The conflict arose from a millenarian cult led by Antônio Conselheiro, who began attracting attention around 1874 by preaching spiritual salvation to the poor population of the sertão, a region which suffered from severe droughts. Conselheiro and his followers came into conflict with the local authorities after founding the village of Canudos. The situation soon escalated, with Bahia's government requesting assistance from the federal government, who sent military expeditions against the settlement. Antônio Conselheiro and his followers were branded as "monarchists" by the press, with the authorities seeing the settlement as a threat to the recently proclaimed Brazilian Republic, which was still in process of consolidating itself. Rumors spread that the inhabitants of Canudos were planning to "depose the new Republican government" and "restore the monarchy." The inhabitants of Canudos were "so numerous, employed such artful strategies and so committed" that it took four military campaigns to defeat them. Despite the government's troops employing modern weapons against the poorly armed and organized Conselheiristas, the first three expeditions resulted in failure, including the death of Colonel Moreira César, which harmed the government's image and alarmed public opinion. The conflict came to a brutal end in October 1897, when the fourth and final expedition, led by General Arthur Oscar, with a large fraction of the Brazilian Army, was deployed to bombard and overrun the settlement, raze it and slaughter nearly all its inhabitants.