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[First Page] [105], (1) Lines: 0 to 4 ——— 0.17702pt ——— Normal Page PgEnds: TEX [105], (1) Roger Kittleson 6. The Paraguayan War and Political Culture Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, 1865–80 For the people of Brazil’s southernmost province, Rio Grande do Sul, the ParaguayanWar represented a potential source of political capital. Indeed, so aggressively did Gaúchos (the inhabitants of the province) seek to turn the war to their political advantage that Joaquim Nabuco, writing some thirty years later, contemptuously likened them to speculators who “abandoned everything to make their fortunes.” Rather than patriotically serving the empire, these men interested themselves only in amassing wealth and influence , with which they could then acquire a “clientele avid for money.” Gaúcho leaders ultimately turned the glorious national cause into a veritable “California,” or gold rush—as the slang of the time had it—of patronage.1 Not surprisingly, the men who were the objects of Nabuco’s disgust described their actions in starkly different terms.Throughout the war years and afterward, propagandists of all major political parties in the provincial capital of Porto Alegre argued that Gaúcho participation in the war constituted yet another example of the “tribute of blood” that their region had regularly paid to the fatherland. Always sensitive to allegations that their geographic and cultural proximity to Spanish American republics somehow made them less Brazilian than their peers from the Northeast or the central South, partisan leaders in Rio Grande do Sul emphatically claimed that their military contributions made them the very bulwark of the Brazilian nationality. In 1868 Antônio Eleutério de Camargo captured this sense of Gaúcho sacrifice in a particularly romantic formulation:“It is true that the traditions of our wars are inscribed on our lands, but it is also certain that the Riograndense abandons his labors, his home, his family when the fatherland calls; uncomplaining and proud, he fulfills his duty out of patriotism, he does not go . . . to seek the satisfaction of his aspirations and desires in the vicissitudes of war.”2 In contrast to Nabuco’s later portrayal then, Gaúcho elites depicted Rio Grande as the site and source of disinterested heroism, which not only proved the brasilidade (Brazilian-ness) of their province but also justified its rise to a position of greater prominence in the highly centralized imperial political system.3 It was not only members of the regional elite, however, who sought to transform the defense of the fatherland into a mark of honor. In PortoAlegre and throughout the province, commoners also struggled to turn wartime 106 TheWar and Political Culture [106], (2) Lines: 41 ——— 0.0pt PgV ——— Normal P PgEnds: T [106], (2) service into improved social and political status. The initiatives that these plebeians exhibited were, however, more than a vague (if vigorous) desire to improve their social standing. Having patriotically carried out hazardous duties, returning veterans in Porto Alegre felt that they should now move out of dependent positions in the clientelistic social hierarchy. Like their comrades in other areas of Brazil, such veterans claimed rights normally out of reach for plebeians dependent on paternalistic patrons.4 What these survivors of the war demanded,in effect,was recognition as independent and active members of their nation.5 What made possible this new discourse of status and rights in Rio Grande’s popular political culture was the particularly intense experience of the war in the province, which suffered a Paraguayan invasion in the winter of 1865. Indeed, even after enemy forces surrendered at Uruguaiana in September and the war shifted out of Gaúcho territory,the front remained close to Rio Grande do Sul. Officers and men—including Emperor Pedro II—moved between cities like Porto Alegre and the fields of battle. Some civilians even traveled to army camps to visit relatives stationed there.6 More significantly, Rio Grande do Sul provided a critical portion of the imperial military effort, supplying 33,803 fighting men, more than any other province of Brazil, and serving as a vital launching area for campaigns into Paraguay through 1869.7 Like the rest of the empire,Rio Grande do Sul was also subject to the patriotic propaganda that accompanied the first truly national mobilization in the country’s history.8 Even if the average soldier had gone into war against his will—as had many of the so-calledVoluntários da Pátria—authorities hailed them as essential elements of a great national victory.9 Together...

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