Brazil in World War II
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Brazil officially entered the World War II on 22 August 1942 when it declared war against the Axis powers Germany and Italy. On 8 February 1943, the country formally joined the Allies upon signing the Declaration by United Nations. Though Brazil was a secondary Allied power, it was the primary ally in South America.[1] The country made major contributions to the war effort, providing critical natural resources, hosting strategic air and naval bases, participating decisively in the Battle of the Atlantic, and deploying an expeditionary force to the intensive Italian Campaign. It was the only independent country in South America, and among the few outside the direct theaters of war, to send combat troops overseas during the conflict.[2]
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Leading up to the outbreak of war in 1939, Brazil adhered to a strict policy of neutrality and maintained positive commercial and diplomatic relations with both Allied and Axis countries. Brazilian President Getúlio Vargas, whose administration appeared ideologically sympathetic to fascism, initially sought to leverage the country's strategic importance to both sides in order to extract favorable trade agreements. Despites its long and traditionally strong ties to the United States, by 1940, Brazil was Germany's largest export market outside Europe and ninth largest trading partner; it also hosted large and influential German, Italian, and Japanese communities.
As the war progressed, trade with the Axis became subject to Allied diplomatic and economic pressure. Following U.S. entry into the war in December 1941, the Joint Brazil-U.S. Defense Commission was established to strengthen bilateral military ties and minimize Axis influence.[3] To secure U.S. offers of economic assistance, Brazil ended diplomatic relations with Germany, Japan, and Italy in January 1942, and permitted the U.S. to establish air bases on its territory that could be utilized against Axis naval assets.[4] Notwithstanding its formal neutrality and reticence to declare war, these actions prompted immediate Axis reprisals,[5] resulting in the sinking of 36 Brazilian merchant vessels and the loss of nearly 2,000 sailors by mid-August, which culminated in Brazil's formal declaration of war.[6]
Despite the underdeveloped state of its economy and military, Brazil fully committed its industrial capacity and armed forces towards the war effort, aided by substantial U.S. investment. From mid-1942 until the end of the war, the Brazilian Navy and Air Force played an active role in protecting Allied shipping, with the country's northeast becoming a fortified staging ground for projecting Allied air power across the Atlantic. The country also mustered a 25,700-strong expeditionary force to Europe, which fought mainly on the Italian front from September 1944 to May 1945. Brazil lost 1,889 soldiers and sailors, 31 merchant vessels, three warships, and 22 fighter aircraft.