São Paulo Revolt of 1924
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The São Paulo Revolt of 1924 (also called Revolution of 1924, Movement of 1924 and Rebellion of 1924) was a Brazilian conflict with characteristics of a civil war, triggered by tenentist rebels to overthrow the government of president Artur Bernardes. Initially started in the city of São Paulo on 5 July, the revolt expanded to the interior of the state and inspired other uprisings across Brazil. The urban combat ended in a loyalist victory on 28 July. The rebels' withdrawal, until September, prolonged the rebellion with the Paraná Campaign.
São Paulo Revolt of 1924 | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of Tenentism | |||||||
At the top: fires in São Paulo. Middle left: machine gun position in Vila Mariana. Middle right: Cotonifício Crespi damaged by the bombings. Bottom left: effects of an air attack. Bottom right: soldiers on the roof of the 1st Battalion of the Public Force. | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
|
| ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
| ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
Revolutionary Division[2] (See order of battle) |
| ||||||
Strength | |||||||
On 5 July:
Mid-month:
|
On 5 July:
Mid-month:
| ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
At least 503 dead and 4,846 injured in the capital, see material and human damage |
The conspiratorial nucleus behind the revolt consisted of army officers, veterans of the Copacabana Fort revolt, in 1922, who were joined by military personnel from the Public Force of São Paulo, low ranking military and civilians, all enemies of the political system of Brazil's Old Republic. They chose the retired general Isidoro Dias Lopes as their commander and planned a revolt of nationwide dimension, starting with the occupation of São Paulo in a few hours, cutting off one of the arms of the oligarchies that dominated the country in the policy of "coffee with milk". The plan fell apart: there were fewer supporters than expected and the loyalists resisted in the city's center until 8 July, when governor Carlos de Campos withdrew to the Guaiaúna rail station, on the outskirts of the city. The federal government concentrated much of the country's firepower in the city, with a numerical advantage of five to one, and began to reconquer it by the working-class neighborhoods to the east and south of the city's center, under the command of general Eduardo Sócrates.
The largest industrial park in the country, São Paulo had its factories paralyzed by the fight, the most intense ever fought within a Brazilian city. There were food shortages and, in the power vacuum, the looting of stores began. The federal government launched an indiscriminate artillery bombardment against the city, which caused heavy damage to houses, industries and the inhabitants. Civilians were the majority of those killed and a third of the city's inhabitants became refugees. The São Paulo economic elite, led by José Carlos de Macedo Soares, president of the Commercial Association, did their best to preserve their properties and order in the city. Fearing a social revolution, the elites influenced the leaders of the revolt to distance themselves from labor movements, such as the anarchists, who had offered their support to the rebels; Macedo Soares and others also unsuccessfully tried to broker a ceasefire.
With no prospect of success in battle, the rebels still had an escape route into their occupied territory from Campinas to Bauru, but it was about to be cut off by loyalist victories in the Sorocaba axis. The revolutionary army escaped the imminent siege and moved to the banks of the Paraná River. After an unsuccessful invasion of southern Mato Grosso (the Battle of Três Lagoas), they entrenched themselves in western Paraná, where they joined rebels from Rio Grande do Sul to form the Miguel Costa-Prestes Column. The federal government reestablished the state of emergency and intensified political repression, foreshadowing the apparatus later used by the Estado Novo and the military dictatorship; in São Paulo, the Department of Political and Social Order (Deops) was created. Despite the size of the fighting, the destruction caused and the political consequences, the uprising earned the nickname of "Forgotten Revolution" and does not have public commemorations equivalent to those held for the Constitutionalist Revolution of 1932.