End Of Salle Army: Fill & Download for Free

Deodoro da Fonseca: arguably outlived his usefulness after 16th November 1889, and almost certainly so after 24th February 1891. Trying to govern the State as if it were the Army, and the Republic as if it were the Empire, were a fatal yet expected mistake coming from someone entirely too used to Imperial politics. The coup attempt of 3rd November 1891 reinforced a dreadful precedent but by that point was probably inevitable anyway.Floriano Peixoto: the Putin to Fonseca’s Yeltsin. Contained the popular unrest in Rio and the civil war in the South, secured the loyalty of the Army, and once and for all supressed the Navy. Found the fine balance between getting support from the oligarchical clans and adopting popular measures, mostly in Rio (e.g. price fixing for foodstuffs and rent). Legalistic to a fault, beared the title of Vice-President all throughout his term as he finished Fonseca’s term only due to a Constitutional loophole. Went to work on the tram, paid out of pocket. Left a vicious breed of Florianists in his wake who wanted to make him a dictator by staging a coup during Morais’ inauguration, but he himself didn’t want anything to do with them, or politics, for the rest of his life.Prudente de Morais: inherited the groundwork laid by Peixoto to establish a new “oligarchichal pact” between the ruling classes of different states. Confirmed the new supremacy of Paulista coffee planters in government. Began the tradition of states being led by one-party systems that had almost unlimited control over their internal affairs.Campos Salles: set the fashion for unsound financial habits of the Brazilian government for decades to come — his plan for “solving” the economic crisis of the time was 1) reduce the deficit by cutting down government spending, especially in infrastructure (ruining Brazilian companies, whose main client was the State) and raising taxes, with the obvious consequences; 2) contain inflation at all costs by interrupting printing of currency and taking much of it out of circulation (immensely hurting commerce and industry); 3) delaying the payment of the national debt through a “funding loan” that created a new, massive debt for his successors to deal with; and 4) over-valuing currency (making export revenues plummet — by half in the case of coffee — and raising unemployement due to Brazilian industrial jobs being lost as national industry couldn’t compete with imports). Total disaster!Rodrigues Alves: moved forward projects intended to make Rio de Janeiro look better (opening new, ample, modern avenues) and healthier (massive sanitation campaigns). The former caused many dwellings (cortiços) to be torn down, forcing the now homeless people to the outskirts — thus began the terrifying expansion of the favelas in the 20th century. The latter was so invasive and brutal that in 1903 the Vaccine Revolt broke out in Rio’s streets. Also, the Acre purchase — after three revolutions, we paid two million pounds sterling for it. And we are yet to figure out what to do with it.Afonso Pena: institutionalized pro-coffee policies. As per the Taubaté Convention, the government took up the task of buying and stocking any surplus coffee that didn’t find a place in the world market, even contracting loans for this end. Other than that, became the first Brazilian President to die in office. He was so popular he won with 101% of the vote.Nilo Peçanha: presided over the first political rift of the Old Republic — with small states, Minas Gerais, the government, and the Army supporting Marshall Hermes da Fonseca in the next election, spearheaded by Pinheiro Machado (the Old Republic’s Littlefinger) while São Paulo and Bahia supported Rui Barbosa. The Civilist Campaign by Barbosa was the first mass mobilization for an election in Brazil’s history — but Hermes, being the candidate of the government, won without any problems.Hermes da Fonseca: presided over a mess. A political hostage of Machado, and with a cabinet with high turnover rates, his Administration was very unstable. The policy of “salvationism” (intervention by the federal government and/or local factions against state governments) was employed liberally and four states suffered “regime change”, two of them twice — all pawns in a power game between Machado and his adversaries for control of Congress. Here the infamous Revolt of the Lash also took place.Venceslau Brás: presided over the Contestado war, WWI, the 1917 general strike, and a Spanish Flu outbreak. And not much else. Tenentism began to flourish under his watch.Delfim Moreira: led for a short time due to the death of Rodrigues Alves, who had won the election. A new election was held pitting Rui Barbosa against Epitácio Pessoa, who won in a landslide even though he was in Versailles during the campaign.Epitácio Pessoa: lame compromise candidate. Did little besides closing down the Military Club and repressing the Copacabana Fort mutiny and thus cementing the reputation of Tenentism all over the country.Artur Bernardes: my least favourite President and I honestly don’t know exactly why. Maybe it’s the fact that Brazil spent 90% of his tenure under state of siege; or the repressive intervention and censorship laws Congress passed on his request; or his repression against Gauchos in 1923 and Paulistas in 1924; or maybe it’s just his shrewd fox face.Washington Luís: erred in his ambition to use Prestes as a placeholder so he could run in 1934. Erred in handling the opposition. Erred in allowing the Mineiros to be alienated. Erred in not doing his utmost to stop the hysteria in his own state and party. And his errors caught up to him sooner than he hoped.Getúlio Vargas: did what he could with what he had. Surprisingly and exceptionally pragmatic for a Brazilian ruler. One of the few who truly understood the nature of power. Played the parties and interests under him like a fiddle. Made the most of the unique opportunities posed by WWII. Dismantled Coronelism. Made intermittent civil war a thing of the past. Most repressive President next to anyone before, or after, by any possible measure.José Linhares: an unwitting pawn in the hands of the Army, and having the Presidency fall on his lap by pure luck, milked the most of it. Presided over Brazil’s first democratic election, using the Juduciary rather than the Executive to count the votes.Eurico Dutra: first democratically elected President, and one of the two of this category to never get shafted. Didn’t deal very well with Vargas Era deficits and with growing inflation. Far too bland a ruler for someone who was on the military. Broke relations with the USSR and outlawed the Communist Party.Vargas — the return: Unlike the 30s, he couldn’t skid his way around the Constitution, and his old tricks of finding boogeymen couldn’t work anymore. Restrained by democratic institutions, he nonetheless was very consequential —creating Petrobrás, for example. His sympathies towards labour movements put him at odds with the upper class, however, and amidst corruption scandals, the Tonelero incident and investigations, and hostility from the media, either a coup or impeachment were the only two possible outcomes. He found a third.Café Filho: one shrewd mofo. Tried to convince Vargas that they should resign together, but he rightly smelled something. Managed to be the only Brazilan president to never nominate any Supreme Court justices. Ended up taking leave from office due to acute illness.Carlos Luz: former Speaker of the House, managed to be the shortest-tenured Brazilian President. After plotting a coup to stop the President-Elect from taking office, he was forced to flee Rio by Marshall Lott and impeached by Congress. Café Filho thought he would return to office after this — he didn’t.Nereu Ramos: only Catarinense to hold the Presidency. Former President of the Senate. Handled the transition to the next administration.Juscelino Kubitschek: overrated. Spent far too much in constructing Brasília, at a time when many Brazilians were facing hardship. Still managed an excellent economic record for the country, especially where industrial growth is concerned.Jânio Quadros: dumbest President by far. Neither great accomplishments or great scandals — just plain stupidity.Ranieri Mazzilli: former Speaker of the House. Filler.João Goulart: well intentioned but weak and naive. Crossed every red line in the conservatives’ minds, betting far too high on their capability for rational thought, love for democracy, or aversion to treason.Ranieri Mazzilli: more filler.Castelo Branco: good for plotting coups, not very good at continuing them afterwards, or dealing with his more extremist co-conspirators. A very convenient death, won’t you think?Costa e Silva: hardliner and proud of it. Consolidated the foundations of the dictatorship, unleashed near-unprecedented repression that won’t subside for a very long time — AI-5, for one. A very convenient stroke days before the repression was planned to be toned down — leading to a coup-within-the-coup in which his civilian VP was prevented from taking office and a military junta transitioned power over to the next President.Emílio Médici: zenith of the power and prestige of the dictatorship. Mainly kept up the “good work” of his predecessors, shelving the “liberalizing” plans of the previous administration. His tenure went down on history with the famous name of “years of lead”. Presided over the wirschaftwünder that would so profoundly collapse after him.Ernesto Geisel: the beggining of the end — for the dictatorship, that is. Dealt with two oil busts and a fall in commodity prices that completely wrecked the economy. Former member of the “moderate” wing, he took the first steps towards democratization, creating a rift with the hardliners that would persist for years to come. First Lutheran President.João Figueiredo: that uncle of yours that does everything to look cool and tough at the same time, and always fails at both. Still couldn’t solve the worsening crisis, and still didn’t manage to completely dismantle the already crumbling regime. The end of his term marked the indirect election of Tancredo Neves — a civilian — by Congress, and the end of the dictatorship.José Sarney: old stooge of the dictatorship and Neves’ running mate, took over after he died from illness. His government saw both the enactment of the democratic Constitution on 1988 and the single worst period of economic downturn face by the country — astronomic inflation, unemployment, recession, you name it. Awful awful awful economic packages. Rightfully blasted by Jô Soares. Terrible writer. Still alive and a powerful power broker in Congress.Fernando Collor: first democratically elected President since the end of the dictatorship. “Hunter of marahajas” my arse. Made important overtures to foreign trade, yet his economic plans also sucked. Impeached by the House, resigned. Now a Senator, plans on running again this year.Itamar Franco: very underrated. Perhaps the best President in recent memory as far as the economy is concerned. Got Brazil out of the Lost Decade, solved uncontrolled inflation, and put together the economic task force that lay the seeds of the Real Plan and Brazil’s economic ascention in the 90s and 2000s, and without which Lula and FHC would have been nothing.Fernando Cardoso: instituted Presidential re-election for the first time, something his party would come to bitterly regret later. Surfed on the tide of relative economic stability he inherited from Franco. Got most of the credit for the Real Plan, making him unbeatable in his two elections. Lay the groundwork for the social programs that Lula would later build upon. Massive privatizations, in even those state companies which were doing well were sold, with dubious profits for the government, and at suspiscious profits for the beneficiaries.Lula da Silva: capitalized on the economic downturn at the end of the Cardoso administration and on alliances with centrists and moderates (ACM included) to finally get elected in a landslide after several lost elections. Grabbed the violin with the left hand and played it with the right. Dealt well with the discovery of the Pré-Sal. Best foreign policy of the bunch by a long shot. Masterfully managed to sell to the left, which has always loathed this “neoliberalism” thing, the most “neo-liberal” economic policies known to this country. A bit overrated.Dilma Rousseff: was dealt a bad hand and had no idea how to handle it. Too uncharismatic to garner enthusiastic support, too weak to stand her ground, too tough to find compromise, too keen to go back to economic formulae of the dictatorship, too unlucky to have that happen at a moment where the global economy posed an enormous risk to that, and too reliant on shaky alliances in Congress. At least she was the first woman President.Michel Temer: most unpopular President in recent memory and probably in the entire history of Brazil. Good back-door power broker (the skill that won him the throne) but far from brilliant under the spotlights of the presidency. Never accomplished anything substantial for better or worse — he failed to be decisive even at being bad. Will be forgotten faster and more profoundly than some of the most obscure names on this list.

Because France was the hotspot for fencing at the end of the 19th century. The Second Empire of Napoléon III made the teaching of fencing mandatory in the French army. Therefore salles d'armes popped up everywhere in France. MP and journalists would duel. Duels were organized with the Italians in 1891 and the French won. It was trough this popular spread of fencing thar it turned into a sport and started to be codified as one.This led to the creation of the Société d'encouragement de l'escrime in 1882, which is the ancestor of the current Fédération internationale d'escrime, founded in Paris in 1913.Fencing was in the first New Olympic Games, another thing brought by a French, Pierre de Coubertin, which is why French is an official language of the Olympic Games.

Fencing was not created to be popular. It was created to help you survive a life and death situations that involved hand to hand combat with sharpened steel. An essential skill for a category of people who trained intensively in it.So even when in the late 19th century huge crowds went to see public fencing exhibition with foils, sabers epee`, those crowds were made by people who practiced or had practiced fencing. Who know what a parry in quinte was and what the most likely riposte after a parry in quinte should have been. They were experts.Those crowds became less and less the less people were trained in fencing; they did not learn it in the army, or at school or from a private instructor. There were tens of salles d’armes in New Orleans in the 19th century, now there is one or two.People who did not train, preferred to watch baseball, football (of all kinds), which are easier to understand and train for.Fencing is a terrible spectator sport if you do not understand what is going on, and nowadays is getting so fast that almost no one knows it. Not even the athletes on the piste (who often think they both hit first) and sometimes, the judges.The problem is that going back to authentic sword fighting is not the answer. The reason is that authentic sword fighting is even worse as a spectator sport. Look at the fight below between two expert fencers.When threatened with death by another person the two fencers are super careful. They stay in guard, at a safe distance, none takes risks that will get him skewered. Their movement are small, essential and not much happen until the moment something happens. Then it is over.This situation cannot replicated in a competition. The stakes of life and death cannot be reproduced. So, unless one starts recruiting new gladiators and makes them rich if they skewer each other with recklessness to please the crowd, actual sword fighting is not a way to make fencing more interesting.So the question becomes, how can we do competitions more interesting in a world where very few people are ever going to use a sword for self defense?It is not a new question. Since the 1700’s when people started to have fencing competitions with foils there have been people complaining that these things did not represent the real thing. In the 1800’s a new discipline of epee` du combat was created when some people believed that fencing foil in the salle had lost the martial component. Eventually even that became a sport.In the end I think competitions should be left to be what they are. they might not look like the “real thing”, but who cares as long as people have fun taking part in them.Sure visibility could be improved a little. Rules can be changed so the assaults are slowed down, one could try removing electronics controls, use heavier weapons, limit protections, go back to using points d’arret, don’t count double touches and so on. But the truth is even that would only work so much. In the end the only way to make fencing more watchable is to increase the number of people who can appreciate it’s difficulty.Think about HEMA, it was born as the martial art answer to the sportification of fencing, and people take classes and drill like if they were fencing with sharps.However more and more HEMA tournaments look very similar to sport fencing, with people rushing hit trying to score a hit before the other person. A HEMA tournament fencer I won’t name even confessed to me he nowadays only trains to win tournaments, even if he is fully aware what he does would get him killed in a real fight.The same can be said of classic fencing tournaments, at the last classic foil tournament I saw at Combatcon all 4 finalists had trained as sport fencers and both finalists were sport fencers. They won because they scored their hits quicker than their adversary.So my point is that today we are free from the constraint of having to use a sword to defend our life or our honor. Let’s use this freedom to enjoy ourselves. Let people who enjoy the hard core martial art, practice fencing all the time like they were fencing with sharps and let the people who enjoy the thrill of sport fencing enjoy that. Or a mix of both, whatever it pleases people.I would like to see a world where people do not get judged if they take longsword classes one night and go fence sport saber at the local sale the other night and where this freedom increases the popularity of fencing all over again.