A Bloodless Coup Ends the Monarchy and Founds the Republic
Military officers depose Pedro II in a single day and proclaim a republic
Quick facts
- Date
- November 15, 1889
- Leader
- Field Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca
- Deposed
- Emperor Pedro II (exiled to Europe)
- Character
- Bloodless military coup
What happened
Eighteen months after abolition, the empire fell. The Library of Congress country study records that republicans, taking advantage of cabinet crises in 1888 and 1889 and rising frustration among military officers, drew officers led by Field Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca into a conspiracy. What started as an armed demonstration demanding replacement of a cabinet turned within hours into a coup d'etat deposing Emperor Pedro II, in November 1889. The coup met no resistance. Pedro II went into exile in Europe, a provisional government took power with Fonseca as its head, and Brazil became a republic on November 15, 1889.
Why it matters
The abolition of slavery had stripped the monarchy of its last powerful backers, the slaveholding planters, and the army, newly confident after the Paraguayan War, filled the vacuum. The Republic that replaced the empire would be dominated for four decades by the coffee oligarchies of Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais rather than by the broad citizenry its founders invoked.
How we know
The military conspiracy and the one-day coup deposing Pedro II are documented verbatim in the Library of Congress country study, with the date and Fonseca's leadership confirmed by contemporary accounts of the proclamation.
Sources
- Library of Congress, Country Studies (Federal Research Division). Brazil: The Second Empire, 1840-89 (Country Studies) · General sourcecountrystudies.us · Cited as a "reference" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- Brown University Library. The Rise of the Military in Politics (Brazil: Five Centuries of Change) · Reputable sourcelibrary.brown.edu · The domain "library.brown.edu" is on our Reputable source registry.
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Part of a timelineHistory of Brazil24 events · A land of hundreds of nations before 1500, the destination of nearly half of all enslaved Africans brought to the Americas, and the only monarchy the New World's republics ever toleratedView all →