In 2025, Brazil celebrates two historical milestones with one characteristic in common. Both in the case of the , 40 years ago, and the Estado Novo, 80 years ago, the military controlled the transition to redemocratization.
In the case of the Getúlio Vargas regime, the people, especially its high command, went from being a support base to being an opponent and pressured the country to open up with competition.
For Carlos Daróz, PhD in History from Universidade Federal Fluminense, the contradiction between maintaining an authoritarian regime in Brazil and sending soldiers to die fighting dictatorships during the period increased tensions between the military and the president.
Furthermore, there was a fear that Getúlio would stage a new self-coup to remain in power.
The military was behind the most crucial moments for the consolidation of the Estado Novo: in the fight against the Communist Intentona, in 1935, and the , and in the elaboration of the Cohen Plan, a false document that accused Jews and communists of planning a coup in Brazil and which served as the basis for the closure of Congress and the beginning of the dictatorship, in 1937.
After the , industrialization and urbanization accelerated, and social demonstrations, previously vetoed by censorship, became increasingly common.
“We had greater political oxygenation. Society began to organize itself through manifestos and organizations, and Getúlio had an extraordinary ability to understand the new times” says Paulo Ribeiro da Cunha, professor at Unesp (Universidade Estadual Paulista).
With victory in Europe imminent, the military began to look at its own position in Brazil. The different sectors of society that gained voice in the press and in the unions were already asking for the reopening of Congress.
For Daróz, upon realizing that a turbulent reopening could put their position at risk, those in uniform decided to support redemocratization, thus guaranteeing their place in the new regime.
“More than deposing the president, the military positioned itself as arbiters of the redemocratization process, guaranteeing the holding of presidential elections and respect for the electoral calendar. In other words, in addition to breaking with the Estado Novo, they sought to preserve institutional stability, assuming a protective stance over the transition”, he says.
From then on, pressure was created for democratic elections and amnesty for political prisoners, generally communists involved with the 1935 Intentona and integralists arrested after the 1938 coup attempt.
Paulo states that social pressures indicated that the country was no longer accustomed to barracks, which increased the pressure on Getúlio, who still sought to remain in power.
Even with the amnesty granted to those persecuted by the dictatorship, he says that the Armed Forces made it difficult for former left-wing soldiers who were amnestied to return to service. “There were conditions that said that there would only be reinstatement to the Armed Forces after an internal evaluation of the commands. So what happened? The right-wing military men returned, all they had to do was apply. The left-wing ones were unable to do so.”
In May 1945, amnesty decrees and new elections were published for December of the same year. In October, a crisis between Vargas and the police command raised suspicions in the barracks about a possible self-coup, and the military leaders demanded the dictator’s resignation.
Among the important players in the coup that ended the Estado Novo were soldiers who were alongside Getúlio in establishing the regime, such as Góis Monteiro, head of the Army for much of the period, and Ernesto Geisel, future dictator who was in favor of Vargas in the 1930 coup and against him in 1945.
Another soldier who led the overthrow of Getúlio was General Eurico Gaspar Dutra, Minister of War, chosen by the Social Democratic Party as a candidate for President. On December 2, he was elected with 55% of the votes — and the support of the president.
With the dictator’s resignation, the Army invited the president of the Federal Supreme Court, José Linhares, to command the Republic. At the time, there were no vice presidents or presidents of the Congress, which was closed. In January 1946, Linhares handed over the role to military officer Dutra to command the country.
