Republic of Coffee and Milk (1894-1930)

The Sword Republic finished in 1894.
This first republic was controlled by the agrarian oligarchy Paulista and Mineira, from Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais, which controlled the elections and established presidents of their republican parties (Republican Party Paulista and Republican Party Mineira).

The first president of this situation between Paulista and Mineira was Campos Salles, who was from the Paulista Party and was the government´s head since 1898 until 1902. He proposed a power scheme called Governor´s Politics, based in the alliance between the two agrarian oligarchy, causing controlled elections. This period is known as The Republic of Coffee and Milk.

The major part of the Income of Brazil in this period was from the exports of coffee from Sao Paulo and, in smaller proportions, from milk products from Minas Gerais. In the latest years of this period, the proletarian class arised and the medium class was bigger, and so, they were against the oligarchy of Paulistas and Mineiras, causing rebellions against the govern.

This instability was even bigger with the Great Recession of 1929, which caused on Brazil a huge decrease in the demand of coffee and absence of credits from USA. With this situation, in 1930, Washington Luis, which was finishing his presidency with his Paulista party, decided to support another Paulista candidate, Julio Prestes, breaking the alliance between Paulista and Mineiras.

Minas Gerais decided to support the opposition, forming a liberal alliance between Minas Gerais, South Region and Paraiba, which candidates were Getúlio Vargas(South Region) and Joao Pessoa (Paraiba), who died after the elections. Julio Prestes won the elections, but Getulio Vargas, with all the people unhappy with the republic, made a claim against the Paulista Party for fraud and made a Revolution in October 1930, finishing the presidency of Prestes and also finishing the so called Old Republic.

In this period, the economy of Brazil was based in the export of coffee, and, in a smaller proportion, of rubber, sugar and cotton. A forty percent of their exports were to USA, but they also exported products to France, England, Italy and Germany.

The GDP suffers two big changes, the first one in WWI, increasing the GDP because the increase in labor, and with the great recession in 1929, decreasing Brazil´s GDP, but in a smaller proportion than states like USA, France or Spain.
In the first world war, Brazil began in a neutral position, but, later, they would support the alliance between England-France-Russia and be against the central powers. However, their contribution wasn´t big, helping the Royal Navy against Germany and sending a couple of contingents to fight against Germany and Italy.

In this article it is explained why Brazil ended their neutral position in the First World War:
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