page_title: Contestado War
section_title: The first casualties
hierarchical_section_title: Contestado War / The first casualties
caption_attribution_description: Português: Hermes da Fonseca, oitavo presidente do Brasil (1910-1914) em traje militar.
context_page_description: The Contestado War, broadly speaking, was a guerrilla war for land between settlers and landowners, the latter supported by the Brazilian state's police and military forces, that lasted from October 1912 to August 1916.
  It was fought in an inland southern region of the country, rich in wood and yerba mate, that was called Contestado because it was contested by the states of Paraná and Santa Catarina as well as Argentina. The war had its casus belli in the social conflicts in the region, the result of local disobediences, particularly regarding the regularization of land ownership on the part of the caboclos. The conflict was permeated by religious fanaticism expressed by the messianism and faith of the rebellious caboclos that they were engaged in a religious war; at the same time, it reflected the dissatisfaction of the population with its material situation.
context_section_description: The Brazilian government, then led by Marshal Hermes da Fonseca who was responsible for the policy of military interventions in other states in order to eliminate political adversaries, decided to send federal troops to that region in order to quell the rebellion.
  Foreseeing what was coming, José Maria (Miguel Lucena Boaventura) left immediately for the border town of Irani with his followers. Irani at the time belonged to the municipality of Palmas which was within the jurisdiction of the state of Paraná. As Paraná and Santa Catarina then had unresolved land disputes, the government of Paraná regarded this mass relocation of people as a strategy by the State of Santa Catarina to occupy and claim those lands.
  So the Contestado war began there in October 1912. In order to prevent the sudden mass occupation of that land, some troops of the Regiment of Security of Paraná State were sent out to force the invaders to return to Santa Catarina.
  But things did not go as planned. A bloody confrontation started between government troops and followers of the Contestado at a place called Banhado Grande. At the end of the battle, dozens of people from both sides were dead, and the rebels seized a large number of guns and amounts of ammunition from the Paraná police forces. Among those killed were Colonel Gualberto João, who commanded the troops, and also the Monk Jose Maria, but the partisans of the Contestado had obtained their first victory.
  Jose Maria was buried by his followers, who hoped for his resurrection (in similar fashion to the legend of the king Sebastian of Portugal, who was revered by some messianic followers of Sebastianism).
  The federal government sent in 200 federal troops on December 29, 1913 in order to deal with the rebellion. Once again, the government was upset by the fierce opposition. For some historians, this is considered to be the official beginning of the war, despite the initial confrontations back in 1912.
caption: Marshal Hermes da Fonseca, President of Brazil
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