Brazil in World War II

Brazilian propaganda poster announcing the declaration of war on the Axis powers on November 10, 1943. The caption reads: "Brazil at war...Opening the road to victory!"

Brazil officially entered World War II on 22 August 1942 when it declared war against the Axis powers Germany and Italy. On 8 February 1943, the country formally joined the Allies upon signing the Declaration by United Nations. Though Brazil was a secondary Allied power, it was the primary ally in South America.^[1] The country made major contributions to the war effort, providing critical natural resources, hosting strategic air and naval bases, participating decisively in the Battle of the Atlantic, and deploying an expeditionary force to the intensive Italian Campaign. Brazil was the only independent country in South America, and among the few outside the direct theaters of war, to send combat troops overseas during the conflict.^[2]

Leading up to the outbreak of the war in 1939, Brazil had adhered to a strict policy of neutrality and maintained positive commercial and diplomatic relations with both Allied and Axis countries. Brazilian President Getúlio Vargas, whose administration seemed ideologically sympathetic to fascism, initially sought to leverage the country's strategic importance to both sides in order to extract favorable trade agreements. Despite its long and traditionally strong ties to the United States, by 1940, Brazil was Germany's leading export market outside Europe and ninth largest trading partner; it also hosted sizeable and influential German, Italian, and Japanese communities.

As the war progressed, trade with the Axis prompted increasing Allied diplomatic and economic pressure. Following U.S. entry into the war in December 1941, the Joint Brazil-U.S. Defense Commission was established to strengthen bilateral military ties and minimize Axis influence.^[3] To secure U.S. offers of economic assistance, Brazil ended diplomatic relations with Germany, Japan, and Italy in January 1942, and permitted the U.S. to establish air bases on its territory, which could be utilized against Axis naval assets.^[4] Notwithstanding its formal neutrality and reluctance to declare war, these actions were met with immediate Axis reprisals,^[5] resulting in the sinking of 36 Brazilian merchant vessels and the loss of nearly 2,000 sailors by mid-August, leading Brazil to formally declare war.^[6]

Although its economy and military were underdeveloped, Brazil fully committed its industrial capacity and armed forces towards the war effort, aided by substantial U.S. investment. From mid-1942 until the end of the war, the Brazilian Navy and Air Force played an active role in protecting Allied shipping, with the country's northeast becoming a fortified staging ground for projecting Allied air power across the Atlantic. The country also mustered 25,700 troops to fight on the Italian front from September 1944 to May 1945. Brazil ultimately lost 1,889 soldiers and sailors, 31 merchant vessels, three warships, and 22 fighter aircraft. The country's involvement in the war elevated its global prestige and marked its emergence as a world power.

^ Calkins, Derreck T., "A Military Force on a Political Mission: The Brazilian Expeditionary Force in World War II" (2011). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 600. p. 13.
^ McCann, Frank D. (1993). "The "Forca Expedicionaria Brasileira" in the Italian Campaign, 1944-45" (PDF). Army History (26): 1–11. ISSN 1546-5330. The British Eighth Army and the U.S. Fifth Army were undoubtedly the most "international" allied armies; however, the FEB was atypical. Each of the other international forces were either, colonial forces, commonwealth forces, or "free" forces; the Indians were a colonial force, the Canadians, New Zealanders, and South African were commonwealth forces, while the French and the Polish were "free" forces. The Brazilians, however, were the only division drawn from the army of a sovereign state placed under United States command.
^ Stetson Conn, Byron Fairchild, Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, The Framework of Hemisphere Defense, 1960, p. 319
^ "Avalon Project – A Decade of American Foreign Policy 1941–1949 – Havana Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American Republics, July 21–30, 1940". Avalon.law.yale.edu. Retrieved 2016-09-10
^ McCann, Frank D. (1995-01-01). "Brazil and World War II The Forgotten Ally. What did you do in the war, Zé Carioca". Estudios Interdisciplinarios de América Latina y el Caribe. 6 (2). ISSN 0792-7061.
^ McCann, Frank D. (January 1, 1995). "Brazil and World War II The Forgotten Ally. What did you do in the war, Zé Carioca". Estudios Interdisciplinarios de América Latina y el Caribe. 6 (2). ISSN 0792-7061.

[1] Calkins, Derreck T., "A Military Force on a Political Mission: The Brazilian Expeditionary Force in World War II" (2011). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 600. p. 13.

[2] McCann, Frank D. (1993). "The "Forca Expedicionaria Brasileira" in the Italian Campaign, 1944-45" (PDF). Army History (26): 1–11. ISSN 1546-5330. The British Eighth Army and the U.S. Fifth Army were undoubtedly the most "international" allied armies; however, the FEB was atypical. Each of the other international forces were either, colonial forces, commonwealth forces, or "free" forces; the Indians were a colonial force, the Canadians, New Zealanders, and South African were commonwealth forces, while the French and the Polish were "free" forces. The Brazilians, however, were the only division drawn from the army of a sovereign state placed under United States command.

[3] Stetson Conn, Byron Fairchild, Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, The Framework of Hemisphere Defense, 1960, p. 319

[4] "Avalon Project – A Decade of American Foreign Policy 1941–1949 – Havana Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American Republics, July 21–30, 1940". Avalon.law.yale.edu. Retrieved 2016-09-10

[5] McCann, Frank D. (1995-01-01). "Brazil and World War II The Forgotten Ally. What did you do in the war, Zé Carioca". Estudios Interdisciplinarios de América Latina y el Caribe. 6 (2). ISSN 0792-7061.

[6] McCann, Frank D. (January 1, 1995). "Brazil and World War II The Forgotten Ally. What did you do in the war, Zé Carioca". Estudios Interdisciplinarios de América Latina y el Caribe. 6 (2). ISSN 0792-7061.

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