The Brazilian Expeditionary Force: a look to the left (1942- 1952)

Abstract

The question left the military is an important issue when dealing with the political history of contemporary Brazil, however, this is a topic little discussed in the Brazilian historiography. Thus, this paper seeks to conduct a study of Brazilian ex-combatants of the Second World War, with the object of research, the veterans to the left of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force (FEB). The focus is being developed to track these individuals in force since entering the war, struggle for political control of the Brazilian association of veterans to the militancy of the Military Club. Questioning and rescuing the existence of these subjects in the political landscape of post1945 period, when polarization is characterized by strong global (Cold War). Despite being a minority in FEB, veterans of the left political role played in the beginnings of association and the conjuncture of the period. The conflict between the groups of left and right of veterans anticipated the dominant ideology and practices of intimidation that would be the basis of political conflicts within the army and the national political agenda in the decades of 1950/1960.