Army and National Guard: conscription and state-building in imperial Brazil

Abstract

This article discusses the relationship between the Army and the National Guard, in what concerns the military recruitment, as well as to the formation of the Brazilian imperial state process. Such motivation is justified by the fact that the study of military institutions is a privileged tool for understanding the National States training process. Following closely on this assumption, we will take as the focus of interest the issue of recruitment and enlistment, two similar terms, but not necessarily equal when it comes to the two corporations. The military recruitment in Imperial Brazil was extremely hated by the male population, especially adult, free and productive age. In general, army recruits were considered socially maladjusted elements whose military service would resemble a moral corrective. Already enlistment to the National Guard had not the same negative connotation as compared to military conscription to the army, given that the legislation of the guard stated that the National Guard should be citizens. For these reasons, the National Guard and the Army were two institutions that operated complement and antagonistically in the state formation process in imperial Brazil in the nineteenth century.