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Cadernos de História da Educação

versión impresa ISSN 1982-7806versión On-line ISSN 1982-7806

Cad. Hist. Educ. vol.17 no.3 Uberlândia set./dic 2018  Epub 07-Mayo-2019

https://doi.org/10.14393/che-v17n3-2018-7 

ARTIGOS

The Spanish Language and Military Education in Brazil (1905-1920)1 1

ANSELMO GUIMARÃES2 

JOSEFA ELIANA SOUZA3 

2PhD and Master’s in Education by the Graduate Program in Education of the Federal University of Sergipe; E-mail: anselmo.guima@gmail.com.

3PhD in Education: History, Politics and Society from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo. Adjunct Professor of the Department of Education of the Federal University of Sergipe and Coordinator of the Postgraduate Program in Education of the same institution. E-mail: elianasergipe@uol.com.br.


Abstract

This study is the result of the investigation of the process of institutionalization of Spanish teaching in Brazilian military education, from 1905 to 1920, seeking to delineate political and cultural purposes. The objective was to investigate the justifications for the entry of Spanish into military education in the period of 1905, when the language was officially inserted into the military curriculum, through Decree No. 5998 and finalized in 1920 after reformulating military regulations and teaching Spanish ceased to be offered in the military scope. For that, educational legislation and journalistic texts were used, as well as theoretical assumptions in the history of school subjects.

Keywords:  Military Education; History of Spanish Teaching; History of School Disciplines

Resumo

Este estudo é o resultado da investigação do processo de institucionalização do ensino de espanhol na educação militar brasileira, de 1905 a 1920, buscando delinear as finalidades políticas e culturais. O objetivo foi investigar as justificativas para a entrada do espanhol no ensino militar, no período de 1905, quando o idioma foi inserido oficialmente no currículo militar, mediante Decreto nº 5.698 e, finalizou em 1920, após reformularem os regulamentos militares e o ensino de espanhol deixar de ser oferecido no âmbito militar. Para tanto, foram utilizados a legislação educacional e textos jornalísticos, bem como pressupostos teóricos da história das disciplinas escolares.

Palavras-chave:  Educação Militar; História do Ensino de Espanhol; História das Disciplinas Escolares

Resumen

Este estudio es el resultado de la investigación del proceso de institucionalización de la enseñanza de español en la educación militar brasileña, de 1905 a 1920, buscando delinear las finalidades políticas y culturales. El objetivo fue investigar las razones de la entrada del español en la enseñanza militar, en el período de 1905, cuando el idioma fue introducido oficialmente en el plan de estudios militares por el Decreto nº 5.698 y terminado en 1920, después de reformularen los reglamentos militares y la enseñanza del español salió del ámbito militar. Por lo tanto, hemos utilizado la legislación educativa y textos periodísticos, así como supuestos teóricos de la historia de las disciplinas escolares.

Palabras clave:  Educación Militar; Historia de la Enseñanza del Español; Historia de las Disciplinas Escolares

Introduction

The historiography of Spanish teaching in Brazil recorded the contributions of the studies on the teaching of the modern languages of Valnir Chagas, published in 1957, in his work Special Didactics of Modern Languages, in which the teaching of Spanish would only appear from 1942 with the Capanema Reform, in secondary education. This is undoubtedly a very important work for the history of language teaching and it is also taken as a source for works such as Callegari (2004), Moraes (2010), Silva (2014), Vidotti and Dornelas (2007).

Consequently, the researchers did not investigate previous periods to reform mentioned. Only recently, some studies cite the year 1919 (DAHER, 2006; FREITAS, 2011; GUIMARÃES, 2011; PARAQUETT, 2006) as an initial mark for the teaching of Spanish in Brazil. However, this is still problematic information if not restricted to secondary education. Since when analyzing sources of education in the military scope, we find facts that demonstrate in 1905 was institutionalized the teaching of Spanish in higher military education and later in 1918 in school and military colleges, as we shall see below.

This work, when dealing with the institutionalization of Spanish teaching in the military sphere (1905-1920), demonstrates that there is much research on the history of Spanish teaching in Brazil, not only in secondary education, but in other branches of Brazilian education.

This research is the result of the investigation of the process of institutionalization of the teaching of Spanish in military education in Brazil, from 1905 to 1920, seeking to outline political and cultural purposes. The objective was to investigate the justifications for the entry of Spanish into military education in the period of 1905, when Decree No. 5,698 was published, creating the Military Staff School. The final chronological cut of the research is 1920, a year in which, after reformulating the military regulations, the teaching of Spanish is no longer offered in the military sphere. For that, educational legislation and journalistic texts were used, as well as theoretical assumptions in the history of school subjects.

The “Americanism”

Raising understandings about Americanism, Gramsci (2008, p. 311) describes as being “[...] the need for the modern economy to potentiate its organization for the production and capital reproduction more vehemently”. In other words, this was not counted with the intentionality of integrating cultures with the similar historical past, such as Brazil and the other countries of Latin America (having in common the period of colonization of their lands by countries located in the Iberian Peninsula) or Brazil with the USA (during the period of slavery that occurred, in different ways, in both countries). The intention was, in fact, to bring the American economies closer so that economic advantages for all the nations involved were established.

Gondra and Mignot (apudTEIXEIRA, 2006, p. 9) comprehend the term Americanism, from another very different perspective, stating that this movement translates in a general way into the United States as a “model of civilization and educational standard” to be reproduced in other American societies. Since the United States had long established itself as a world economy and should therefore be placed as a reference for the other nations of the American continent.

It is worth noting that even though the word “Americanism” is a polysemic term, we will be referring in this paper to the definition related to the countries of the American continent, their political, social, economic and cultural interactions and, more specifically, Brazil’s relations with the Hispanic American countries. This movement can be perceived from the independence of the Spanish colonies in America. In the literary field, Jaime (2000) points out:

Americanism marked the origin and good part of the development of what we call Hispano-American literature today. Although in the colonial period signs of this tendency appear, it is from the political independence reached by Spanish America in century XIX when the notion of the cultural or mental emancipation arises; this notion stimulated the intellectuals to develop the continental theme mainly in the ethnic, geographical and historical aspect (JAIMES, 2000, page 557, our translation).

The friendly relations between Brazil and other American countries, especially in the area of culture and education, only became more effective after Brazil adopted the republic as a form of government. There were no objective actions for diplomatic integration, so much so that in the Second Empire there is no record that Emperor D. Pedro II made any official visit to the neighboring countries:

[D. Pedro II] was familiar to the French poets, the Florentine painters, the musicians of Milan, being known and noted in the streets of London and the elegant beaches of Europe, but never deigned to visit Buenos Aires de Mitre and Montividéu [sic] de Flores, to only mention the cities of his allies in the war against Solano López. His trip to Russia was well-known, but it is not evident that he had even the intention of going to Asuncion, La Paz, Lima, Quito, Bogotá and Caracas, the capitals of countries with half walls (GOYCOCHÊA, apudWOGAN, 1948, p. 1, our translation).

In the context of international relations, this movement of interaction between countries became known as Pan-Americanism. Segundo Bandeira de Mello

The international conferences of the American States, the meetings of Consultation of the Ministers of State for Foreign Affairs, and above all the danger of a possible invasion of which at certain times in history this continent was seriously threatened, greatly contributed to a better approximation and a better understanding of peoples of America (BANDEIRA DE MELLO, 1956, p. 7, our translation).

These conferences were performed in Washington (1889-1890), Mexico (1901-1902), Rio de Janeiro (1906), Buenos Aires (1910), Santiago (1923), Havana (1928), Montevideo (1933), Lima) and Bogotá (1948) when the Organization of American States was created (DULCI, 2008).

The ideal of Americanism since its beginning in the nineteenth century was continental solidarity with the main purpose of defending American countries and maintaining peace. Since independence, Brazil nurtured a friendly relationship with the United States, “[...] the North American Government having been the first to recognize Brazil as a sovereign nation” (BANDEIRA DE MELLO, 1956, p. 30). In the spirit of continental solidarity “[…] the Imperial Government had protested against the bombing of Valparaíso in 1866 by the Spanish fleet, declaring that act of hostility had established ‘a fatal precedent that could not be sanctioned, not even by the silence of the other nations’” (BANDEIRA DE MELLO, 1956, p. 45).

There was an intention in society to maintain exchanges with neighbors and this could be noticed in publications in newspapers and periodicals. A publication in the Diário do Rio de Janeiro (1840) emphasized the need for Brazil to enter the “great American family” and declared “Monarchia yes, but constitutional, representative, and federal, has already come to us; forwards in its proper time will only convolve us to the republic, which is the natural tendency of America!!!!!!! Verba volant scriptamanent” (DIÁRIO DO RIO DE JANEIRO, 1840, p. 2, our translation)4.

The Spanish language teaching, even in Brazil Empire, developed gradually, meeting an internal demand, with private teachers who offered to teach the language of Cervantes and private schools with courses at “modest” prices. We find evidence of this teaching in the newspaper advertisements of the time. The newspaper Diário do Rio de Janeiro, on July 26, 1828, in the “Particular News” section, announced: “65 It is considered in this Court a subject, who teaches the languages: Latin, French, Italian, and Spanish; Mathematics, Geometry, and Geography; whoever wants to take advantage of his service, can announce this Diary” (DIÁRIO DO RIO DE JANEIRO, 1828). In response on August 19 of the same year, it was published:

39 Replying to Annunciation 65, under the title particular news of the Journal No. 22 of Saturday, July 26, in which says there is a subject that they intend to teach the language: Latina, French, Italian and Spanish, Mathematic, Geography; please indicate your address, or go to Rua Direita N. 69, to deal with the adjustment with the said Snr (DIÁRIO DO RIO DE JANEIRO, 1828, our translation).

There were, in Rio de Janeiro and other states, private colleges that offered a unique subject framework with modern foreign languages and materials directed to trade as can be seen in the following announcements:

Education for Youth

In the street of the Barbonios house No. 98, will open on the 6th of the current, a School for the education of the Youth. [...]

It will teach in the referred College, Arithmetic Writing, and Scriptwriting of books by double matches, Portuguese, English, French, and Spanish Languages.

History, Geography, Elocution and composition in the different

Languages already designated (DIÁRIO MERCANTIL DE RIO DE JANEIRO, 1826, our translation).

COLEGIO INGLEZ

Rua D'Alfandega N. 83.

G. F. Norris announces to the respectable public that his school is installed again: it receives pensioners, means of communication, and external students.

The classes consist of: first letters Portuguese grammar, Latin American, English, French, Spanish, geography and history, logic, rhetoric, and elocution, arithmetic algebra, geometry drawing, and dance (DIARIO DO RIO DE JANEIRO, 1840, our translation)

NIGHT COURSE

(Private lessons)

Of the English, French and Spanish languages, theoretical and practiced, on Tuesdays and Fridays (sic), at the crossroads of Conceição, at the corner of Brazileira Street (COMMERCIO DO AMAZONAS, 1870, our translation)

At the end of the 19th century, the beginning of the republic, there were criticisms of teaching programs that included Italian as a language to be studied and left out Spanish. In 1872, in an article published in the newspaper A Reforma, in Rio de Janeiro, Lucindo Pereira dos Passos asked: “When will we see in the imperial collegium of Pedro II a chair of Spanish, the language of our neighbors, and the most beautiful of Europe?” (A REFORMA, 1872). In the Diario de Belém, in 1881, Alvaro da Luz criticized the contests to fill the seats of the Liceu Paraense. On the filling of the Italian chair, he expresses himself thus: “[...] it makes me want to ask what is the need for us Brazilians to learn this language. Why not create preferably a chair of Spanish? (DIARIO DE BELEM, 1881, our translation).

In 1896, the reform project of the army’s educational establishments was a Spanish language class (VIANA, 1897), but its teaching was not implemented in Decree no. 2881, which approved the regulation of military institutes of education, instituted in 1898 (BRASIL, 1898, our translation).

In view of these internal interests and requests for greater integration of the HispanoAmerican countries in 1905, the teaching of Spanish in the commercial and military areas was made official, effectively entering the Spanish language in the curriculum of higher courses of the commercial academies and the Brazilian army (BRASIL, 1905, 1907) and in 1918 in the military colleges and the Military School (BRASIL, 1918a, 1918b).

At the beginning of the 20th century, Brazil’s relations with the other countries of the American continent can be considered to affirm that the socio-political purpose of teaching Spanish in the military sphere was characterized by the need for American interaction in defense of the continent. According to Chervel (1990, p. 187, our translation), in each age there appear “[…] purposes of all orders, which, although they do not occupy the same level in the priorities of societies, are equally imperative”.

Military teaching

The teaching of foreign languages in Brazil, in the period from 1870 to 1890, had a practical purpose of being a means of communication of thought, without losing the characteristics accumulated in previous decades of instrumental and literary character. In the military sphere, foreign languages or living languages as they were called had the process of institutionalization initiated due to the lack of certain manuals in Portuguese, requiring the use of foreign compendiums in some disciplines to meet the goal of training skilled artillery officers and engineering, with capacity to serve other military administrative services, mines, ports and bridges (OLIVEIRA, 2006).

In 1699, there was the attempt to create a Fortification Class in Brazil, but without success, at least until 1710, due to lack of books in Portuguese. The existing books for military instruction at the time were:

True treatises, heavy and in the form of voluminous tomes [had] as a course in mathematics, followed by instructions for handling weapons. It can imagine how impracticable it would have been to bring the boxes of these foreign treatises, too expensive, and trust them to the Colony into the hands of students who scarcely knew how to read (Valente 2003, p. 220, our translation).

In view of this need, the Statutes of the Royal Military Academy of Rio de Janeiro, published on December 4, 1810, in accordance with Law Letter no. 4, required the appointment of teachers of foreign languages, who should know and teach the French, English and German languages:

Besides these 11 Professors, including the drawing, there will be five Substitutes; and judging it necessary, the Board may propose that Teachers of French, English and German languages be established; and it will be the obligation of the Professors to substitute one another, when succeed, the Substitutes will not suffice, so that there will be more attention to the fact that there are chairs that are no longer served, and there are students who can listen to the lessons (BRASIL, 1891, p. 237, our translation).

In the 20th century, the teaching of foreign languages, in the military sphere, contained an instrumental and practical purpose. In the School of Military Staff, the course was divided into three periods. In the first two there were studies of disciplines divided into “classes” with respective practices and examinations, such as “1st class - Military geography, preceded by physical geography of South America”. Foreign languages were in the third period reserved for practical work. According to the Decree: “In this school the spoken practice of languages will include that of French and Spanish (obligatory), English or German (facultative)” (BRASIL, 1905, our translation). For the Military School, Decree 12977, of 1918, provided that practical teaching, in addition to other contents, would be about “spoken practice of French, Spanish and English” (BRASIL, 1918b, our translation).

Military education, during this period, underwent several reforms, as it sought a more professional teaching and aimed at military practices with the least of theory. The Ministry of War promoted changes in the regulations in the years 1905, 1913, 1918, 1919 and 1920. According to Motta (1976: 288), “during the 40 years from 1905 to 1945, there were five reforms in the Regulation of the Military School. The fact has constantly reflected on the search for new standards for teaching and shows us how the School has been in a state of continuous change”. But, not only in the Military School, military education sphere was in constant transformation, in the search for a more robust professional preparation, more qualified and in keeping with the transformations of the country.

On October 2, 1905, it was sanctioned Decree n. 5,698, which approved the regulations for military institutes of education, which had six types of schools that ministered from elementary school to squares to high school, to the highest rank of the Military Staff, and a military college that provided education secondary education and free military instruction for the children of the effective and retired officers of the army and navy, honorary officers for war services and the children of squares killed in combat, as well as by monetary contribution to minors from other social classes (BRASIL, 1905). The schools, as mentioned decree were:

    1. Regimental Schools, with the responsibility of elementary education;

    2. School of War, for the preliminary instruction of the three weapons (infantry, cavalry and artillery);

    3. School of Application of Infantry and Cavalry, which would have the purpose of perfecting the studies of the School of War;

    4. School of Artillery and Engineering, with the purpose of specializing students from the two previous schools. The school would offer two courses (artillery and engineering);

    5. School of Artillery and Engineering Application with the purpose of providing practical teaching complementing the studies of the gunners and engineers;

    6. School of Military Staff, with the responsibility of providing officers, up to the rank of captain, trained in previous schools, supplementary military training.

The four middle schools were responsible for training the army officer. The first two (War School and Infantry and Cavalry Application School) performed the basic education of the officers and for the “infantry” and “cavalier” officers, these studies would be completed. For “gunners” and “engineers” it was only the first degree of studies, finishing the training in the following two schools (School of Artillery and Engineering and School of Artillery and Engineering) (MOTTA, 1976).

In addition to the reform of the statutes of the schools and the college, Decree 5.668 created the School of Military Staff, which had as its objective the superior education, after the formation of the officer by the military schools, with a course that had the duration of twenty-four months, divided into three periods. The teaching of Spanish was given in the third period, which lasted five months for the practices and one month for the final exams, with a mandatory, along with French, being the teaching of English or German as optional, with the performance of a teacher for each language.

In the succession of studies for the training of army officers, it is interesting to note the place of foreign languages. They were taught at the Military College (French and English or German), which had a mixed curriculum with subjects of humanities based on the Pedro II College and those of proper military instruction; in the courses of improvement of the practice (French and English or German); and in higher military education (French, Spanish and English or German) (BRASIL, 1905).

In 1918, the Spanish language was included in the military colleges and military school, action, among others, that was part of a policy of approximation with the other American nations. It is noteworthy that, in 1917, First World War reached Brazil. In June of that year, the National Congress decreed the “[...] cessation of neutrality in the war of the

United States of America with the German Empire” (BRASIL, 1920b, our translation).

The politics in Brazil with relation to the other American nations can be understood with the message of May 3, 1918, of the President of the Republic, Venceslau Brás:

Our politics in relation to all nations of our continent is one of complete approximation, of solidarity and of American fraternity, without ambiguities and without subtleties.

[...]

In order to develop this policy of Pan American fraternity, the Ministries of War and the Navy, by suggestion of Foreign Affairs and with my complete approval, have just adopted, in the current year, the permanent provision of enrollment in the Military School and in the Naval School, students, aspirants or students of the other Republics of this Continent, and who request it through their respective Governments.

[…] The Ministry of War decided to include the study of the Castilian language in our military educational establishments (BRASIL, 1920b, our translation).

This process of institutionalization of the Spanish language in the military sphere was important for the development of language as a school discipline that would also be developed in commercial instruction and more broadly in secondary education, with contents, practices and teachers who tried to teach to speak and write a foreign language, constituting itself, this exposition by the teacher in the first component in order of importance, “[…] since it is he who distinguishes it from all the non-scholastic modes of learning, those of the family or of society” (CHERVEL, 1990, p. 202, our translation).

Teachers probably used handouts or manuals and grammars imported from Spain, France, Portugal, or even Argentina. As an example, we mention the following works that circulated in Brazil at the beginning of the 20th century: “Spanish Grammar: Theoreticalpractice for the use of the Portuguese”, by José Cervaens y Rodríguez, published in Porto by Chardron Bookshop in 1895; “Grammar of the Spanish language”, from the Spanish Royal Academy, published in Spain with several editions at the beginning of the 20th century (21st of 1900, 22nd of 1901 and 23rd of 1904); and “Grammar of the Castilian language”, by Miguel de Toro Gómez, published in France (4th edition of 1889).

Only in 1920 is published a grammar of the Spanish language in Brazil. This is the Grammar of the Spanish language for use by Brazilians, by the professor of Spanish at Pedro II College, Antenor de Veras Nascentes (1886-1972)5. This grammar is a founding work of a new field of action for teachers and authors of textbooks, since it is the first work of the kind produced and published in Brazil. However, this year, there was no longer any study of Spanish in military school institutions due to changes in regulations or publication of new regulations: School of Military Staff (BRASIL, 1909), Military School (BRASIL, 1919b), Military Colleges BRAZIL, 1920a).

School of Military Staff

The entry of the Spanish language into higher education is most likely due to the fact that Brazil is in full effort to further integration with the Hispano-American countries, since after several wars in which it participated against American countries, such as the Cisplatin War (1825-1828), Uruguay (1864-1865), and especially that of Paraguay (1864-1870) with the formation of alliance with Argentina and Uruguay, served as learning and showed Brazil the unpreparedness both in communication with military tactics; the need for military and technology exchange for the professionalization of personal; besides the modernization of the Brazilian military apparatus.

The School of Military Staff began its activities in 1906, and in April of the following year, Professor Possidônio de Carvalho Moreira6 was nominated for Spanish language classes, with an annual maturity of 4:200$000 (O PAIZ, 1907), happening in this way to be the first teacher of Spanish language in the formal education of the country and of which there is news. As early as 1909, with the alteration of Decree no. 5,698, the language left the curriculum and Professor Moreira began to teach the French language (O PAIZ, 1909).

With the reform of 1905, the Ministry of War, commanded by General Francisco de Paula Argolo (1847-1930), aimed at remedying the difficulties in training the military with the change of curriculum and the living languages would enter into the training of the officer who would follow the career of the Army General Staff, one of the objectives of this institution being the elaboration of land military politics and had, its officers, to maintain contact with military authorities of other countries. Regarding language teaching for the Military Staff College, it should be pointed out that students would only have five months of French and Spanish (mandatory), English or German (optional) in order to learn how to speak and write correctly languages taught, visibly a very short period for this learning (BRASIL, 1905).

However, it is important to emphasize that the French, English and German languages were not unknown to the student who entered the Military Staff School, since the student had already studied them in secondary education or Military College, or in the Preparatory and Tactical School, as regulations of 1890, while the Spanish language was not present in formal education. It seems that the mistaken treatment given to the Spanish language at the beginning of the 20th century is due to the fact that they believed that the Spanish would be very similar to the Portuguese and, therefore, of easy apprehension by the Brazilian student, what also could have been the argument for his departure from the curriculum in 1909. Celada (2002) argues that

The proximity effect given by the specific relationship between the materialities of the two languages of Latin origin - Spanish and Portuguese in Brazil - contributed to produce an effect of transparency that was associated with this underestimate of the need to undergo the study of the Spanish language (CELEDA, 2002, p. 31-32).

In this race for the modernization of the Brazilian army we found that countries that possessed military technology could make a difference for the Brazilian army were not located in America but in Europe. Probably, this factor must also have influenced the exclusion of the Spanish language from the School of Military Staff. The countries that we are referring to are: France and Germany, who competed for the supply of military equipment for the training of armies in Latin America, and even Chile, in the last quarter of the 19th century, hired the German captain Emilio Körner Henze7 for the reform of his army (LUNA, 2007).

The search for technology and modernization of the army, with Brazil’s negotiations with France and Germany, coupled with the difficulties that students may have found in learning the Spanish language, was fatal, as we have already said, for the permanence of the language of Castile in the curriculum of the School of General Staff.

In February of 1909, a few months after the return of a class of officers who in 1906 went to Germany to train in his army, the Regulation of the School of Military Staff was changed and the Spanish, which was obligatory, was replaced by the German, then French and German obligatory and English optional (BRASIL, 1909).

The purpose of language teaching has been changed and the school must fulfill new roles imposed by society. As Chervel points out (1990):

In charge of the society of some very general missions that are the aims of the teaching, the school receives carte blanche in exchange to regulate the modalities of this teaching. The only barriers that are placed in its freedom of action in this field are imposed on it by other purposes (CHERVEL, 1990, p. 193).

As consequence of the changes in the school regulations, Professor Possidônio de Carvalho was transferred to the French chair (O PAIZ, 1909). It is worth noting that the dispute was defeated by France, who in 1919 sent a military mission for instruction and modernization of the Brazilian army (BRASIL, 1919c), remaining here until 1929.

Military Colleges

The military colleges were institutions for general education and military instruction which received the children and grandchildren of military and student of other classes free of charge for pecuniary contribution. At the beginning of the 20th century there were three such institutions in Brazil: in Rio de Janeiro (capital), Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul and Barbacena, in the state of Minas Gerais. These colleges served as initiation to the profession of arms and preparatory for entry into the Military Schools or Naval School.

The Spanish language, which had already composed the curriculum of the Military Staff School for three years, returned to the curricula of military institutions in 1918, following a request from the government of Uruguay, accepted by Brazil, which began to promote changes in Regulations institutions.

In 1917, Uruguay created a Portuguese chair in the third year of its Military School and communicated to Brazil, emphasizing that such attitude should have a Brazilian reciprocity with the creation of a Spanish chair in its military institutions. The Uruguayan government also mentioned that the officials of both countries would gain efficiencies. The response was positive from the Brazilian Ministry of War, stating that “[...] both armies will have to profit from reciprocal knowledge of the two languages, in addition to others, for the reason of technological order” (BRASIL, 1920b).

In the specific case of Military Colleges, Decree No. 12.956 of April 10, 1918 was published, which approved a new regulation, according to which the course taught in these establishments would be divided into six years and the student would have the following constituent materials of seven sections: 1st section: Languages (Portuguese, French, Spanish and English); 2nd section: Mathematics; 3rd section: Physical and Natural Sciences; 4th section: Geography, Chorographic and History; 5th section: Drawing; 6th section: Infantry, Gymnastics and Target Shooting; and 7th section: Fencing, Equitation, Swimming and Music.

For the Military College of Barbacena, in April 1918, Laudelino de Oliveira Freire (18731937)8 was appointed for the Spanish-speaking chair, the professor already taught other subjects in the same college.

The foreign languages had a “practical form, aiming to qualify the student to translate and to speak those languages” (BRASIL, 1918a). In order to evaluate the acquisition of these skills, there was a final exam of each year in which the student should be submitted to the proof of translation of a text of twenty to forty lines, oral argument and conversation.

Each military college would have a teaching staff composed of fourteen teachers and twelve adjuncts. For the 1st section, a teacher for teaching each language (Portuguese, English, French and Spanish) assisted by three adjuncts (BRASIL, 1918a). The military colleges had the objective of ministering military secondary education and, in this sense, the reforms in their regulations followed, at least in part, the secondary education curriculum approved for the Pedro II College.

According to the regulations, the distribution of living languages was as follows: French in the first, second and third years, English in the fourth and fifth, and Spanish in the sixth (BRASIL, 1918a). In this way, a sequence of priority in the teaching of languages in the colleges is established, with the first French having more time to study it, the English next and the Spanish, who had just come for the sole purpose of a demonstration of friendship of Brazil with Uruguay and the other Hispanic-American countries.

However, in 1920 there were no Spanish language classes in military colleges. Decree No. 14,176, of May 19 of that same year, signed by the Minister of War, João Pandiá Calógeras (1870-1934)9, suppressed the language classes. The Spanish language was no longer taught in the same year of publication of the referred to Decree. This is the conclusion of the Order of the Ministry of War published in the Official Diary of the Union of June 2, 1920, at the request of the retired captain Américo dos Santos Carvalho (18?? - 1973):

“Americo dos Santos Carvalho, captain, requesting appointment as professor of Spanish of the Military College of Barbacena. - Rejected since the class is extinct” (BRASIL, 1920c). It is interesting to note that these changes occurred one year after the interim President of Brazil, Delfim Moreira da Costa Ribeiro (1918-1919) signed Decree No. 3,741, dated May 28, 1919, which authorized the contracting of a French military mission to the instruction of the Brazilian army.

Military School

On April 24, 1918, the Government published Decree No. 12,977 approving a new Regulation of the Military School. The institution began to have the purpose of enabling the squares of the army to assume the functions of officers of the four arms (infantry, cavalry, artillery and engineering). The teaching was organized into five courses, a fundamental of two-year course and one for each weapon. The infantry and cavalry courses lasted for one year, including those for artillery and engineering, two years.

The teaching could be theoretical-practical or only practical. The subjects of the theoretical-practical teaching were organized in eighteen chairs, in turn, the practical teaching was composed of spoken practice of French, Spanish and English; infantry; cavalry; artillery; and engineering. French and Spanish were taught in both periods of the first year of the fundamental course. In the two periods of the second year English was also included. For the Spanish chair was named by Decree of January 8, 1919 the Captain of Cavalry Carlos Arthur Passos Pimentel (BRASIL, 1919a).

In the Infantry and Cavalry courses, which lasted for one year, French and English were taught during the two periods of the course. Already in the courses of Artillery and Engineering, with duration of two years, in the first two periods of the course. Language classes mainly aimed at acquiring the spoken practice around technical subjects inherent to the specific work of the army and its technology. For the teaching of the foreign languages the school counted on a professor and two adjuncts.

For enrollment in the Military School, it was required that the candidate had at least three months of square and effective service in the army. This requirement was not required if the candidate had a full course in one of the military colleges. The candidate would have to present a certificate of approval in the following subjects or final examinations, carried out in one of the military colleges or in institutions whose examinations of preparatory courses were considered valid for enrollment in civil higher education schools, or equivalent to them: Portuguese; French; English; physics and chemistry and notions of mechanics; natural history; general geography; general history; and, chorography and history of Brazil.

In addition to the above evidence, candidates should take an entrance exam with the following subjects: arithmetic; algebra; geometry and rectilinear trigonometry; and, linear design. It is interesting to note that among the foreign languages taught in the military colleges, only the Spanish did not require a certificate of approval or final exams, or because of a technical failure, and the text was copied in full from the 1914 Regulations for enrollment without the necessary changes, or because it was taken into account that it was a new discipline and would require a period of adaptation, since the graduates of the military schools who had intended to enter the Military School in 1918 had not attended.

The Military School had a fully practical teaching of English, French and Spanish languages (BRASIL, 1918b). In the process of professionalization of the Brazilian army, the regulations were changed, gradually reducing the scientific and general culture of the Military School and giving an extraordinary value to the military practices. In 1919, disciplines such as Algebraic Geometry, Experimental Physics, Chemistry, Astronomy, Geodesy, Mineralogy, Geology, Economics of Administrative Law, among others, were no longer part of the curriculum of the Military School, until 1898, were part of the curriculum, for the formation of the officer. This reduction of subjects reached the living languages, which was marked by the new Regulation of 1919, which did not maintain the teaching of French, English, German or even Spanish (BRASIL, 1919b).

Some considerations

This work was focused on the genesis of the institutionalization of Spanish teaching in military education in Brazil in order to outline a profile of its political and cultural purposes. We must say about great difficulties, in view, that we are confronted with scattered data, as well as lack of publications on the subject.

Nevertheless, the present work uncovered the process of configuration of the official study of the teaching of Spanish in the early 20th century, in the military sphere. Regarding this teaching, through this research, it was possible to cover the rules, development, and how the contents were imposed on military institutions. Military education was more focused on the practical teaching of foreign languages for specific purposes. With the purpose of greater political and military exchange with neighboring countries, Brazil found itself in a moral obligation to implant Spanish teaching in its military education system, much more after Uruguay in 1917 included Portuguese in its military schools.

The beginning of the teaching of the language of Cervantes, very timid in the first decades of the last century, without a concrete objective for its learning, produced a negative effect, reinforcing an idea of facility, according to which the Brazilian, due to its linguistic proximity, did not it would need to study it, which harmed the development of its teaching and possible publications in Brazil from Spanish grammar to military education.

4We decided to use the spelling of the time, just as they are in the documents searched, in the direct quotation.

5Antenor Nascentes was the first full professor of Spanish of the Pedro II College. He entered the contest for admission in 1919, taking office in October of that year. For more information about the institutionalization of Spanish teaching in Brazilian secondary education see Guimarães (2014).

6Possidônio de Carvalho Moreira was one of the installers of the Historical and Geographical Institute of Alagoas, in 1869, and professor of the Liceu Alagoano

7Emilio Körner Henze (1846-1920) was a military professor at the School of Artillery and Engineering in Charlottemburg, Germany. He was appointed to serve in Chile in 1885, where he remained for twenty-five years, retiring as General and Inspector General of the Chilean army in 1910. One of his greatest achievements in Chile was to implement compulsory military service

8Laudelino de Oliveira Freire was from Sergipe, a native of the city of Lagarto. He began his preparatory studies in the city of Laranjeiras, Sergipe, and finished them at the Military Academy of Rio de Janeiro, graduating in Legal Sciences from the Free School of Law in the Federal Capital. He was a lawyer, professor at the Military College, deputy for Sergipe and a writer with collaborations in several periodicals and several books published. He was also a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters assuming the vacant chair for the death of Ruy Barbosa (GUARANÁ, 1925).

9João Pandiá Calógeras was the only civilian to occupy the position of Minister of War (1919-1922) in the republican period. Author of the work Historical Formation of Brazil published in the Brasiliana collection of Companhia Editora Nacional

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Received: March 00, 2017; Accepted: June 00, 2017

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