The Second World War in Brazilian History: From the Background to the Forefront

Although the Second World War is widely recognized as a process with profound global impacts beyond the battlefronts, in academic production on Brazil in the 1940s it tends to be treated as a topic for specialists or as a distant backdrop. The country had limited and late military involvement in the war, without experiencing traumas comparable to those of millions of civilians and soldiers in other parts of the world. On the other hand, the prolonged presence of Getúlio Vargas and his political heirs at the center of the Brazilian political process contributed to subsuming the analysis of the Second World War into the debate surrounding the Estado Novo. However, the primary sources for the period, including newspapers, public or secret official documents, interviews, and literary texts, leave no doubt that the Vargas Era took place under the shadow of the war, which progressively intruded upon everyday life, affecting routine activities like work, leisure, and consumption. As the foremost U.S. ally in the Western Hemisphere, Brazil played an essential role in the processes that would shape the world that emerged after the war.