José Pessoa Cavalcanti de Albuquerque

Jose Pessoa in last years of his military career.

José Pessoa Cavalcanti de Albuquerque (13 September 1885 in Cabaceiras – 16 August 1959 in Rio de Janeiro) was a military officer, who became a Marshal in the Brazilian Army. Son of Cândido Albuquerque and Maria Albuquerque, he was the nephew of Epitácio Pessoa (Brazil's President from 1919 to 1922), and brother of João Pessoa, the Governor of Northern State of Paraiba. He was one of the officers sent on a preparatory mission to Europe by the Brazilian Army during the World War I against the Central Powers. In his subsequent career he had a strong influence on the reform and update of some Brazilian Army branches and institutions. To honor him, the 12th Cavalry Regiment of the Brazilian Army adopted his name.[1][2][3]

Early career

He joined the Brazilian Army in 1903. For his performance in his career, he was appointed in 1918 to attend the preparatory military mission which the Brazilian army sent to France. There, he spent a brief internship at Saint-Cyr to learn about the adaptation of his military branch (the Cavalry) to the then-recent invention, the tank. After this, he joined the 4th Dragoons Regiment of the 2nd Cavalry French Division.[4] That year, this regiment (as other French cavalry units) using Schneider and St Chamond models, at the cost of heavy losses, participated actively in the containment of German spring offensives, and later, already with the then new and revolutionary Renault FTs, in the successful final Allied counter-offensives.[5][6]

As platoon leader, while serving with the 4th Dragoons (a unit, at the time of his arrival, consisted mostly of colonial troops), he was promoted to squadron leader and at rank of captain, as decorated by Belgians and French, for courage in action, which he insisted should be credited to the bravery of his subordinates, who even came to gift him with grisly necklaces made with ears of enemy soldiers.[7][8][9] By war's end, while hospitalized victim of typhoid fever, he had an affair with an English nurse, who later became his wife.[10][11]

1920s to 1940s

Upon his return to Brazil after the war, he drew on his experiences to advocate for reform in the Brazilian Army. Although he has achieved relative success regarding some institution's internal matters (e.g. on the reform of the Brazilian Army Academy), his post-1930 position against the involvement of the military in politics and civil life gradually moved him away from the center of military power.[12][13]
Such that his war experiences, which partly he made public through the 1921 book Os Tanks na Guerra Européia ("Tanks in the European war"), that could have been seminal for the development and upkeep of a modern Army armoured corps; after a shy start in the early 1920s, were not longer availed by the High Command, even during World War II, when the creation of an Expeditionary Force became necessary.[14]

Last years

After retire from military life, he acted politically, along with students and intellectuals, for the nationalization of petroleum production in Brazil, which would lead to the creation of the national oil company, Petrobras, in 1954. Between 1954 and 1956, he cooperated on the planning of the then new Brazilian capital, Brasilia.[15][16]

See also

Bibliography

Notes

  1. ↑ McCann, 2004 - Page 345, (last paragraph) to page 349 (first one).
  2. ↑ Castro, 2002 3rd Chapter.
  3. ↑ Câmara, 1985
  4. ↑ Ibidem - Câmara, 1985 - Pages 31-32.
  5. ↑ Lopez, 1920 - Chapters XIV to XIX (Use the side roll bar to access these chapters in the online view of this document).
  6. ↑ Chant & Jones 2004, pages 52-53.
  7. ↑ Ibidem - McCann, 2004 - Page 346.
  8. ↑ Ibidem - Câmara, 1985.
    Obs.: The term "Turks", used by these two authors refer, as were popularly known in Western World, to the French colonial troops of regions with populations predominantly Muslim Or Semitic (as for example the Zouaves). For more on this biased analogy, which dating back to the Anglo-French alliance with Ottoman Empire at Crimean War, see e.g. among others: Figes 2010 (ISBN 9780805074604), Ferro 1997 (ISBN 020399258X) and Fogarty 2008 (ISBN 9780801888243).
  9. ↑ Regarding the ancient practice of using part of the bodies of dead enemies, such as ears, as war trophies, not only was not unusual among such combatants, as was encouraged by the French command (see e.g. P. 121 in Harrison, 2012), and are therefore not unknown to an experienced military as Cavalcanti, since it was also used in Brazil at the time, especially popular among jagunços (see Meirelles, 2005 (Portuguese) p.426 penultimate paragraph) and Army low-ranking troops (see its use in the Contestado War described, among others, by Moura, 2003 (Portuguese) p.120 and Drengosky, 1987 (Portuguese) p.46).
  10. ↑ Ibidem McCann, 2004.
  11. ↑ Ibidem - Câmara, 1985.<ref
  12. ↑ Ibidem - Castro, 2002 - From page 41 View on Google Books (Portuguese).
  13. ↑ Biography of Marshal Cavalcanti on "History Academy of Brazilian Ground warfare" website; 11th Paragraph (Portuguese), from "Retornando ao Brasil ainda em 1920,..."
  14. ↑ Ibidem "History Academy of Brazilian Ground warfare"
  15. ↑ Ibidem "History Academy of Brazilian Ground warfare"
  16. ↑ Couto, 2001 - Pages 51, 87 & 92.

External links

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