Luís Alves de Lima e Silva, Duke of Caxias
Luís Alves de Lima e Silva was an army officer, politician and monarchist of the Empire of Brazil. He fought as a young officer in the Brazilian War for Independence against Portugal. As army marshal he led Brazilian forces to victory in the Paraguayan War. As a reward he was raised to the titled nobility, becoming successively a baron, count, and marquis. He was the only person created duke during Pedro II’s 58-year reign.
About Luís Alves de Lima e Silva, Duke of Caxias in brief
Luís Alves de Lima e Silva was an army officer, politician and monarchist of the Empire of Brazil. Caxias fought as a young officer in the Brazilian War for Independence against Portugal. As army marshal he led Brazilian forces to victory in the Paraguayan War. As a reward he was raised to the titled nobility, becoming successively a baron, count, and marquis, finally becoming the only person created duke during Pedro II’s 58-year reign. In 1925 his birthday was established as the Day of the Soldier, a day of honor for the Brazilian army. On 13 March 1962 he was officially designated the army’s protector—its soldierly ideal and the most important figure in its tradition. Historians have regarded him positively, several ranking him as the greatest of Brazil’s military officers. The arrival of the Lima family in Rio de Janeiro in 1808 changed the lives of the Portuguese Royal Family, which embarked upon a series of wars of conquest which resulted in Brazil’s annexation of Cisplatina and Guiana. His father, uncles and uncles had served in the wars, had been ennobled, and were also granted honors within the family. His grandfather, José Joaquim, was a Portuguese military officer who had emigrated in 1767 to Brazil. He settled in the city of Rio de Rio, capital of both the Rio captaincy and of Brazil, and became a member of the Order of Christ and Fidalgo da Casa.
He died in May 1880, and after years of failing health he died in a nursing home in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he was buried with his wife, Mariana Cândido de Oliveira Belo. He had no noble rank nor noble ancestry and lacked patrons in an environment in which advancement depended upon exchanges of favors and family connections. In 1875, he headed a cabinet for the last time, and in 1876 he became president of the Council of Ministers, but fell when his party lost its parliamentary majority. He was the only member of his party to survive the revolution of 1864. He is buried in the National Museum of the Amazon, in the town of São Paulo, in what is now the state of Paraíba, Brazil. His great-great-grandson, Luís de Lima de Lima da Silva, is a Brazilian politician and former mayor of Sao Paulo. He also served as the head of the Brazilian Army from 1851 to 1875. He married a local and influential member of Rio’s upper class when he was in his early 30s. His son, Luiz Alves Alves e Silva, became a politician and later a governor of the State of Rio. His grandson, Luis Alves da Silva e Silva and his great-nephew, Joao de Lima, served as President of Brazil from 1876 to 1883. He served as a judge in the Supreme Court of Brazil until his death in 1880.
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