As Milicias (Napoleon's World)

As Milicias (English: The Militias), also occasionally referred to as As Milicias de Legalistas (The Militias of Loyalists) were right-wing guerilla organizations loosely associated with the Hugo Savala regime, typically comprised of civilians and peasant fighters in Brazil during the Brazilian War in opposition to the Brazilian Republican Army, which itself had many guerilla elements. Unlike the ERB, however, the Milicias had no central structure and were coordinated largely regionally, and often chafed at the attempted controls by the National Army. The Milicias were critical in carrying out guerilla raids and fights with American soldiers during the United States' capture of northern Brazil from 1979-1981 which racked up intensive casualties for Americans and forced their withdrawal from Pará in December of 1981 and January of 1982, and were a major part of the February 5 Offensive.

The Milicias continued to be a major nuisance throughout the war even after the forced withdrawal of the National Army from Pará in 1983 after the Cochimbo raids and Colombian counteroffensive, and was unable to sustain similar effects on the more traditional battlefields of the Patagonian Front during periods of Argentine seizure of Brazilian soil due to the difficulty of guerilla warfare in that environment. The Milicias were a presence throughout the later stages of the war, fighting heavily in Salvador and Recife even after their capture, but following the fall of Salvador were never able to rely on the same kind of support from the National Army that they had experienced in the past. The Milicias largely ceased operating with the fall of Rio de Janeiro, and during the reconstruction period and the Restoration many Milicia commanders and ex-guerillas joined the new government through reconciliation, while others were tried for war crimes.