Alternative History
Federative Republic of Brazil
Brazil
Timeline: Yellowstone: 1936
Flag Coat of Arms
Flag Coat of Arms
Location of Federative Republic of Brazil
Location of Federative Republic of Brazil
Capital Brasilia
Largest city São Paulo
Other cities Rio De Janeiro
Language Portuguese
Religion Catholic
Ethnic Groups
  main
 
White, Pardo
  others Black, Asian, Amerindian
Government Congressional/Presidential Republic
Population (2012) 198,224,998
Currency Real
Time Zone BRT, BRST
Calling Code +55
Organizations SAU

Brazil (Portuguese: Brasil), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: República Federativa do Brasil), is the largest country and the only Portuguese-speaking country in South America. With a population of almost 200 million and increasing rapidly, as well as one of the worlds most advanced militaries and most dynamic economies, Brazil is one of the Worlds Superpowers and maintains a large scale international influence, and a wide array of friends and allies that have secured its status as a Superpower.

Brazil was a colony of Portugal beginning from the landing of Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500, up until 1815, when it was elevated to the rank of kingdom upon the formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. The colonial bond was in fact broken several years earlier, in 1808, when the capital of the Portuguese colonial empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, after Napoleon invaded Portugal. Independence was achieved in 1822 with the creation of the Empire of Brazil, a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system. The country became a presidential republic in 1889, when a military coup d'état proclaimed the Republic, although the bicameral legislature, now called Congress, dates back to the ratification of the first constitution in 1824.

Brazil following the cooling of Hostilities with Argentina has created the South American Union, has established itself as South Americas dominant power, and has one of the worlds most diverse ecologies. With a continued drive to dominate Global politics and the resources of nearly an entire continent at its own personal disposal, Brazil has established itself as one of the most economically viable and stable nation of the Present and Future.

History[]

Post Eruption[]

Following The Eruption of Yellowstone and the destruction caused in the Western hemisphere Brazil was on the Brink. The world was in depression and with the US literally wiped off the face of the Earth Brazil had lost one of its main trading partners. The Reigning president of Brazil now suffering from chronic clamor from Reform did his best to secure his Power but it Ended not nearly as well as he would've liked.

However as many other nations collapsed heavily Brazil's relatively low impact as a global economic power and cultural heritage and history labelled it as one of the few nations that would survive due to its semi isolation. The nation suffered from a large scale famine just a year following the eruption as well, further kindling the fires of revolution in the country. This famine known as the Dark Famine (for the color of the sky during the main stages of Yellowstone's destruction of the north) was the worst in national history and ended with almost nine million people dying. The agricultural sector finally recovered between 1939 and 1943.

November revolution[]

With Getúlio Vargas getting a more powerful grip on the nation many discontented Generals began to plot his downfall and attempt to Secure Brazil a True Republic. However, without any obvious public support the Military held off until November of 1937. By this point a the Leaders of the coup had established enough military support to overthrow Vargas. 

On November 17th a large Democratic element of the Brazilian Military took an advantage of Vargas's failing opinion in the eyes of his would be supporters, and launched a Coup in the Capital of Rio de Janeiro. Vargas who thinking he still had some supporters in his own power base was shocked when his own men arrested him and turned him over to the Leaders of the Coup. With Vargas now out of Power the Military continued its major campaign of purging or arresting most of his remaining supporters throughout the country. Shockingly enough, a historically corrupt Brazilian military presided over Brazil's first elections allowing for a new president Alfonso Aldo a relatively unknown rising politician to take power as Brazil's new president.

Following the establishment of the Presidency and with a provisional congress in place the first true Congressional elections were held too establishing firmly a true democratic government for Brazil. The Established government acted immediately to begin the modernization of the Country, and put it back on the path to greatness and prevent it from falling behind in the Cold new world. The November Resolutions were signed enacting many new legislation starting this off and ended the November revolution.

The Second Republic and reformation[]

The Second Republic was Brazil's second attempt at creating a Republic. Vargas who had ruled for years had been completely deposed from power in 1937. Brazil who was attempting to show itself to a new age for its nation, removed Getúlio Vargas from power in a mostly bloodless coup. The Nation following the deposing of Vargas managed to secure the entire country and began a massive rebuilding program focused on repairing infrastructure, building more infrastructure, revamping agricultural areas in the south for producing food during the darker periods.

The Second Republic pushed itself for many years going from its formation in 1937 to its end in 1984 when the Federative Republic was formed to update the constitution, and set the stage for Modern Brazil to emerge from its sleeper status in South America. While over the years it has filled the gap the United States left it did not truly come to its full fruition as a Superpower until its reformation in the Federative Republic of Brazil in 1984. The Reformation and updating of its constitution and the flexing of its new military muscle came to its full right when Brazil managed to not only reform into the Federative Republic, but create a largely Economic Union throughout South American nations which had previous either Fragmented or been forces into extremely bloody and useless civil wars that Brazil was forced to alleviate.

By 1972 Brazil mostly concerned with the South American continent had stabilized the Region and threatened those who were to destabilize the continent with war. This Truly came about when the largely Anti-Brazil nations organized a conflict which showed Brazil's true advancements. They had built jets, tanks and a Navy - all of which were on par with many of the other Great Powers. This development turned into a outright slaughter as the nations were occupied and eventually transferred to Pro-Brazilian Governments solidifying Brazilian influence for the majority of the Hemisphere creating a Military and Economical alliance out of South America known as the South American Union.

Government:[]

The Brazilian Federation is the "indissoluble union" of three distinct political entities: the States, the Municipalities and the Federal District. The Union, the states and the Federal District, and the municipalities, are the "spheres of government." The Federation is set on five fundamental principles: sovereignty, citizenship, dignity of human beings, the social values of labour and freedom of enterprise, and political pluralism. The classic tripartite branches of government (executive, legislative, and judicial under a checks and balances system), is formally established by the Constitution. The executive and legislative are organized independently in all three spheres of government, while the judiciary is organized only at the federal and state/Federal District spheres. 

All members of the executive and legislative branches are directly elected. Judges and other judicial officials are appointed after passing a series of entrance exams. Along with this a public servant may serve until death.

Together with several smaller parties the Brazilian congress maintains a large scale coalition typed government that is based on securing a forward moving nation and meant to prevent stall outs in congress.

The Brazilian executive branch is made up of the President of the Republic, both head of state and head of government of the Federative Republic of Brazil. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the Brazilian Armed Forces. The presidential system was established in 1889, upon the proclamation of the republic in a military coup d'état against Emperor Dom Pedro II.

As a republic with a presidential executive, Brazil grants significant powers to the president. He or she effectively controls the executive branch, represents the country abroad, and appoints the cabinet and, with the approval of the Senate, the judges for the Supreme Federal Tribunal. The president is also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

the Supreme Court (court of last resort) of Brazil, serving primarily as the Constitutional Court of the country. It is the highest court of law in Brazil for constitutional issues and its rulings cannot be appealed. On questions involving exclusively lower legislation, the highest court is, by rule, the Superior Court of Justice.

Alongside its appeal competence, mostly by the Extraordinary Appeal, the Court has a small range of cases of original jurisdiction, including the power of judicial review, judging the constitutionality of laws passed by the National Congress, through a Direct Action of Unconstitutionality

Military[]

The Brazilian Military maintains one of the most well prepared and trained armed forces on the planet fielding some of the worlds best technology, best trained troops and forces that essentially have no peer short of the Worlds other Great Powers. While generally deemed inefficient and sub-par by the rest of the world Post-Eruption only a few people really know the extent of their reach and what they have done. Much of this stems from their role in Stabilizing South America and essentially assuring their hegemony over the Region.

The Military maintains a large force of about 1.2 million active duty, with another 800,000 in Reserve and has and extreme focus on its Navy, Naval Air Aviation, and its host of Bases world wide. Brazil also maintains close relationships with nearly all South American nations through the South American Union and has managed to alleviate many of its logistical and monetary issues of supporting their Supercarriers and naval forces through requested deployment to various nations (Deployment by request in which an financially able host nation pays at least 60-70 percent of deployment costs for the vehicle.) While initially unpopular Brazil's carrier fleets are considered top notch and a reason for the majority of the Stability throughout the Central and South American regions.

Brazil is also the first user of a Kinetic weapons system with the first being known as the Matador Kinetic Weapons System or "MKIS" mounted on the tips of of ICBM's (specifically designed for this purpose). The rods are made of Tungsten, and on their tip is a heat shielding material, most likely reinforced Carbon-Carbon. On the back of the rods is a rocket motor, which fires once the rod has separated from the satellite. The motor powers the rod until gravity accelerates it to a speed of 30,000 feet per second, through Earth’s atmosphere, eventually smashing into the crust. The speed may vary anywhere from 20,000 to 30,000 however depending on the targets location and the size of the Matador Payload.  This coupled along with a grouping of 10-20 rods of a moderate size can create localized earthquakes and dramatically change the surrounding landscape. The ICBM variant has only been used once to great effect against Argentinian forces. Talks of creating an Orbital system, Codenamed Colossus, are circulating.

Economy[]

Brazil maintains an extremely dynamic economy and thanks to its huge efforts has secured for itself a nearly unlimited supply of oil, the resources to manufacture its military and consumer hardware heavily, and one of the worlds most high tech economies. Due to Brazil's relative lack of damage from the Yellowstone Eruption it had managed to recover by the 60's and was pushing its way through the ranks economically speaking and had secured the spot as one of the Worlds largest economies.

Brazil is also the world's top agricultural producers and due to its rapidly growing population (even with the Yellowstone eruption) exports a huge amount of crops per year which in some cases keep many nations afloat when it comes to food products. The importance given to the rural producer takes place in the shape of the agricultural and cattle-raising plan and through another specific program geared towards family agriculture (Pronaf), which guarantee financing for equipment and cultivation and encourage the use of new technology, as shown by the use of agricultural land zoning. With regards to family agriculture, over 800 thousand rural inhabitants are assisted by credit, research and extension programs. The special line of credit for women and young farmers is an innovation worth mentioning, providing an incentive towards the entrepreneurial spirit.

Foreign Policy and Relations[]

American Refugees[]

Brazil Most notably during the eruption was known to harbor large amounts of Refugees from the United States and Canada. The Brazilians regardless of their situation were openly willing to accept American and Canadian refugees and with large amounts of people dying in Brazil they were allowed to become citizens of Brazil. By 1940 the amount of Refugees from North America was easily around three million. The Brazilian Merchant Marine navy was notable during the Refugee periods for making runs back and forth between the two continent taking people back to Brazil and bringing more ships back to ferry more people across.

However after a few years of trying this and the Stabilization of the Provisional American Government Brazil officially ceased its operations and only delivered Supplies such as food and medical equipment to the US. The Refugees from America also propagated in the diffusion of some new cultural elements such as Baseball, Basketball, and most Notably American Football adding another huge sport to Brazil's regimen.

Humanitarian Assistance[]

With the Successful saving of millions from North America, Brazil continues to provide mass amounts of humanitarian assistance for years following the eruption. With supplies delivered to Africa, America, Europe, and even beleaguered South American neighbors. This humanitarian assistance gave Brazil considerable influence around the world and left it with no serious enemies until Argentina during the South American Cold War.

Foreign Relations[]

Brazil maintains extremely good relations with the majority of the Worlds nations but is also extremely non interventionist in all but the worst cases. This has led Brazil to be nearly devoid of human rights violations across the world, and besides the desperate fighting during the Great South American War, maintains a pristine look to many nations worldwide.

One of Brazil's only major contestants to power was Argentina during the cold war with Argentina and its allied nations. The Two nations looked to exert their influence across the South American Continent and hence came into direct conflict which only ended after a Brazilian victory in the Great war in its short period. In 1987 after years of cold relations between the two halves of South America, the nations opened up to each other and formed the South American Union. This Formation of this created a huge economic and military bloc which essentially turned South America and its nations into some of the richest in the World and now includes Panama as a member as well.

Demographics[]

Brazil's population is very diverse, comprising many races and ethnic groups. In general, Brazilians trace their origins from four sources: Amerindians, Europeans, Africans and Asians. For the most part Brazil's main ethnic majority is derived from Europeans who settled the area quite heavily creating a large primarily Portuguese descended population base.

Following the trend of several other countries in the Americas, which encouraged immigration from many countries, Brazil quickly became a melting pot of races and nationalities, but being peculiar in the sense of having the highest degree of intermarriage in the world. Immigrants found a strong social and cultural tolerance toward inter-racial marriage, including large numbers of Mulattoes (white and black)

Brazil in recent years has regained much of its population lost during the years just directly after Yellowstone by the further integration of South America allowed by the South American Union.