"One of the most auspicious facts in our history is the arrival of the Mission, which brings us the precious teachings of French military art"
Unpublished correspondence of French General Maurice Gamelin, consisting of three letters from 1919, 1921 and 1929.
In Portuguese.
Good condition.
Single set of conservation.
High definition images for reading, on demand.
Military exploits are always filled with remarkable characters, and war stories fill our imagination, literature and cinema. Twentieth-century Europe, the scene of the First and Second World Wars, was the epicenter of battles that shaped the course of humanity and revealed the names of both villains and heroes. One of these notable figures was Maurice Gustave Gamelin (1872 - 1958), a senior general in the French army. A great strategist who saved countless soldiers with his tactics, Gamelin also played an important role in the New World, and from 1919 to 1924, he headed the French military mission in Brazil, with the aim of modernizing the Brazilian army.
Gamelin arrived in the country with an important task: first, to reorganize the military schools and, later, the army itself. The contract signed between France and Brazil stipulated that French officers would command the officer training schools, a step towards professionalizing the army. This restructuring also gave rise to the Brazilian Aviation School, the embryo of the now respected Brazilian Air Force (FAB). The French brought to Brazil an idea that was in vogue in Europe at the time: the purpose of the army was to prepare the national forces for war. And it was from this period onwards that military mobilization began to be seen as a national mobilization.
The general was warmly welcomed in the country, as can be seen in the letter written to him in 1919 by the National Defense League, which expressed great happiness at his arrival and the desire for rigorous training for the Brazilian army. The letter also states that military service is of great value in the formation of a nation and, therefore, the League sees the arrival of the mission led by him as one of the most auspicious events in the history of Brazil.
Maurice Gamelin did an exemplary job in command of the French military mission, which is why José Caetano de Faria, a Brazilian marshal, wrote him a letter in 1921 praising the exercises he had implemented in the army and the improvement of the national cavalry. His dedication to the mission is also remembered in a letter sent by a Brazilian friend to congratulate him on his marriage in 1929. The admirer cannot help but comment that the French mission lost a lot with his departure.
After transforming the Brazilian national army, Gamelin returned to Europe where he actively participated in the Second World War, having been arrested in France, interned in Germany and Austria, and only released in 1945 with the arrival of the Americans. The legacy of this great strategist can still be seen today in the conception of the Brazilian military, even though more than a century has passed. Society's perception of both the army and the idea of war itself has changed profoundly over the years, yet Gamelin's importance goes beyond his collaboration with the armed forces; in such a mixed-race and culturally diverse country, his work contributed to the construction of the idea of a Brazilian nationality.
Here we have three letters with very relevant content that will delight collectors interested in the military history of Brazil and the world.
