The article analyses the relationship established by the Brazilian Army with the photographic technology in the late 19th and early 20th Century. The photographic collections of two military campaigns were studied: the Canudos War (1896-1897) and the Contestado War (1914-1916). We investigated how the Brazilian Army had invested in the photographic technology for recording the military action and refute criticisms against the repression of the two major social conflicts of the Brazilian First Republic (1889-1930). We highlight the advances in this technology and the logic of the official reasoning embedded in the photographic representations. There was a change in the form of recording and immortalize the military action between Canudos and Contestado, especially regarding to the production and circulation of photographs related to death and destruction on the battlefield. This change was related to the political and social transformations experienced in Brazil during the First Republic and was also articulated to the local project of military modernization.
Contestado War; Canudos War; Army; War photography; History of photography
