Did Capoeiras Win the War of Paraguay?

WHY THIS ARTICLE

The Paraguay myth is the second pillar of capoeira’s heroic narrative, after that of slave resistance. Like it, it has an author — Luiz Murat — and, like it, it was checked then refuted. This article restores the birth of the narrative, its slide into legend, and the historian’s verdict.

A war that made the Republic

The war against Paraguay (1864–1870) is no episode among others: “The War of Paraguay hastened the end of the Empire. It was precisely in 1870 that the republican manifesto was launched. Above all, the war had created a military esprit de corps until then non-existent in Brazil” (Bennassar and Marin). To attach capoeiragem to this war was thus to attach it to the founding act of the republican nation. That is exactly what Luiz Murat did.

Murat’s version: the knife

His original version deserves attention, for it is more precise — and more plausible — than the legend that derived from it. According to Murat, the capoeiras’ dexterity in handling the knife gave them a manifest superiority in close combat. And unlike others, he saw in the knife or razor no denaturing of the practice: fencing was an integral part of the culture of capoeiragem — the weapons having first been introduced, according to him, “as a pedagogical tool to improve mobility and dodges.”

This version was rejected — not for inaccuracy, but for impropriety: in a society engaged in the euphemisation of violence, a hero with a razor was not presentable. What was kept was the idea without the weapons: unarmed capoeiras, engaged in an unequal fight against armed soldiers, prevailing by skill alone. “From a plausible story, as told by Luiz Murat, there was a shift toward the legendary tale, that of David against Goliath.” The sorting had operated once more: the myth kept the courage and cut out the knife.

Rego’s question, the historian’s answer

The low degree of plausibility of the tale escaped no one. In the 1960s, Waldeloir Rego questioned Raimundo Magalhães Júnior — the author of O negro brasileiro na guerra do Paraguai, that is, the man who had precisely studied the question — to dispel his doubts. The answer is unambiguous: “It is probable that Black capoeiristas took part in the War of Paraguay, naturally, without using this art, but as riflemen, throwers, etc.” Capoeiras at the war: yes, probably. Capoeira winning the war: no. They fought there like all soldiers — with the rifle.

Why the myth outlived the verdict

The refutation is half a century old. The myth still circulates. It is that it fulfils not a function of knowledge but a function of belonging: through it, “capoeiragem became the symbol of the historical struggle for the liberty of a whole people,” and its bearers “heroes of the Brazilian nation, civilised, modern and republican.” One does not refute a coat of arms with a footnote. The historian’s work nonetheless remains: to distinguish what the capoeiras did — to serve, to fight, to die in the founding war — from what the narrative made them do. The real men suffice for the honour. The tale served other interests than theirs.

SOURCES

Murat, L., “O jiú-jitzú e a gymnastica brasileira,” A Noticia, April 1908; A Escola, 1908 (National Library of Brazil). — Magalhães Júnior, R., O negro brasileiro na guerra do Paraguai, questioned by Waldeloir Rego (1960s). — Bennassar, B. & Marin, R., Histoire du Brésil : 1500–2013, Fayard, 2014. — Malo, O., La capoeira et les arts de combat noirs : histoire effacée, techniques invisibles (1905–1984), doctoral thesis, Université des Antilles, 2020, Part I, chap. B.1.

IN THE CORPUS

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HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE

MALO, Olivier. Did Capoeiras Win the War of Paraguay?. In: Black Combat Arts Institute — Articles [online]. No. 29. 2026 [accessed date]. Available from: https://www.blackcombatarts.com/articles/did-capoeiras-win-the-war-of-paraguay. Adapted from the author's doctoral thesis, Université des Antilles, 2020.