Ezekiel Stanley Ramirez chronicles the rise and fall in diplomatic relations between Brazil and Austria, beginning with Metternich’s interest in the Portuguese colony as a bulwark against the forces of illegitimacy. Austrian interest in Brazil reached its high point at the time of the marriage of Pedro and Leopoldina in 1817. This marriage was designed to link the royal houses of Austria and Portugal, to lead Portugal out of its dependence on England, and to support the forces of conservatism and legitimacy in South America.
The decline in relations began almost immediately following the wedding. Metternich found that Austria could in no way effectively inhibit English influence in Portugal and Brazil. The independence of Brazil, followed soon after, and, despite the accession of the royal prince as emperor of the new nation. Independence was a blow to Metternich’s defense of legitimate European rule in the New World. Even the royal marriage terminated after only nine years with the death of the bitterly unhappy Empress Leopoldina. While Metternich maintained some continuing interest in Brazil until his resignation, the limitations on his concern were revealed by his indifference to the requests of Pedro II for assistance in finding a suitable consort. The importance of Austria in Brazilian foreign policy from 1843 to 1889 was suggested by the fact that the Brazilian mission in Vienna was for many years headed by chargés d’affaires.
After detailing diplomatic relations between the two nations, Ramirez provides four topical chapters. The narrow focus of the chapter on cultural relations between Austria and Brazil does not permit substantiation of the conclusion that strong cultural ties “linked Brazil more closely to Austria than to any other country of Europe.” The chapter on the influence of Austria in Church-state affairs describes Metternich’s efforts to improve relations between Rio de Janeiro and Rome during the Regency. The chapter on immigration details the vigorous and largely successful campaign of the Austrian government to block emigration to Brazil. Finally, Ramirez reviews the attempts of Austrian commercial interests to stimulate trade between the two nations. The overweening influence of English interests and the inability of Austrian merchants to adapt their products effectively to the Brazilian market precluded development of significant trade.
The research for this volume was done primarily in the Austrian Haus- Hof- und Staatsarchiv. All of the primary sources are Austrian, and of the eighty secondary sources in the bibliography sixty-three are in German and seven in Portuguese. Apparently no consideration was given to any materials published after the submission of the present volume as a doctoral dissertation in 1952. Even though one might not hold rigidly to the requirement that research in diplomatic history be multiarchival, this volume would have been greatly enriched by careful use of secondary sources in Portuguese and even English.
The translation and notes by the distinguished Brazilian historian Américo Jacobina Lacombe are excellent.
