Throughout Brazilian history, it safeguarded central authority against separatism and regionalism, intervened where unresolved social issues became violent and filled gaps left by other State institutions.

Through its "Presence Strategy", it occupies demographic voids, acting as a "colonizing army", whether through the military colonies it established in the 19th century or through current border posts, and sees itself as the only factor of Brazilianness in these remote regions of the country.

[21] When the office was abolished, the chiefs of the Army General Staff (Estado-Maior do Exército; EME), created in 1899, and the Ministers of War began to compete for primacy of command.

[36] The army was initially an instrument of emperor Pedro I's authority, closing the Constituent Assembly in 1823 (the Night of Agony) and suppressing a separatist movement, the Confederation of the Equator.

[51] Technologies of the Second Industrial Revolution, such as the rifle, the telegraph and the observation balloon, coexisted with Napoleonic tactics, such as the infantry square, the "cult of the bayonet", cavalry as a shock weapon and artillery fired at close range, with grapeshot.

[103] A large part of the São Paulo garrison joined the Constitutionalist Revolution of 1932, which was defeated due to the loyalty of the rest of the Armed Forces and state governments to Vargas.

[115] According to EME studies on the 1932 Constitutionalist Revolution, the army had evolved in its doctrine and organization, but was still unprepared to face an external aggressor, as evidenced by the deficiency in the ammunition industry.

[123] The Brazilian Army adopted American doctrine, organization, manuals and methods after World War II, although the absorption was partial, as older materiel of European origin and French concepts remained.

In 1955, Minister of War Henrique Teixeira Lott carried out a "preventative coup", opposing the Navy and Air Force, to ensure the inauguration of president Juscelino Kubitschek.

[133] Finally, the 1964 coup d'état began with the main commands of the army in loyalist hands, but officers defected en masse and the president was removed without a fight.

[141] Military personnel were responsible for illegal detentions, torture, executions, forced disappearances and concealment of corpses,[142] and the army played a fundamental role in the genocide of the Waimiri-Atroari indigenous people.

[143][144] The armed struggle against the dictatorship was faced mainly by high-ranking intelligence bodies, such as the CODI and the Army Information Center (Centro de Informações do Exército; CIEx).

[172] At the same time, public authorities often use the army for operations to guarantee law and order in places such as Rio de Janeiro,[173][174] as well as for subsidiary missions, which are, in a certain way, accommodated by the political class.

[196][197] When the Guyana-Venezuela crisis began in 2023, the army reinforced Roraima, but still did not have cruise missiles, medium-altitude anti-aircraft defense or Centauro II tank destroyers available.

Cases of violence by instructors exist; from 2005 to June 2015, the Rio de Janeiro Military Court judged 299 incidents in the army, navy and air force.

[263] Permanent availability, exclusive dedication (i.e, the legal impossibility of assuming other positions), geographic mobility and restriction of labor rights are the characteristics of the career, according to the army.

[297][298] There are several alternatives to this type of military service,[p] including the Tiros de Guerra, dispersed in municipalities across the country, where reservist privates, known as atiradores (shooters), have part-time training.

According to Enzo Martins Peri, the army commander in 2007–2015, the current model is "more democratic, universal and, socially, more fair and equitable" and complements the "formation of citizenship in the spiritual, moral, physical, intellectual, professional and civic aspects".

[305] The army seeks to mold recruits into an ideal of an orderly, productive and patriotic citizen and even undertakes professional qualification initiatives,[q] but this social function only applies to a small minority of enlisted personnel called up for service.

[306] In the case of the Tiros de Guerra, the low frequency of military exercises, leaving most of the time to cleaning, maintaining facilities and civic-social activities, can be a factor of frustration.

[333] Lieutenant colonel and sociologist Everton Araújo dos Santos defined it: "conservative, traditional, hermetic, austere, reserved and averse to investigations", having "very well delineated contours of the social roles to be played by each of the individuals who compose it".

[339] To reinforce established practices and behaviors, giving them the respectability of the past, and to assign an identity to the army and specific units, the institution worships traditions, usually symbols, rites, and ceremonies.

These include the cult of "patrons", the order of precedence between branches, cadres, and services, the noble or honor halls, the galleries of former commanders, the "historical denominations" of military organizations, the army's motto[t] and the designation of the First Battle of Guararapes as the landmark of the force's founding.

[19] The Brazilian Army has visual symbols — coats of arms, flags, banners, and pennants — and musical ones — drumbeats, cornets and bugles, songs, shouts, and war choruses.

[364] According to the Brazilian Army's doctrine, the brigade is the "basic large unit (Grande Unidade; GU) of combined arms", "with the capacity to act independently and last in action".

[383] Still, the Brazilian Army has strategic reaction forces in the "central core" of the country, between São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasília, from where they can access any other region.

[398] The army's special operations involve "highly specialized training of the combatant, the use of unconventional weapons and equipment, missions with high political sensitivity, the heterodox application of the principles of war, and the exploitation of limited opportunities", in irregular warfare missions, direct action, strategic reconnaissance, counterinsurgency warfare, counterterrorism, psychological operations, search and rescue, and humanitarian assistance.

[ae] The training of 1st BFEsp personnel, also called "FEs" or "ghosts", is comparable to the American Delta Force and includes long patrols in the Amazon jungle and urban crime fighting strategies.

[414] These specialized forces comprise the six Jungle Infantry Brigades deployed in the Amazon: the 1st in Boa Vista, 2nd in São Gabriel da Cachoeira, 16th in Tefé, 17th in Porto Velho, 22nd in Macapá and 23rd in Marabá.

[418] The airmobile brigade specializes in helitransport operations (along with Army Aviation), but as it is light in equipment and weapons, it can also be transported in air force planes or civilian vehicles such as vans, buses, trucks, trains and ships.