One day in Rio ended an entire political era in Brazil.

On October 24, 1930, senior military officers in Rio de Janeiro deposed President Washington Luís and formed a three-man junta. A revolt led by Getúlio Vargas had broken out in Rio Grande do Sul three weeks earlier, and the country was on the edge of civil war.

On November 3, the junta handed power to Vargas. That ended the so-called Old Republic, long dominated by the landowning elites of São Paulo and Minas Gerais.

Why it still matters: Vargas went on to dominate Brazilian politics for years, building a stronger central state, new labor laws and national industries whose influence is still debated today.

Should a historical turning point be judged by how it began or by what it built?

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