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The Brazilian army, which has been in power since 1964, was présent at ail the important junctures of Brazil's history since the end of the 19th century, and has dominated the country's political System since 1930. Seen in turn as the military arm of the middle class, the watchdog of varions oligarchies, the instrument of foreign capital, or an autonomous " moderating power ", the référée of civil struggle or the motor of modernization and growth, the Brazilian armed forces hâve seldom been analysed as political forces. The basic processes of military rule are hère presented through studies of the army's modernization and the influence of the French military missions at the start of this century, internai conflicts between 1945 and 1967, the crisis in the officer corps during gênerai Geisel's presidency. This original analysis of military power in Brazil thus provides, by its rigour and its abundant first hand documentation, an innovative interprétation of contemporary Brazilian politics.