Floriano Peixoto (1839-1895) was the second president of Brazil. His ruthless leadership as the "Iron Marshall" in the face of widespread armed rebellion is given credit for holding Brazil together in the early republican period.

Floriano Peixoto was born into a planter-class family of small landholdings in Maceió, Alagoas, on April 30, 1839. While still a youth, he enlisted in the army as a common soldier. In 1861 he entered the military school in Rio to study military engineering. Leaving the school in 1865 to fight in the Paraguayan War, he earned successive promotions to lieutenant colonel.

After the war Peixoto returned to Rio, finished his engineering course, and held a series of minor commissions. By 1883 he had risen to the rank of brigadier general, and the following year he became president and military commander of the province of Mato Grosso.

When the monarchy fell in November 1889, Peixoto was simultaneously serving...