The article analyses the education of the Brazilian Army officers in the 1920s. Focusing on Realengo Military Academy, it argues that the intention of the military authorities to provide apolitical training for Brazilian officers was not successful. The sources, testimonies and autobiographies drawn on show Realengo Military Academy to have been a place of political socialization where students shared dispositions for political action on behalf of a 'tradition' inherited from the Praia Vermelha Military Academy and a mission of national regeneration.
military education; military and politics; political ideas