Brazil is declared a republic by Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca as Emperor Pedro II is deposed in a military coup.

Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is also the world's fifth-largest country by area and the seventh-largest by population, with over 212 million people. The country is a federation composed of 26 states and a Federal District, which hosts the capital, Brasília. Its most populous city is São Paulo, followed by Rio de Janeiro. Brazil has the most Portuguese speakers in the world and is the only country in the Americas where Portuguese is an official language.

Marshal is the highest rank in both the Brazilian Army and the Brazilian Air Force, although the latter is titled marechal-do-ar. These ranks are equivalent to that of grand admiral in the Brazilian Navy. A marshal is distinguished by using five stars, which for a marshal of the air are in the approximate position of Southern Cross and for a marshal in the army, in the form of "X". The five stars of admiral are in the shape of a pentagon.

Manuel Deodoro da Fonseca was a Brazilian politician and military officer who served as the Head of Provisional Government and the first president of Brazil. He was born in Alagoas in a military family, followed a military career, and became a national figure. Fonseca took office as provisional president after heading a military coup that deposed Emperor Pedro II and established the First Brazilian Republic in 1889, disestablishing the Empire. After his election in 1891, he stepped down the same year under great political pressure when he dissolved the National Congress. He died less than a year later.

The monarchs of Brazil were the imperial heads of state and hereditary rulers of Brazil from the House of Braganza that reigned from the creation of the Brazilian monarchy in 1815 as a constituent kingdom of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves until the republican coup d'état that overthrew the Empire of Brazil in 1889.