Podbit · The Rest Is History
In March 1831, Rio erupted in five nights of riots — the Night of Bottles — driven by hatred of Dom Pedro I's Portuguese loyalties and his neglect of his dying wife. On 7 April 1831, he abdicated in favour of his five-year-old son and sailed away on a British warship, never to return.
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At 31:33 · chapter starts 28:20
The revolutionary glow fades quickly. Throughout the 1820s, Dom Pedro I faces constant provincial unrest, including a major separatist revolt in Pernambuco demanding a Confederation of the Equator. In 1825, his southernmost province Cisplatina breaks away to become Uruguay — the first-ever World Cup winners — with British backing, a serious blow to imperial prestige. The following year brings two personal disasters: his father Dom João VI dies in Lisbon, triggering a succession crisis, and his Habsburg wife Maria Leopoldina dies in childbirth amid widespread rumours that Pedro's brutality and infidelity caused her death. By 1831 the mood in Rio has definitively turned against him. On the night of 11 March, the city erupts in what becomes known as the Night of Bottles — five days of riots by liberals demanding constitutional reform. Pedro's attempts to shore up his position by sacking ministers and appointing cronies only inflame matters further. In the early hours of 7 April 1831, Dom Pedro I announces his abdication in favour of his five-year-old son Dom Pedro II, delivers a melancholy farewell speech — 'Everything is over between me and Brazil forever' — and boards a British warship. He would eventually secure the Portuguese throne for his daughter and die of tuberculosis at age 35, at the precise moment he had achieved that final goal. [1] — Dominic Sandbrook "In March 1831, Rio erupted in five nights of riots — the Night of Bottles — driven by hatred of Dom Pedro I's Portuguese loyalties and his …" 31:33
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