4 Remarkable Lessons from a Legendary General

Once I heard an interesting question from a European colleague, regarding South-American languages:

Why the 200 million Spanish speakers of the continent live in nine different countries, while the 220 million Portuguese speakers concentrate in one single country?

There are a few ways to answer this question. Some historians may say that the Hispanic preference for a republic, contrasting with the Portuguese-Brazilian monarchy, resulted in smaller administrative units. Others would say that the closer relations of Portugal with Brazil acted as a unifying force. But both justifications ignore that Brazil had plenty of separatist movements. Especially during the XIX century.

Nearly all of them, however, were tamed by a single man: Luís Alves de Lima e Silva, the Duke of Caxias, also known as The Peacemaker.

As an entrepreneur, I learned valuable insights from reading his biography. In this article, I will list the greatest lessons from the Duke’s life, to your business and career.

1st — Tune your perception of human nature, and be generous

In 1808, when the Portuguese Royal Family moved to Brazil, Luís Alves was ranked as a 1st Class Cadet, when he was only five years old.

From a very young age, he had a clear vision of human nature and the skill of perceiving the qualities of true leaders. Later on in his career, he tuned these skills when facing other commanders or with the populations of the lands he needed to pacify.

He had a balanced and solid temperament, calm, and with no nerves. The duke also had controlled emotionality, without exaggerations or affective imbalances of any kind. He did not lack physical courage but only used it after careful calculation, as shown later at the battle of Ytororó.

One of his most remarkable lessons is synthesized by the quote:

In internal struggles, generosity towards the opponent is imposed, otherwise the violence grows on a geometric scale.

This generosity towards the enemy and the idea of dignified negotiations happened multiple times during his missions. One example was the capture of ten rebel chiefs, imprisoned in the combat of Santa Luzia.

There, without arrogance and with nobility, he addressed them. The Duke told that this was a consequence of the movement, but that the rebels could count on his help. While the firmness of his military actions paved the credibility to negotiate, his respect for human life won the esteem and recognition of his opponents.

In one of my videos, I told about lessons from an FBI negotiator. Just as the Duke of Caxias, one of his main points was the necessity of building credibility to negotiate.

2nd — Look beyond borders for adaptable solutions

In 1866, the Duke of Caxias was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Brazilian Imperial Forces in operations against the Paraguayan Solano López.

Until that point, the war was far from favorable to Brazil. Paraguay prepared for the conflict for years, while the future adversaries Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay — also called the triple alliance — struggled with internal conflicts. When the conflict started, the armed forces of Paraguay had 60 thousand men, more than the 3 enemy countries combined. Almost 200 hundred years later, Paraguay still does not have such a vast military as they had, although their economy is quickly improving.

Paraguay had well-developed trench-war tactics, using geographic characteristics like mountains and depressions as additional cover. For this reason, it was very difficult for the allied troops to monitor the Paraguayan movements.

But the Duke was not a general, he was also an obsessed student of military innovations. While reading about the then recently finished American Civil War, he saw how troops were using recently developed balloons to monitor enemies at a distance.

Caxias hired two American balloonists that fought in the Civil War under General Lee. It was the first time that, outside the USA, that balloons provided reconnaissance on the battlefield.

3rd — Be Practical, cultivating efficient execution

In 1938, a revolt exploded in the Maranhão state, in the Brazilian northeast. Unsatisfied with the living conditions and the arbitrary jail of the son of a rancher, peasants and freed slaves united and formed a militia.

The revolt gained such momentum that, in a short period, they took the second-most-important city of the state. The name of the place I will reveal later to not confuse you. Worried about the spreading of the revolt, the empire sent Luís Alves, then still a colonel, to suppress the rebellion.

After arrival, he discovered why the revolt existed and was not quelled. The local authorities were unskilled, the troops underpaid and underfed, dishonesty was rampant. Instead of starting with military actions, Luis Alves decided that it was better to recover the local government’s reputation, so the rebel motivations would soften.

To delay military action and invest in the local administration was the opposite of what most military leaders would do back then, but not Luis Alves. He preferred a practical way. The commander took several measures that would characterize the new administration. He healed the ruling arrangements and infrastructure, and only after that prepared to attack the rebels.

At this point, many of them already laid their weapons and were ready to negotiate. The Popularity of Luis Alves was already high, so again he dared to take a counter-intuitive action. Instead of attack the rebels that still insisted on the fight, he offered an amnesty to the rebels who aided in the repression. He knew the reputational risks of Imperial troops killing local peasants.

The rebels that accepted his offer suppressed the ones that didn’t, and in 1841 the revolt ended.

The center of this conflict was a city called Caxias. The impressive performance of Luis Alves during this rebellion convinced the emperor to award him the title of Barão de Caxias (Baron of Caxias). Baron, the lowest nobility title in the Brazilian Empire, was the first step for what later turned to be the only Duke nominated by Emperor Pedro II.

4th — If an obstacle looks immovable, build a road around it

During the war against Paraguay, the adversaries built a formidable defensive position near the Pikysyry creek — remember that they were preparing for war for years. It consisted of a line of 142 gun platforms distributed along 9.1 km, surrounded by marshes and lagoons. It was a terrain with very slow mobility. The triple alliance troops would take a long time to move, and during this period, they would be destroyed by the Paraguayan defenses.

There was no blind spot in the lines. It looked impassable. Apparently, the only alternative was to accept that this was the end of the line, and the offensive was over.

Except that it was not over for an ingenious mind like Luis Alves.

Recognizing the impossibility of a frontal attack, they opted for an overflow using the left-flank.

Caxias ordered the troops to build a road in the middle of the marshes of the Chaco, where his army would flow. During the construction, the commander also ordered some battalions to make attack-and-retreat frontal attacks, misleading the Paraguayans. Caxias sought to fix the enemy’s attention in such a way as to lead them to think he would order a frontal offensive. This distracted the enemy while the soldiers built the Chaco road.

The construction of this road was excruciatingly hard for the troops and considered an almost impossible task in such a short time, but it worked.

The troops moved using the new way and surprised the enemy by the flank that he least expected. The Paraguayans had no idea how the Caxias Army crossed the dark and hostile Chaco. Such an action projected the troops to the rear of the opponent. Soon after the soldiers of Caxias passed, the river filled and the waters submerged the road. Another day and everything would be lost.

Conclusion — Learn when to move on

There are many points that entrepreneurs can learn from the life of the Duke of Caxias.

• If you have a conflicting situation, provide the other part with the alternative for a dignified exit, just like Caxias did at Santa Luzia. Remember that generosity saves time and resources, which often are more valuable than an absolute victory. In some cases, you can even turn the adversary into the greatest ally.

• If you have a challenge never faced before, look for similar situations outside the box, like Caxias did when he hired American balloonists for terrain reconnaissance. Adapt foreign systems to your environment.

• If your team morale is low or there is a mutiny, understand the reasons first and try to stimulate the group to solve internally any quarrel, like Caxias did Maranhão.

• If you cannot compete against overwhelming forces as Caxias had against the Pikysyry defense line, build a road around it. Just remember to distract these enemy forces so they do not realize you are building a road.

And, before finishing, remember that nobody wins all the time. Even a legendary field-marshall like Caxias lost once. But on a different battlefield. During the war of the Cisplatina, the young Luis Alves fell in love with a local called María Ángela Furriol González Luna. There are even rumors that they got engaged. Unfortunately for our hero, she preferred the much higher-ranked (at least at this time) colonel Eugênio Garzón.

Levi Borba is the CEO of expatriateconsultancy.com, creator of the channel Small Business Hacks and abest-selling author. You can check his books here and check his other articles here.