Epitácio Pessoa

Brazil’s involvement in the Paris Peace Conference may come as a surprise to most people. However, Brazil’s economy had grown massively and was one of the emerging world powers to be invited to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. Lawyer and Europhile Pessoa negotiated a deal to rescue Brazillian coffee from the German ports, where it had languished since the middle of the war, and was rewarded by being elected President whilst still in Paris. At home, the country’s political system was starting to unravel and Pessoa’s presidency ended in failure in 1922.

MICHAEL STREETER is an experienced writer and journalist who has travelled widely in Latin America and has an MA in Latin American Politics from the University of London. He is also the author of a biography of General Franco and has written for most British national newspapers.

His other books in The Makers of the Modern World series include Central America and the Treaty of Versailles and South America and the Treaty of Versaille. He is also the author of a biography of Catherine the Great in Haus’ Life&Times series.