At Sir Graham's answer, John Russell finally breathed a sigh of relief. Brazil seemed rather weak, after all.
Come to think of it, that made sense.
Although Brazil had always enjoyed a fine reputation in Europe, most of that praise came from scholars and merchants. So far, he had not heard of any general praising Brazil's army.
In fact, military technology was not yet as tightly embargoed in this era as it would be in later generations. It was normal for nations to send military observers to one another.
Military observers from every country were unanimous in their assessment of the Brazilian army: poorly professionalized, lacking training, poorly equipped, utterly undisciplined, morally corrupt, made up of a motley assortment, and sluggish in action.
Its only positive evaluation was perhaps its lavish spending. In truth, Brazil at this time was much like the Indians of later generations—India of the nineteenth century.
It was especially willing to spend lavishly on arms purchases, likewise adhering to the principle of buying only what was expensive, never what was suitable.
What was more, it had no loyalty to speak of. Its most striking trait was buying whatever it saw.
In theory, a Brazil that purchased only advanced weapons should have been taking the essence and discarding the dross. Yet in reality, the logistical burden brought by weapons from every nation was downright terrifying.
How did the Brazilians deal with such a terrifyingly complicated logistical problem?
The answer was that they did nothing at all. The Brazilian military simply dumped all supplies together in one huge pile.
Even weapons experts from Europe found it difficult to locate the correct parts amid the vast ocean of supplies.
Absurd scenes such as shells that could not be stuffed into their gun barrels happened constantly. Rifle malfunction rates were