to marshal. Fonseca held various government positions until he became Minister of War during the government of president Afonso Pena (1906–1909), from 15 November 1906 to 27 May 1909. During his term, at the suggestion of the Baron of Rio Branco, he sent Brazilian officers for training in the German Empire, who, after returning to Brazil, became known as the "Young Turks" . He also reformed the Army and the Ministry of War with the creation of large permanent units, known as the "Strategic Brigades", and technical and administrative services. Out of these innovations, the most important one was the institution of compulsory military service with the Sortition Law of 1908. However, the law was only de facto implemented in 1916. Due to the discussion in the Chamber of Deputies about the participation of the military in the political life of the country, he resigned. He was later minister of the Supreme Military Tribunal (later the Superior Military Tribunal). 1910 election In November 1908, after returning from a trip to Germany, where he had witnessed military maneuvers as a guest of Kaiser Wilhelm II, he was nominated for presidential succession. He had the support of president Nilo Peçanha, who replaced Afonso Pena, and state representatives at the National Congress, except for the representatives of São Paulo and Bahia, who supported senator Ruy Barbosa and the president of São Paulo state, Albuquerque Lins, as Barbosa's vice-presidential candidate. Barbosa launched the Civilist Campaign for the presidency. For the first time in the republican regime in Brazil, an electoral campaign climate was established with the dispute between the so-called civilists and the hermists. With the invitation of Nilo Peçanha to return to the Ministry of War, Fonseca strengthened his position and won the 1910 election against Ruy Barbosa. In the 1910 election on 1 March 1910 the country was divided: Bahia, São Paulo, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro and part of Minas Gerais, supported Ruy Barbosa, who had the president of São Paulo, Albuquerque Lins, as his running mate; the other states supported Hermes da Fonseca, who had Venceslau Brás as his vice president. Hermes and Vencesláu Brás won. Hermes had 403,867 votes against 222,822 votes given to Ruy Barbosa. According to the Superior Electoral Court itself, however, the election of Fonseca took place at the cost of fraud (recurring at the time), that is, the tampering of the result, facilitated by the fact