Hermes Rodrigues da Fonseca was a Brazilian field marshal and politician who served as the eighth president of Brazil between 1910 and 1914. He was a nephew of marshal Deodoro da Fonseca, the first president of Brazil, and general João Severiano da Fonseca, patron of the Army Health Service. His parents were the marshal Hermes Ernesto da Fonseca and Rita Rodrigues Barbosa.

The Brazilian Army is the branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces responsible, externally, for defending the country in eminently terrestrial operations and, internally, for guaranteeing law, order and the constitutional branches, subordinating itself, in the Federal Government's structure, to the Ministry of Defense, alongside the Brazilian Navy and Air Force. The Military Police and Military Firefighters Corps are legally designated as reserve and auxiliary forces to the army. Its operational arm is called Land Force. It is the largest army in South America and the largest branch of the Armed Forces of Brazil.