The nation enjoyed great international prestige during the final years of the Empire, and it had become an emerging power within the international arena. Predictions of economic and labor disruption caused by the abolition of slavery failed to materialize and the 1888 coffee harvest was successful. The end of slavery had resulted in an explicit shift of support to republicanism by rich and powerful coffee farmers who held great political, economic and social power in the country. Republicanism was an elitist creed which never flourished in Brazil, with little support in the provinces. The combination of republican ideas and the dissemination of Positivism among the army's lower and medium officer ranks led to indiscipline among the corps and became a serious threat to the monarchy. They dreamed of a dictatorial republic, which they believed would be superior to the monarchy.