Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
middle classes, spurring an attempted coup in 1908. It failed, but the following month
King Carlos and Crown Prince Luis Filipe were brutally assassinated in Lisbon.
Carlos' younger son, Manuel II, tried feebly to appease republicans, but it was too little,
too late. On 5 October 1910, after an uprising by military officers, a republic was de-
clared. Manuel, dubbed 'the Unfortunate', sailed into exile in Britain where he died in
1932.
BEWARE THE ECONOMICS PROFESSOR
When General António Carmona was named Portugal's president in 1926, he inherited a country in serious debt.
Fearing economic catastrophe, Carmona called in an expert, a man by the name of António de Oliveira Salazar.
At the time, Salazar was a 37-year-old bachelor, sharing spartan quarters with a priest (who would later become
cardinal of Lisbon). Salazar himself was no stranger to religious life. He spent eight years studying to become a
priest, and some residents from his small native village even called him 'father' on his visits. Only a last-minute
decision led him to veer into law instead.
One of the country's first economists, Salazar garnered wide respect for his articles on public finance. When
General Carmona approached him with the job of finance minister, Salazar accepted on one condition: that the
spending of all government ministries fall under his discretion. The general agreed.
Salazar achieved enormous success at firing up the national economy. He severely curtailed government spend-
ing, raising taxes and balancing the budget during his first year. Unemployment decreased significantly. Salazar
quickly became one of Carmona's star ministers. He also took on adjoining posts as other ministers resigned. In
this way he consolidated power until Carmona eventually named him prime minister.
Salazar set the tone for civilian life that would last for many decades to come. Under his authoritarian rule, he
did bring stability and prosperity to the country, though at enormous cost: censorship, imprisonment and, in some
cases, torture of political opponents. Among his most damning attributes was his attitude towards the working
class. He believed in giving them a diet of 'fado, Fátima and football' to keep them happily compliant, but had no
intention of bettering their lot; at the end of his rule, Portugal had the highest rate of illiteracy and tuberculosis in
Western Europe, and women were still not allowed to vote. Given the socially backward condition of the nation
when Salazar relinquished power, the advancements of the last 40 years seem all the more startling.
