Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Rise & Fall of Salazar
After a landslide victory in the 1911 elections, hopes were high among republicans for dra-
matic changes ahead, but the tides were against them. The economy was in tatters, an issue
only exacerbated by an economically disastrous decision to join the Allies in WWI. In
postwar years the chaos deepened: republican factions squabbled, unions led strikes and
were repressed, and the military grew more powerful.
The new republic soon had a reputation as Europe's most unstable regime. Between
1910 and 1926 there were an astonishing 45 changes of government, often resulting from
military intervention. Another coup in 1926 brought forth new names and faces, most sig-
nificantly António de Oliveira Salazar, a finance minister who would rise up through the
ranks to become prime minister in 1932 - a post he would hold for the next 36 years.
Salazar hastily enforced his 'New State' - a corporatist republic that was nationalistic,
Catholic, authoritarian and essentially repressive. All political parties were banned except
for the loyalist National Union, which ran the show, and the National Assembly. Strikes
were banned and propaganda, censorship and brute force kept society in order. The sinister
new secret police, Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado (PIDE), inspired terror and
suppressed opposition by imprisonment and torture. Various attempted coups during Salaz-
ar's rule came to nothing. For a chilling taste of life as a political prisoner under Salazar,
you could visit the 16th-century Fortaleza at Peniche - used as a jail by the dictator.
The only good news was a dramatic economic turnaround. Through the 1950s and 1960s
Portugal experienced an annual industrial growth rate of 7% to 9%.
Internationally, the wily Salazar played two hands, unofficially supporting Franco's na-
tionalists in the Spanish Civil War, and allowing British use of Azores airfields during
WWII despite official neutrality (and illegal sales of tungsten to Germany). It was later dis-
covered that Salazar had also authorised the transfer of Nazi-looted gold to Portugal - 44
tonnes according to Allied records.
The word Portugal comes from Portus Cale, a name the Romans gave to a town near present-day Porto.
The word morphed into Portucale under Visigoth rule and expanded significantly in meaning.
But it was something else that finally brought the Salazarist era to a close - decolonisa-
tion. Refusing to relinquish the colonies, he was faced with ever more costly and unpopular
