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Portugal The Military in the Salazar Era
The new prime minister was able to counteract
anti-Salazar
sentiment in the military by publicly flattering the armed
forces
and by exempting them at first from ruthless cuts in
government
spending. Although the backward state of the army's
weaponry had
by 1935 become acute, Salazar refused to address the need
for
modernization until the army reduced its overstaffing. In
1936,
he appointed himself minister of war and in the following
year
introduced a major reorganization, including the
pensioning of
many senior officers to clear the way for younger, more
dynamic
officers. Officer pay remained low; marriages had to be
approved,
and officers were pressured to choose wives from the
wealthier
classes so they would have an alternative source of
income. The
effect was to perpetuate familial links between the higher
military and the economic elites.
Salazar also formed several paramilitary organizations
to
offset the army's monopoly of armed strength. The most
notable of
these was the Portuguese Legion. Its members were the most
loyal
partisans of Salazar's regime, the New State (Estado
Novo). At
its peak, the legion had 20,000 personnel trained and
commanded
by active or retired army officers. It was subject to
military
control when called upon to cooperate with the regular
armed
forces. Although not formally abolished until 1974, it was
never
more than a militia at the service of the regime and
presented no
threat to the power of the orthodox military
establishment.
Fearing that the success of the Spanish republican
forces
during the Spanish Civil War would lead to communist
domination
of the Iberian Peninsula, Salazar gave material and
diplomatic
aid to Francisco Franco's nationalist forces while
maintaining a
formal neutrality. A special volunteer force of 18,000 led
by
regular army officers was recruited to fight as part of
Franco's
army. When the civil war ended in 1939, Portugal and Spain
negotiated the Treaty of Friendship and Nonaggression
(Iberian
Pact). The pact committed the two countries to defend the
Iberian
Peninsula against any power that attacked either country
and
helped to ensure Iberian neutrality during World War II.
The Azores were considered to be of prime strategic
importance in the war. The Allies feared a possible German
move
to occupy the islands and needed their naval and air bases
to
combat Nazi submarine attacks against Allied shipping and
to
support transatlantic air links. In 1943, mindful of
German
defeats and Portugal's treaties with Britain, Salazar
acceded to
Britain's request for facilities in the Azores. Later, the
United
States was also permitted to establish bases in the
islands.
Portugal recognized the American need for transit
facilities to
support its continued military presence in Western Europe
after
the war, and it authorized continued use of the Lajes Air
Base in
the Azores until the arrangement was formalized in the
bilateral
Defense Agreement of 1951
(see Bilateral Military Relations with Other Countries
, this ch.).
Portugal became one of the twelve charter members of
NATO in
1949. Although the organization's collective security
provisions
did not apply to Portugal's overseas possessions,
membership in
NATO enabled the armed forces to acquire sophisticated
weaponry
and training from the United States and other NATO member
countries. Portugal's colonial policies after fighting
began in
Africa in 1961 formed an obstacle to its full
participation in
the NATO system.
Data as of January 1993
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