Portugal REPUBLICANISM
Manuel II, Portugal's last king (r. 1908-10)
Courtesy Embassy of Portugal, Washington
António de Oliveira Salazar, founder of the New State
Courtesy Embassy of Portugal, Washington
The ultimatum of 1890 caused astonishment and
indignation in
Lisbon. As a result, the Progressive government fell and a
non-party government came to power. The ultimatum was
strongly
denounced by Portugal's growing band of republicans, who
had
organized themselves into a formal party in 1878. The
republicans
based their appeals on crude nationalism and played on the
fears
of many that a continuation of the inept government of the
liberals would make Portugal either a British colony or a
province of Spain. Teachers, journalists, small-business
persons,
clerks, and artisans were drawn to republicanism, with its
appeals to nationalism, universal suffrage, separation of
church
and state, and the abolition of the monarchy and nobility,
which
were seen as irrational institutions that sapped the
strength of
Portugal.
The appeal of republicanism was also enhanced by the
collapse
of rotativismo. After 1890 the system ceased to
function
smoothly. Conflicts between the Regenerators and
Historicals,
formerly settled in secret, were brought into the open in
an
effort to generate public support for the system. But open
debate
proved to be unsettling in Portugal's depoliticized
society. By
1906 neither faction could attain a parliamentary
majority. In
that year, the republicans managed to elect from Lisbon
four
deputies who proceeded to create tumultuous scenes in
parliament.
In May 1907, the situation came to a standstill. The king,
Carlos
I (r.1889-1908), dissolved parliament and gave to João
Franco, a
conservative reformist who had bolted from the
Regenerators to
form his own party, the power to govern by decree. João
Franco's
dictatorship was condemned by all political parties, and
the
republicans attempted an unsuccessful coup d'état. A
crackdown on
the republican movement followed. On February 1, 1908, the
king
and the royal family were attacked by two disgruntled
republicans
as they crossed the Praça do Comêrcio by open landau. The
king
and his youngest son were killed, and his oldest son,
Manuel,
survived a bullet wound in the arm. Manuel, who was
eighteen at
the time, became king as Manuel II (r.1908-10).
In an effort to salvage the monarchy, João Franco
stepped
down as prime minister and went into exile. New elections
were
held, but factionalism among the Regenerators and
Historicals
prevented the formation of a stable government even after
six
attempts. On October 1, 1910, the appearance in Portugal
of the
president of the Brazilian republic after a visit to
Germany
provided a pretext for extensive republican
demonstrations. On
October 3, the army refused to put down a mutiny on
Portuguese
warships anchored in the estuary of the Tagus and took up
positions around Lisbon. On October 4, when two of the
warships
began to shell the royal palace, Manuel II and the royal
family
fled to Britain. On October 5, a provisional republican
government was organized with the writer Teófilo Braga as
president.
Data as of January 1993
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