Portugal Marks Centennial of National Revolution
Portugal's 1926 military coup ended the chaotic First Republic and paved the way for decades of authoritarian rule under a former economics professor.
Nearly a century ago, Portugal stood on the brink of collapse—until a military intervention on May 28th, 1926, changed the course of the nation’s history and set the stage for one of Europe’s longest-serving statesmen.
As The European Conservative reports, the Portuguese Army took decisive action that day as the country faced unprecedented calamity under what military leaders viewed as misrule by the First Republic. General Gomes da Costa, a decorated hero of the First World War, issued a dramatic call to his countrymen to take up arms for liberty and national honor, declaring that the nation was dying under the weight of an immoral and tyrannical minority.
The general openly proclaimed his revolt against the existing order, launching a coup that would fundamentally reshape Portuguese governance. The military intervention brought an end to Portugal’s chaotic First Republic, a period marked by political instability and economic turmoil that had plagued the nation.
What the coup leaders could not have foreseen at the time was that their actions would pave the way for the emergence of a quiet, unassuming professor of political economy from Coimbra. The events of May 1926 created the conditions for fundamental political transformation in Portugal, though the ultimate destination of that transformation remained unknown to those who initiated it.
The military takeover represented a watershed moment in Portuguese history, replacing parliamentary chaos with a new political order that would define the nation for decades to come.
With information from The European Conservative
