Chapter 357: The Portuguese Civil War

Who is this mysterious organization helping the Portuguese opposition? Naturally, it is the Royal Security Intelligence Agency, established single-handedly by Gao Da.

Portugal has always been a target for Spain, and Spain's attention toward Portugal has never diminished.

The operational scope of the Royal Security Intelligence Agency covers the entire Iberian Peninsula; Gao Da and the agency are perfectly clear about the chaos within Portugal and the plotting of the opposition parties.

Although, theoretically, the current King of Portugal is Gao Da's nephew, Gao Da does not allow personal feelings to interfere too much when considering national interests.

Besides, the Portuguese monarchy in history did not last long anyway; there is no difference between being overthrown sooner or later, and perhaps some royal bloodline might even be preserved this way.

In fact, during the reign of Luis I, Gao Da had no intention of overthrowing the Portuguese monarchy so early. After all, Portugal was a fence-sitter at the time, constantly swaying between Spain and Britain to ensure it maintained a degree of autonomy and would not be too heavily infiltrated by either Spain or Britain.

This situation lasted until Carlos I took the throne, when Portugal began to rely on Britain both politically and economically. Indeed, after leaning toward Britain, Portugal quickly shed Spanish influence, and they no longer had to send thousands of immigrants to Spain every year.

The good cooperation between Spain and Portugal that existed during the time of Luis I was instantly severed, and it seemed Portugal and Spain were returning to the state of opposition and competition from over 20 years ago.

For Gao Da, the changes in the Portuguese government were unacceptable. Spain's previous infiltration of Portugal had already yielded certain results, and many Portuguese people were not opposed to immigrating to Spain.

The two or three thousand Portuguese immigrants Spain received each year were the best proof of this; these Portuguese people lived well after arriving in Spain, and their situation attracted even more Portuguese immigrants to yearn for Spain.

Because the original Portuguese government swayed back and forth between Britain and Spain, they did not openly forbid these immigrants from going to Spain.

Although this led to a certain loss of population, Portugal gained a large amount of Spanish industrial products in return, and the domestic economic situation was relatively good.

Ever since the Portuguese government amended the regulations concerning immigration, many Portuguese immigrants who wanted to go to Spain were blocked within the borders.

British industrial products also replaced Spanish industrial goods, which had a certain impact on Spain's export of manufactured industrial products.

Since Portugal does not give Spain face, Spain naturally does not need to give Portugal face.

On May 11, 1892, with the support of the Royal Security Intelligence Agency, the Portuguese Republican Party, in alliance with other anti-government parties, launched the Republican Uprising.

This uprising involved thousands of citizens and hundreds of mobilized police officers. People held high the red and green flag of the Republic and sang "A Portuguesa"—the song that would futurely become the national anthem of the Portuguese Republic—to express their dissatisfaction with the corrupt government.

The location of the uprising was Portalegre, a site carefully planned by the Republicans. Originally, during the era of Luis I, Portugal and Spain enjoyed relatively good cooperation.

The railway in the Spanish province of Extremadura ran directly to Portalegre in Portugal, and from there, it went all the way west to the Portuguese capital, Lisbon.

After Carlos I took the throne, as Britain strengthened its control over Portugal, Portugal chose to close the railway connection with Spain.

Although British industrial products quickly flooded the market, the people in the Portalegre region lost their jobs.

This place was originally an important material transit hub, and more than half of the goods Spain exported to Portugal were transited here.

After the railway was closed, all the transport workers here lost their jobs, and other staff at the transit hub were basically unable to make ends meet.

If one were to name the group most dissatisfied with the current Portuguese government, the people of the Portalegre region would definitely be the most intense.

With the uprising site chosen here, the masses in Portalegre did not mind contributing to the cause.

Precisely because of the participation of the local masses, the uprising, which originally had only a few thousand people, quickly evolved into a massive, sweeping movement with tens of thousands of participants.

More importantly, the insurgent forces possessed thousands of rifles. Although they lacked heavy weapons, these thousands of militiamen holding rifles could still cause a significant shock to the order in Portugal.

Portugal itself has a population of less than 5 million, and its standing army is less than 50, 00. If it were not for having the powerful neighbor of Spain nearby, I am afraid Portugal would not even be able to maintain a standing army of 50, 00.

Like Spain, the Portuguese army has not experienced decent combat for a long time. Most of the Portuguese army's combat targets were indigenous people in Africa, and those were not very populous tribes.

Under these circumstances, the uprising of tens of thousands of people quickly had a serious impact on the situation in Portugal.

The insurgent forces quickly broke into the Portalegre municipal government building, seized the armory located in the city, and integrated the local police and garrison.

This integration gave the insurgent forces thousands more rifles, and the momentum of the uprising grew, now having the capability to threaten Lisbon.

Because the actions of the insurgent army were quite rapid, several hours had already passed since the uprising began by the time the Portuguese government received the news.

The insurgent force of thousands quickly controlled the municipal government and the city council; by the time the Portuguese army rushed to the Portalegre region, the insurgent forces had even established a sizable defensive line.

Looking at the highly orderly defensive line before them, the Portuguese officers sent to suppress the rebellion immediately felt that something was terribly wrong.

Judging solely from the defensive positions dug by the opponent, their uprising was definitely not a spur-of-the-moment decision, but one long premeditated.

Even looking at it from a conspiracy theory perspective, the fact that these insurgent forces could occupy the municipal government and the council in such a short time suggests there might be support from other forces behind them.

Speaking of which, the situation within Portugal is quite chaotic. There are roughly two major forces in the country: the Conservatives and the Republicans.

And within these two factions, there are pro-British and pro-Spanish groups respectively. Among the pro-Spanish group, there are also Pan-Iberianists who not only support Portugal leaning toward Spain but even hope that the two countries on the Iberian Peninsula can merge to establish a super-power that would make other great powers tremble.

The main reason for such complex power relations within Portugal is the back-and-forth swaying between Britain and Spain during the time of Luis I.

At that time, because the Pink Map plan was forcibly crushed by Britain, the Portuguese public had considerable dissatisfaction and resentment toward Britain.

This also led to the prevalence of Pan-Iberianism across the entire Iberian Peninsula, with many Portuguese people believing that a merger between Portugal and Spain would make their lives better.

After the new Portuguese King, Carlos I, took the throne, he directly severed relations with Spain and turned to befriend Britain, which had an even worse relationship with Portugal.

Although this did allow Portugal to escape Spanish control, Carlos I clearly did not consider the opinions of the Portuguese people.

A few years ago, the British forcibly destroyed Portugal's Pink Map plan, and now Portugal is rushing to become the Britishers' lackey—is this not self-debasement?

Portugal is, after all, a former colonial empire; even if its current comprehensive strength is not equal to the European great powers, there is absolutely no need to be so humble and lean entirely toward Britain in politics and diplomacy.

In the same period in history, although the Republican Party in Portugal had already taken shape, most Portuguese people still believed in the monarchy and were willing to support Carlos I. This resulted in the Republican rebellions breaking out many times without ever posing a major threat to the ruling status of the Portuguese royal family.

In the end, it was the assassination that took effect, though it only changed the King for Portugal.

But now, with the Pink Map plan proposed earlier and destroyed by the British earlier, the relationship between the Portuguese public and Britain has become even worse than in history.

Carlos I's behavior of being so close to Britain has made the Portuguese quite dissatisfied, which also means that Carlos I has lost his popular base.

The scale of this uprising is far larger than in history, and the impact it has caused is also far greater than in history.

Originally in history, Carlos I only used a small number of troops to suppress the Republican uprising, but now, it has actually evolved into a head-on confrontation between the insurgent army and the Portuguese army.

Yes, this is no longer a simple uprising. Judging from the current development of the situation, it has evolved into an internal war in Portugal.

The topic of the Portuguese Civil War spread rapidly throughout Europe and also attracted the attention of multiple countries.

Britain is one of the countries most concerned about the Portuguese Civil War; after all, at this time, Portugal has completely leaned toward Britain, and Britain is unwilling to lose this ally.

On the second day of the civil war, the British government summoned the Portuguese ambassador to London and stated that Britain was willing to help Portugal resolve the domestic rebellion.

Yes, the British government used the word "rebellion." They believe the Republican uprising is a rebellion, and this war is not a civil war within Portugal; the Republican side is illegal, and they are attempting to steal Portugal's state power.

While Britain supports Portugal, Spain has also contacted the Portuguese Republican Party.

In order not to expose that the supporter behind the Republican Party is Spain, the weapons supplied by the National Security Intelligence Agency to the Republican Party were all purchased from other places, coming from multiple European countries.

Although some Spanish standard-issue weapons were mixed in, because of the large quantity and variety, other countries could not conclude that it was Spain supporting the Portuguese Republican Party.

On the second day after the Republican Party successfully launched the uprising, another large batch of weapons and equipment was shipped to the Republican Party.

Spain even kindly recommended a combat plan to the Republican Party, suggesting they attack Castelo Branco to the north, occupy the part of Portugal north of Lisbon, and divide Portugal with the government.

Continuing to attack Lisbon to the west is unlikely. After all, it is the capital of Portugal, and to prevent Spain from attacking them, Portugal has deployed a large number of garrison troops along the line east of Lisbon.

Relying solely on the current strength of the insurgent forces, occupying Lisbon is completely impossible. Attacking west will only waste troops in vain and ultimately allow the Portuguese government to quickly suppress this rebellion.

But if they continue to attack north, the possibility of victory will be much greater.

Castelo Branco and the area to its north, Guarda, are in the Spanish province of Castile and León; this region has another name, which is the Meseta Plateau.

Precisely because of the existence of the Meseta Plateau, the probability of Spain attacking Portugal from here is extremely low, so the defensive forces on the Portuguese side are naturally much smaller.

The province of Extremadura is located in the valley between the Toledo Mountains and the Sierra Morena; attacking Portugal to the west from here is a plain.

If they can attack the weakly defended areas of Portugal to the north, this uprising really has the hope of evolving into a larger-scale civil war, thereby changing the domestic landscape of Portugal.

Of course, if this uprising really evolves into a civil war, the British are very likely to intervene directly to help Portugal.

However, this might not be a bad thing for Spain; after all, the Britishers' personal intervention will only make the Portuguese hatred for Britain even deeper.

Even if Portugal can suppress this rebellion with British help, it cannot save the current situation of increasing hatred toward Britain within Portugal.

What Gao Da needs to do is to vigorously cultivate the number of Pan-Iberianists and pro-Spanish supporters within Portugal, and when the critical moment arrives, strike directly to forcibly bring Portugal into his own sphere of rule.

Seeing that the scale of this Portuguese civil war is getting larger and larger, Spain naturally will not miss this good opportunity to boost its reputation.

On May 15, 1892, Gao Da officially announced a donation of 5 million pesetas in supplies to the Portuguese public to help the Portuguese people in the civil war regions restore their normal lives.

The Spanish government also announced the next day that it would donate supplies worth 3 million pesetas to the Portuguese government and stated that the Spanish border near Portugal would be temporarily opened to take in those Portuguese people affected by the war who needed to protect their own safety.

Although the Portuguese government internally suspected that this rebellion might be supported by Spain, they had to express gratitude for Spain's public donation.

If there is no sufficient evidence for such things, speaking out will only make one's own situation even more embarrassing.

The Spanish government will not be harmed by a little groundless framing, while Portugal, on the contrary, will make this war even harder to fight by offending Spain.

On the day the uprising occurred, King Carlos I of Portugal summoned Prime Minister João Franco and demanded that he immediately mobilize the army to suppress this rebellion.

The hardliner João Franco immediately agreed to the King's request and promised to use the army to suppress this rebellion at all costs.

Unfortunately, the development of the situation quickly exceeded the expectations of Carlos I and João Franco.

The troops they sent out not only failed to quickly suppress this rebellion but instead fought back and forth with the insurgent forces.

Although the insurgent forces were all temporarily organized militiamen, the situation on the Portuguese army side was not too good either.

The Portuguese army had not experienced large-scale war for a long time, and coupled with the fact that the enemies before them were their own compatriots, they did not have much fighting spirit.

The Republican Party contacted several other opposition parties, and they lobbied some neutral officers and soldiers in the Portuguese army, attempting to disintegrate Carlos I's army.

Facts proved that doing so was truly effective. Not everyone in the army was a die-hard loyalist to Carlos I; after all, they were just Portuguese civilians before joining the army.

Carlos I had only been the King of Portugal for a short three years, and his foolish operations had failed to win him the loyalty of these troops.

Facing their own compatriots, and possibly even their own friends and family, it was already quite good that these Portuguese troops did not defect on the spot.

Some of them were truly unwilling to open fire on their own people because of government orders; they did not want the Portuguese to kill each other, as the number of Portuguese was already limited, and fratricide would only make Portugal weaker.

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(End of this chapter)