Chapter 418: Portugal Crisis

When the Russo-Japanese War ended, the governments and people of most countries believed that the world situation would usher in a brief peace.

Although the confrontation between the two major military groups in Europe still existed, both sides were in a stage where neither could do anything to the other; logically speaking, it was impossible for an extremely large-scale armed conflict to break out.

But what was unexpected was that shortly after the end of the Russo-Japanese War, a crisis with a very high probability of detonating the European situation appeared.

What crisis? Speaking of which, this crisis was also related to Spain.

Portugal, which Spain had always been thinking about annexing, had experienced a quite chaotic 12 years since the establishment of the Republic in 1892.

The Portuguese Republican Party gained the support of the people, defeated the Portuguese Kingdom government, and established the Portuguese Republic, declaring that it would build a republican government belonging to all Portuguese people.

At that time, almost the majority of the Portuguese people believed that this new republican government could save Portugal, and they provided a large amount of support for the rebellion launched by the Republican Party, which was also the reason why the Republican Party was finally able to defeat the Portuguese Kingdom government.

But when Portugal truly realized the republic, the people discovered that the so-called Portuguese republican government was not that beautiful. The problems that existed in Portugal before still existed in the republican government, and even with the party strife between the Republican Party and other parties, certain problems became even more acute and intense.

The republican government established by the Republican Party only wore the coat of democracy; in reality, most of the political power was controlled by a small number of people, and these people who controlled Portugal's political power all held quite a bit of military force in their hands.

To put it bluntly, the current Portuguese republican government was established by a coup, which also meant that the army was destined to have an extremely huge role and influence in the Portuguese government.

The Republican Party's coup relied on the support of the people, the assistance of Spain, and the help of various parties.

This also led to the fact that it was not just the Republican Party that controlled military power, but also other large parties including the Liberal Party, the Iberian Party, and others.

After obtaining the Portuguese political power, contradictions also erupted within the originally united parties. As contradictions erupted within the parties, everyone also began to use the military power in their hands to find some trouble for the other side.

The first few years of the establishment of the Portuguese Republic happened to be the darkest years for this country. Although the Republican Party generally held the highest political power, the dissatisfaction of other parties with the Republican Party grew increasingly intense, and they also planned multiple worker strikes, demonstrations, and armed uprisings.

Under the pressure of various parties and some dissatisfied people, Portugal experienced 20 different types of governments in just 12 years; these governments were composed of different parties, and a total of 14 people had served as the President of Portugal in those 12 years.

Just from this point, one could see how chaotic the political situation in Portugal was during this period; the average term of each president was less than one year, and the tenure of each government was only a little over half a year.

Under such circumstances, even if there were occasionally some quite capable presidents and cabinet governments, they could not achieve any outstanding political achievements during their short tenure.

The infighting among Portuguese parties successfully dragged down this country and also caused a large number of Portuguese people to migrate to Spain, which had a more prosperous economy and a more stable political situation.

Because the total population of Portugal had already exceeded 4.94 million in 1890, according to the estimates of the Spanish government, Portugal's population had the hope of reaching 5.4 million in 1900 and 5.7 million in 1905.

But the final result was that until the beginning of 1904, Portugal's population was only 5.34 million.

In these 12 years, at least 200,000 Portuguese people migrated to Spain. The Portuguese Republic could not block these immigrants because a large part of the reason they obtained political power was the support Spain provided them at the time.

Spain could support the Republican Party to overthrow the Portuguese Kingdom government, and naturally, it could also support other parties to overthrow the current republican government.

Although the Iberian Party, as one of Portugal's largest parties, was ostensibly a party founded by Portuguese people pursuing Iberian unification, whether this party had the support of the Spanish government behind the scenes was not a question for the Portuguese republican government.

The answer was certainly yes, but these supports were all in the dark, and the intensity of the support was not that high.

But if the Portuguese republican government also intended to be an enemy of Spain like the original Kingdom government, I am afraid Spain would immediately increase its support for the Iberian Party and seek the opportunity to annex Portugal.

If the Republican Party continued to keep a clear head, it was impossible for Gao Da to interfere in Portugal's domestic situation on the surface.

But looking at it now, the current Portuguese republican government seemed to have abandoned its original diplomatic stance. Facing the increasingly chaotic situation within the country and the Portuguese people who were gradually dissatisfied with it, the Portuguese republican government seemed to have a tendency to lean toward Britain again.

On June 12, 1904, the Portuguese republican government and the British government secretly signed the "Anglo-Portuguese Economic Mutual Assistance Treaty," seeking economic aid from Britain.

The British government very generously provided the Portuguese government with a low-interest loan of up to 8 million pounds, which far exceeded the total fiscal revenue obtained by the Portuguese government in a year.

Although Portugal still retained the title of a colonial power, in reality, Portugal was one of the poorest countries in Europe and also the most remote country in Europe.

Portugal essentially only had one neighbor, Spain, and because it maintained a long-term poor relationship with Spain, Portugal's connection with European countries could only rely on maritime transport.

This also led to the fact that Portugal did not have much economic exchange with European countries, and its economic and industrial development was obviously lagging far behind other countries in Central and Western Europe.

Originally, there was still a similarly declining Spain to accompany it, but after Spain gradually became stronger through reforms, the only one continuing to decline was Portugal.

Don't look at the fact that Portugal's land area and population were at the same level as many small and medium-sized European countries, but the industry and economy of these countries were still far ahead of Portugal.

Compared with small European countries like the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, and Sweden, Portugal was still at the very end of the ranks of these countries.

It was precisely for this reason that Portugal, as a country with a certain scale and territory since the Industrial Revolution, had always had the lowest sense of presence.

The 8 million pound low-interest loan obtained by the Portuguese republican government from Britain indeed eased the economic problems within Portugal, but this disobedient Portuguese republican government caused Gao Da to lose trust.

Spain absolutely could not allow Portugal to lean toward Britain again. Since the current Portuguese government was disobedient, Spain had sufficient reasons to replace Portugal with another government.

Starting from mid-June 1904, Spain strengthened its connection with the Portuguese Iberian Party and provided the Iberian Party with 20 million pesetas in funds, the reason being to support the proposition of Iberian unification.

Although the Republican Party was the protagonist of the Portuguese republican government, the Iberian unification thought derived from Pan-Iberianism had gained widespread support in both Portugal and Spain.

The reason for Spain's support for Iberian unification was also not doubted by these people, because in their view, Spain and Portugal indeed had reasons to unite.

The history of Spain and Portugal was highly similar, and the establishment of the countries was also due to the Reconquista. And in the Age of Discovery, Portugal and Spain both had their own achievements in circumnavigation and successively became powerful colonial empires at the time, ushering in a long golden age.

Portugal and Spain were not only powerful in the same period but also declined in the same period. If it weren't for Spain's resurgence due to the revolution, I am afraid it would only be Portugal's brother in adversity at this time.

Regarding the similarly experienced history of the two countries, many people still had a sense of intimacy in their hearts. Coupled with the fact that Portuguese and Spanish people had some or many similarities in language, religion, and customs, this was also the reason why Pan-Iberianism was prevalent on the Iberian Peninsula.

People who supported Pan-Iberianism believed that compared to other countries and nations in Europe, the Portuguese and Spanish people on the Iberian Peninsula should be one, and everyone was their own people.

Facing the relatively intense European situation, Spain and Portugal should also unite to deal with enemies outside the Iberian Peninsula together.

People firmly believed that the united Iberian Peninsula would become one of the most powerful countries in the world, even if it was not inferior to Britain, France, and Germany by half a point.

The combined population of the two countries had already reached more than 40 million, which was at the same level as France and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and more than the population of Britain and Italy.

The great powers that could exceed the combined population of Spain and Portugal were actually only Russia, Germany, and the United States. ===== CHAPTER 419 =====