Chapter 420: The Deterrence of the United Kingdom

When other European countries learned that the Portuguese Civil War had broken out once again, the situation within Portugal had already descended into complete chaos.

At first, it was merely an armed uprising initiated by the Iberian Party, which the Portuguese Republican government did not fear. After all, this was how they had come to power themselves; since the Republican Party had seized control through an armed uprising, it was only natural that they would have taken precautions against such things.

Long before declaring the Iberian Party illegal, the Portuguese Republican government had already mobilized an army of tens of thousands, stationing them in towns east and north of Lisbon for defense.

As the capital of Portugal, Lisbon was firmly controlled by the Republican Party. As long as the enemy was not allowed to breach Lisbon, these various armed uprisings would naturally fail to gain momentum.

But what the Republican Party never expected was that before the Iberian Party decided to launch their armed uprising, they had actually published a news article titled "To All Portuguese People."

In this article, the Iberian Party called on all Portuguese people to resist the dictatorial rule of the Republican Party. Before the civilians could even react, the various opposition parties across Portugal began to stir.

Although the combined military strength of these opposition parties could not match that of the Republican Party, this would lead to a problem: armed uprisings would break out all over Portugal.

Although the Republican Party was powerful, it could not maintain complete control over every part of Portugal. Once these opposition parties launched armed rebellions and seized their respective cities, Portugal would fall into a chaotic civil war, and ending such a war would not be easy.

The beginning of an armed uprising is the stage when these opposition parties are at their weakest. Once they control a city, they will have a massive amount of manpower at their disposal.

Do not underestimate the ability of these opposition parties to win over hearts and minds; even in cities painstakingly managed by the Republican Party, once they are controlled by these opposition parties, the local public sentiment will no longer favor the Republican Party.

Less than a week after the Iberian Party published the article "To All Portuguese People," the armed uprisings in Portugal had already spread to dozens of cities across the country, with several opposition parties participating and involving hundreds of thousands of people.

Braga and Porto in the north, and Olhão and Lagos in the south, were quickly occupied by the Iberian Party and other responding opposition parties; even Setúbal, near Lisbon, saw a medium-sized armed uprising.

If the Republican army had not quickly extinguished the uprising in Setúbal, this gateway to the southeast of Lisbon would likely have been handed over to others.

On July 12, 1904, after several days of development, the situation in Portugal had shifted from an armed uprising by the Iberian Party into a civil war between two sides, led respectively by the Republican Party and the Iberian Party.

The Republican Party controlled most of the original Portuguese government's armed forces, with about 80, 00 troops available for mobilization domestically.

The Iberian Party had already expanded its army to 20, 00, and with the scattered forces expanded by other opposition parties, the total number of troops was around 40, 00.

Although the Republican Party held a numerical advantage, these 70, 00 troops could not all be used to suppress the rebellion. The Republican government still had to worry about Spain, which was watching like a tiger, and at least tens of thousands of troops had to be stationed along the border between Portugal and Spain.

This created an awkward situation where the number of troops controlled by the Republican government and those controlled by the parties launching the armed uprisings were not significantly different.

The combat effectiveness of the Portuguese Army was not high, which was the reason why these regular troops and the opposition's insurgent forces were locked in a back-and-forth struggle.

The Republican army could not quickly resolve the armed rebellions across the country, and the opposition's forces could not quickly defeat the Republican army to seize power from the Portuguese government.

Although the Portuguese Civil War appeared evenly matched, this was not good news for the Portuguese Republican government.

As mentioned before, in the early stages of this war, the Republican government held a significant advantage. They controlled most of the country, had tens of thousands of troops to mobilize, and could even bring in troops from Portugal's African colonies.

Before launching their armed uprisings, these opposition parties did not substantially control any city in Portugal. As long as the Republican government could use its early advantage to quickly resolve these rebellious opposition parties, they could easily overcome this crisis.

But the fact that these opposition parties responded one after another to the Iberian Party's actions caused the Republican government's plan to quickly resolve the Iberian Party's insurgent forces in the early stages of the civil war to fall through.

Unable to quickly resolve the Iberian Party's insurgent forces early in the war, the Portuguese Republican government had to accept the fact that its territory was being continuously nibbled away by the enemy.

The Republican Party knew that dragging it out would be disadvantageous to them; the Iberian Party was able to create such a massive momentum, likely because they already had the support of the Spanish government behind them.

Twelve years ago, the Republican Party had relied on Spanish support to defeat the Portuguese Kingdom government; they naturally understood that with Spanish support, the Iberian Party had become their greatest threat.

To preserve their power, the Republican Party decided to find an ally capable of rivaling Spain, so that they could compete fairly with the Iberian Party.

Who was this ally? From the economic alliance treaty previously signed between the Portuguese Republican government and the United Kingdom, it was clear that the ally the Republican Party sought could only be the United Kingdom.

The British government was, of course, monitoring the situation of the Portuguese Civil War, and they were well aware that Spain must be standing behind the Iberian Party.

The United Kingdom was deeply wary of the gradually rising Spain. Spain had forcibly annexed Morocco during the British Boer War, which caused the British government to raise the threat level of Spain by several degrees.

To stabilize the situation in the Strait of Gibraltar, the United Kingdom increased its efforts to win over the Portuguese Republican government; this was the reason why the Republican Party, despite being supported by Spain, ultimately leaned toward the United Kingdom.

For the Republican Party, Spain was clearly the greatest threat. Their neighbor was simply too powerful, and even though they were supported by Spain, they could not abandon their guard against them.

Portugal needed to guard against Spain, and the United Kingdom needed Portugal to help maintain the balance in the Strait of Gibraltar. The two countries hit it off immediately; they quickly abandoned their mutual opposition and rapidly finalized a series of economic cooperation agreements.

After the Portuguese Republican government requested aid from the United Kingdom, the British government immediately decided to intervene in the Portuguese Civil War to help the Portuguese Republican government win the war.

During the last revolution in Portugal, the British government, for various reasons, did not directly intervene in the Portuguese revolution.

This led to the overthrow of the pro-British Portuguese monarchy, and the Spanish-supported Republican Party took control of the situation in Portugal, remaining hostile to the United Kingdom for the first few years of their rule.

If the Republican Party were to be overthrown by the Iberian Party, the United Kingdom would not only lose a Portuguese ally that had become pro-British again, but it would also cause these Portuguese parties to place even greater importance on Spain's opinions.