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Themilitary history of Portugal is as long as thehistory of the country, from before the emergence of theindependent Portuguese state.
Before the emergence of Portugal, between the 9th and the 12th centuries, its territory was part of important military conflicts – these were mainly the result of three processes.
The invasions during theMigration Period and theDecline of the Roman Empire, in the beginning of the 5th century, and the subsequent conflicts between conquerors (until the 8th century), namely:
The county of Portugal is traditionally considered to be formed upon the reconquest ofPorto byVímara Peres in 868, who received the county as reward byAlfonso III of Asturias. The military history of this county, in its 381 years of existence, was marked by battles against both fellow Christian and Muslim forces.
In the context of theReconquista, the County of Portugal expanded southward against Muslim forces, with considerable periods of conquest and loss. Some notable military conflicts within this period include thesiege of Coimbra in 1064 (by the Portuguese), thecapture of Santarém in 1111 (by theAlmoravids) and thesiege of Coimbra in 1117 (in which the Almoravids failed to capture Coimbra). In theBattle of Ourique (1139), then countAfonso Henriques won a victory against the Amoravid forces after which he would proclaim himselfKing of Portugal, with the support of his troops.
As the county of Portugal slowly grew in power, it often fought against Christian forces. In theBattle of Aguioncha (966/967),Gonzalo Menéndez, count of Portugal, defeats Galician countRodrigo Velázquez. Portugal's counts later started to style themselves as dukes, one of which became regent of the Kingdom of León between 999 and 1008 (Menendo González). In 1070, the Portuguese count Nuno Mendes wished the Portuguese title and theBattle of Pedroso was fought on 18 February 1071, the count being killed in combat led byGarcia II of Galicia. The later annexed the county and started to styled himself as "King of Portugal and Galicia" (Garcia Rex Portugallie et Galleciae). Garcia's brothers, Sancho II of Castille and Alfonso VI of Leon, united and annexed Garcia's Kingdom during that same year who agreed to split it among themselves, however the king of Castille was killed by a noble in that same year and Alfonso took Castille for himself and Garcia recovered his kingdom of Portugal and Galicia, but in 1073 the Alfonso VI gathered all power and started to style himself asImperator totius Hispaniæ (Emperor of All Hispania) since 1077. When the Emperor died, the Crown was left for his daughter Urraca, while Teresa inherited theCounty of Portugal. In theBattle of São Mamede (1128), Afonso Henriques defeats his mother's forces, leading him to proclaim himselfPrince of Portugal as its new ruler. In theLuso–Leonese War (1130–1137), Afonso Henriques and his cousinAlfonso VII of León and Castile would fight over territorial claims inGalicia, ending with theTreaty of Tuy in which, supposedly, Afonso Henriques recognized his cousin's authority in matters of land ownership. Conflict between the two parties would continue, namely in theBattle of Cerneja (1139) and with Henrique's proclamation as King in the aftermath of the Battle of Ourique (vs. the Almoravids).
On 24 and 25 July 1803, inCampo de Ourique, Lisbon, a regiment of infantry commanded byliberal army manGomes Freire de Andrade and the Legion of Light Troops commanded by the also liberal-leaning Marquis of Alorna mutinied against the state authorities, entering in confrontation with the then recently created Royal Guard of the Police. The end of the mutinies, of forcing political liberalism on Portuguese government, did not succeed.[2]
In 1805, then Princess regent (soon afterwards Queen)Carlota Joaquina promoted a conspiracy in Mafra with the objective of removing her husbandPrince João from regency by claiming him to be mentally incapable, assuming regency on her own in his place, being aided in the attempted coup by the Count of Sabugal, the Marquis of Ponte de Lima, the Count of Sarzedas, the Marquis of Alorna and Francisco de Melo. The attempted conspiracy did not succeed, but it did increase the tension between the couple to the point of a divorce or separation being considered, which was never advanced due to the damage that it would bring to the Portuguese state, and the couple still had two children after the attempted conspiracy of Carlota (Maria da Assunção, born in 1805, and Ana de Jesus Maria, born in 1806), although there are suspicions about the possibility of the four children of the couple born after 1801, including the 1802-bornMiguel, were not children of João but of one or several of the lovers of Carlota Joaquina).[3]
The riots of Saint Torcato was a popular uprising in the Portuguese country side with a strong mixture of religious influence and zealotry.[4]
During theNapoleonic Wars, Portugal was, for a time, Britain's only ally on the continent. Throughout the war, Portugal maintained a military of about 200–250 thousand troops worldwide. In 1807, after the Portuguese government's refusal to participate in theContinental System, French troops under GeneralJunot invaded Portugal, takingLisbon. However, a popular revolt against Junot's government broke out in the summer of 1808 and Portuguese irregulars took up arms against the French. This enabled a British army underArthur Wellesley to be landed in Portugal where, aided by Portuguese troops, they defeated Junot at theBattle of Vimeiro; this first French invasion was ended by theConvention of Sintra negotiated by his superiors, which allowed Junot's men to withdraw unmolested with their plunder. Meanwhile, the general revolt against the French in Spain led to the landing of SirJohn Moore in the north of that country, forcingNapoleon himself to lead an army into the Peninsula. Though Moore was killed, the British managed to extricate themselves from the Peninsula in theBattle of La Coruña. Portugal itself, however, remained independent of the French, and Napoleon left things in the Iberian Peninsula in the hands ofMarshal Soult.
Soult proceeded to invade Portugal in the north. However, the Portuguese held on, giving the British the impetus to send Wellesley back with additional regiments of troops to help recover the Iberian peninsula. Wellesley, aided by the remaining Portuguese regiments hastily scraped together, liberated Portugal. A third invasion took place, led by MarshalAndré Masséna. TheAnglo-Portuguese Army managed to halt the French advance at the fortifications ofTorres Vedras and successfully defeat Masséna's troops, and slowly recovered the Iberian peninsula. Wellesley was made Duke of Wellington in recognition of his services. The Portuguese army was put under the command of MarshalBeresford and was most heavily engaged under his leadership in the bloodyBattle of Albuera. Portuguese forces also formed part of Wellington's advance into southern France, in 1813–14.
The Setembrizada was the arrest and deportation of a group of personalities connected to the PortugueseFreemasonry,Jacobinist currents and following of the ideals of theFrench Revolution who hadcollaborated with the French occupation during the First Invasion, with the first detentions occurring between 10 and 13 September 1810 (hence the namesetembrizada), after the entry of the Second Invasion led by generalJean-de-Dieu Soult. By 1814, King João VI gave anamnesty to all the former collaborationists.
On 11 November 1820 (day of St. Martin, hence the name of the revolt, also known in slang as "o imbróglio", "the plot" or "a pavorosa", "the dreadful one"), a group of military leaders known asexaltados (exalted ones), who challenged the civilian rule in which the 1820 liberal Provisional Junta of Supreme Government of the Kingdom was falling and also what they considered to be the moderate proposals of a constitutional being drawn under influence of the liberal oratorManuel Fernandes Tomás [de;pt], defending instead the immediate adoption of theCádiz Constitution or even a more advanced liberal one. These groups rose up in a paradoxical wide informal coalition with conservative military and politicians and radical bourgeois people. It had a brief success, but by 17 November that year a counter-coup restores Manuel Fernandes to leadership of the Junta, forcing some Martinhada leaders, like Gaspar Teixeira de Magalhães e Lacerda, António da Silveira Pinto da Fonseca and Bernardo de Sá Nogueira, forced to exile, and only the sections of the Constitution relating to electoral instructions are adopted, at 22 November 1820, with the first elections after the 1820 Revolution (the elections for the General Extraordinary and Constituting Courts, that is, the Constitution writing constituting assembly) occurring under those instructions between 10 and 27 December 1820.
TheVilafrancada was the first of two uprisings ofPrince D. Miguel's uprisings supported by several other people of traditionalist andabsolutist leanings, against the liberalism adopted by his father D. João VI in the later phase of his rule.
On 30 April 1824, Prince D. Miguel rose again against his father. The King took refuge aboard the British ship Windsor Castle, with the aid of the Portuguese diplomatic corp, while grandes of the kingdom like the Duke of Palmela were arrested in Belém, being then moved to imprisonment in Peniche, with the then intendent-general of policeBaron of Rendufe being persecuted by the Miguelist rise-up, which then turned its attentions to the Count of Vila Flor (later more famous for his future title of Duke of Terceira) and the Count of Paraty. The reactionary philosopher José Agostinho de Macedo was one of the leaders of the rallying up of support among the masses for the movement, denouncing the prisoners the movement made at political rallies. On 13 May, D. Miguel was finally forced to leave for exile on board the frigate Pérola towards France, while on the following day D. João returned to Bemposta, and impeached the brutal pro-Miguelist Minister of Justice José António de Oliveira Leite de Barros, replacing him by Friar Patrício da Silva, and the Duke of Palmela was promoted to Minister of the Kingdom.[5]
After the Napoleonic War, the British ruled Portugal in the name of the absent king in Brazil, with Beresford as de facto Regent, until theLiberal Revolution of 1820 when they were driven out and the king was forced to return as a constitutional monarch. Over the next 25 years the fledgling Portuguese democracy experienced several military upheavals, especially theLiberal Wars fought between the brothersDom Pedro, ex-Emperor of Brazil and the absolutist usurperDom Miguel. To assert the cause of the rightful Queen, his daughterMaria da Glória, Pedro sailed fromTerceira in theAzores with an expeditionary force consisting of 60 vessels, 7500 men including theCount of Vila Flor,Alexandre Herculano,Almeida Garrett,Joaquim António de Aguiar,José Travassos Valdez and a volunteer British contingent under the command of ColonelsGeorge Lloyd Hodges andCharles Shaw and effected aLanding at Mindelo on the shores north ofPorto. On 9 July Porto was taken by the liberal forces, and after an inconclusive result at theBattle of Ponte Ferreira on 22–23 July were besieged in the city by theMiguelites for nearly a year until, in July 1833, the Duke of Terceira (as Vila Flor had now been created) was able to land in theAlgarve and defeat Miguel's forces at theBattle of Almada. Meanwhile, Miguel's fleet was comprehensively defeated by Pedro's much smaller squadron, commanded byCharles Napier, in the fourthBattle of Cape St. Vincent. The Miguelites were driven out ofLisbon but returned and attacked the city in force, unsuccessfully. Miguel was finally defeated at theBattle of Asseiceira, 16 May 1834, and capitulated a few days later with theConcession of Evoramonte. He was exiled, though his supporters continued to plot for his return and cause trouble up to the 1850s.
In the period of instability after the end of the Portuguese Civil War, several guerrillas happened between pro-governmental and anti-governmental local groups and between local groups and government forces, both by forces of the defeated Miguelites who kept the guerrillas and between different factions of Portuguese liberals. Among these were included:
The Revolt of Pinotes was the uprising atViana do Castelo within the biggerPatuleia revolution.[10]
A failed badly planned attempt of revolt against the government in the afternoon of 29 April 1847, which ended with the imprisonment of several of the involved members.
A conspiratorial movement in Lisbon and Coimbra in August 1848, inspired by thepopular and students' uprising of Paris from 22 to 24 February 1848 (which led to the fall of KingLouis Philippe I andthe proclamation of the Second Republic). It was controlled by the government of the Duke of Saldanha (with detaining of some of the heads of the conspiracy, the remaining ones falling in clandestinity), with the name by which the conspiracy became known deriving from the term used by Saldanha to define the organization ("revolutionary hydra")[11]
In the 19th century, Portugal became involved in thescramble for Africa, enlarging its territories inPortuguese Angola,Portuguese Mozambique, PortugueseCabinda, andPortuguese Guinea.
After the revolution that would establish theFirst Portuguese Republic, the Republic would suffer manycoup attempts, see Portugal enterWorld War I and end 16 years later with the28 May 1926 coup d'état.
Before the beginning of World War I, Germany already had interests in Portuguese African colonies and had negotiated with the British the possibility of annexation of Angola. German troops fought Portuguese ones in theMaziua raid in Mozambique, August 1914. In October of the same year, theNaulila Incident happened in Angola, which then culminated in theBattle of Naulila and theGerman campaign in Angola. These events happened while Portugal and Germany were officially at peace.
Portugal entered WWI on the 9th of March 1916, after Germany declared war on Portugal, following Portugal's compliance with a British request to confiscate German ships in Portuguese ports. On 15 July of the same year, Portugal is formally invited by the British to join theAllies and on August 7 the Portuguese Parliament accepts Portugal's participation in the war. In December 1916, there are naval confrontations nearFunchal. Naval confrontations in the Atlantic, which include sporadic bombardment of land inMadeira andAzores, continue throughout the war, with the last notable event being theAction of 14 October 1918.
Portugal sent an Expeditionary Corps of two reinforceddivisions (40,000 men) to France and Belgium, which fought alongside theBritish XI Corps. German offensives in the British sector hit the Portuguese hard, with one division destroyed on 9 April 1918 in theBattle of La Lys, as it became known in Portugal, orOperation Georgette or theBattle of Estaires to the British. In theTreaty of Versailles, the Portuguese acquired the territory ofKionga from what was onceGerman East Africa.
A raid byPaul von Lettow-Vorbeck's remaining troops evaded British troops and managed to penetrate relatively far intoPortuguese Mozambique, seizing arms, capturing troops, and sparking unrest among the population (African and European). The German forces met Portuguese ones in theBattle of Ngomano, where Portuguese forces were defeated.
Salazar gave material and diplomatic aid to Francisco Franco's nationalist forces while maintaining a formal neutrality. A special volunteer force of 18,000, calledOs Viriatos (in honour ofLusitanian leader and Portuguese national heroViriatus), led by regular army officers, was recruited to fight as part of Franco's army, even if unofficially. When the civil war ended in 1939, Portugal and Spain negotiated the Treaty of Friendship and Nonaggression (Iberian Pact). The pact committed the two countries to defend the Iberian Peninsula against any power that attacked either country and helped to ensure Iberian neutrality during World War II.
Although Portugal proclaimed neutrality in the conflict, the Japanese Imperial Army invaded thePortuguese Timor colony in distantOceania, killing thousands of natives and dozens of Portuguese. In response, the Portuguese civilians joined Australia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States against the Japanese. SeeBattle of Timor.
ThePortuguese–Indian War was a conflict with the Republic of India's armed forces that ended Portuguese rule in itsIndian enclaves in 1961. The armed action involved defensive action against air, sea and land strikes by a numerically superior Indian force for over 36 hours, and terminated in Portuguese surrender, ending 451 years of Portuguese rule inGoa. Thirty-one Portuguese and thirty-five Indians were killed in the fighting.
Portugal remained steadfastly neutral in World War II, but became involved in counterinsurgency campaigns against scattered guerrilla movements inPortuguese Angola,Portuguese Mozambique, andPortuguese Guinea. Except in Portuguese Guinea, where the revolutionary PAIGC quickly conquered most of the country, Portugal was able to easily contain anti-government forces through the imaginative use of light infantry, home defense militia, and air-mobile special operations forces, despite arms embargoes from other European countries. During the counterinsurgency campaigns in Angola and Mozambique, Portugal was significantly aided by intelligence provided by native residents who did not support revolutionary forces. However, the ideology of the guerrillas, especially the PAIGC, had a profound impact on the officers of the Portuguese armed forces and aleft-wing military coup in Lisbon by Portuguese military officers in 1974 toppled theCaetano government and forced a radical change in government attitudes. Faced with international condemnation of its colonial policies and the increasing cost of administering its colonies, Portugal quickly moved to grant the remainder of its African colonies independence.
Portugal was a founding member ofNATO, and, although it had scarce forces, it played a key role in the European approaches. After 1991, Portugal committed several infantry and air-landingbattalions to international operations. The Portuguese Army keeps soldiers inIraq,Jordan,Mali,Central African Republic,Somalia,Mozambique,São Tomé and Príncipe,Kosovo andBaltic states.
Since 1991, Portuguese Armed Forces have participated in the following missions;
NATO missions:
United Nations missions:
European Union missions:
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