Why was Portugal Neutral in World War 2?

Why was Portugal Neutral in World War 2?
Officially, Portugal was neutral during World War Two, although some debate whether they were actually non-belligerent due to a previously formed alliance with Britain. Ironically though, at some points during the conflict, Portugal actually showed favor to Germany, which proved that they were not, in fact, biased to one side or the other. But, this also showed that Portugal had relationships with multiple belligerent countries, which then begs the question, why was Portugal neutral?
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#History #Documentary

[@zim_christ_lion]

Speaking as a Zimbabwean of British descent. All my love to the Portuguese people. A loving, kind and compassionate people who give selflessly and are some of the friendliest people in the world. 💚💚🙏🏻🙏🏻🇿🇼🇿🇼🇬🇧🇬🇧🇵🇹🇵🇹

[@mursefaneca]

Rhodesians never die!

[@imjennasidel6703]

im portuguese and the same to you my brother

[@bibekjung7404]

Almighty God KABIR is the CREATOR OF all SOULS -- SAINT RAMPALJI MAHARAJ

[@55victorf]

🇵🇹🇩🇪🇵🇹🇩🇪

[@andrepereira744]

Thanks for your kind words, Sir. Unfortunately, me as a Portuguese, think that "we" as a nation are becoming worse and worse in those departments. Especially among the youngest generations. Greetings from Portugal and love to you and to yours, mate.

[@still_resume]

Fun fact: Portugal is the only country in the world to join WW1 but not WW2

[@zoltankarman7123]

Yeah so true

[@veersavarkar5857]

Turkey?

[@NateBlade17]

​@@veersavarkar5857 Turkey declared war on Germany at the tail end of the war (with no combat), so technically, they joined both World Wars.

[@QWERTY-gp8fd]

@@veersavarkar5857 turkey didnt exist in ww1. it was ottoman. which is well a OTTOMAN not TURKEY.

[@TreyMessiah95]

@@QWERTY-gp8fd what does that suppose to mean lol turkey was always called that

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Something else worth talking about is Japan's position when it came to Portuguese neutrality. They didn't care for it one bit when it came to Portuguese Timor. In December 1941, Portuguese Timor was occupied by a small British, Australian and Dutch force to stop a potential Japanese invasion. And said Japanese invasion came in February 1942. During the subsequent fighting, the Japanese suffered heavy casualties, but they were eventually able to contain the Australians. The campaign lasted until 10 February 1943, when the final remaining Australians were evacuated. Many Timorese and European civilians fought with the Allies or provided them with food, shelter and other assistance. Some Timorese continued resistance, but the Japanese took revenge on the Timorese for this, and tens of thousands of Timorese civilians died during the occupation. Though a bit of a different story for Macau. Japan actually respected neutrality there to an extent, and this led to economic prosperity for being the only neutral port in the region. But in August 1943, Japanese troops seized the British steamer Sian in Macau and killed about 20 guards. A month later, they ordered Macau to install Japanese advisors, virtually making Macau a Japanese protectorate. And when the US found out Macau was gonna selling aviation fuel to Japan in 1945, they launched air raids to destroy said fuel. After the Portuguese government protested, The US paid over 20 million dollars to the Portuguese government as compensation in 1950.

[@RodolfoGaming]

yeah salazar looked the other way in the pacific theatre anytime the japanese would put up fires, Portugal was simply no longer in a position to contest or support military actions there. Its actually surprising he got a lot from both sides

[@markusskram4181]

hey Avery been a while since I have seen your comments on KZbin videos. How are you doing?

[@TimSerras]

Japan invaded Portuguese Timor because it was in Australian hands thus breaking its neutrality. Simple. Macao was respected because the Brits didn’t interfere there.

[@RodolfoGaming]

@@TimSerras Australians were there because the Japanese didn't really respect other neutralities to start off with anyway and was invading China for it's own gain as well as in the time it was invaded the other east Asian countries/colonies that had the resources Japan lacked. Japan could've chosen to not invade the island which was merely insignificant given they had the dutch part of the island and the allies had naval and air bases in both Australia and new Guinea rendering timor strategically insignificant not to mention the fact that the allied force present there was way too small for offensive operations and was only meant to give some defence to the island inhabitants since Portugal was unwilling to do so in order not to give the axis a reason to fight Portugal until Salazar was pressured by UK to do as such (Portuguese elite garrison arrived too late because of Salazar stalling prior to the agreement either deliberately or impulsively out of fear of axis retaliation)

[@realhawaii5o]

Hello. I see you everywhere.

[@SERGIO-cr6uy]

🇬🇧🇵🇹 A bit of history: During WW2, a British Naval Intelligence Division Officer, Ian Fleming, was in Portugal, more specifically in Palácio Estoril. Palácio Estoril was known as a spy nest. It is there that Ian Fleming witnessed the game of spies between Germans, Brits and others. That inspired him for creating the fictional character of James Bond 007* and its first roman "Casino Royal" in 1953. In 1969, “On Her Majesty's Secret Service" was filmed in Portugal. (*Over 100 millions books sold, 27 movies)

[@Luzitanium]

Estoril was also the place where most of European Royals were settled due to political asylum, it became the most royal place on earth

[@joelfernando1]

​@@Luzitanium bela 💩

[@duartebraganca7785]

So casino royal was inpured by the casino in Estoril, or was IT another Casino that existed there in the 1940s, anyways very cool

[@mariahenriques6053]

😂True. It Proves the importance of Portugal along all europe history. They don"t praise themselves but they have been brave all over their long and astonishing history.

Not "Palácio Estoril" "Casino Estoril", it's not a Palace, it's a Casino.

[@albertorosales5555]

Small correction , Salazar had degree and PHD in Law , he was a professor not a simple graduate .

[@RodolfoGaming]

True, his main domain was economics and that's also how he got into politics

[@TheGrenadier97]

And he was a fine economist by the way.

[@RodolfoGaming]

@@TheGrenadier97 very true

[@___alessandro.007]

@@TheGrenadier97 He was not very good in the Economy... because in his government the Portuguese Economy had a strong State Corporatism linked to protectionism and the absence of an Industrialization, which gave a little space for competition. All these factors caused the Portuguese Economy to stagnat throughtout his government.

[@TheGrenadier97]

Perhaps his métier was fiscal governance, but i don't believe that industrialization and competition are absolute standards in the case of Portugal. Internal stability and opportunist market are much safer bets for a small State in such difficult decades than aggressive measures in the international scenario.

[@PeeGeeThirteen]

You glossed over WW1 being a major reason for Portugal not joining WW2. Portugal's disastrous involvement in WW1 during the 1st Republic suffering many casuslties and embarament hurt big time Salazar was instrumental at keeping Franco neutral to avoid having Germany invade the peninsula

[@oldwine2401]

Portugal's army was spread across the globe, The best companies were not sent to France. Portugal's interests were not in Europe at all.

[@tunespt]

Well, being a fact we were heavily beaten in WW1, it's not the major reason. Our interests at the time had nothing to do in europe, besides peace. Salazar was a a very wise man and protected the country as a whole.

[@GenikaXVI]

Our population is very tiny, no troops to fight those big wars

[@MysteryPuke]

@@tunespt and then thrusted the country into unnecessary death in Africa. Get a grip mate. Portugal didn't enter the war because it didn't matter if it did or not. Was not a great feat of strategy by uncle O of S

[@RodolfoGaming]

If Portugal had something to gain in WW2 that was as significant as it was in ww1 the it would've fought. Just look at Italy, hungary and Bulgaria who all had devastating post ww1 repercussions and fought because of threat of axis/soviet invasion + no neutrality guarantees from allied side. Portugal had less to lose from it's land being occupied and the Germans also had something to gain from the trade instead of invading. Portugal choosing the axis would mean starvation and loss of overseas possessions while choosing the allies would mean axis invasion and devastating of the motherland and the best technology in the country as well as exploitation. Being neutral meant both strategic goals were secured, keeping colonies and staying afloat

[@leandromiguel4481]

Portugal however did send in troops to France to help them during ww1 , although the battle of La Lys ( that's its name in Portugal) was a disaster for Portugal , 1 men stood out from that battle , Anibal Milhais , or the soldier worth a million men , 1 of most forgotten heroes during ww1, i know this is during ww2 but just a little known fact lol

[@JAG8691]

My Paternal Grandfather fought are La Lys.

[@TheAtlasReview]

I find the "neutral" countries in WW2 very interesting. Ireland and Portugal leaned more to the Allies, whereas Sweden, Argentina, Turkey, Switzerland and (especially) Spain leaned towards the Axis for a wide array of pragmatic and ideological reasons.

[@peterboeckmans7726]

Indeed all South American countries were axis alligned to some degree. Only Brazil really became an ally

[@ptafonsofm]

​​@@peterboeckmans7726 Brazil was about to be an Axis member but allied pressure made them join the allies

[@darkwolf1202]

Portugal played a double game. Salazar was smart enough to please both sides, and maintain his dictatorship no matter who won.

[@fk_yu]

​@@ptafonsofm e a construção de uma siderurgia no brasil pelos americanos. Eles não tinham na altura

[@eneaganh6319]

As Portugal was also a fascist state, salazar himself probably supported the acis but he couldn't do anything cause John I 600 years prior or so

[@TSilva96]

2 fun facts: 1 - Portuguese volunteers from the Blue Division fought for the axis in the east front against the soviets. 2- The parisian resistance cells had many portuguese fighters some of which took part in the liberation of the city before allied forces arrived from Normandy.

[@marusdod3685]

can confirm, one of my great grandparents was there

[@tomasemidio2465]

@@marusdod3685 Huge coincidence, I had a great grandparent there as well

[@fabiomacario7638]

Fun fact nowdays our gold our assets are in britain hands. But we dont forget, and they also should remember bota fogo and the twins. We Will get it Back!!! As Well as the gold invested in drexel!!!!☝️

[@isaoport2246]

Contre les russes ?? Ils étaient nos alliés et c'est grâce aux russes que nous avons gagné contre les nazis ??? Vous vouliez dire contre les allemands ??

[@HistorywithWhiskey]

You got it wrong in 09:00 .Salazar didn't led a coup in 1933. The background picture is from the 1926 coup led by the armed forces, where you can see Great War hero general Gomes da Costa (in the horse waving a sword in the air) Salazar was first the Minister of Finances (1928-1932) . In 1933 he demanded more authority and so he became the President of The Minister's Council, a modern Prime Minister, but it wasn't a coup and in 1926 he wasn't part of the coup as he wasn't in the military.

[@jocksilver7]

Of course, one thing is the May Revolution (28/5/26), and another thing is the 2nd Portuguese Republic, or Estado Novo (33). To Caesar his own.

[@LucianoMMatias]

Fun fact: The exploration of volfram was supervised by English engineers and there were also German technicians who selected the cargos to be sent to Germany. A ridiculous situation.

[@v.miguel.almeida]

People always forget the fact that overseas empire was at stake in Africa, in one side, there was direct borders with german colonies, and on the other side a total maritime blockade threat from Britain.

[@diogoferreira7427]

That was during ww1, during ww2 germany had no colonies in Africa, they were all given to Britain if I'm not mistaken

[@v.miguel.almeida]

@@diogoferreira7427 My mistake, I made a confusion with situation in WW1 that lead for Portugal's entrance in the great war, besides the eagerness for affirmation of the recently established Portuguese republic in world diplomatic stage. Nonetheless, it'd be either attacked by Britain or by Germany.

[@smparreira]

during WW1 portugal & germany were directly at war on the namibia-angola border

[@josepedrobaptista7515]

Thank you very much for this outstanding video! I'm very happy that you're taking an interest in Portuguese history. It's always cool to see how the world sees Portugal, puts things into perspective. Antonio Salazar is a particularly challenging figure to understand, though his intentions towards the country's economic growth and overall national improvement were good, the price for his reforms was too high and naturally led to revolt (needless to say, to the opposite side of the political spectrum). I think that this video is a good reminder that Salazar shouldn't be demonized, as he currently is, but rather studied carefully. Portugal did remain neutral and avoided the catastrophe and the economy and national health did improve considerably, after all. Keep up the amazing work and again, thank you very much! VIVA PORTUGAL!

[@rodrigofpteixeira]

All dictators should be demonized, Salazar is no different and he ruled Portugal to his own interests.

[@o.portista]

So glad, we are spoken about. Were a country that never get the respect we truly deserve, especially with how small we are.

[@michaeladams2959]

Respect is earned, but I get your point.

[@Uzair_Of_Babylon465]

Fantastic video keep it up you're doing amazing things 😁 👍

[@sunburstshredder]

I've been wondering about this, thanks for uploading!

[@kevinfrancisco6504]

Salazar had also learned from the mistakes of the Republic during WWI. Portugal was involved in the war and it had bad impact in the economy of Portugal (0 compensation for the war efforts), portuguese people didn't understand why portuguese soldiers went to war, so the war had a huge negative impact on portuguese people and on the Republic (which at the same time also decided to give less power to the religion in Portugal while religion has always been really important for portuguese people). Salazar learned a lot of all these mistakes and played well with the neutrality to maintain the country safe, developed the portuguese economy, and avoid possible protests from portuguese people

[@history-jovian]

That is actually smart

[@smparreira]

1st republic were in fact lots of regimes ... the milkitaristic cdictator (Sidonio?) wanted to go to war so he sent CEP (portuguese expeditionary corp) and when deposed the next government refused to get the troops back ... fearing "another" military intervention

[@tiagogomes3807]

Its clear why Portugal entered WWI. To save their colonies from being conquered by Germany. And so they went to North Mozambique and fought the germans. A huge loss followed by another huge loss and yet another huge loss. That's how Portugal lost his army, with a embarrassing defeat against a german army with less man and lighter armament. In what was supposedly home ground. The year after the British gave Portugal a chance to clean the face. A chance Portugal couldn't refuse to be in the winners table at the end of the war. And so there went a couple thousand farmers to their almost certain death. So Portugal could withhold their African colonies. Portugal kept the colonies but the year after the man who returned from the european frontline would commit a coup and start a killing spree which lasted until Salazar rose to power. The invitation to take part in France was a "favour" Britain made to Portugal. If Portugal hasn't join the French would at the end of the war take the former german colonies and of course the colonies of Portugal as well as they were unable to defend them. England wasn't capable of taking Control of them all but also didn't want France to have them and keeping them in portuguese hands was their solution to the problem.

[@Allskil88]

@@tiagogomes3807 We entered WW1 to save our colonies from being conquered by Germany *BECAUSE* we entered the war. The Germans had given guarantees in Africa, and it was English pressure and abuse of our African borders that raised the hostilities in Africa. Finally, the port arrest ultimatum from the English forced us to act and thus the Germans to declare war. The Germans attacked us in Africa as a consequence of our joining the war, not as cause.

[@anomalousviewer3164]

What was your point of saying not giving more power to religion?

[@tonylove4800]

Very good indeed. I've watched another video about this which was informative but this is informative AND entertaining. A bit of a different angle. The other one mentioned the Portuguese brigade which I didn't really know about. Thank you for this.

[@Vrykron]

You know today's a good day when there is a new Knowledgia video!

[@oliversherman2414]

As a Brit, I think very highly of our Portuguese friends, despite their decision to stay out of WW2. 🇬🇧🇵🇹

[@miguelpadeiro762]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1890_British_Ultimatum?wprov=sfla1😘😍🥰😗😍🤩☺️😚

[@homelessjesse9453]

And you would've abandoned them like your nation abandoned Poland.

[@jfarinhote]

Staying out was a political and tactical move. Portuguese neutrality helped spain being neutral as well

[@oliversherman2414]

@@jfarinhote yeah I know

[@reds20009]

isnt portugal the oldesnt ally of GB?

[@Allskil88]

Staying out of the war provided Salazar with a lot of political leverage back home. Portugal had had a disastrous experience in WW1, and left it feeling bitter and betrayed by its own allies (France and England) for whom they fought. This somewhat directly led to Salazar's rise to power, and continued as a talking point. Several propaganda posters of the time show bombed out French and German towns, with captions such as "It is Salazar who protects you from sharing this fate".

[@monolith94]

If you’re going to have a dictator in charge you could do a lot worse

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

Portugal fun facts: In Porto, they opened a McDonald's in 1995 inside the historic Cafe Imperial, a former coffeeshop that was in the city since the 1930s. It has massive stained-glass windows and chandeliers. On top of that, it has a GIANT bronze eagle at the entrance designed by sculptor Henrique Moreira. Many call it the world's most beautiful McDonald's. Goes to show you there are still locations that resist the minimalistic design changes that many McDonald's locations have made. The Portuguese Empire lasted from 1415 with the conquest of Ceuta (now in Spanish hands) and ended in 1999 when Macau was transferred to China. In the wake of the Reconquista, Portuguese sailors began exploring the coast of Africa and the Atlantic archipelagos in 1418-1419, using recent developments in navigation, cartography, and maritime technology such as the caravel, with the aim of finding a sea route to the source of the lucrative spice trade. They'd eventually go around Africa to reach Asia. Portugal is famous for tarts known as pastel de nata. These were created by many Catholic monks sometime before the 18th century. At the monastery, they used egg whites for starch (laundry and all that), but what to do with the egg yolks? Bake ‘em into stuff, of course! Thus the tastiest custard tart in the world was born. Tempura originated in Portugal! Toward the end of the 16th century, the technique of fritter-cooking with a batter of flour and eggs was acquired in Nagasaki from Portuguese missionaries. It was a way to fulfill the fasting and abstinence rules for Catholics surrounding the quarterly ember days.

[@markocroatia7630]

Weird, Portugal have large lasted Empire but still have 10 million inhabitans and haven't secure larger motherland Portugal like Spain's Galicia to be bigger country. I expected from that country to be larger at size and more like 30 million inhabitans.

[@Getit100]

@@markocroatia7630The Portuguese have been known to Emigrate away from the country. They have always loved to travel and explore the world… 🌎 We have a couple million Portuguese Americans in California 🇵🇹🇺🇸

[@ptafonsofm]

If we count with Madeira and Azores, the empire is still here, but they got integrated into Portuguese core territory

[@Leppymusic]

​@@markocroatia7630 well... Supposedly Portugal was the first country in the world to define it's own borders and we've kept them that way ever since... Even though we have been invaded by the moors, Romans, Spanish, French and several barbaric tribes over the years we've kicked them out but never claiming more territory from Spain. So the territory isn't huge and I believe we're at 11 million inhabitants by now. We did had colonies but considerably far away.

[@user-cy1dt8op6o]

Great work! keep going

[@lerneanlion]

Sometimes, remaining neutral turned out to be a big mistake like when Austria did during the Crimean War. But sometimes, remaining neutral like Portugal during the World War II is the best decision like ever.

[@plafskijenkins1357]

Austria was a great power at the time, Portugal was less than Italy.

[@patrickjeffers7864]

Austria actually lost by not fighting lol

[@JDDC-tq7qm]

​@@plafskijenkins1357At least Portugal didn't get humiliated like Italy did in their failed invasion of Greece 😂😂

[@testerpt5]

@@plafskijenkins1357 militar and economic might absolutely yeas, but population and resources potential far outweighet Italy. At tge time Portugal full aggregated territory land surface and population was superior to Italy. Even today Portugal is one of the biggest geographic countries jn Europe IF you consider both land surface and sea surface. we are really badly managed bu both politicians and self proclaimed “economic” elites.

[@mendesjosr4438]

The key of Portuguese neutrality is Gibraltar. To drag Portugal into the war would mean Spain would be dragged in as well (either by Hitler forcing Franco into a military alliance or through invasion of Spain). Spanish neutrality protected Gibraltar from an attack from the mainland so the British were quite keen on it. Ideologically Salazar was closer to the Axis, but not fully aligned, NAZISM was too heathen for Salazar's liking. He was closer to the conservative dictatorships of Hungary, Austria before the annexation, Spain and even Italy. The Portuguese were also suspicious of the British. They were made aware that british diplomacy, begore 1939, wanted to give the portuguese colonial Empire (and belgian)to Germany in a "final settlement" thus avoiding the return of former German colonies in their posession. The sentence "perfidious Albion" was used by Salazar who had lived through the ultimatum of 1890 that started the process that brought down the monarchy and the secularism of the Portuguese first Republic, which Salazar hated, so Salazar did not trust Britain. He knew Portugal's interests and even internal stability would have been thrown under the bus by the UK without even an afterthought if it suited the UK. As iberian neutrality suited Britain best the wolfram trase was seen as a reazonable trade off for the Azores until the war situation showed Germany could no longer involve the Iberian peninsula. At that point it was made to stop. Spain was also not interested in joining the war even if Hitler tried to tempt Franco into it. The economic situation of post civil war Spain made it dependent on food coming in from the Americas. That would have stopped by the British navy and Germany, despite promising new lands to Spain, could not guarantee the replacement of these food supplies. Franco also despised Hitler even if he admired NAZI Germany. Hitler is a corporal and Franco was spanish military aristocracy and a General. In the end Franco and Salazar were lucky and wise at the same time and saw their dictatorships survive well into the 1970's In the long run both Franco

[@juann1492]

I dont think franco admired nazi Germany, he wasnt even close to fascism, and years away from nazism ideologically.

[@jocksilver7]

''Perfidious''. The man damn sure knew how to choose words.

[@ShepardCommander]

While Portugal was a right wing dictadorship, with persecution of the people and the press, it was never on the level of nazi germany. If Portugal had joined the war at any side, not only would it have to fear spain joining the other side or the iberian peninsula being conquered, but aslo a potential revolution from the people.

[@MOZAMUSIC2011]

excelente comentário mas " The sentence "perfidious Albion" was used by Salazar who had lived through the ultimatum of 1890"....o Salazar tinha 9 meses de idade aquando do Ultimato de Janeiro de 1890....😀

[@jocksilver7]

@@MOZAMUSIC2011 sim, e depois foi para a escola e depois para o Seminário, e depois para a Universidade, onde com certeza, entre os meios Monárquicos de Direita que frequentava, o Ultimatum seria como um espinho cravado no amor-próprio e orgulho pátrio. Quantas vezes pérfida foi Albion? E de resto, a expressão ''lived through'' está correcta - mesmo com 9 meses, ele viveu nesses anos.😁

[@Hapotecario]

Esta secção de comentários é incrível. Devia ser sempre assim.

[@s3killerspt639]

Fun fact that's actually not that fun: Salazar was a dictator. Me being a Portuguese, old people like my grandpa say that he was a good person, but people like my mom who was born in the 80's say that he wasn't actually that good of a person

[@hydravegetal8239]

Infelizmente, há cada vez mais portugueses com vontade de um novo Salazar. O Chega é a expressão moderna do neofascismo em Portugal.

[@jocksilver7]

Always trust the elders sageness. The real ones in your lifetime.

[@scotthegley4723]

Interesting subject, thanks!

[@TobinPT]

You forget to mention one important fact. If Portugal joined one side it would put in dangerous the colonies in Africa and Asia in case of defeat.

[@ianrager4]

He did say that. He said it when talking about the Iberian Pact. He stated "This would put both nations colonies at risk"

[@hugosenshida999]

Im pretty sure if portugal lost, their colonies would not be only the payment to the winners

[@herlandercarvalho]

Not contesting the historical facts of the video, or even if Portugal not having joined the WW2 on either side was a good or bad decision (probably good). However I find it disturbing the fact that it was not mentioned that part of his politics were much more aligned with those of fascism. What is also very disturbing is seeing people in the comments section praising him, even if they acknowledge that he was head of an autocratic regime AND a dictator, since he was never elected in a democratic process. EVER!

[@hydravegetal8239]

Infelizmente o fascismo está na moda hoje em dia, incluindo em Portugal. Se não tivermos cuidado, as coisas podem facilmente recuar.

[@eduardextreme]

O Estado Novo nunca foi fascista, por mais que tenha sido uma ditadura e um regime autoritário. Aliás, havia um movimento fascista liderado por Rolão Preto que o Salazar sempre se opôs. Qualquer conversa contrária é apenas ignorância e propaganda socialista do pós-ditadura.

[@joseleandrobaptista5690]

Love your videos

[@user-cf1pr8jy3i]

For those who want to understand Portugal's neutrality in WW II these are the most well spent 12 minutes in the internet, I'm really surprised. Conciseness, accuracy and coverage of multiple aspects. Well done.

[@macmaniac3080]

Finally someone looks at Portugal unbiased! Well done, this is a very accurate portrait of an obscure episode of this very interesting nation

[@TheIdiotsAreTakingOver_]

As a Portuguese I look back in shame for my country not having had fought against Nazism. The only saving grace was the fact that a lot of refugees used Portugal to escape the war, which might had been more difficult without the neutrality stance in WWII.

[@TheSonicPT]

Great video. A great segue way to this would be how Salazar's position towards the Marshall plan impacted the country economical development in comparison to other countries that were in fact devastated by war.

[@roderichemnetrand6423]

Thanks for the video👍 Could you also make videos about some other neutral countries in WW2, that would be awesome. (or are there already some?)

[@DoomshopMF312]

Fun fact, Portugual didn't join because he didn't trust Spain being that they are on the axis and all. Plus, Spain and Franco did have a conversation about the possibility of invading Portugual.

[@TimSerras]

You are wrong there. Franco never intended to invade Portugal. It was Azaña, the socialist President who thought about it but he was advised not to do it.

[@AlejandroLopez-ed8kj]

​@@TimSerrasWhat? Sources, please.

[@DoomshopMF312]

@@TimSerras While it is said Salazar was sympathetic to the Spanish cause, he was not so much accepting of Nazi ideology. Along with the very real possibility of an invasion from Spain if they were to perhaps join the wrong side. Not a guarantee, but it truly was Portuguals safest bet to remain neutral otherwise, as stated it didn't have the military means to logitically supply any sort of defense if Germany were to invade thru Spain.

[@TimSerras]

@@AlejandroLopez-ed8kj Why would Franco invade a country that helped him during the civil war? Remember that most of logistical support to the Nationalist Franco forces namely food and ammo came through Portuguese ports with Salazar’s approval. Azaña however was an enemy of conservative and deeply catholic Salazar regime.

[@TimSerras]

@@DoomshopMF312 It doesn’t make sense at all. Why would Germany and Franco invade Portugal if Salazar although not very sympathetic to Nazis, he did Sell the much needed wolfram to the germans and got along well with Franco. Besides, Portugal was never a major player in European arena due to its geographycal position and small population.

[@gillesaboubechara2978]

You forgot a small point: Japan invaded Portuguese East Timor but Portugal didn't even declare war

[@rubenmicaelo3980]

But Portugal did send troops to east timor , my grandpa was one of them

[@fabiomendes3545]

4:48 funny thing, Portugal's wolfram is of a surprisingly good quality, still is

[@jacksilvapro]

Amazing video, but just wanna give you 2 corrections: 1°. In 1:43 he's name isn't John I but D. João I, also known for "Mestre de Avis". 2°. Around 8:16, Salazar forbidden the giving of passports to jews and other refugees, however some portuguese guys with the power to give them that passports went against it's rules, risking it's own live if discovered, to save hundreds of thousand people

[@marciocarvalho8975]

Is important to mencion that Salazar was an dictator and at the time Portugal still had the Áfrican colonies! As all dictators Salazar was a mad man so he had afraid to lost the colonies...

[@canal10centrado]

The neutraliry of Portugal goes way deeper then this. We had an underground facility to build airplanes for germany on the biggest fieldstrip of Europe. We also did buziness with the USSR to continue neutral, they needed grain so we sold tons and tons of grain to the Soviets. Even our small arms contracts were used to balance our neutrality. Our small arms were all axis pattern such as Mauser Rifles and P-38 pistols because allied countries didn't want to sell their firearms. We were at war on our colonies Agola, Mozambique and so on.

[@Omega_PT]

thank you for talking about my country in your channel we fought in the first world war

[@WilliamEvans-xy5og]

Thank you 🇵🇹 for being a real ture friend from 🇬🇧

[@cfmcabrita]

Quite a good video, its a complex subject and I think you only missed one point. Although a neutral country, Portugal was attacked in II WW by both sides. Timor Leste was part of Portugal and due to its location Australian forces invaded the territory in Dec 1941. The invasion was toleraded locally and there were no fights whatsoever. The Portuguese government protested the action but without success. Unfortunately, in Feb 1942, there was a Japonese invasion that was quite bloody. The Australian forces were defeated and retreated to the mountains where they started a guerrilha warfare. Due the Japonese aggressiveness the Australian gain the support of the local population but they were ordered to retreat in Jan 1943. Salazar at the time was furious and even ordered the preparation of an expedition force to recover Timor. This would mean joining the war on the allies side with all the risks explained on the video. The expedition force was never sent and in 1945 the Japonese forces stationed in Timor surrendered the weapons to the Portuguese civil autorities. Unfortunately, during the Japonese occupation dozen of thousands of civilian lifes were taken.

[@giovanni_vaz_cardoso]

The australians did not invade, they were allowed to enter in order to help defending against the japanese.

[@cfmcabrita]

@@giovanni_vaz_cardoso I'm afraid there was no authorization from the Portuguese government and afterward there was a protest, although there was no fights its still an invasion.

[@giovanni_vaz_cardoso]

@@cfmcabrita It is not an invasion, there was a warning and the portuguese let them in, yes some were against that and that's why there were protests, but the overall attitude towards it was "oh it's our buddies coming in to help us defend ourselves" rather than "oh we're being invaded" like it was with the japanese.

[@cfmcabrita]

@@giovanni_vaz_cardoso it mentions: "Acontece que a Austrália, a fim de impedir que o território constituísse um ponto de apoio ao avanço japonês, tinha ocupado Dili a 17 de dezembro. O governo português considerou esta medida uma violação da neutralidade, protestou junto dos Aliados.."

[@cfmcabrita]

Apparently the link to my source was deleted... The mentioned text can be found on the RTP website that is the Portuguese public TV broadcaster... If anyone have a source stating otherwise please post

[@___David__]

The Treaty of Windsor is STILL enacted and valid to this day. It wasn't ended at any point in time. Which is why it's still considered the world's Oldest Alliance. Also, while Germany's Military Command DID have a plan to invade Portugal and Spain, there's plenty documentation proving it was Hitler himself who continuously stopped any invasion. Meaning Franco's feelings toward Germany would be irrelevant if Hitler had decided to invade. That being said, if Napoleon failed to conquer Portugal, if Spain throughout centuries, failed to conquer Portugal...if Rome itself went through Hell and had to resort to treachery to finally subdue Lusitania...yeah, it wouldn't be the Germans to be able to conquer us. We would have kicked them out back to Schwarzwald.

[@holycow73589]

Cool stuff

[@511KnowledgeHub]

Good Analysis

[@virenor]

8:38 Side fact: This photo was taken during the siege of Warsaw. A Polish soldier looks at a poster with the inscription "To arms - tight and united we will defeat the enemy". The poster was created shortly before German invasion by Polish artist Adam Siemaszko. This particular one hangs on the column of already damaged Warsaw Opera Hall. The photo was taken by American photographer Julien Bryan, considered the only foreign journalist documenting the death of the city. As soon as he arrived at September 7th, city's mayor provided him with a car, an interpreter and bodyguards so that he could freely film the city and show the world the German methods of total warfare and the bombing of the city by the Luftwaffe. The mayor knew the key role of international media in efforts to get any help from Western countries. Two weeks later Bryan escaped from burning Warsaw with many iconic pictures (including the first-ever color photographs of World War II on Kodachrome film) which were soon printed in Life and Look magazines. Moreover, he shot 80 minutes of motion picture film and managed to present it to President Roosevelt. Despite the hopes placed in all these (and many other) efforts, the results in terms of aid delivered have been very modest, to say the least. Warsaw Opera Hall (Grand Theatre-National Opera currently) was destroyed in 75%, reconstruction was completed in 1965. Adam Siemaszko survived the war in Soviet and later German captivity. Stefan Starzyński, the mayor, was most likely executed in prison in 1939. Julien Bryan visited Warsaw several times after the war, always greeted as a city hero.

[@brunobaia7898]

There was no Salazar coup. In 1926 there was a coup, not led by him. 2 years later he was appointed finance minister and in 1933 the dictatorship was born, with him as prime minister.

[@MOZAMUSIC2011]

a ditadura começou em 1926, Salazar instituiu outra ditadura, em 1932. Depois de 1926, foi sempre ditadura. Abraço

[@paulocosta4744]

The Brits actually asked us to keep out without asking to keep out. This way, they wouldn't have to defend Gibraltar and the Mediterranean access, because, since Portugal would have to join the war on the British side, Spain would join with Germany. And Spain had actual plans to invade Portugal, they asked the Austrian painter to send in the Luftwaffe, and the Austrian painter said no. The Iberian Pact wasn't worth the paper it was signed on.

[@Koala1203]

Heróis do mar, nobre povo, Nação valente, imortal, Levantai hoje de novo O esplendor de Portugal! Entre as brumas da memória, Ó Pátria, sente-se a voz Dos teus egrégios avós, Que há-de guiar-te à vitória! Às armas, às armas! Sobre a terra, sobre o mar, Às armas, às armas! Pela Pátria lutar! Contra os canhões, marchar, marchar!

[@geoms6263]

Political Career Salazar was a member of the 'Academic Centre for Christian Democracy.' In January 1921, he established the 'Catholic Center Party.' Soon, he began his political career with the 'Cortes' (parliament). However, he stayed only for one session and then resumed his job at the university. In May 1926, Salazar's name was proposed for the post of the minister of finance. He declined the offer because he was not given the autonomy he desired. In 1928, when General Óscar Carmona became the president, Salazar received the offer again, but this time, he had full control over the government's income and expenditures. Thus, he accepted the offer. As a finance minister, Salazar ended Portugal's tradition of public debts and became the first to introduce fiscal surpluses, which were used for several development projects. He also stabilized the currency and brought in a balanced budget. Salazar brought financial stability and abolished the import of foreign goods. He reduced the state budget and introduced a new tax structure. On April 15, 1929, Salazar became the 'Grand Cross of the Order of Saint James of the Sword.' In July 1929, Salazar wanted to resign because the government had canceled a law that had benefited many religious organizations in the past. He, however, remained in the ministry. The following year, he assumed his duties as the minister of colonies and announced the 'Colonial Act' of 1930, which brought the overseas territories under his administration. To justify Portugal's colonial policies, Salazar adopted the theories of Lusotropicalism, according to which he proved Portugal’s exceptional ability to adapt to multicultural environments and maintain harmony among multiracial societies. Surprisingly, many of Salazar's political rivals strongly supported his colonialist policies. On April 21, 1932, Salazar was honored with the 'Grand Cross of the Order of the Colonial Empire,' and on May 28, he became the first civilian to receive the 'Grand Cross of the Order of the Tower and Sword.' Recommended Lists:Taurus Men Prime Minister On July 5, 1932, Salazar became the 100th prime minister of Portugal. He introduced a new constitution to restructure Portugal's political system according to his authoritarian ideas. Most of Salazar's policies had influences of Catholicism, conservatism, and nationalism. He established the ‘Estado Novo,’ or the 'New State,' with anti-parliamentarian thoughts. Since Salazar had a close association with the Catholic lobby before he ventured into politics, his political ideas were inclined toward the Catholic social doctrine. Thus, he was expected to bring in major religious reforms during his regime. On the contrary, he did little for the religion. He neither attempted to establish a theocratic policy nor restored the Church's lost property. In 1932, Salazar canceled the Catholic political party to gain control over all political parties and argued that the Church was meant to serve the society without any affiliation to politics. Salazar invited the Catholic political party members to join his political organization, the 'National Union,' which consisted exclusively of government supporters. Salazar chose his ministers, whose operations he closely supervised. This curtailed political freedom in Portugal. Salazar expelled Portugal's 'National Syndicalists.' Since Salazar's initial premiership years were marred by the Great Depression and World War II, the former half of his premiership years witnessed the introduction of economic programs based on autarky and interventionism policies. In 1933, Salazar established the 'Polícia de Vigilância e de Defesa do Estado' (PVDE), or the "State Defence and Surveillance Police," which became 'Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado' (PIDE), or the "International and State Defence Police," in 1945 and lasted till 1969. The military force was trained to suppress rebels, and major attention was given to Portugal's economic recovery. His economic system, labeled as “corporatism,” fought against class struggle and the supremacy of economics. To attain economic stability and counter the effects of the turbulent years of the Portuguese ‘First Republic,’ Salazar introduced reformatory taxes. He hoped to balance the Portuguese budget and clear the country’s debts. The rising radicalism under Salazar's regime attracted the hostility of anarcho-syndicalist Emídio Santana, founder of the 'Metallurgists National Union,' who made a failed attempt to assassinate him on July 4, 1937. In 1937, Salazar released 'How to Raise a State,' a critical analytic book on ‘Nazi’ Germany's ‘Nuremberg Laws.’ In 1938, 'Fordham University' presented him an 'Honorary Doctorate of Law.' 'Oxford University' granted him an 'Honorary Degree of Doctor of Civil Law' in 1939. Salazar had also authored the book 'How to Re-erect a State.' In the wake of the Spanish Civil War and World War II, Salazar held additional portfolios, taking charge of the ministry of war (1936-1944) and the ministry of foreign affairs (1936-1944). Salazar's 'Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society' (HIAS-HICEM) in Paris helped people reach and find refuge in Portugal after France surrendered to Germany. More elementary schools opened during Salazar's regime, while the illiteracy rate dropped to a great extent. In October 1945, Salazar began a liberalization program devised with the prime motive of restoring the suppressed (during the Spanish Civil War and World War II) civil rights. He announced parliamentary elections, a general political amnesty, freedom of the press, and limitation of legal suppression. He also promised the introduction of the right of “habeas corpus.” The liberalization program was designed on the basis of a broad coalition, the 'Movement of Democratic Unity' (MUD). Despite his friendship with the head of the government of Spain, Francisco Franco, and his support to Spain's ‘Nationalist’ government, against the ‘Second Republic’ forces, he kept Portugal unbiased in World War II. Portugal became one of the founding members of the 'North Atlantic Treaty Organisation' (NATO) in 1949. Throughout the 1950s, Salazar continued the same approach to economic policy that helped Portugal sustain its neutral status in World War II. In 1960, Portugal co-founded the 'European Free Trade Association' (EFTA) and subsequently the 'Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development' (1961). The start of the 1960s saw the rise of new “technocrats," experts in economics and technical-industrial aspects. Soon, the new economic period in Portugal attracted foreign investments. The decade also flourished with industrial development and further economic growth. The GDP also soared under Salazar's glorious regime. During Salazar's 'Estado Novo,' the Jewish and Protestant minorities were not discriminated against. Thus, the movement of different Christian Churches flourished. However, this was the time when most of the world, specifically the newly independent African nations, excluded the Portuguese government because of Salazar's colonial policies. On the other hand, some of Portugal's domestic factions, too, challenged the policies.

[@TheGrenadier97]

In short: a good man.

[@TimSerras]

Brillant! Thank you. No wonder the Portuguese voted Salazar as the most influential Portuguese of the 20th. Century.

[@aryanalfa2444]

That's a great piece of history on a KZbin comentong session😊

[@InsaneWayne355]

When references to an element are key talking points, you should use the current official name. In this case ... Tungsten. Wolfram is barely even an alternate name now, there's been heavy discussion over the last 15 years for completely removing Wolfram as an alternate name.

[@poe_slaw]

Channel description says Romania, and the first online translation I found seems to indicate that “wolfram” is the more common term in Romanian. Maybe script writers/ researchers saw that their word “wolfram” has an English cognate and put it in the script, but didn’t realize it was outdated in English.

[@AP-qi3lx]

It’s being called Wolfram in German and Dutch as well

[@v.miguel.almeida]

In Portugal, actually, Volfrâmio is much more coloquial than Tugnsténio.

[@smparreira]

Portugal never sold Tungsten to Germany ... neither spain Idiotic comparison ... try calling LGBTi to the slaves sold to muslism counties ... since its what we call those without o!o today it should be correct! isnt it?

[@carlos-ju7ce]

Fun Fact: Portugal is a founding member of NATO. The only founder that didn't actually fight in WW2. It was however the theatre of a battle (Battle of Aljezur), the only one in continental Portugal. Four Portuguese were awarded the Cross of Merit of the Order of the German Eagle by Hitler, for their involvement in it. The battle was 100 years ago this month, 9 July 1943. Luftwaffe Focke-Wulf FW 200 Condors, operating out of Southern France were harrying Allied shipping sailing down to the Mediterranean, often off the coast of Portugal. On the day of the battle there were four Condors attacking the shipping, which was being escorted by three RAF aircraft, based out of Gibraltar, two Bristol Beaufighters, in this extended role, and a Lockheed Hudson. One of the Condors was shot down and the seven crew were buried with honours, in this small town in the Algarve. The reason the medals were awarded.

[@rnanni1048]

Netherlands was also neutral in both Wars, untill Germany did its thing…

[@winteraardappel2154]

belgium same no?

[@KennyNGA]

​@@winteraardappel2154yes and USA

[@jonathancurran5366]

Italy was neutral in both until it decided to grab some real estate.

[@Comred1]

@@KennyNGA How does the US fit in this.

[@KennyNGA]

@@Comred1 they stayed neutral until this not well known little incident called the attack of pearl harbor

[@eamonreidy9534]

Its worth noting that many countries were neutral in that war but Germay, the Soviet Union and to a lesser extent, the UK werent always respectful of that.

[@micahistory]

interesting. I had never really looked into it before

[@alexanderademthegreat7618]

Pls do a video about history of algeria or about barbary pirates in algeria

[@Banana_Split_Cream_Buns]

After seeing how much of a "help" Mussolini was, I think both Franco and Salazar did Hitler a huge favor by staying out of the Axis.

[@tiagogomes3807]

What a dumb comment. Regarding Italy's efforts and both Portugal and Spain.

[@___alessandro.007]

6:32 Just an observation: Denmark was also under German military occupation in 1944; Yugoslavia was divided between the Axis in 1944; Albania and Greece were occupied by the Axis in 1944; Hungary had control of northwest Romania; Romania had control of parts of USSR in 1944 since 1941... Greetings from Brazil🇧🇷🤗

[@feastguy101]

A cobra fumou! 🐍🐍🐍

[@___alessandro.007]

@@feastguy101 E fumará novamente se precisar kkkkk

[@HolyShitNew]

the map looks so beautiful

[@andrewrobinson2565]

My great uncle was captured by the Germans on March 21st 1918. He was fighting alongside Portuguese troops.

[@realhawaii5o]

I wouldn't say Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were neutral since they were literally annexed by the Soviet Union during WW2.

[@testerpt5]

Recent document findings showed that Salazar wanted to enter the Pacific conflic alongside the allies, the US and UK said no as Portugal had no relevant forces anymore and it’s military equipment was not compatible with allied ammunition, also by declaring war on Japan there was a good chance it could cause Germany to also declare war on Pt and spread the war to orher areas in Africa, or possibly cause Spain to join the Axis.

[@oldwine2401]

Portugal had a good army , the problem was army of Portugal was spread all of the world because colonies, was too much territory to defend. Japan invaded timor leste colonie portuguese at the time, and Portugal give base of Açores to united states. Was hard to Protugal face too much fronts in so many territories. But Protugal face Germany in africa for a short time , Angola -Namibia war, colonies of portuguese and germany . But Portugal self wolframio to germany and war ended

[@smparreira]

@@oldwine2401 portugal NEVER HAD any sort o regular army in 800y ... only locally raised militias now & then + marines from armada & some national/royal guards

[@miguelsardinha8818]

being from the zores, this was fun and informative

[@IsmaelLovecraft]

wolfram is tungsten, a rare metal.

[@jfarinhote]

Great video, as a portuguese I thank you.

[@gillesaboubechara2978]

"If Salaza had chosen to join the Axis, he also would have been breaking a centuries-old treaty with one Portugal's close allies" Yes right, nice lie. That treaty, although not officially terminated by Portugal was effectively over when Britain, in violation of that treaty, sent an ultimatum to Portugal in 1890 demanding its colonies. Yes, a very close allie, thanks Britain

[@giovanni_vaz_cardoso]

It was not effectively over lol.

[@gillesaboubechara2978]

@@giovanni_vaz_cardoso when you violate a treaty, you effectively terminate it

[@giovanni_vaz_cardoso]

@@gillesaboubechara2978 That's so naive, reality is much more complex than that.

[@gillesaboubechara2978]

@@giovanni_vaz_cardoso the one that doesn't see it this way is naive

[@giovanni_vaz_cardoso]

@@gillesaboubechara2978 Yup keep being naive

[@rrorrogod4494]

Salazar smart man. Portugal and Spanish had great empires.

[@hugosenshida999]

Salazar is one of the worst things to happend to portugal

[@saguntum-iberian-greekkons7014]

Portugal: Im gonna make a pro gamer move

[@Luzitanium]

tbh Portugal had a very smart move during WWII playing both sides while keeping neutral (allowing the allies using ports, bases in the atlantic, exporting tin food to the soldiers, and exporting to the germans volfram) AND managed to keep Spain on a "leash" so it doesnt ally with Hitler by signing a non-aggression pack with Franco, the allies even apreciated Portugal on that and it was for their interests aswell that Portugal would remain that way

[@DraconyForce]

damn! you watched the video as well?!

[@Luzitanium]

@@DraconyForce the video doesnt explain the way i did

[@Americandragonrider333.]

Neutral is a relative term, at list when it came to WW2! Switzerland for instance helped the Nazis capture downed allied pilots and crews. Sweden supplied the Nazis with some Steel and other industrial materials. Spain was only were friendly with the Third Reich because the Allied country’s abandoned them to the Communist, Hitler and Mussolini were the only ones to help save Spain from the Communist! (So ovcourse they would be more friendly towards the ones that helped them) And there were those neutral countries who were secretly helping the Allies like Portugal here, one of the neutral countries to be secretly allied with the Allie’s. Ovcourse like in all cases including in the fighting sides, not everyone in the nations neutral and involved were bad!

[@diogoferreira7427]

Switzerland took any plane that invaded their airspace, wether it was allied or axis, they took down nazi jets too Sweden also provided the allies with steel and other materials, yes they did provide more to the axis, but same case as Portugal, they did still traded with the allies, and it wasn't that little The allied powers did not abandon spain, they never joined the war, but small note, the spanish civil war wasn't fascists against communists, it was left vs right, as the left parties saw the rise of extremist right parties they united the entire left wing, communists, socialists, anarchists and more to fight the extremist right, that also happened in many other countries, they just didn't help because they couldn't, britain was facing the same problem, oh, no one helped them, france, portugal and sweden aswell, and no one helped them either, spain was the only country where things actually evolved into a civil war, and the other european countries didn't have the stability to support them, yet

[@Americandragonrider333.]

@@diogoferreira7427. First off your generally right! I’m not bashing anything you say I’m just adding. Anyway. The Nazi’s had planes, prop airplane’s not jets. (They built the first jet plane in the last years of WW2, but that’s irrelevant to this conversation) Sweden did supply both sides, you’re 100% right with that. (Sweden was just a War profiteering nation clearly) And on Spain. Allies didn’t “officially” do anything to help Spains Leftist side. (Thank god for that, Spain lucked out from having a people’s republic of Spain, which is just the Communist name for we rule everything) And having the Communist butcher anyone that didn’t go for them. Franco (as rough as he was) was fighting to keep Spain free from being taken taken over by Communist and Spains destruction. Funny thing that he went to the other leftist side of with Fascist, but they were the only ones going to help Spain fight off the Communists takeover. Leftist Fascist And Leftist Communist are literally the same just different names and small administrative things that make them different. Leftist rivals what they are. Anyway. All the Allies really did was praise Stalin. (Like idiots considering what Stalin was, a bigger monster than Hitler. Both were monsters. Nether we’re nearly as bad as Mao, Mao killed more of his people during peace time than either Hitler or Stalin did during war time. Anyway awesome stuff, very interesting.

[@LuisBita]

Best Regards from Portugal

[@oldwine2401]

curiosity note _ Portugal, city of Estoril - Cascais was the line where almost all European royal families lived during the war. just as spies from all over the world gathered in restaurants. The movie 007 james bond was inspired here

[@beachboy0505]

Germany paid Portugal in fake currency, the Portuguese demanded gold currency up front thereafter.

[@micahistory]

It's fascinating to me how the Anglo-Portuguese alliance still exists

[@55victorf]

I' m portuguese and i prefere Germany , English generally speaking are a land of Pirates

[@jayc342009]

probably because they introduced the English to tea

[@thedspenguin]

look, mom... Knowledgia is talking about us! (aka "é Portugal, cara***!).

[@salvadorgomez3130]

Is there a hidden video in this video? I keep seeing red strobing lights

[@vivithegoblindruid]

Salazar wasn't part of a coup. Also you forgot the consequences of WWI and how due to it, the Portuguese population didn't really want to fight in another war. WWI was a shit show for Portugal and it led to the fall of the 1st Portuguese Republic and a subsequent dictatorship. Most of the fighting Portugal did during WWI was in Africa and for a reason, Portugal had hoped to secure additional territorial gains in Africa as a reward for its participation, but its demands were largely disregarded in the treaty negotiations. This led to a feeling of betrayal by the major powers, particularly Britain and France. Not to mentioned the economic consequences of World War I, such as inflation and a decline in trade, affected Portugal as well, Portugal incurred significant debts during the war and faced financial difficulties in its aftermath. In short, Portugal really REALLY didn't want another war, people didn't want it, the government didn't want it, the military didn't want it, no one wanted it, we only got fucked with the first one.

[@monteira77]

Salazar, the only dictator that answered his own phone, and died poor.

[@Luzitanium]

and wasnt a General nor a Commander like most of ditactors (nazist, fascist, and communist) are.

[@stevekane4922]

Also he pragmatically supported Franco and said nice things about him in public, but as with Mussolini he despised their vainglorious style. Salazar's Portugal was corporatist, not fascist. He was as troubled by an extreme right element as he was by Democrats and various flavours of communism. This is often ignored. Among friends and family I have some whose families were on both sides and the ultra right, the maoistas and the stalinists were equally dangerous, ruthless and not even slightly democratic. These ultras are quietly resurgent and revere Franco rather than Salazar in private, as well as the toxic corporal. People feel nostalgic for Salazar's personal honesty, forgetting that the financial corruption and influence peddling continued uninterrupted from before the Republic until now. Portuguese are remarkably sophisticated in their understanding of these realities. The former trotskyites formed a boutique socialist party that did/does far worse than it should by rights, likewise the populist Chega have been damped down. People fantasise that the Estado Novo was a discreet episode in time but of course the rotativismo before and now is not so different. Only membership of EU and nato provides a compass. Ties to the cleptocracies in the old colonies constantly corrodes.

[@Luzitanium]

@@stevekane4922 he didnt supported he was just doing his game to keep Franco on a leash to prevent a alliance between spain and germany, the allies praised him for that. Monarchists also didnt liked Salazar as he buried forever the idea of restoring the Kingdom of Portugal.

[@stevekane4922]

@@Luzitanium yes that's pretty much how I understand it.

[@polyglot8]

You overstate the risk of Spain joining the Axis. Briefly, 1) Unlike between Hitler and Petain, and Hitler and Mussolini, there was horrible personal chemistry between Hitler and Franco; and 2) Franco's list of demands to join was so inflated that it was obviously made knowing it could not be accepted by Hitler - not least of which his demands for French / French Empire territory to be carved out of Vichy.

[@cristinadias5145]

You kwow about Aristides Sousa Mendes ?

[@sdrawkcabUK]

Ireland would make an interesting case. Similar to Portugal they were protected by their geographic isolation and having a large buffer state between them and the conflict zones. The Irish, with their usual short sighted parochialism, saw the worst war in human history mainly as a chance to stick it to the Brits and stuck doggedly to their neutrality, even sending a note of commiseration to Germany upon learning of AH’s death. Churchill was seriously considering handing over Northern Ireland in return for Ireland joining the war, but that would have meant joining forces with ‘the enemy’ and so Ireland just sat it out relying on Britain to hold bear the brunt of German aggression which would have consumed them too had Britain been invaded.

[@johnkilcullen]

it is well established that Ireland provided a lot of assistance to Britain during the war It was weather reports from Ireland, supplied to the British, that gave Eisenhower the confidence to go ahead with D-day. As for the condolences on Hitler's death, De Valera always insisted that they were a formality and more out of respect for the German minister in Ireland rather than for Hitler. In Portugal flags were flown at half-mast on Hitler's death but they never seem to get any stick over that. As for Ireland's decision to stay out of the war - remember our war of independence and subsequent civil war had only ended only16 years earlier. The country was very poor at the time and the last thing it needed was more conflict.

[@sdrawkcabUK]

@@johnkilcullen Poorer than central/eastern European countries? Who were actually dealing with the conflict, rather than from the far sidelines away from actual fighting (as Ireland would been had it joined)? I don't know about the Portuguese example you cite, though if true deplorable, along with Franco's cosying up the the Axis

[@johnkilcullen1051]

@@sdrawkcabUK I don't know if Ireland then was poorer than the east European countries. But there was one big difference - they were stuck in the middle of it all. We weren't.

[@sdrawkcabUK]

@@johnkilcullen1051 Yes. And What would have happened had Britian been conquered by AH and the Nz's?? Eventually he would have probably taken Ireland too.

[@Allskil88]

Ah, good old English. Is it really so surprising the Irish weren't looking forward to helping the country that had "historically oppressed" them for most of their existence, and who had just come out of a very bloody war with them only a few years prior?

[@musabaksakal9589]

we need a new Salazar in Portugal (coming from a non-Portuguese haha)

[@guilhermecastro9893]

As a portuguese i tell you...we dont

[@musabaksakal9589]

@@guilhermecastro9893 as a non Portuguese I can tell you’re young

[@guilhermecastro9893]

@@musabaksakal9589 ya you dont understand what Salazar did so shut up and sit down...you are literaly going agaisnt a portuguese person on this subject do not be dumb...

[@JamesAnderson-dg7zd]

bro seriously? now that I think about, I think we propably do., so much is fuced up now in porto agora

[@TheMormonPower]

What is " Woolfrum " that the Portuguese were trading to Germany and Brittan ? I never heard of it before 😮

[@gewnurb]

tungsten

[@lcacela]

The use of the bases came much later after the start of the war, long before the USA joined. On September 5, 1939 there was a meeting in the British embassy in lisbon where it was agreed portugal would stay neutral so as not to nudge Spain into the war and the British losing Gibraltar. Before the war the dictators of both countries met and agreed to keep the Iberian Peninsula out of the war

[@ptlemon1101]

Short answer: Money and UK didn't let us. We should have because Japan attacked our oversea territories.

[@Icenfyre]

A fleet was on standby in moazambique after Timor's invasion. They planned to take back timor and by doing so declaring war on japan, but not germany.

[@luispereira5517]

Correcção!!! A capital de Portugal chama-se Lisboa. Nomes próprios não se traduzem, embora possa haver tradução.

[@tjrex9458]

Apesar de não se traduzirem os nomes próprios, cidades podem sim ser traduzidas. Por exemplo "London" pra "Londres" ou "New York" pra "Nova Iorque" , duvido que por exemplo chames Varsóvia de "Warszawa" como os Polacos lhe chamam.

[@smparreira]

se nao traduzes entao chama-se Olisipo

[@twbishop]

@10:20 germany's main oppoinent after june 1941 was the soviet union, and after june 1944 the US/british/french too. like sweden and finland, portugal and spain were relatively insignificant. by early 1944, italy was a fatally weakened ally for germany.

[@killer0178]

The treaty of Windsor is a funny one, since it's inception it only has worked one way, the English way. When Portugal needed England support, they whistled to the side and moved on

[@diogoferreira7427]

Uhhh, no? Despite the treaty being really vague and "broken" many times with for example the Ultramarine War, WW2, Convention of Berlin, etc. The brits did come many times to rescue Portugal, Napoleonic invasions, Restoration Wars, Succession crisis of 1833-35 (I know the treaty wasn't signed by then but they came to the rescue and it's because of that the treaty exists), Civil War, etc.

[@killer0178]

@diogoferreira7427 they only "helped" because it was on their best interest. They were at war with Napoleon and they didn't want the French to have an easier access to the sea. The restoration war they were at war with the Habsburg and they looted lot's of Portuguese ships during the Iberian Union. All of those times the English helped, they had ulterior motives to "help". Even some channels acknowledge this

[@diogoferreira7427]

@@killer0178 of course there are always selfish motives, Portugal also helped only when it was convenient, ww1? Protect the african colonies, continental block? Lots of money from trading and protection from france You can give me more examples I'll explain them gladly😃

[@Allskil88]

@@diogoferreira7427 They "came to our rescue" in the Napoleonic wars, to "save us" from a situation they themselves caused; and during the subsequent wars, only because the winning party was not the one they wanted it to be. Don't be delusional. When we needed their help the most (The Iberian Union period), they quite literally said "Yeah your ships, sailors and colonies are Spanish now so we're going to help the Dutch pillage everything not nailed down to the ground, so sorry". Again, don't be delusional.

[@diogoferreira7427]

@@Allskil88 and you don't be stupid, how did the british cause the franch invasions to portugal? Please explain And what wars r u even talking about? The subsequent wars to the french invasion was the civil war, and they helped the libertarians not because the absolutists were losing, but because the uk themselves was a constitutional monarchy During the iberian union they waged war on spain, ofc it had bad side efects for us but their intention was to weaken spain so we could be free, and during the restaurational wars they helped us fighting spain because of our alliance Again, don't be stupid

[@anthonyhargis6855]

Every nation always acts in its own best interest. Nothing surprising here.

[@user-mg3xr9tz7m]

Thats ignorance. Go and read the facts

[@cantrusthestory]

Spain could join the Axis if Portugal joined the Allies, and vice versa.

[@jorgesousa6683]

Say what you want, Salazar was a very smart guy :)

[@hugosenshida999]

Until he got dumb and stagnated the whole country Also, chair.

[@SurfLouco]

Back in the day Portugal was a sovereign country that could decide to be Neutral it makes political and economical sense. Portugal should continue to remain Neutral now, but it gets dragged into wars, by "The good guys" (or else).

[@TTHIAGO666]

after all the good guys are not so good, but when you see the good guys demonizing Salazar it is because something is not right...

[@luisrodrigues88]

there was a little big detail about invading the iberian peninsula!! Railroads used different size between lines, to other european countries👍 1more barrier

[@assisnady]

It sounds all very smart decisions for the people of Portugal, but we did had extreme poverty, hunger, and no liberty at all, not even to speak or send private letters to family/friends..my grandparents lived those times, I grew up listening to all of the pain the country suffered. Although he had that strategic finance skill, Salazar was a fcking monster for most of us 🇵🇹❤

[@oldwine2401]

no is worng, Portugal economy was strong whith Salazar , too much gold and export. And my family never suffer whith Salazar, i supose your comunist correct?

[@joaocosta3374]

Communist detected.

[@lourencooliva7429]

Another point, not one reichsmark entered the Bank of Portugal. Salazar always knew that the Allies would win.

[@feastguy101]

No Monopoly money, gold only, pls and thank you lol

[@SurfLouco]

@@feastguy101 that's why we had the biggest gold reserves in Europe. And now a bunch of dummies are in Power and we get dragged into bloody wars thanks to NATO

[@KnightofAges]

The German Reichsmark was not convertible to other currencies; it was not a currency that was part if the International Finance (akin to the Soviet Ruble). Germany used barter or (after its conquests) Gold to purchase abroad. So of course no Reichsmark entered the Bank of Portugal. Or ANY other foreign bank for that matter.

[@danielt.8573]

Not true. Germans started paying with falsified money because of the war effort so Portugal started accepting other forms of payment, including gold.

[@feastguy101]

@@danielt.8573 this is false. No one outside the German area of control accepted RM. I’m going to need some proof otherwise.

[@LegendsOfChippylandia]

Eee Mr.Knowlegia i have a question why did Francisco Franco did"t join axis?

[@miguelpadeiro762]

Salazar worked with Franco to keep Iberia neutral

[@QueenMooSuko]

Because they had just ended a brutal civil war, a country and economy in ruins. There were zero upsides to joining, it would only mean potentially getting invaded, colonies lost (what little they still had and mostly lost anyways eventually). Being so weakened, with so much internal instability would've been a recipe for disaster.

[@Icenfyre]

Portugal did send a fleet on standby to Mozambique and was in the proces of declaring war on Japan after Japan's invasion of Timor. The war ended before the plan was enacted.

[@andremachado3283]

Quem pode pode, quem não pode não pode