Salazar's Dictatorship in Portugal - Cold War DOCUMENTARY 

Salazar didn't leave office voluntarily. He had suffered a stroke and was eased out by Caetano, without his knowing it. He died the following year (1970).

My father fought in Angola leaving behind my mom and the prospects of building a family. This period of the Portuguese history have so many details hard to explain. Growing up I was with my father, at least one time per years, sitting across the battalion’s get together lunch. First hand listen to the old guys story’s was something that I will never forget. My grandmother is still alive, with 97 years old, the story of the Alentejo famine ,that she been thru, still take the cake for me. She remembers the Salazar words about the WW2 . “I will save us from war, but will not save us from famine” Well, my family made it until today. Good video, and good effort on the Portuguese words! ❤

We Wish to Have a Feature episode about the Philippines under Ferdinand E. Marcos from 1965 to 1986 and Under Martial Law from 1972 to 1981

I was born in 1954, in Mozambique, then an overseas province of Portugal. I went to school, we had all kinds of pupils, white, black, brown, yellow, catholic, muslim, hindu, buddhist, etc. Portuguese Youth (Mocidade Portuguesa) was a compulsary discipline, where boys learned patriotism, bushcraft, sailing, marching, etc., and girls knitting, cooking, child raising etc. It was a highly conservative society. Respect was universal. Poor black kids belonged to “caixa”, free food, clothing, etc. There was no famine, whenever a natural disaster occurred, government response was quick and effective. No NGO crap was needed. Crime was virtually zero. Rhodesians and South Africans flocked to Mozambican beaches and restaurants to enjoy good food, fun and fiesta. Towns were clean. Hospitals had real doctors, ambulances worked, medicine was available. Today, 2024 kids go to school under a mango tree, hungry. If a girl wants to pass the exam, she may have to sleep with the teacher. Crime and drugs rule the country. NGO’s spend most time in good expensive restaurants. Polititians are corrupt. Police is corrupt. Judges are corrupt. It is one of the poorest in Africa. In 1974 it was the 7th economy, only behind SA, Rhodesia, Angola in subsahara Africa. So, Salazar wasn’t that bad. Definately better then the baboons that rule today.

If the Portuguese had concentrated their efforts in one place they may have pushed back the inevitable for a few years. The armed movements inside Angola (where the colonial war was the most successful) had practically been pushed to the brink of collapse since not only did they fight the Portuguese, but also among themselves. The Carnation Revolution is what won them their War of Independence.

Ah yes one of the other dictatorships aside from Franco in the Iberian Peninsula that isn't discussed that often. Thank You, Cold War for doing a video on this topic

As an 11 year travelling back from Beira in Mozambique to Rhodesia, the day Mozambique Independence was granted, it meant nothing to me at the time but was to have a huge impact on the Rhodesian Bush war. This makes everything so much clearer, 4 plus decades later. Thank you.

Viva Salazar!!! Grandioso Líder!!!

you did not speak about the Goa people likening the Portuguese people/soldiers, which was an embarrassment to india

As a Brazilian, we do not study much in school the History of Portugal so, videos like this, help fill the void ! I never learned, until now, anything about this period of the Portuguese History. Excellent video as usual. Keep up the excellent work and may God bless you always !

VIVA SALAZAR!!

I currently know almost nothing about the history of Portugal outside of some of its exploration and colonization efforts. Thank you for this look into Portugal's modern history. I look forward to future videos on the topic! God be with you out there everybody. ✝️ :)

The Portuguese possessions in the Indian Subcontinent were never part of India, they had their own Christian Hindu-Portuguese culture and identity. The Indian Union had no legitimate claim to those territories and shouldn't have been allowed to take them by the International Community. Like it happened in East Timor, regarding Indonesia's illegal land grab, the International Community should have organized a referendum in Portuguese India to let its people decide its own future (remaining Portuguese, becoming independent countries or becoming part of the Indian Union). Today, the culture of Portuguese India is fading away and under attack by the Hindu extremists, to the point that BJP, the party of the current prime-minister is openly insisting in the idea that all Portuguese legacy should be erased, namely that the splendorous Catholic Churches of Goa should be demolished and replaced by Hindu temples. The Portuguese language is no longer taught there (being even surpassed by English) with the exception of some Portuguese courses promoted by the Orient Foundation (Fundação Oriente).

i worked with a bunch of Portuguese dudes and they sure had some surprising views on Salazar. lots of urban legend styled stories about his actions

The Carnation Revolution set the tables for abject misery for the inhabitants of Mozambique and Angola. The conflict between the MPLA and UNITA in Angola would become a proxy war for the USA and USSR.

Thank you for this outstanding episode! The quality and how it was so effectively able to give a fair but not blind view of a society I knew nothing about in multiple areas is nothing short of amazing.

Tudo pela nação, nada contra a nação. VIVA SALAZAR E VIVA O ESTADO NOVO.

And then Angola and Mozambique lived happily ever after. The End. :D I don't know what your take on all this is, or how deep you've dug/ how much this is partly someone else's problem to you, so I'm just indicating what I think is a phenomenon illustrating how difficult it is to fully think (as opposed to feel, or be-nice, as we all do so much. As I'm doing here, since it's largely just a feeling that feels like intuition to me.) The code historians of all kinds use talk about these wars is, itself an interesting Cold War relic that perhaps one day a new generation of historians not involved in some terrain of Struggle (like a university cafeteria, after the tray has been handed in at the wash bay) might enjoy picking apart, eviscerating, and thus rendering interesting in its own way. I suppose that depends on the extent to which enforcers of correct thinking are more active than dabblers, and trivial scholars like that are. (With organization, although there's not some kind of deep conspiracy that paranoia would suggest, the natural desire of people of all kinds to be socially agreeable can act as perhaps a kind of "attractor" in the academic chaos that would result from an more even diversity of opinion. So what you get is historians who don't at all follow any Party line, still encoding their thoughts in ways they were trained in by people influenced to various degrees by the more active and deliberate "mind warriors" who "fight" that kind of encoding through to the top of the elite pile of ways of superior analysis in better ways than inferior alternatives. (Sorry, I like to speak stupidly. I don't have enough attachment to any alternative of my own to do more than wimple a little at the drudge words I've had to drag my way through to get credits in filler courses long ago.) Nothing wrong with the courses,as such, or even the pressure to think correctly about things, even - especially since quite a bit of truth was used to push that case. It's just the attitude that started it all, that's all.

As a Portuguese, I'm very happy for this video :) but one thing... while the economy was blooming, the people were starving, miserable wages and this in the cities, while in the interior things were even worse, not to mention the high rate of illiteracy, as well as high repression by the fascist regime.

There is a movie, Night Train to Lisbon that got me interested in the Carnation Revolution and Portugal generally. Thank you for your videos about topics rarely or less covered in standard history classes.

Wait, Portugal couldn't afford to buy American cotton so they turned to colonial cotton, which textile mills didn't like because it was more expensive?

Interesting bit on the diplomatic relationships at the end of the regime: Portugal was in talks with Apartheid SA and Rhodesia to formalize an alliance in the region of Southern Africa with an HQ building in Pretoria. It was due to be announced but the coup changed everything when the new leaders ended the wars in Mozambique and Angola.

Now we see.. 50 years later Salazar was right.

Good video, however you did include a map of colonies at the start whi h included terrotories that were long gone from portuguese hands by the time of salazar, notably brazil.

What a chad

the 51 dislikes are from portuguese people because of the SLANDER about our greatest leader.

The biography of Salazar by Tom Gallagher is well worth reading. He was a complex character in uncertain times and tried to tread a difficult path. Many people were brutally suppressed by him though.

I've been living in Portugal for 16 months, and these years are very raw for the older generation here. No one wants to talk about these times. The only remembrances seem to be the street names - our own street is named after a young military officer who died in Angola.

There are people who believe that during this time Portugal was Fascist. Wrong. Portugal never was Fascist, Portugal was a Authoritarian Nationalist Conservative Dictatorship. Salazar even tried to get away from Fascism saying it was Pagan Ceasarism. But people still say he was Fascist and blah blah blah. Salazar was a Traditionalist Man, that's why Portugal was very behind in Modernization. Yes, there was a Secret Police and people were very Poor too. But in the Economy Salazar peaked. I won't see that the modern Regime will get the Economy right. Anyways the Leftist Propaganda in Portugal, and the Carnation Revolution, + the Leftist Propaganda in today's Portuguese Schools, makes believe People that Salazar and the Estado Novo was a Fascist Regime. Remember, Portugal was a Authoritarian Nationalist Republic.

The 25th Of April 1974 - one of the worst days in Portuguese history.

Congratulations for the very informative video. Concerning the investment in education under Salazar, however, it should be stressed that it has been dramatically lower than for instance that of Franco's Spain. This resulted in a level of illiteracy around 1970 unparalled in Europe and even in most of Latin America. It was the Veiga Simão reform under Caetano and most of all the massive investment by the democratic regime that changed this. A similar landscape aplies to healthcare. Healthcare levels under Estado Novo (eg infant mortality) were catastrophic, and the half a century of democratic regime paved the way to a worldwide example of healthcare coverage.

THE ESTADO NOVO REGIME OF PORTUGAL 🇵🇹 WAS ONE OF THE FOUNDING MEMBERS OF NATO IN 1949

Europe should have retained their colonies. especially Hong Kong and Macau

VIVA SALAZAR !!!! 🇵🇹🇵🇹🇵🇹

Very well explained. Greetings of a Portuguese in Taiwan. Great documentary. Great quality.👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 I also remember reading an article about Henry Kissinger pressing the Portuguese leaders to leave the colonies because of the process of decolonization established since Truman's speech for developing underdeveloped countries. Portugal was a particular case that, as a NATO member, was also a colonizer while most European countries were giving up their colonies. France was, however, the most difficult country to hand over their colonies.

What did Salazar think of Israeli Jews? The reason I asked is because Portugal didn't recognize Israel's independence until 1977. Seven years after Salazar passed away. Most of Western Europe & Latin America recognized Israel shortly after Israel declared independence in 1948.

Can you also do a video about Portuguese Guinea-Bissau during the Cold War since there is a lack of videos on it

Huh, funny how you forgot the US' funding of a certain man called Holden Roberto.

This dictatorship ruined so many people and entire families. Fun fact: Cristiano Ronaldo's father was a victim of this too. Cristiano's father was drafted into the army as a very young man and sent to an absolutely suicidal, terrible war in Angola, where these soldiers saw, did, and suffered terrible things. A friend of Cristiano's father, from the army, who still lives in Madeira, spoke about it once in-depth, to the media, I remember reading the article. I can't even repeat it here. It would mess up anyone's psyche, so it's no wonder that Cristiano's father came back from the war with PTSD and started drinking. I personally saw such veterans - they are the living dead. In her biography, Ronaldo's mother said that ''Cristiano's father's only ambition was to drink himself to death.'' - actual quote. And unfortunately, he managed to do it when his kidneys did not last. Jose died in 2005. Cristiano was already starting to be a big star in 2005, he tried to save his dad, transferred him to one of the best hospitals in London, but his father died anyway. It was reportedly a terrible shock for Cristiano, and he received the news of his father's death at the training camp of the Portuguese national team, from the then-coach Luis Felippe Scolari. Also, Cristiano's mother worked very hard throughout her entire life, including going to France as a cleaner to support the children, because the father was unable to function normally.

Finally a Portuguese episode ^^

You left out that they were a founding member of NATO

I have to congratulate you for mentioning the real reason for the April 25th coup and not perpetuating the myth that the real reason for the coup was to implement democracy.

'Sostiene Pereira' (Pereira maintains in the English version) is a book and also a movie, starring Marcello Mastroianni, about Salazar's dictature.

Why does this text come completely from wikipedia?

I really love your channel. The Cold War really has a very detailed History that affects other countries too other than the US, USSR, Korea, Vietnam, etc. How about covering Brazil and the Philippines during this time? How about the 1968 riots that happened all over the world?

Estado Novo even has its own style of architecture.

Fun fact: The current prime minister of Portugal is of Indian descent ( Goa)

17:08 "41 years ... the longest enduring dictatorship in the history of Europe" This relies heavily on very limited definitions of the words "dictatorship" and "Europe".

As an 11 year old school boy from England I was in Lisbon in may that year, things had not been entirely peaceful, I remember seeing bullet holes here and there from the month before.

Portugal also profited from trade with the Axis, especially Germany, during World War 2. Despite its neutrality, the Dutch and the Australians occupied the Portuguese colony of East Timor. The Japanese then invaded. After lndonesian invasion it finally achieved independence in 2002, the final end of Portuguese overseas rule.

My parents are from Portugal I’m from United States. They migrated here after the fall of the regime. My father was a soldier in the colonial war in the Angolan theater Indoor some torture for his reluctance to go until he finally did

This is a pretty soft view of Estado Novo. No mention of the secret police, all the extrajudicial killings, very little about the how atrocious the quality of life was in rural Portugal. The video also sort of regurgitates some actual Estado Novo era propaganda about the education system. There's a reason Portugal lost so much of its population during the '60s, people were getting the fuck out of there. It was a fullblown fascist dictatorship as well as a brutally oppressive colonial power, this video makes it out to be a regime that was brutal colonially but mild domestically.

If he wanted to keep the Empire, he should've asked the French, the masters of neo-colonialism.

Can you do a episode about Northern Rhodesia during the Cold War and the route to independence for Zambia

When I was in high school in the mid 60's one of our teachers felt that a "benevolent dictatorship" was the best form of government. And he often mentioned Salazar. So I was quite eager to finally listen to this.

Fascism is wrong and eventually ends on the road to Treblinka.

4 years of school is insane. That was less than we had in the late 1800s in some places. We had 9 at that point. But mayby most people took around 10 years of school even tho mandatory was is more acurate. Cant comprehend a person having 4 years of school in Western europe by the time by dad was born. Thanks for great context from political science student in Scandinavia.

The real problem in Angola started when they discovered oil and US financed UNITA to fight against the Portuguese but at same time Soviet Union financed MPLA which they fought together against the Portuguese but at same time against each other. At the end with the revolution of the captains (they wanted more money and the government refused but what nobody knew including US was they had communists in their ranking working with Soviet Union) and with the population happy in taking the government down the generals joined the revolution. Especially for my mom that was great because at the time every mother knew their boys would have to go to war soon they turned 21 and I was 11 and my brother 13. After the revolution an agreement for sure was made between US and Soviet Union because US kept the oil from Cabinda and the ruskies kept the gold and diamonds plus everything else. In other words if US says is going to help a country from dictatorship or colonialism they are f***d they just want their resources for the big corporations.

Very good job on explaining the overall situation of Portugal after the war. Of course you would have to need way more time to get to the details.

Thank you! Salazar is someone I find interesting....but very few English YT videos exist.

Salazar was one of the best things to happen to Portugal. Despite current holy worship for democracy he’s still the most popular Portuguese person when polled.

"The winds of time were blowing in the opposite direction, that of decolonization" This is a gross misunderstanding of the forces involved for and against decolonization. It's like claiming "the winds of time" were responsible for ending World War II.

In a way, Salazar was right. If it wasn't for it's colony of Brazil, the support of the British empire (based off a medieval side quest), and hubris of Napoleon, Portugal could be a part of Spain (at least going into the 20thcentury)

Salazar was a competent administrator against militaristic factionalism in the late 1920, steering a proper method of neutrality for such a small nation in a delicate position in the Great War. Calling someone a "fascist" or something like that is fashionable nowadays but amongst all "strong men" of that time he was the best - and even Stalin thought so.

I'm glad to see this video! I read about the Estado Novo a lot

Finally - I've been waiting for this episode for years

"Deus, Pátria e Família" Same thing for the Estado Novo in Brazil. My grandmother's 6th grade (last grade she studied before becoming a farm worker) notebook has that written all over it.

the governement has being pushing for the multicultural country very hard... the thing is for that to be true and exclusive to portugal, all europe would need to identify as such too since most at a time had a colony somewhere.... and emmigrants every single country in the world have them

I been friends with a Portuguese for almost 10 years now and sometimes Salazar and the Carnation Revolution comes up

I was at school in Lisbon during the carnation revolution..our neighbor was in the national guard and picked me up at school in an apc..pretty exciting

Salazar the great

Thank you for keeping alive our beautiful history. Hope Portugal can grow to be influential/ helpful in his own community. The Portuguese speaking countries are somehow forgotten but we have peace and social understanding something rare in Africa. I will do my part in being a productive and helping develop the Portuguese community around the world ( just having a farm and do proximity distribution) My love to all ancient Portuguese colonies ❤❤❤❤❤ ❤ you're all welcome in Portugal let's build a better and stronger community. Hope i can be happy in Africa

Ola do Alentejo

Fun Fact: Telescola made a return during the Covid lookdown.

Salazar Slytherin in Harry Potter is named after the dictator Salazar…

Good content, unbiased… there was good and bad things within EN… one event that’s still relevant today is the 1966 bridge that was finished early then scheduled and fully paid; the opposite of today public investments.

It is a lie that Portugal's miraculous economic success during Salazar's government was achieved at the expense of the working classes and peasants. Portuguese citizens from the Overseas Provinces have also never had such an excellent quality of life as the one they experienced under Dr. Salazar's government. The main phase of famine that affected Portugal during Dr. Salazar's government was the one corresponding to World War II, but during that period all European territories were affected by the same problem. The War in the Portuguese African territories was practically won on the ground and at the UN all countries had already unofficially recognized Portugal's rights over those territories. It was Salazar's assassination without having guaranteed his succession to a man worthy of continuing his work that allowed the fall of the Portuguese Empire. Marcelo Caetano was Salazar's successor due to US interference and manipulation, just as Zelensky holds the presidency of Ukraine for exactly the same reason. Even today, the number of Primary Schools ordered to be built by Dr. Salazar in the most remote territories of Portugal is impressive. The major political conflicts against Dr. Salazar's government were all financed and provoked by Portugal's political enemies originating in the USA (even today this sad reality continues and affects not only Portugal but the rest of the world). It must be horrible to make a video like this where those who show their face are forced to lie/omit/go against their own conscience at the behest of those who intend to lie and manipulate public opinion.

Dont forget that Portugal was Far Right Regime ( Fascist) who until the end of 1943 was the main Producer and Supplier of the Essencial Tungsten,in almost equal parts to Germany and England and the Allies. Only After the British Pull the old treated on the table,then Portugal "decided" to not provide more Tungsten to Germany. Wich was a big Deal to Germany,and Salazar huge Ego. Because we was a Die Hard Fascist. But a very,very Intelegent man. Got to give the POS that. People dont have a slightest clue how Salazar ruled Portugal and Specialy the African Colonies. The Man was a Ruthless Sociophat,who had to sacrifice the lifes of thousands of very young Portuguese man and Hundreds of thousands of Portuguese born natives,just to make his famous Point. "ANGOLA É NOSSA" Angola its Our's. 13 years of Bloodshead for nothing. What upsets me the most,is the fact that in Portugal on the 21st Century after 49 of the Revolution,still thousands of Portuguese talk of that POS of Human Being has the Greastest man Ever lived in this country. Unfuck...ing believable. Ps: And dont forget that Portugal was a founding member of NATO in 1949.

7:53 '...though the rate at which the economy would grow would drop following the Carnation Revolution...' That's it nicely, in 15 words.

Nesse tempo? Miséria,fome,piolhos. A nata da juventude morria na guerra. Obrigado Salgueiro Maia e Otelo por nos dar a liberdade 🇵🇹🇵🇹🗽🗽🇵🇹🇵🇹

Id like to add a few points that i think were lacking in this video: While at a first glace the growth numbers for the economy may look amazing , almost non of it made it to the vast majority of working people. The vast majority of the wealth was concentrated in a handful of big economic groups loyal to the state, very little of that money was ever invested in to improving peoples lives. There is alot of talk about the inumerous Hydroeletric dams built in that time, the still are a good asset to the nation, but outside the big cities most people did not have electricity or running water. Most couldnt read or write , and starting in the mid 50s a mass migration started occuring were people emigrated to places like france. Dont let those numbers skew the reality that dispite that growth and having colonial holdings we still were the poorest and most uneducated country in Europe. Dispite this being an episode focused on the Estado Novos workings alot of its other activities were left out. Things such as the secret police the media censorship , political prisons and If the Portuguese had concentrated their efforts in one place they may have pushed back the inevitable for a few years and the work camps. It would also have added alot to the video a few mentions of the long struggle a large portion of the population had against the regime. For example the Communist party was while being being persecuted and working underground was a major driving force of resistance agains the dictatorship and were fundemental in forcing change in the regime like 8 hour work weeks for peseants. The Democratic league and general Humberto delgado also deserved a mentions , seeing that at the cost of his own life he publicly contested the rigged elections against the puppet president of the regime.

Living in South Africa during the 1980s, the 3rd white tribe was the Portuguese from Angola & Mozambique who fled to South Africa after "descolonização" instead of Portugal. South Africa during 1980s was extremely polarized, being white an American living among Afrikaaners, the anti-Communism & racism of the Apartheid Regime was unbelievable yet they had some legitimate concerns.

Simple, plain and quite unbiased... Having family spread all over the five continents and being born in 1956... being old is a privilege of having experienced the "before" and the "After" fully and in the flesh... Your documentary will surely be a wise source for younger people who only have our "left-biased" history books and info. Thank you for presenting "both sides".

Viva Salazar!

Portugal died 1910, but the life support machine was shut down in 74...

The transfer process of Macao to China was not "humilliating" as is said in this video. In fact Macao was never a conquered or colonized territory, but was ceeded to Portugal by China in the 16th century as a reward for Portugal's armada having cleaned the China sea of pirates. Also China didn't just give it away, it was a leased town, and Portugal paid a symbolic rent for it and had to renew the leasing contract from time to time (every 100 years, if I remember well). In 1975, 1st year after the Carnation Revolution, it was the Portuguese government who took the initiative to tell the Chinese that we were going through a decolonization process and were ready to begin talks for the transfer of Macao back to China. The Chinese, demonstrating a high degree of diplomacy, civilization and respect for 500 years of diplomatic and trading relations, answered that they were not in a hurry to get the town back and would rather wait until the legal contract period expired, and that would be in 1999, when the transfer of sovereignity was negociated together with Hong Kong that (I think) had a similar status. The negociations were conducted jointly by Portugal (for Macao) and the UK (for Hong-Kong) and China. There was even a joint ceremony, of the exchanging of the flags attended in both cities by the Portuguese president, the Brittish prime minister and the Chinese government. I remember watching it all on TV, it was an historic event and a great example of how relations between great civilizations should be -- contrary to what's going on right now between American krypto-fascist deep state warmongers and Russia (IDIOTS ! 😡)

This is probably the best video of the Estado Novo here on the Internet. It's the most unbiased video I saw until now, as it puts the somewhat good things and the bad things about the Salazar regime, without the bias coming from the far right or far left (which is unfortunatelly very common in this type of content).

It was an informative historical coverage video about Portugal 🇵🇹 history and its linked with WW2 and the Cold War effectiveness on the Portugal 🇵🇹 Empire .. How's earliest European imperial power was not able to adopt modernized imperial political, economic, and commercial dominant overseas. So, gradually toppled its authoritative over its colonials while communism China 🇨🇳 backed rebellions against Portuguese, especially in Maccaw and Angola 🇦🇴 ... all this information was rarely known...thank you for sharing

i praise you for covering this long ignored subject but totally am stunned by the Anglo view interruption of the subject. my back ground is also economics . your assumptions and history points are complete nonsense and take no account of the real facts of the day in Portugal or the Ultramar. Facts are your knowledge in Portuguese economic history is close to zero. typical American Anglo view. So much for Portugal being an allly, when your friends support us as little as our enermies. bottom line if u held a free election today in the Ultramar to join Portugal 99% would vote for it. viva Portugal

Tudo pela nação 🇵🇹🇵🇹

What are your Sources??? Because you said lots of lies... That's what happen when people talk without knolege, without The correct Sources... Or, even worse, when people talk with a bias towoards their institutions like ONU... Before talk about something, learn about it, Search The correct Sources, and stop spitting lies... As a Portuguese, tou only bring shame to our history... If you want i can even give you access do human Sources (People who had a crucial part in that period, also people who belong to The Goverment of Portugal on that time, but also people who where in a public way, against The way of The State at The time)... You're welcome...

Brilliant documentary. This is a brilliant series. We know it take lot of time and hard work to make these videos. We always appreciate your hard work and dedication towards these videos. Love and appreciation from Sri Lanka 🇱🇰🤝🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿.

Wow! Political decisions that actually make sense in education. Our current government could learn something.

Salazar was the best leader in Portugal's history BY FAR. He solely saved the nation from bankrupcy and skyrocketed all development index factors without 1 cent of external help. This while maintaining neutrality in the war and filling our depleted banks by dealing with both sides. Not ONE Portuguese directly died from the conflict. He was also right about colonial war and both Portugal and the colonies would now be the richest nations on earth if they were kept together. Sadly, cold war ripped appart Africa despite the people not being interested in fake political pojects. The myths about poverty during Salazars time are only believed by raging idiots. True, there was a lot of issues. But poverty was a domestic issue that preceeds Salazar. Salazar was in fact THE FIRST ONE to actually give the entire nation a real education and options other to work the fields in a medieval feudal system. He was the architect of modernization and to this day a lot of his legacy still supports the country despite the vile propaganda about him. Political police? Censorship? True. This existed. But these were other times and he was a man of his time. Not from 2023. This being said, we presently have out of the charts level of censorship and political oppression is as real as it was back then. Just piss off the powerful and you are deleted from the world even more easily.

My parents were born in 1962 and 1963 respectively, my father doesn’t talk about his childhood but my mother (born in ‘63) talks about her childhood a lot. She was born in Óbidos about an hour away from Lisbon. She was more educated than her parents and her two older sisters (they’re 16 and 18 years older than her) however she talks about having to travel far at a young age just to get to primary school because she lived on a farm. While in school she remembers having a lot of B0Mb threats/drills. They were aware at a young age about what was happening. Both my parents immigrated to the united states in the 80’s

Great episode. You managed to cover very well several aspects of the Estado Novo.

In 1968 and much of '69 I was stationed at Lajes AB on Terciera Island Azores (Portugal) which had been constructed by the British in 1944 and then turned over to the Americans at some point after 1950 as a refueling stop for propeller airplanes head for Europe and the Middle East. There were some sixty large parking pads and by the mid Fifties and later every one of them would fill up while the crew rested. repairs made, and refueled to continue both ways. At times incoming planes had to wait for a spot to open for another to pull out or have the aircraft towed into position. But all that changed in the late 60s as jets came into inventory and prop planes phased out. During that time Portugal was fighting wars for independence from three widely separated colonies in Africa until the early 1970s when they were forced to grant independence. Angola in particular had off shore oil/gas deposits which were big money makers. Today miraculously Angola is providing funding for projects back in Portugal rather than social spending needed at home because of continuing friction between several armed factions seeking to take over the country!

If he had forced people to go to school, it would have done much more good.

Just for people to have an idea it's not impossible to find illiterate people to this day in portugal my grandmother who died in 2017 could barely write her name.

As dictators go he was pretty mild.