Why was Portugal Neutral in World War 2? 

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. 💚💚🙏🏻🙏🏻🇿🇼🇿🇼🇬🇧🇬🇧🇵🇹🇵🇹

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.

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

🇬🇧🇵🇹 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)

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

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

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

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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".

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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!

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

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.

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...

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.

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

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!

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.

"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

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

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.

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.

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.

Just forgot a HUGE detail: Portugal was an dictadorship and Salazar a fascist. He had deep ideology proximity with franco, mussolini and hitler. The way you put it it seems like he was a nice clever pacifist. He was a monster.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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 🇵🇹❤

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

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🇧🇷🤗

I think that because Spain was so supportive of Hitler and Mussolini Portugal had to walk on eggshells during that war.

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.

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.

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.

Love your videos

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

Great work! keep going

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

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?)

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.

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.

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

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

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!

Excellent presentation

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.

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

Interesting subject, thanks!

Salazar smart man. Portugal and Spanish had great empires.

Well done. Thanks

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

wolfram is tungsten, a rare metal.

Portugal: Im gonna make a pro gamer move

Great video, as a portuguese I thank you.

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

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

Portugal fighted alongside UK in the Napoleonic Wars. Portugal was invaded 4 times (2 by Spain & France, 2 by France), 10% of population dies, all the coutry was destroyed. Our king had to move the capital to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to keep fighting the spanish/french. After the war ended, Portugal lost Brazil (become independent) and Olivença to Spain. Spain started as an ally of France but get away in the end as a "nice" nation - the british didn't help Portugal to restore Olivença. To this day, Olivença is still under Spain rule. In the conquest of Africa by the European nations (after the Berlin Conference), Portugal had the right of taking the area between Angola and Mozambique. UK made an ultimatium to Portugal, and our king had to accept. This was the main reason for the end of the monarchy in Portugal. In World War I, Portugal fighted in Europe and Africa, alongside UK. Despite another victory, it was another disastarous war for Portugal. Moreover, by 1920s Portugal had massive debts, and at that time no IMF was availabe to bail out nations. Salazar was a clever man, he knew all of this past episodes and didn't make the same mistake to follow the british, at least without some kind of gain, or at least without heavy losses. Only when USA made an ultimatium because of Azores islands, Salazar did break up his iccy attitude towards UK. Nevertheless, Portugal profited from the war, mainly with the germans payments in gold. After the war, Portugal receveid some money from the Marshall Plan but Salazar did pay back the money - I think it was the only country that paid back to USA... Portugal paid back all of his debts. In 1974, when Salazar regime ended, Portugal had no debts and one of the biggest gold reserves in the world. All because Portugal didn't participate in WW2 and used the british and germans in their behalf. Salazar despised Franco and Hitler, but he admired Mussolinni, thus the regime was similar to Italian Fascism, never like Franco or Nazis. Yes, there's a difference. Hitler also used Italian Fascism to develop nazis. Franco was an idiot and it's really ridiculous how so many spanish people still think that he could invade Portugal in WW2.

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

Salazar might have been a lot a things, but the way he managed WW2 was solid AF

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.

We weren't neutral Portugal during WW2 had a dictatorship, hence some of the favour you've talked about to the Germany But in reality we helped thousands of Jews throughout the war getting out of germany, using the "Portuguese Soil" within the embassies to safekeep them, and get them Portuguese passports to get them out safely.

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

Lesser known fact, is that portuguese embassador in france was moved by the jews situation, and against salazar orders, sign thousands of autorizations for jews to run away for portugal to safety. The embassador was relieved of his dities and imprisioned for not folowing orders, but he saved thousands of lives in the process. A true hero

This question of Portuguese neutrality is a funny one to me. Portugal was never a factor for the war. It was not a strategic geographic location, it was not the location of raw metals or oil in any capacity that justified invasion, it had a negligible military force. So why would it be a factor in the war? Already in WWI Portugal only entered the battle out of folly from the Republicans trying to show that Portugal was still a nation to be reckoned with. They were never invited into it, having to pretty much force themselves into participating. So Portuguese neutrality is a moot, very uninteresting point. Even though Portugal was in Europe, it was never a factor and so little a country it is, that no one would care enough to force Portugal's hand into taking sides. Further, to the argument laid by some people, that Salazar was worried about saving Portuguese lives, this begs the question. Why were those lives so worthless when it came to the disastrous and losing campaigns of the Colonial Wars?

A quote from Salazar to the Portuguese people" "I save you from War but not from Hunger.".

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

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).

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

the map looks so beautiful

As a Portuguese, Dr Salazar is the best politician Portugal had from all times.

whats upsetting about this is that our country gained a lot of money during this time, yet the people were starving because we were living in a dictatorship

Salazar, a great humble man and one of the best portuguese of all time.

''Portugal was allied to the Brits for 600 years''...... the 'Brits'? ....I don't think so 🤦🏻‍♂️

Quem pode pode, quem não pode não pode

You kwow about Aristides Sousa Mendes ?

As we say in Brazil. "Everyone which your own problems"

VIVA SALAZAR!!!! 🇵🇹

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

Salazar was voted by the majority of the Portuguese as the most influential Portuguese of the 20th century. He was a great statesman, somewhat old fashioned and very conservative. He did not believe democracy would work out in Portugal thus he was an authoritarian ( not dictator as some ignorants believe ). He truly tried to defend western Christian values in the Portuguese empire. Today Portugal is a democracy and the rest of what was the Portuguese overseas colonies are just a bunch of corrupt, miserable and pathetic dictatorships ( some like Moçambique desguised as democracies ). Conclusion: Salazar knew that racism would play a crucial role if democracy prevailed in Portugal. White Portugal would off course prosper if they sold their souls to the mighty capital. The rest of the Portuguese with a darker skin colour would pay the price and become what they are today. Miserable starving warring corrupt territories with no future at all.