“The Alliance is not our whole Foreign Policy”: Salazar’s Speeches and Notes about the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance and the Attitude of the Portuguese Government towards Britain during the Spanish Civil War (September 1936-July 1937)

Abstract

In an attempt to stem the escalation of the Spanish Civil War to other countries, France and Britain proposed the signing of a non-intervention agreement with other nations, including Germany, Italy, Portugal, and the Soviet Union, all of which had definite stakes in the outcome of the conflict. Compared with these other countries, Portugal’s involvement was more discreet, but by no means less critical. Taking into account its role in the war and the circumstances in which Salazar tried to stay ahead of the game, this study serves two objectives. The first one is to understand the ways in which Salazar assessed the role of Britain in the Non-Intervention Committee from September 1936 to July 1937, notably through his Notes and Speeches (2016). The second objective, still based on the same documents, is to examine how he depicted the Anglo-Portuguese relations and the Alliance in the first year of the Spanish Civil War, a period marked by the transition from a position of apparent neutrality and impartiality to a position where he openly champions the nationalist cause as the only way to stop the progress of communism in Europe. The tipping point was the attempt on his life on 4 July 1937. In his speech at the national assembly two days later, he claims that he does not fear the hatred that his critics in Britain bare him and that Portugal, though still cherishing the Alliance, must be able to steer its own course and live up to its political principles.