António de Oliveira Salazar

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Salazar was born in Vimieiro, near Santa Comba Dão, to a family of modest income. He became a professor of economic policy and finance at the University of Coimbra. Entering public life as finance minister after the 1926 coup, he quickly balanced the budget and stabilized the currency, producing the first of many surpluses. He reframed the existing National Dictatorship into the corporatist Estado Novo, with himself as dictator. Salazar enforced a strict separation of the armed forces from politics, aiming to de-politicize society rather than mobilize it. His rule was conservative, corporatist, and Portuguese nationalist, opposing democracy, communism, socialism, syndicalism, liberalism, and capitalism, which he saw as plutocratic. He distanced himself from Nazism and fascism, calling the latter a "pagan Caesarism." He avoided populist rhetoric and created the National Union as a "non-party," the antithesis of a political party. His regime's motto was "Deus, Pátria e Família" (God, Fatherland and Family), and while he promoted Catholicism, the church was kept at arm's length through the Concordat of 1940. His territorial policy was pluricontinentalism, viewing the Portuguese Empire as a unified state across continents. He supported Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War and kept Portugal neutral in World War II, aiding the Allies while also receiving Nazi gold. Under his rule, Portugal was a founding member of NATO, EFTA, and the OECD, and joined the UN and GATT. He used censorship and the PIDE secret police to suppress opposition, notably exiling and later overseeing the assassination of rival Humberto Delgado. The Portuguese Colonial War began in 1961, and India annexed Goa that same year. Salazar fell into a coma in 1968 and was dismissed; his regime collapsed four years after his death in the Carnation Revolution of 1974.

Reader's Guide

His regime was conservative, corporatist, and Portuguese nationalist, rejecting liberal democracy, communism, socialism, syndicalism, and capitalism, which it viewed as plutocratic. Salazar also distanced himself from Nazism and fascism, calling the latter a "pagan Caesarism" without legal or moral limits. He avoided populist rhetoric and created the National Union as a "non-party," the antithesis of a political party. His goal was the de-politicisation of society, not mass mobilization, and he strictly separated the armed forces from politics. A political economy professor, Salazar balanced the budget and stabilized currency within a year of becoming finance minister, producing repeated surpluses. He promoted Catholicism but kept the Church at arm's length via the Concordat of 1940, and his motto was "God, Fatherland and Family." His pluricontinentalist policy treated the Portuguese Empire as a unified state across continents. From the 1950s, Portugal saw sustained GDP per capita growth and declining illiteracy, though by 1974 it still had Western Europe’s lowest per capita income and literacy. During World War II, Salazar kept Portugal neutral, aided the Allies, and also received Nazi gold. He supported Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Despite its dictatorship, Portugal under Salazar was a founding member of NATO, the European Payments Union, EFTA, and the OECD, and joined the UN and GATT. The Portuguese Colonial War began in 1961, leading to the independence of Angola, Guinea-Bissau, and Mozambique in 1974, and India annexed Goa that same year. Salazar used censorship and the PIDE secret police to suppress opposition; one opponent, Humberto Delgado, was assassinated by the PIDE in 1965 after challenging the regime. Salazar fell into a coma in 1968 and was dismissed by President Américo Tomás. The regime collapsed in the 1974 Carnation Revolution, four years after his death.

Did You Know?

• Salazar balanced Portugal's budget and stabilized its currency within one year of becoming finance minister.
• He described his National Union as a 'non-party' and the antithesis of a political party.