Misplaced Pages

The Kingdom of Portugal had been allied with England since 1373, and thus the Republic of Portugal was an ally of the United Kingdom. However, Portugal remained neutral from the start of World War I in 1914 until early 1916. However, in that year and a half there were many hostile engagements between Germany and Portugal. Portugal wanted to meet British requests for aid and protect its colonies in Africa, causing clashes with German troops in the south of Portuguese Angola, which bordered German South West Africa, in 1914 and 1915 (see German campaign in Angola).

Tensions between Germany and Portugal also arose as a result of German U-boat warfare, which sought to blockade the United Kingdom, at the time the most important market for Portuguese products. Ultimately this led to the confiscation of German ships interned in Portuguese ports in 1916, to which Germany reacted by declaring war on 9 March 1916. In total, from 1916 to 1918, about 91 Portuguese ships were sunk and 5 damaged by German U-boats, causing at least 170 casualties.

About 12,000 Portuguese troops died during World War I, including Africans who served in its armed forces on the colonial front. Civilian deaths by some estimates exceeded 220,000: 82,000 caused by food shortages and 138,000 by the Spanish flu.

1914

• July: The German and British Empires entered into secret negotiations over a possible dismemberment of Portuguese Angola; in such a case, most of the land would fall into the hands of the Germans. An Angola-Bund ("Angola League" to promote a German takeover) had been founded in 1912.
• August to September: Skirmishes occurred between German and Portuguese colonial troops in Africa, and the Germans instigated tribal revolts.
  • Maziua raid (24 August): A small German force attacked a Portuguese outpost at Maziua in Portuguese Mozambique, resulting in the first Portuguese casualties of World War I. The German central government accepted full responsibility, and offered an official apology.
• September: The Portuguese government sent reinforcements to the southern border of Angola. After war broke out, the border between German South West Africa and Angola remained open. The Germans hoped to supply food and possibly even arms through it. However, the Portuguese colonial government was hostile and tried to stop all trade. A few German nationals in Angola were interned.
• October: 1,600 troops arrive in Portuguese Angola and 1,527 troops arrived in Mozambique from Portugal, transported by British ships.

1915

• November: 1,527 troops arrived in Mozambique, commanded by Moura Mendes. The second force was tasked with recapturing the Kionga Triangle from the Germans.

1916

When Portugal complied with a British request to confiscate German ships interned in Portuguese ports, Germany reacted by declaring war on Portugal, thus forcing the Portuguese into the war.

• February 23: Following a British request, the commander of the Portuguese Navy division in Lisbon seized 36 German and Austro-Hungarian ships in Lisbon. On each ship a Portuguese crew was put aboard, and the flag of Portugal was raised. The Prime Minister of Portugal, Afonso Costa, denied that this was an act of war, and the Portuguese Ambassador in Berlin was instructed to assure the German government that Portugal would respect the rights of German shipowners. Portugal stated that it had requisitioned the ships "in the public interest", for the "necessities of the nation's economic situation". Portugal had not confiscated the ships, and they would be converted for "transport and other purposes". An explosive device was discovered in the boiler room of the Norddeutscher Lloyd ship Bülow, which was designed to detonate if the ship were moved. The Portuguese prevented it from being detonated, but her machinery was damaged.

• February 25: In other Portuguese ports there were another 80 German and Austro-Hungarian ships, adding up to a total tonnage of more than 150,000 GRT. On 25 February Portugal seized eight German ships in São Vicente, Cape Verde, and announced that it intended to requisition German and Austro-Hungarian ships in other ports in Portugal and in the Portuguese Empire.
• February 28: a German diplomatic note to Portugal protested that the seizure of the ships violated German treaty rights.
• March 3: By this date Portugal had seized all German ships in Mormugão in Goa.
• March 9: Germany declared war on Portugal. The Portuguese government started to organise the participation of its troops on the Western Front. Shortly afterward, Portugal began closing its consulates in the Ottoman Empire. (The Ottomans had no representation in Portugal.)
• March 15: Austria-Hungary declared war on Portugal.
• June 9: Finance Minister Afonso Costa took part in an Allied Economic Conference in which the Allies decided that Germany must return the territories of Alsace-Lorraine to France (occupied since 1871) and Kionga in Mozambique to Portugal (occupied since 1894) as a condition for peace.
• July 15: The British government formally invited Portugal to take part in the military operations of the Allies.
• July 22: The Portuguese Expeditionary Corps (Corpo Expedicionário Português, CEP), with 30,000 soldiers, was established in Tancos, Portugal, under the command of General Norton de Matos.
• August 7: The Portuguese Parliament accepted the participation of Portugal in the war, following the invitation of the British government. The Portuguese war effort reached 55,000 infantry soldiers, plus 1,000 artillerymen, to be sent to France, 4,000 soldiers per month, to man 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) of battlefront. Only the first two divisions reached France. At the same time, Portugal fielded forces in its African colonies: in Mozambique to defend the colony from German colonial forces, and in the south of Angola against native unrest instigated by the Germans.
• December 3: SM U-38, captained by Max Valentiner, entered Funchal harbour in Madeira and torpedoed and sank three ships: CS Dacia (1,856 GRT), Kanguroo (2,493 GRT) and Surprise (680 GRT). The commander of the French gunboat Surprise and 34 of her crew (7 Portuguese) were killed in the attack. Dacia, a British cable layer, which had previously undertaken war work off the coast of Casablanca and Dakar, was in the process of diverting the German South American cable into Brest, France. After the attack, the Germans bombarded Funchal for two hours from a range of about 2 nautical miles (4 km). Batteries on Madeira returned fire and eventually force the Germans to withdraw.
• December 26: The French government asked Portugal to send artillery crews to France to operate 20 to 30 heavy artillery batteries.

1917

• A few Portuguese troops were sent to the New Forest in Britain, to help with a timber shortage in collaboration with the Canadian Forestry Corps. The stone chimney of their cookhouse is preserved as a monument to them, known as the Portuguese Fireplace.
• January 3: A convention with Britain regulated Portuguese participation in the Western Front. Portuguese troops of the CEP were to be integrated in the BEF (British Expeditionary Force).
• January 7: The Independent Heavy Artillery Corps (Corpo de Artilharia Pesada Independente, CAPI) was created to respond to the French request for artillery crews. Under the Portuguese Superior Command, this unit was to operate 25 heavy artillery batteries.
• February 2: The first Portuguese troops arrived at the port of Brest in Brittany, France.
• February 23: The second contingent of the CEP leaves for France.
• April 4: The Portuguese troops arrive at the front. The first Portuguese casualty was Private António Gonçalves Curado, killed in action.
• May 30: The First Infantry Brigade of the CEP First Division occupied a sector at the battle front.
• June 4: Germans attacked the sector defended by the First Brigade.
• June 16: Second Infantry Brigade occupied another sector on the battle front.
• July 4: U-155 bombarded Ponta Delgada, Azores and killed four people. United States Navy collier USS Orion responded with 3-inch gunfire, causing U-155 to withdraw.
• July 10: CEP First Division assumed responsibility of its part of the Portuguese sector on the battle front. It was subordinated to the XI Corps of the British Army under the command of General Richard Haking. CEP Third Infantry Brigade occupied a sector on the front.
• September 23: The Fourth Brigade, known as the Brigade of Minho (Brigada do Minho), part of the Second Division, reached the front.
• October 17: The first Portuguese CAPI artillery soldiers, representing Portugal's direct support to the French war effort, arrived in France. They were designated by the French as the Corps d'artillerie lourde portugais (CALP).
• November 5: Portuguese command assumed responsibility for its sector in the front. Until then, it had been under the command of General Henry Horne's British First Army.
• Late 1917: General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck's German colonial force entered Mozambique from nearby German East Africa after a series of long-running battles with numerically superior British forces.
• December 12: two German U-boats, U-156 and U-157 (captained by Max Valentiner), again bombarded Funchal. The attack lasted about 30 minutes, and 40 120 mm (4.7 in) and 150 mm (5.9 in) shells were fired. There were three fatalities and 17 wounded, and a number of houses and Santa Clara Church were hit.
• December 17: U-156 stopped and scuttled the Portuguese ship Açoriano (a wooden three-masted schooner) southeast of the Azores.
• December 26: U-157 (captained by Max Valentiner) sank the Portuguese ship Lidia in the Azores.

1918

• February 17: SM U-157 (captained by Max Valentiner) sank the Portuguese ship Estrella de Bissao off the coast of South Africa.
• March 16: The Portuguese artillery batteries entered action.
• March 27: A German offensive prevented Portuguese soldiers from being released from combat. As a third Portuguese Division was never sent to France, the Portuguese Army received no reinforcements at all. Portuguese soldiers had to serve in the battle front for long periods, and were thus among the most exhausted men in the front.
• April 6: The conditions of the Portuguese soldiers became so difficult that the British finally decided to release them. The CEP was supposed to be reorganised, the First Division going to the rear as a reserve force and the Second Division becoming part of the Eleventh Corps of the British Army, under General Haking's command. Haking visited the Portuguese troops and decided to send the Second Division to the rear from April 9, but it never happened. The Germans attacked the British lines, forcing them to retreat about 60 kilometres (37 mi). Instead of being released, Portuguese troops had to fight off the German offensive on their sector.

• April 9: The Battle of La Lys, as it became known in Portugal, or Operation Georgette or the Battle of Estaires to the British, started with a heavy artillery barrage from the Germans, followed by a German offensive with intensive use of poison gas. The German Sixth Army deployed eight divisions (about 100,000 men), supported by intensive artillery fire. Against the force, the Portuguese had 20,000 soldiers and 88 guns. As a result, the Second Division was decimated in the battle. The CEP lost 327 officers and 7,098 soldiers, about 35 percent of its effective fighting capacity. The survivors were sent to the rear, some of the units being integrated into the British Army later on.

During this battle, one of the most courageous acts in Portuguese military history was perpetrated, as Private Aníbal Milhais (also known as "Soldado Milhões" ) defended the retreating Allied forces with nothing but his machine gun, allowing them to fall back and regroup. He defeated two German regiments and forced the remaining German forces to go around him. They found it impossible to defeat what they believed to be a heavily armed post. Once he ran out of bullets, he escaped the battlefield. He got lost along the way, and had nothing to eat for three days but the sweet almonds his family had sent him from Portugal. Lost and exhausted, he rescued a British major from drowning in a swamp. The major led him to the Allied camp, and told of Milhais's deeds.

• July: General Tomás António Garcia Rosado was appointed as the new Commanding Chief of the remaining CEP.
• July: The German force under General Lettow-Vorbeck captured Namacurra in Portuguese East Africa and seized important arms and supplies. Similar smaller successes against Portuguese outposts had already helped resupply his force.
• July 4: CEP First Division was subordinated to the British Fifth Army commanded by General William Birdwood.
• August 25: General Garcia Rosado assumed command of the CEP in France. U-157 sank the Portuguese ship Gloria, 50 kilometres (30 mi) from Porto Santo Island, Madeira.
• September 22: U-157 sank the Portuguese ship Gaia near the Azores.
• October 14: In the action of 14 October 1918, U-139 commanded by Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière sank the Portuguese patrol boat NRP Augusto Castilho commanded by Carvalho Araújo, after several hours of fighting.
• November 11: Germany accepted the armistice proposed by the Allies. The war ended.

The war caused Portugal 8,145 dead, 13,751 wounded and 12,318 prisoners or missing. At sea, 96 Portuguese ships were sunk (100,193 tons) and 5 Portuguese ships damaged (7,485 tons) by German submarines.

After the war

1919

• January 19: Professor Egas Moniz led he Portuguese delegation at the Peace Conference in Versailles, France. In the Treaty of Versailles, Germany ceded the port of Kionga, associated with German East Africa (now mainland Tanzania), to Portugal. This was the only territory gained by Portugal for taking part in World War I on the side of the victorious Allies.

1921

• November 19: Charles I, the last emperor of Austria-Hungary, went into exile on the Portuguese island of Madeira, where he remained until his death on April 1, 1922. In 1917 he had secretly tried to enter peace negotiations with France. Although his foreign minister Ottokar Czernin was interested in negotiating only a general peace that would include Germany as well, Charles himself, in negotiations with the French with his brother-in-law Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma, an officer in the Belgian army, as an intermediary, went much farther in suggesting his willingness to make a separate peace. When news of the overture leaked in April 1918, Charles denied involvement until French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau published letters signed by Charles. That led to Czernin's resignation and forced Austria-Hungary into an even more dependent position with respect to its German ally. Determined to prevent a restoration attempt, the Council of Allied Powers agreed on Madeira as a place of exile for the former emperor because it was isolated in the Atlantic and easily guarded.

See also

• Portugal during World War II

References

1. "Ships hit during WWI".
2. The War Office (1922). Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Empire During the Great War 1914–1920. Reprinted by Naval & Military Press. p. 237. ISBN 978-1-84734-681-0
3. US War Dept 1924 data listed in the Encyclopædia Britannica
4. Hersch, L., La mortalité causée par la guerre mondiale, Metron- The International Review of Statistics, 1927, Vol 7.Pages 61-64
5. Vincent-Smith, J.D. "The Anglo-German negotiations over the Portuguese colonies in Africa, 1911-14". The Historical Journal 17.3 (1974): 620-629.
6. Paice (2008), pp. 22–23.
7. Fernando Amado Couto. "Maziúa 1914: A Entrada de Moçambique na i Gueial". Plataforma Macau. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
8. Sverrisson (2008), p. 88.
9. Paice (2008), p. 23.
10. Zollmann (2016), p. 99.
11. "Portugal enters the war". The Independent. Vol. 80, no. 3437. NewYork. 26 October 1914. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
12. Lansing, Robert; Scott, James Brown (1916). "The American Institute of International Law". American Journal of International Law. 10 (1): 121–126. doi:10.2307/2187370. ISSN 0002-9300.
13. ^ "Portuguese Naval Commander Seizes 36 Teuton Ships, All Austria and Germany Had in the Tagus River". The New York Times. 24 February 1916. p. 1. Retrieved 11 March 2024 – via Times Machine.
14. ^ "Portugal to explain seizure of vessels". The New York Times. 24 February 1916. p. 3. Retrieved 11 March 2024 – via Times Machine.
15. ^ "80 more ships to be seized". The New York Times. 26 February 1916. p. 2. Retrieved 11 March 2024 – via Times Machine.
16. ^ "Germany threatens war on Portugal". The New York Times. 2 March 1916. p. 3. Retrieved 11 March 2024 – via Times Machine.
17. "Ship plots in Portugal". The New York Times. 27 February 1916. p. 3. Retrieved 11 March 2024 – via Times Machine.
18. "Berlin protests to Lisbon". The New York Times. 29 February 1916. p. 3. Retrieved 11 March 2024 – via Times Machine.
19. "Seize more German ships". The New York Times. 4 March 1916. p. 4. Retrieved 11 March 2024 – via Times Machine.
20. "Germany at war with Portugal". The New York Times. 10 March 1916. p. 3. Retrieved 11 March 2024 – via Times Machine.
21. Oliveira Marques, António Henrique R. de (1991). Nova história de Portugal: Portugal da Monarquia para a República. Editorial Presença. p. 343.
22. Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit during WWI: Dacia". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
23. Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit during WWI: Kanguroo". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 13 November 2010.
24. Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit during WWI: Surprise". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 13 November 2010.
25. "www.atlantic-cable.com". uboat.net. 2010-11-13. Archived from the original on 2016-05-27. Retrieved 13 November 2010.
26. Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit during WWI: Lidia". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net.
27. First World War – Willmott, H.P. Dorling Kindersley, 2003, Page 93
28. "Charles's St. Helena Likely to be Funchal" (PDF). The New York Times. November 6, 1921. Retrieved 12 July 2017 – via Times Machine.

Works cited

• Paice, Edward (2008). Tip & Run. The Untold Tragedy of the Great War in Africa. London: Orion Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0753823491.
• Sverrisson, Hjörtur B. (2008). Countermeasures, the International Legal System, and Environmental Violations. New York City: Cambria Press. ISBN 978-1604975406.
• Zollmann, Jakob (2016). Naulila 1914. World War I in Angola and International Law: A Study in (Post-)Colonial Border Regimes and Interstate Arbitration. Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (C.H. Beck). ISBN 978-1604975406. JSTOR j.ctv941rfd.

v t e Years in Portugal
12th-15th centuries 1139 1140s 1150s 1160s 1170s 1180s 1190s 1200s 1210s 1220s 1230s 1240s 1250s 1260s 1270s 1280s 1290s 1300s 1310s 1320s 1330s 1340s 1350s 1360s 1370s 1380s 1390s 1400s 1410s 1420s 1430s 1440s 1450s 1460s 1470s 1480s 1490s 1500
16th century 1501 1502 1503 1504 1505 1506 1507 1508 1509 1510 1511 1512 1513 1514 1515 1516 1517 1518 1519 1520 1521 1522 1523 1524 1525 1526 1527 1528 1529 1530 1531 1532 1533 1534 1535 1536 1537 1538 1539 1540 1541 1542 1543 1544 1545 1546 1547 1548 1549 1550 1551 1552 1553 1554 1555 1556 1557 1558 1559 1560 1561 1562 1563 1564 1565 1566 1567 1568 1569 1570 1571 1572 1573 1574 1575 1576 1577 1578 1579 1580 1581 1582 1583 1584 1585 1586 1587 1588 1589 1590 1591 1592 1593 1594 1595 1596 1597 1598 1599 1600
17th century 1601 1602 1603 1604 1605 1606 1607 1608 1609 1610 1611 1612 1613 1614 1615 1616 1617 1618 1619 1620 1621 1622 1623 1624 1625 1626 1627 1628 1629 1630 1631 1632 1633 1634 1635 1636 1637 1638 1639 1640 1641 1642 1643 1644 1645 1646 1647 1648 1649 1650 1651 1652 1653 1654 1655 1656 1657 1658 1659 1660 1661 1662 1663 1664 1665 1666 1667 1668 1669 1670 1671 1672 1673 1674 1675 1676 1677 1678 1679 1680 1681 1682 1683 1684 1685 1686 1687 1688 1689 1690 1691 1692 1693 1694 1695 1696 1697 1698 1699 1700
18th century 1701 1702 1703 1704 1705 1706 1707 1708 1709 1710 1711 1712 1713 1714 1715 1716 1717 1718 1719 1720 1721 1722 1723 1724 1725 1726 1727 1728 1729 1730 1731 1732 1733 1734 1735 1736 1737 1738 1739 1740 1741 1742 1743 1744 1745 1746 1747 1748 1749 1750 1751 1752 1753 1754 1755 1756 1757 1758 1759 1760 1761 1762 1763 1764 1765 1766 1767 1768 1769 1770 1771 1772 1773 1774 1775 1776 1777 1778 1779 1780 1781 1782 1783 1784 1785 1786 1787 1788 1789 1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1800
19th century 1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900
20th century 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
21st century 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

• Portugal in World War I
• 1910s in Portugal