World War II 1949-1974






Post-War Portugal 1945-1949



Foreign Policy : Portugal, a fascist military dictatorship like Franco's Spain, but with less of a reputation for the violation of human rights, maintained close ties with Spain. While the Franco dictatorship was merely tolerated by the international community, and treated as a pariah by some countries, Portugal attempted to use her influence to get Spain included in the list of Marshall Plan beneficiaries. Portugal joined NATO in 1949, and the Council of Europe. Britain remained Portugal's leading trade partner. Portugal held on to her colonial empire.

Domestic Policy : Military coups in Dec. 1946 and April 1947 failed. Elections were held in 1949, in which the government parties won (camouflage democracy); the Communist Party remained illegal.

The Economy : Portugal's foreign trade showed imports clearly outweigh exports. Portugal proper's main export products were wine, olives and cork. In 1946 bread rations had to be cut further. The year 1947 saw a good harvest; 1948 a poor one, affected by natural disasters. From 1947 onward, Portugal benefitted from the Marshall Plan.





EXTERNAL
FILES 		Library of Congress, Country Studies : Portugal
History of Portugal by Dark Angel
DOCUMENTS
REFERENCE David Birmingham, A Concise History of Portugal, Cambridge Concise Histories, 1993, 210 pp.
Article : Portugal, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1946 p.591, 1947 pp.613-614, 1948 p.600, 1949 pp.531-532, 1950 pp.557-558 [G]
Article : Portugal, in : Americana Annual 1947 pp.574-576 (on events of 1946) [G]
Article : Portugal, in : Funk & Wagnall's New Standard Encyclopedia Year Book 1946 p.339 [G]



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2000, last revised on March 23rd 2007

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