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Portuguese Colonial War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_Colonial_War
The Portuguese Colonial War (Portuguese: Guerra Colonial Portuguesa), also known in Portugal as the Overseas War (Guerra do Ultramar) or in the former colonies as the War of Liberation (Guerra de Libertação), was fought between Portugal's military and the emerging nationalist movements in Portugal's African colonies between 1961 and 1974. The Portuguese regime was overthrown by a military coup in 1974, and the change in government brought the conflict to an end. The war was a decisive ideological struggle in Lusophone Africa and surrounding nations and mainland Portugal.
The prevalent Portuguese and international historical approach considers the Portuguese Colonial War as a single conflict fought in three separate theaters of operations (Angola, Portuguese Guinea, and Mozambique). However, some other approaches consider the existence of three distinct conflicts, the Angolan War of Independence, the Guinea-Bissau War of Independence, and the Mozambican War of Independence. Occasionally, the brief conflict that led to the 1961 Indian Annexation of Goa is also included in the historical scope of the Portuguese Colonial War.
Unlike other European nations during the 1950s and 1960s, the Portuguese Estado Novo regime did not withdraw from its African colonies, or the overseas provinces (províncias ultramarinas) as those territories had been officially called since 1951. During the 1960s, various armed independence movements became active in these Portugal-administered territories, namely in Angola, Mozambique, and Portuguese Guinea. During the ensuing conflict, atrocities were committed by all forces involved.[7] The decolonization and independence of several African states after World War II, the Invasion of Goa by Indian Armed Forces and the Santa Maria hijacking, and the achievements of the African-American Civil Rights Movement, were also signs of the "Winds of change" supporting independence movements in Portuguese Africa.
Throughout the war period Portugal faced increasing dissent, arms embargoes and other punitive sanctions imposed by most of the international community. By 1973, the war had become increasingly unpopular due to its length and financial costs, the worsening of diplomatic relations with other United Nations members, and the role it had always played as a factor of perpetuation of the entrenched Estado Novo regime and the non-democratic status quo. The guerrilla forces of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola, National Liberation Front of Angola, National Union for the Total Independence of Angola in Angola, African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde in Portuguese Guinea, and the Mozambique Liberation Front in Mozambique, succeeded in their 13-year-long pro-independence rebellions through guerrilla warfare after a military coup at Lisbon in April 1974. The coup was staged by low-ranking elements of the Portuguese Armed Forces, mostly veteran captains of Guinea where the war had more human costs, and also, unlike the other theaters of war, where the military could not control part of the territory.[8][9]
The Armed Forces Movement (Movimento das Forças Armadas) overthrew the Estado Novo government in response to the ongoing and stalemated war in Portuguese Guinea, and in rebellion against the unpopular new military laws that were to be presented the following year (Decree Law: Decretos-Leis n.os 353, de 13 de Julho de 1973, e 409, de 20 de Agosto). Under these laws, by militia officers who completed a brief training program and had served in the overseas territories' defensive campaigns, could be commissioned at the same rank as military academy graduates.[10][10][11][12][13] After the coup, the newly installed revolutionary Portuguese government withdrew all overseas military forces and agreed to a quick handover of power for the African guerrillas.
The end of the war after the Carnation Revolution military coup of April 1974 in Lisbon resulted in the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Portuguese citizens[14] plus military personnel of European, African and mixed ethnicity from the former Portuguese territories and newly independent African nations. From May 1974 to the end of the 1970s, over 1 million citizens left these former colonies, and would restart their lives predominantly in Portugal, South Africa, North America, the rest of Western Europe and Brazil.[15][16][17] This migration is regarded as one of the largest peaceful migrations in the world's history.[18]
The former colonies faced severe problems after independence. Devastating and violent civil wars followed in Angola and Mozambique, which lasted several decades, claimed millions of lives, and resulted in large numbers of displaced refugees.[19] Economic and social recession, authoritarianism, lack of democracy and other elemental civil and political rights, corruption, poverty, inequality, and failed central planning eroded the initial revolutionary zeal.[20][21][22] A level of social order and economic development comparable to what had existed under Portuguese rule, including during the period of the Colonial War, became the goal of the independent territories.[23]
Portugal had been the first European power to establish a colony in Africa when it captured Ceuta in 1415; it became one of the last to leave. The former Portuguese territories in Africa became sovereign states, with Agostinho Neto in Angola, Samora Machel in Mozambique, Luís Cabral in Guinea-Bissau, Manuel Pinto da Costa in São Tomé and Príncipe, and Aristides Pereira in Cape Verde as the heads of state.
Films about the war
- Os Demonios de Alcacer-Quibir (Portugal 1975, director: Jose Fonseca da Costa).
- La Vita è Bella (Portugal/Italy/USSR 1979), director: Grigori Naumowitsch Tschuchrai).
- Sorte que tal Morte (Portugal 1981, director: Joao Matos Silva).
- Acto dos Feitos da Guine (Portugal 1980, director: Fernando Matos Silva).
- Gestos & Fragmentos - Ensaio sobre os Militares e o Poder (Portugal 1982, director: Alberto Seixas Santos).
- Um Adeus Português (Portugal 1985, director: Joao Botelho).
- Era Uma Vez Um Alferes (Portugal 1987, director: Luis Filipe Rocha).
- Matar Saudades (Portugal 1987, director: Fernando Lopes Vasconcelos)
- A Idade Maior (Portugal 1990, director: Teresa Villaverde Cabral).
- "Non", ou A Vã Glória de Mandar (Portugal/France/Spain 1990, director: Manoel de Oliveira).
- Ao Sul (Portugal 1993, director: Fernando Matos Silva).
- Capitães de Abril (Captains of April, Portugal 2000, director: Maria de Medeiros).
- Assalto ao Santa Maria (Assault on the Santa Maria, Portugal 2009, director: Francisco Manso).
Documentaries
- A Guerra - Colonial - do Ultramar - da Libertação, 1st Season (Portugal 2007, director: Joaquim Furtado, RTP)
- A Guerra - Colonial - do Ultramar - da Libertação, 2nd Season (Portugal 2009, director: Joaquim Furtado, RTP)
See also
- Angolan War of Independence
- Guinea-Bissau War of Independence
- Mozambican War of Independence
- Operation Gordian Knot
- Carnation Revolution
- Portuguese invasion of Guinea (1970)
- Operation Vijay (1961) (Portuguese India)
- Lusophobia
Portuguese military:
- Portuguese Army Commandos
- Special Operations Troops Centre
- Parachute Troops School
- Portuguese Marine Corps
- Portuguese irregular forces in the Overseas War
- Portuguese Armed Forces
Contemporaneous wars:
- Rhodesian Bush War
- South African Border War
Post-independence wars:
- Angolan Civil War
- Mozambican Civil War