Civil-Military Relations during World War I (Portugal)

Portugal went to war in March 1916 with a government and an army that did not sit comfortably with each other. The young republican regime’s relationship with its armed forces was difficult despite its popularity among a small number of officers and a larger number of non-commissioned officers (NCOs). The Republic was seen as essentially hostile to the existence of a powerful officer caste. Matters were made worse by Portugal’s controversial intervention in the Great War and the subsequent decision to send an expeditionary force to France. Many within the army saw themselves as a sacrificial offering made by politicians for purely partisan gain. Unsurprisingly, the army was a mainstay of the anti-interventionist Sidónio Pais, who took power in December 1917 and held it until hi