Camoes, Portuguese war propaganda, and the dream of a safe colonial empire, 1914-1918

Twentienth-century Portugal's view of itself and its global role was largely determined by the way in which Luis de Camoes was celebrated in Portugal in 1880, the third centenary of his death. This much is made clear by Alan Freeland in his article "The people and the poet: Portuguese national identity and the Camoes Tercentenary'. Those celebrations, largely ignored by the Crown, did much to propel Portuguese republicanism into the twentieth century as a nationalist and colonialist doctrine, committed to the restoration of a Portuguese golden era sung in the cantos of Camoes epic poem, The Lusiads