5 October 1910 Revolution

5 October 1910 Revolution

The establishment of the Portuguese Republic was the result of a coup d'état organised by the Portuguese Republican Party which, on 5 October 1910, deposed the constitutional monarchy and established a republican regime in Portugal. The subjugation of the country to British colonial interests, the royal family's expenses, the power of the Church, the political and social instability, the system of alternating power of the two political parties (Progressive and Regenerador), João Franco's dictatorship, an apparent inability to adapt to modern times — all contributed to an unrelenting erosion of the Portuguese monarchy. The proponents of the republic, particularly the Republican Party, found ways to take advantage of the situation. The Republican Party presented itself as the only one that had a programmme that was capable of returning to the country its lost status and place Portugal on the way of progress.

After a reluctance of the military to combat the nearly two thousand soldiers and sailors that rebelled between 3 and 4 October 1910, the Republic was proclaimed at 9 o'clock of the next day from the balcony of the Paços do Concelho in Lisbon. After the revolution, a provisional government led by Teófilo Braga directed the fate of the country until the approval of the Constitution in 1911 that marked the beginning of the First Republic. Among other things, with the establishment of the republic, national symbols were changed: the national anthem and the flag. The revolution and the republic which it spawned are noted for a severe anticlericalism. The constitution which the revolution produced generally accorded full civil liberties, the religious liberties of Catholics being an exception.