On October 5, 1910, the young King D. Manuel II, accompanied by his mother, grandmother and a small, suddenly unemployed court, went into exile in England. With the triumph of the republican revolution, the country underwent the greatest political and social transformation in history. In a short time, language was enriched with a new lexicon and institutional life with new symbols.
Stickers
Also known as defectors. In October 1910 the Portuguese, with their recognized aptitude for the power of synthesis in the service of coarse language, gave the epithet “stickers” to the former monarchical politicians who tried to join the new republican regime. In the newspaper The fightDe Brito Camacho declared on October 14 that the Republic cannot be a monarchy by any other name. A series of articles in this vein will continue, especially on October 20, 22, 23 and 25. On the 23rd he wonders if another revolution will be necessary. He states that the republican party register must remain intact to guarantee the regime. But the sharpest resonance would come from Ramalho Ortigão, who wrote: ‘On the glorious morning of October 5, the Rotunda fighters took stock of the risks, the sacrifices and the losses they had suffered during the warlike days they had just spent experienced. that of the five hundred who had begun the rebellion, only five thousand remained.”
Admiral Reis
For Lisbon residents, it is a long and crucial avenue in the urban fabric of the city, to the point that we almost believe that Almirante was the real name of this king. But Cândido dos Reis was a naval officer who never concealed his republican beliefs. However, he did not live long enough to see the triumph of the new regime, despite being one of the strategists of the October 5 Revolution. On October 3, when Cândido dos Reis heard of the death of Professor Miguel Bombarda, a member of the Republican Civil Committee, he feared for the outcome of the movement, but continued despite all hesitations. The naval officers then gathered at the agreed place and time. However, some setbacks occurred: the revolution on land seemed to have failed, the combined signals had all changed, and a bloody battle took place. To prevent further bloodshed, Cândido dos Reis freed his companions from any activity and demobilized them.
Believing that he had failed, Cândido dos Reis went to his sister’s house, on Rua de D. Estefânia. Shortly after five o’clock on the morning of October 4, when the thunder of artillery could no longer be heard, he left the house. At 6 a.m. he was found dead in Travessa das Freiras, in Arroios. Although suicide was suspected at the time, the actual cause of his death continues to raise many doubts.
Amelia Santos
If we look closely at the photos of the fighting in the Rotunda, we see the presence of a woman. He did not pass by, he did not give the rebels anything to drink, but resolutely points out a path to the man, with a gun, standing next to him. The case caused a stir: postcards with the photo were reproduced and Amélia, a cashier by profession, gave several interviews. including the newspaper The capital. When asked if she had been a Republican for a long time, she replied, “Well, I’ve always been a Republican. I never told anyone because, you know… there are people who think it’s ridiculous that women have advanced ideas.” She stayed in the Rotunda until the end, swapping the shotgun for the pistol when the first one was too heavy, but did not let fatigue overcome him. And he concluded: ‘On Saturday morning I went with a group to arrest a Jesuit on the third floor of Rua das Trinas. That was my last job.’ Contradictions of the Republic: The hardworking Amélia died without ever being able to vote.
Flag
One of the first measures of the Provisional Republican Government was the appointment, on October 15, 1910, of a commission with the task of creating a new national flag, which would replace the blue and white flag of the Braganças. The Flag Commission included important personalities from Portuguese society: the painter Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro, the writer Abel Botelho, the journalist and politician João Chagas and two officers of October 5, Lieutenant Ladislau Pereira and Captain Afonso Palla. On November 29, 1910, after making some changes to the Commission’s first proposal, the Provisional Government approved the final design of the flag: the green and red flag. But as expected, things were not that simple and a debate arose in Portuguese society that was almost as heated as the choice of location for the new Lisbon airport.
The choice of the flag that is still ours was decided by the National Constituent Assembly, by decree of June 19, 1911, published in the Government Gazette No. 141 of June 20. An advice from the new flag committee was subsequently published in Government Gazette No. 150 of 30 June 1911, with a more detailed description of the dimensions, details and other specifications.
Bust
As with the French Republic, Portugal also gave the symbol of the new regime the shape of a woman. Instead of Marianne in a Phrygian cap (today in France she resembles actress and model Laetitia Casta, after she had been Brigitte Bardot or Catherine Deneuve), the inspiring muse is an Alentejo native from Arraiolos, Ilda Pulga, who with only Op At the age of 13 she went to Lisbon to work as a seamstress in a workshop in Chiado. There he met the sculptor Simões de Almeida. Ilda died in 1993, aged 101.
Constitution
With the new regime, the Constitutional Charter had to be replaced by a new diploma that regulated national political life. The 1911 Constitution is notable for enshrining a new political regime, but also new, typically republican rights such as social equality (No. 3) among all citizens – a provision that results from the denial of any birth privilege, from the jurisdictions of the nobility. and also the suppression of noble titles, the dignity of nobility and counselors, and even traditional honorific titles or even freedom of speech and thought (no. 13), of assembly and association (no. 14), and the right to public assistance (no. 29).
Finally, secularism was also considered a constitutional principle, postulated by the freedom of faith and conscience (No. 4), the equality of all religious sects (No. 5), the secularization of cemeteries (No. 9), the secularization of education (no. 9). no. 10), the inadmissibility in Portugal of religious congregations and the Society of Jesus (no. 12) and the compulsory civil registry (no. 33). It is the shortest text in Portuguese constitutional history.
Hymn
The National anthem The Portuguese replaced the Hymn of the Charter (Constitutional) after the founding of the Portuguese Republic on October 5, 1910. It was a march composed in 1890 (following the British Ultimatum), with music by Alfredo Keil and lyrics by Henrique Lopes de Mendonça. In this context the objective ofa Portuguese it was intended to glorify patriotism and national pride after King D. Carlos gave in to the British ultimatum that Portugal would renounce its claims to occupy the area between Angola and Mozambique, demarcated by the so-called pink map.
In this context of wounded pride, The Portuguese It has been widely distributed since its inception, so Neuparth & C.ª published the score for free distribution in February 1890. The circulation was more than 22,000 copies, exceptional numbers for that time. The publicity included distributing leaflets, leaflets and putting up posters. This popularity became dangerous in the eyes of the monarchical regime, when on January 31, 1891 the attempt to establish the Republic in Porto was made at the sound of The Portuguese. The march eventually became the anthem of the National Constituent Assembly on June 19, 1911.
Miguel Bombarda
Like Cândido dos Reis, it was almost impossible for Miguel Bombarda not to see the triumph of the regime he fought for for years. He was a doctor at the Medical-Surgical School of Lisbon and for several years headed the Rilhafoles Hospital (later Miguel Bombarda), where he worked on its reorganization. Still as a doctor, he was one of the founders of the National League against Tuberculosis and was the author of an extensive scientific work, especially in the field of psychiatry. He also made a name for himself as a staunch republican and anti-clerical activist, becoming a member of the revolutionary committee that launched the 1910 coup. On October 3, 1910, a few hours before the revolutionary movement began, he was assassinated in his hospital office. by a hospitalized patient named Aparício Rebelo dos Santos. However, there are those who question this official version of the facts.
Thalassa
Term pejoratively attributed to monarchists, or to all those who opposed the republican form of government. With a lot of courage, in a strongly anti-monarchist context, the humorous and caricatured weekly magazine entitled Thalasse, which was published in Lisbon from March 6, 1913 to May 14, 1915, in a total of 100 issues. It was founded by Jorge Colaço (1868-1942), E. Severim de Azevedo (Chrispim) (1884-1920) and Alfredo Lamas, who also owned the title
Telegraph
In his (wonderful) memoirs, the writer Raul Brandão reconstructs this dialogue that took place during the preparations for the revolution: “(…) If the Republicans would hold a meeting at the top of the street and come that way, the Republic would be created! Silva Graça. What about Porto and the province? He asked Chagas. – How do I care about the province! How do I really care about Porto! – We can do it later by telegraph for the Republic.” That’s what actually happened. In a predominantly rural country there were only a few hundred telephone users, concentrated in the two major urban centres. The telegraph was the only way to get news to all parts of the mainland, the islands and overseas Portugal. Yet it took seven days for Lamego to learn that D. Manuel II was no longer ruling and that Timor was living under the illusion of monarchy until the end of October.
Source: DN
