Editing History of Portugal (section)

=== Salazar dictatorship ===
[[File:Portuguese colonial war blank map.svg|thumb|upright|Portuguese colonies in Africa by the time of the Colonial War.]]Political chaos, several strikes, harsh relations with the Church, and considerable economic problems aggravated by a disastrous [[Portugal in the Great War|military intervention in the First World War]] led to the military [[28 May 1926 coup d'état]]. This coup installed the "Second Republic", which started as the ''[[Ditadura Nacional]]'' (National Dictatorship) and became the ''[[Estado Novo (Portugal)|Estado Novo]]'' (New State) in 1933, led by economist [[António de Oliveira Salazar]]. He transformed Portugal into a sort of [[Fascist]] regime that evolved into a single-party [[Fascist corporatism|corporative]] regime. Portugal, although neutral, informally aided the Nationalists in the [[Spanish Civil War]] (1936–39).

Salazar's policy after the war was to provide a certain level of [[liberalization]] in politics, in terms of organized opposition with more [[freedom of the press]]. Opposition parties were tolerated to an extent, but they were also controlled, limited, and manipulated, with the result that they split into factions and never formed a united opposition.<ref>Dawn L. Raby, "Controlled, Limited and Manipulated Opposition Under a Dictatorial Regime: Portugal, 1945–9," ''European History Quarterly'' (1989) 19#1 pp. 63–84. {{doi|10.1177/026569148901900103}}</ref>