Margarida Portela - Military Historian
Portugal and the Spanish Neutrality During the Great War: From Logistical Difficulties to Pneumonic Influenza.
Margarida Portela (HTC - NOVA/FCSH, CH - FLUL & CINAV - EN)
In Portugal there will always be someone shouting out that, one day, the “Spaniards” are going to invade us again! And there will be always those that, mainly coming from the backbone of the Portuguese elite – and driven by the ideal that Portugal should be again a Monarchy – defend that the two countries should be, once more, one entity, one nation, one Iberian Peninsula, ruled by a sole king.
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What we usually forget is that these discussions were also common during the years that led to the Great War. In fact, they were even heightened after the coup of October 5, 1910, when Portugal became the third Republican European state – after Switzerland and France. Those where years of great turmoil in Portugal, when a Monarchy was overturned and replaced by a Republican Government that needed to strengthen his presence in the European political theatre. And, although some still think this danger was not real, it was not entirely irrational, illogical or unreasonable to think that it was. For there were several struggles in the European political background that were acutely incremented by this military conflict, making it possible to trace the roots of this fear to some earlier situations.
Fighting in France
Since 1914, Portugal had many voices defending the sending of troops to France. Other were less enthusiastic about it. The African Colonies were not that problematic, as Portugal was defending its own territory from an enemy that, several years earlier, had discussed with other European nations the dismemberment of those same African possessions. But sending troops to France never reached a consensus in Portugal, with some soldiers fighting in this European front constantly questioning what they were doing in a war that was not their own.
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Meanwhile, many politicians thought it was, and their inclination would be the one to prevail. For they considered essential the defence of Republican France, and the ideals of the French Revolution (Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité). And, in the end, that Portugal should take part of it, revendicating their place in Europe as a Republican State – and gaining also a seat at the discussion table of the end of the war. Therefore, sending troops to the African theatres was never a product of doubt – although England asked Portugal to old down its belligerent anxiety and maintain a kind of “false neutrality” – fighting solely in Africa, where it should keep the Germans out of Angola and Mozambique. Portugal did so until, at last, in 1916, the Germanic declaration of war threw this country to the official side of the conflict and, with it, to the European Front.
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The «Spanish Danger»
By that time, the supposed Spanish Danger had already been incremented by several politicians, and even by the Spanish king, Alfonso XIII that, until WWI, kept defending that Spain´s security should always involve some sort of “Iberian Solution”. In the past, this mindset had led to a Spanish approach to France and Great Britain in 1904, when both countries considered the possibility of a major Spanish role in the European opposition to the Germanic desires for more vital space (mainly in Europe but also in África, where the Portuguese had their colonies). Expansion in Portugal and Morocco was even on the discussion table, but problems in North Africa overturned the negotiations and the Spanish position grew feebler. With time, the climate became unfavourable to «adventures» in Portugal, but it was late to toss away that wave of uncertainty that already had grown up among so many Portuguese.
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So, when World War I began, and Spain kept its neutrality (and Portugal understood that needed to move some troops to several war theatres), many Portuguese believed that their country was doomed. If we didn´t had enough soldiers to defend our borders, Spain – neutral and with all its military capabilities untouched – would certainly send their own fighters to occupy neighbouring territories! Neutrality permitted the Spanish to keep all military contingents intact, and for so, to be fully armed and unaffected by the contexts of war. Meanwhile, nearby Portugal was sending hundreds of men to Angola and Mozambique, and in January 1917, to Flanders Fields. If only Spain had entered this war, they too had to send some troops to help in France…
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But they did not! Of course, by that time, some questions needed urgent and compelling answers. Would Alfonso XIII miss the opportunity to conquer Portugal? Or would he reinstate Monarchy in this nearby country? And, if so, would he bring D. Manuel II from his exile in England? Or would he take the throne to himself, like some defenders of an Iberian Monarchy would certainly love to see? Unfortunately, for some Portuguese, those answers never came. And the state of permanent fear kept some of them going, all the way, until the end of the war.
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By then, for the Portuguese ruling class, the only solution was to keep going, and to send troops to help France. And, if something went wrong, to pray that Great Britain, our most ancient ally, would have a word to say, rescuing us from the Spanish ambitions – although the British always stated they would definitely help Portugal in the colonies, but would never interfere in matters of European frontiers.
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Increased logistical problems
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In the meantime, Spanish Neutrality posed a tangible logistical problem, mainly observed in sending troops and supplies to France. For, in between, stands this gigantic country, and its non-involvement in the Great War imposed that all Portuguese troops should be sent to France by boat, as well as supplies and additional material. We can ask ourselves if, even with Spain as a participant in this war, Portugal could have the capability to send all the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps by train. But we can also linger in the possibility that, even if some had to go by boat, things could happen as with Great Britain and France, where the soldiers’ movements were definitely shortened by train journeys.
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Arrival of Supplies, 1917
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Ilustração Portugueza, nº. 574, Lisboa, 19 de Fevereiro de 1917, p. 150.
That did not happen and, in the end, created problems that echoed even among troops, damaging the esprit de corps and decreasing the morale of foot soldiers. With non-aligned Spain, no “soldier” could pass through its territory. Meaning that all Portuguese combatants should be sent by boat from Lisbon to Brest, fully equipped and posing no threat to this proclaimed neutrality. And off they went, in their uncomfortable uniforms, in a three-day journey surrounded by war material, provisions, animals and, of course, the sea and ominous dangers, like German U-Boats. ​
Nevertheless, if someone could catch a train in civilian clothes, could he pass safely through Spain? The answer is yes, and those soldiers new it! But they had no way to escape their poor fate. The truth is that many of these men came from rural Portugal, and the only clothes they had were exactly those uniforms. Their daily lives had no space for fancy clothes and trips abroad and, in the end, they couldn’t even afford train tickets. Many had never left their countryside homes, seen great cities or the vast sea. The first time they did so was during recruitment – and, as we might expect, when they left for France, some of them never to return home!​
This meant traveling in unsanitary conditions and remaining in France during campaign leaves, near the frontlines, for they had no financial capability to visit Paris or other French cities. Yet, many officers could do exactly that! Some even went to London or to Parisian churches, restaurants and coffee shops – with some romantic getaways included! This overshadowed the relations between ranks, creating a line that positioned officers on one side and soldiers on the other, as if they were fighting on different sides of the barricades.
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A surprising journey to France
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A good example can be found in Raul de Carvalho. Raul was a doctor, more precisely a haematologist, sent to France to work in the Portuguese Military Medical Service. In 1917, as so many others, he received his orders: come to France and be stationed in some BEF field hospital (and, after that, in a Portuguese Base Hospital). Planning his journey, he talked with some colleagues and decided not to go by boat. Raul bought a train ticket and went on route by Spain. Why? Simply because he could afford it! He had the funds and the time to do it, indulging himself in a little touristic journey, both in Spain and France. An educational visit, going to monuments and hospitals, for a better understanding of 1910´s cultural and scientific world. Raul had no financial worries; he was young and had no troubles in his mind. He wanted to learn more, go out, and see the world. This European war was, at that time, only a minor problem for him to solve.
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Raul de Carvalho in France (family photo used in is memoirs, published in 2013).
Therefore, after an emotional departure, this 28-year-old doctor took the Rápido de Madrid in the company of his good old friend Mario Moutinho, with whom he divided a bed compartment. The ticket was very expensive, as he recorded, filling his diary with other financial surprises that shocked him along the way. And so, they arrived in Madrid on March 25, 1917, a beautiful and sunny Sunday, that both enjoyed with a group of other officers that shared the same final destiny – one of them even accompanied by his wife!
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Arriving to Las Delicias, they all went to the centre of Madrid, to the Hotel de Las Canarias, situated in the Calle de la Cruz. They had a good bed and breakfast – but not always hot water. They went to see one zarzuela show, Lo Abanico de la Pompadour in Teatro Reina Victoria, with five spectators paying 20 pesetas for one closed cabin! “A robbery” he stated, but preferable to the cruel show of the Touradas, the Spanish bullfights, that, at least, only deprived him of 2 pesetas. What a relief!
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Madrid Bullring - today as it was seen by Raul de Carvalho and Mario Moutinho
They also went to Teatro Apolo for a play and, of course, sightseeing, moving around in Madrid in paid carriages or having brunches in the Grand Café de Madrid and El Comercial. They visited professors and friends, and stayed three days in Spain, before leaving for Biarritz, Pau and Lourdes, where they slept in Hotel du Sacre-Couer. But, of course, France was at war. The prices were even higher than in Spain, and the food was awful – although the wines were superb!
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From there Raul de Carvalho and Mario Moutinho went to Bordeaux and Paris, where they visited some medical institutions. And off they went to the frontline, where they would perform their duties in some field or base hospital. "C´est la Guerre", Raul wrote in his diary.
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It sure was! But, for certain, a different war for him, an officer with some money on his pocket! Because, by that time, a common soldier had already arrived in Brest after a three-day unpleasant journey in the belly of some metal beast! And, at the arrival, amidst the cold reception and the snow, they had a hot meal and off they went too! This time by train, to the combat zone. No sightseeing, no friends to visit, no fancy wines or theatrical plays. War was all around them and there was no way to escape it. And most of this could happen because of this Spanish neutrality, that bound those soldiers to mandatory boat trips, permitting to officers like Raul de Carvalho a much more pleasant journey through “Neutral Spain”.
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Problems in the Homefront
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While this was happening, in the Homefront, people were starting to acknowledge these differences, and suffering from food deprivation and from daily reflections of war in Portuguese Economy. The discomfort of daily life was enhanced by the waiting game. Almost everyone had someone fighting in this war and, in the end, Portugal was also testifying a profound bleeding of their younger generation.
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In the meantime, if the colonies were always known by their geographical distance, France was a fairly near battlefield ground. Nonetheless, soldiers went there and stayed for the remaining service time, while many officers could travel through Spain in their campaign leaves, coming and going at the sound of the jingling coins in their heavier pockets. This would become obvious to everyone during the course of the war. All Portuguese families new it, as they grasped that, for the common soldiers, the only music remaining would be the sounds of war!
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In Portugal, those who stayed talked about this and other injustices, prayed to the Virgin Mary – that appeared in Cova de Iria, Fátima, from May to October 1917 – and suffered with the incremented poverty that this conflict brought (that lead to popular unrest and strikes mainly in Lisbon and Porto). War was dangerous, irrational and unjust. And those who stayed could now understand that the “Great War” was only great because it was a boundless destroyer of Life.
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A Revolta da Batata [the Potato Revolt], a popular uprising that shook Lisbon in mid-1917.
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Ilustração Portuguesa, n.º 589, 4 de junho de 1917, p. 448.
The arriving of a new enemy
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Unfortunately, what they did not knew was that another killer was already on the loose. A predator that would slain more than WWI itself. But they would soon know it by name! And what strange name this was, for they soon started listening all around that a new enemy had arrived, known to all as the Spanish Flu.
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Nowadays we recognise this disease as the Pneumonic Influenza of 1918 – 1920, caused by the virus H1N1, the architect of a huge pandemic that affected a quarter of the world’s populations, killing at least fifty million – if not a hundred million individuals worldwide. Curious enough, it became known in Spain as the “French Flu”, due to its connection to the Front, as it was probably brought to Europe by soldiers of the American Expeditionary Force. But all around it became known as the “Spanish Flu”, something that remained until today.
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Once more we can explain it as a Spanish Neutrality singularity. For, if a country is not at war, it’s not propelled by an acute censorship of its activities. News in Spain had no war gags or restrains and, as soon as this influenza virus started killing, newspapers began reporting the death toll, delivered by this new opponent, worse than war itself. An adversary that did not care about friends or foes, war participants and neutral states, arriving not with a gun in its hands, but in the air that we breathe!
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Sintra Provisional Hospital dedicated to the Spanish Flu, December 1918.
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Ilustração Portuguesa, n.º 670, 4 de Dezembro 1918, p. 516
This posed as a huge problem for countries like Portugal, that had war censorship. The last thing the Portuguese government needed was more disastrous news. However, this was a different foe, quite invisible, that killed mainly young individuals in one or two days. And, as this pandemic grew, many start listening to some terrible news, brought by those who understood what was happening in neighbouring Spain. People from the border area were bringing information of many deaths, and even talked that king Alfonso XIII was very sick. All because the monarch´s disease was widely reported by the press.
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Conclusion
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Neutrality brought to Spain the strange possibility of reporting everything, even during that wartime period. From food deprivation to strikes, from the deaths of strangers to the danger of losing a king, all was reported, and widely spoked, at home or in the streets. And while Portugal was keeping those deaths covered by war censorship – in an effort to control unnecessary panic – Spain´s Neutrality permitted to this non-participant country to detail whatever was needed, creating huge problems for other war participants.
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Spanish Neutrality could be a problem, a danger or an embarrassment to countries like France, Great Britain or Portugal. But mainly to the Portuguese, due to the shared borders and cultural proximity. There was the danger of this neutral country, with its pristine military capabilities, invade our borders. And this Spanish position represented that no soldier could pass through its territory in full uniform. This posed huge logistical problems, amplifying discontent among ranks and the existing differences between common soldiers and officers.
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In the end, Spanish Neutrality contributed to the unrest of a country that, as many thought at that time, should not go to war at all. Many Portuguese felt exactly that, mainly when the subject was sending troops to France. «Why could we not stay neutral as Spain?” – a question that lingered on the minds of many during this wartime period. And, as the unrest continued, Spanish Neutrality, with its lack of censorship, brought terrible news of a pandemic that, even today – and because of this non-alignment at WWI – is still know by so many as the “Spanish Flu”.
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