For Want of A Sandwich - A Franz Ferdinand Lives Wikibox TL

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Osman IV (Istanbul, Ottoman Empire 24 February 1895 - Munich, Germany 19 May 1973) was the 39th Ottoman Sultan and 31st Ottoman Caliph from his accession on 4 June 1954, succeeding his half-brother Ahmed IV, until his deposition on 12 March 1971.

Son of Prince Mehmed Selaheddin and grandson to Murad V, Prince Osman Fuad lived in confinement until the passing of his grandfather before serving with distinction in the Ottoman Army as young as 16, volunteering for the Italo-Turkish War before being trained in Germany and serving in the Great European War and the Continuation War against Greece. Osman was a General at 30 when he was forcibly retired from the Army during the purges led by Enver Khan in 1926, as his influence and personal prestige were perceived as threats against the New Era. Joining the reserve army, he attained the rank of Field Marshal ; the Prince married an Egyptian princess after the Great European War, although their marriage remained childless.

When Osman IV succeeded his half-brother as Ottoman Sultan in 1954, the position had been reduced to a purely ceremonial one, the reality of power being held by the military junta that had succeeded Enver Khan and later in his reign, the resurgent New Turk government of Mehmed Nail Pasha. Nevertheless, the veteran Sultan showed an independent and modernist streak, shown by his love of fast cars, his laidback approach to Islam and his sponsoring of Turkish football. The Sultan went as far as suggesting to Nail Pasha to have Turkish adopt a Latin alphabet, an old idea for Turkish reformists that was never implemented.

On 27 May 1960, the trajectory of the Ottoman monarchy made a total upheaval when Osman IV, accompanied by General Rageep Gumushpala and his personal guard, entered the Council of Ministers and ordered the arrest of Grand Vizier Mehmed Nail Pasha for “imcompetence during the recent war against Greece (1957-1959) and betrayal of the subjects of the Ottoman Sultan”. After the New Turk ministers were arrested, Gumushpala was appointed Grand Vizier on the spot by the Sultan and announced, the following day, on radio, that free elections, a first since 1914, would be held within a year in order to “give back to the Turks the power to decide of their destiny”. The Royal Coup, and the period that followed, known as the Osmanian Decade or the New Tanzimat, ushered in a period a democracy that proved to be a parenthesis for the Ottoman Empire, never seen until the XXIth Century.

The 1961 elections, that had been preceded by a new Constitution, were the first free elections in the history of the Ottoman Empire and saw the victory of Sami Suleiman, the leader of the Justice Party, a monarchist and liberal conservative party formed with close assent of the Sultan ; the Constituton guaranteed freedom of speech, freedom of press, political representation, freedom of cult and restricted the legislative arsenal of censorship put in place during the Enver and Nail eras ; Ankara was heralded in international press as “the center of a new cultural revolution” as wreaths of foreign literature poured in within the borders of the Old Empire and peace and democracy seemed at bay in a truly democratic Ottoman Empire. Even when war happened in the agitated Middle East, it was with the Second Armenian-Turkish War (1962-1965), trigerred by Armenia, that saw the reconquest of Cappadocia and Cilicia by the Ottoman Empire.

Nevertheless, the 1965 election saw the breakthrough of the islamist Caliphate Party along with the pyrist Nation and Justice Party ; the former criticized the current era of reforms and called by a restablishment of cha’ria along with the assertion of the Caliphate, a move that would trigger bad relations with the Arabs ; the latter, formed by former New Turk members, called for a Turkish ethnostate that would claim the whole Anatolia, a move that would also start anew the tensions with Armenia, Kurdistan, Arabia and Greece. The 1969 elections forced Osman IV to appointed the Justice Party’s leader, Necmettin Erbakan Pasha as Grand Vizier, on a staunchly conservative agenda that closed the era of freedom started in 1960, with cha’ria subsituting itself for law and repression launched against democrats and reformists. The Erbakan government proved a house of cards when Ali Arslan Pasha, leader of the Nation and Justice Party, helped by anti-islamist and conservative military officers, launched a military coup on 12 March 1971, ending for good the Osmanian Decade and throwing back a leaden shroud over Turkish politics. As a reformist and investigator of a democratic era, Osman IV fled Ankara during the coup, going into exile in Germany, where he passed away in poverty two years later. He had been succeeded by Abdulaziz II, a puppet Sultan in the hands of Arslan Pasha.

Retrospectively, the Osmanian Decade has been seen as an anomaly in Turkish politics ; for one, the Ottoman Sultan, that had been devoid of executive powers for half a century, supported a coup in favor of democracy ; for second, the decade was only a transition between the repression of the New Turks and the iron-fisted rule of the Ilkists, that proved even worse than Enver Pasha’s. Scholars, both in Turkey and abroad, have done much to reevaluate the scope of the Osman IV era, considering it as one of the steps of Turkish identity, one concentrated on the Sultan, announcing the Shukurist era.

 

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Ali I (Istanbul, 14 October 1903 - Ankara, 9 December 1983) was the 41st Ottoman Sultan and the 33rd Ottoman Caliph from 19 January 1977 until his death, having succeeded his cousin Abdulaziz II.

The son of Sultan Ahmed IV (1944-1954), Prince Ali Vasib enjoyed a career in the Ottoman Army, serving during the First and Second Arab-Ottoman Wars, the second Kurdish-Ottoman War, the Fourth and FIfth Greco-Turkish Wars and the Second Armenian-Turkish War, retiring from the Army in 1965 with the rank of Field Marshal. marrying his half-second cousin Mukbile Sultan, granddaughter of Mehmed V and having one son, known in Ankara as a socialite, Ali was 73 when he acceeded to the throne as the eldest Ottoman Prince, taking the unprecedented regnal name of Ali.

As his successor, Ali I, even he was nothing far from being a frail old man, had only a ceremonial role, having to be witness to the repression of the Ali Arslan Pasha’s regime if he wanted to avoid the fate of his predecessor Osman IV. After the 1978 coup attempt by Osmanist officers against Arslan, Ali I was virtually placed under house arrest in his Ankara palace, as the Ilkists feared that the Sultan had approved of the plot. Nevertheless, the Sultan was associated in official celebrations with the delivery of nuclear weapons to Turkey in 1980 and the very successful start of the Third Armenian-Turkish War in 1981… Nevertheless, Ali I lived long enough to see the Ottoman armies rooted by the Kurds and Armenians, and their nuclear arsenal destroyed by German commandos ; the war had stopped in a ceasefire when Ali I died at 80 ; he was succeeded by his cousin Mehmed VII.

 

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Ali II (30 December 1930-18 January 2021) was the 45th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, claiming the title of Caliph of Islam, from 6 January 2017 to his death, having succeeded his cousin, Bayezid III. He was succeeded by his brother, Osman VI. He is a great-grandson of Sultan Abdulhamid II, who reigned from 1876 to 1909.
The only head of the House of Osman born in the Far East, where his father had diplomatic duties in Japan, Ali II had a quite uneventful life when he succeeded to the Imperial throne, only aged 87, with no real powers as his Grand Vizier, Hakan Shukur Pasha, held them all under the Constitutions that had followed the Young Turk Revolution in 1908 and the 1971 military coup against Sultan Ahmed IV. His reign saw the conclusion of free trade treaties upon the Dardanelles Straits, the Sixth Ottoman-Kurdish War (2019-2020) and the outbreak of the Wuchang Pneumonia in the Ottoman Empire.

 

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Osman VI (born January, 14 1932 in Ankara, Ottoman Empire) is the 46th and current Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, claiming the title of Caliph of Islam, since 18 January 2021, having succeeded his brother, Ali II. He is a great-grandson of Sultan Abdulhamid II, who reigned from 1876 to 1909.
Known as Shehzade (Prince) Harun Osman for most of his life as all scions of the House of Osman, the current Sultan had a quite uneventful life, serving in the Ottoman Army and holding diplomatic and ceremonial missions, until he was a few days short of his 85th birthday and became next-in-line to the Ottoman throne, when his older brother Ali II succeeded their cousin Bayezid III.
Since the 17th century, the Ottoman Empire has observed a system of agnatic seniority in order to avoid the bloodsheds that each palace revolution triggered ; in the 21th century, as the Sultan and Caliph only held a ceremonial role (with the exception of Osman IV, from 1960 to 1971) and as life expectancy grew even in the Middle East, it gave room to a genuine gerontocracy. No Ottoman Sultan has been less than 70 since 1971 and, as he celebrated his 89th birthday, Osman VI is the oldest Ottoman Sultan of all time upon his accession and the third- oldest reigning monarch of a sovereign country in the modern world (preceded by Sultan Jamshid of Zanzibar and, by only four days, by Ntare V of Urundi) ; if Ottoman claims are to be taken into account, he is also the oldest Caliph of Islam and Roman Emperor upon his accession.
His heir apparent, Shehzade Osman Selaheddin (who would be known as Osman VII), is already 80 ; for fifty years, the intricate ceremony of the Girding of the Sword of Osman, which serves as a enthronement since the days of Mehmed II and is held in Ankara since the loss of Constantinople, has been nothing but a small lifting of a heavy weapon by a frail old man. He is already the third Sultan under the tenure of Grand Vizir Hakan Shukur Pasha, who holds real power in the Ottoman Empire, in the days of renewed tensions with Kurdistan, Greece, the Hashemites and of the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic. Osman VI has three sons, Orhan, Abdulahmid and Nurhan, born from 1977 to 1979, who are presently 13th, 14th and 15th in the Ottoman order of succession.

 

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… Following the Malaya War (1964-1967), the Sultanate of Pahang, that had lost its independence to become part of the Federated Malay States in 1895, recovered its sovereignty on 8 August 1967, along with the other Malay kingdoms, this time as a member of the Sphere of Co-Prosperity and under strong Japanese influence.

The largest state in the Malaysian peninsula, Pahang was able to thrive thanks to tourism and agrarian exports as a developing state : however, the will for an united Malaysia continued to be strong, due to opposition to Japanese imperialism and the dissolute behavior of Sultan Abu Bakar. Due to internal agitation, Prime Minister Abdul Razak Hussein instated a state of emergency in 1969, that would never be lifted in 40 years, suspending the Constitution and granting the Menteri Besar absolute powers.

Sultan Abu Bakar was succeeded by his son Ahmad Shah in 1974 and Abdul Razak Hussein as Menteri Besar by his own son, Najib Razak in 1976; both would rule as the uncontested rules of Pahang until 2009. After the fall of the Empire of Japan, Pahang continued its trajectory as an emerging country, but had to deal with a renewed Pan-Malay movement, mostly after the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Malaya on its northern border in 1994.

40 years of dictatorship and economic downturns as Pahang was sidelined by the new masters of the Asian scene (China, Australia and Indochina) made the little country very isolated and on 1 August 2009, after months of saber-rattling, Malaya invaded Pahang. The little conflict, that caught all states in Malaya by surprise, lasted for one month : both the Sultan and the Menteri Besar fled to exile in Japan, while Pahang was integrated into the Islamic Republic of Malaya on 3 September 2009.

Ever since, islamic law was largely accepted, after internal reforms were enacted in 2015 after some violent protests that made 46 dead, but Pahangese fortunes went downhill, due to the relative isolation of Malaya…

 

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Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Al-Musta’in Billah ibni Almarhum Sultan Abu Bakar Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mu’azzam Shah (Pekan, Pahang, Federated Malay States 24 October 1930 - London, England 22 May 2019), better known as Ahmad Shah, was the Sultan of Pahang, succeeding his father Abu Bakar on 7 May 1974 to his deposition on 3 September 2009, after the annexation of Pahang by Malaya. A Muslim, he hailed from the House of Bendahara.

His father, Abu Bakar, ruled Pahang from 1932 to 1974 and was, like all Malay monarchs under the British colonization era, a powerless figurehead confined to his palace : Abu Bakar, although popular, was better known was his numerous marriages to commoners, including actresses and singers. In his image, Ahmad Shah studied at Oxford and Exeter, expecting to be yet another petty king under British rule.

The invasion of Malaysia by the Japanese and the “liberation” of the Malay kingdoms came as a complete surprise to the House of Bendahara who became overnight heads of an independent state. When Pahang became independent, Sultan Abu Bakar was already 63 and was more interested in earthly pleasures ; seven years later, in 1974, he passed away, leaving Ahmad Shah to hold the throne. In the meantime, Abdul Razak Hussein had already become the uncontested ruler of Pahang, holding full powers.
Known for his headstrong personality, Ahmad Shah would try, in the first years of his reign, to win a virtual power struggle over his second Menteri Besar, Najib Razak, who succeeded his father in 1976. Razak had full support from the Japanese and was able to placate the Sultan, who grew quite fond of him eventually. Ahmad Shah would devote himself to football, golf, polo and equestrian activities, serving within the FIFA as president of the Asian Football Confederation from 1984 to 1994, leaving everyday matters to his Prime Minister. His official and royal consort, Tengku Ampuan Afzan, died in 1988.

Already 79 when the Islamic Republic of Malaya ended the existence of his realm, Sultan Ahmad Shah was in treatment in London. He would remain there for the remainder of his life, dying in 2019, almost ten years since Pahang had ceased to exist. His eldest son, Prince Abdullah, succeeded him as head of the House of Bendahara and claimant to the throne of Pahang, but has lived a private life, neither officially pressing his claims or endorsing Najib Razak’s government-in-exile in Shanghai.

 

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...Since its inauguration in 1914, the Panama Canal was a fixture of American foreign policy and trade, even as the construction of the Nicaragua Canal was undertaken under Roosevelt : the threat from the Central American Federation remained real and securing the passage of foreign goods from the Pacific to the Atlantic was tantamount to the Monroe Doctrine. It led the United States to support Panama in the 1921 War against Costa Rica, and then to prop up support for the Arnulfo Arias Madrid regime (1940-1977), a civilian Pyrist-inspired corrupted administration, that led Dr. Madrid to be-reelected nine times as leader of Panama, in a series of heavily fraudulent elections. Each time Arias Madrid was under threat (after unsuccessful military coups in 1949 and 1959, and while a neo-Syndicalist guerilla was looming in 1955), the US sent military advisors and troops to secure the Panama Canal Zone, but popular discontent was growing against the corruption of the puppet regime and the lack of prosperity in spite of the closeness of the installation.
The January, 9 1964 Revolution in Panama was a huge blow to the Arias Madrid regime and American domination, as rebels managed to launch an armed assault against Balboa, the main city of the US Canal Zone : the assault was easily countered, but it was a serious blow to both the Panama government and US interests. The Yarborough Administration increased the military garrison in the Canal Zone and ordered commando strikes from the Special Forces for two years, but Arias Madrid was seen as a dead end. When the old tyrant was overthrown in 1977 by a military coup led by General Omar Torrijos, few in Washington complained for him.
Even if Torrijos retained the ways of the Arias Madrid days, he adopted a more populist tone and advocated for a complete US withdrawal from Panama : even if he found a good ear from President George McGovern, Congress was increasingly being dominated by Conservatives and Republicans and didn't want to hear about relinquishing such an asset. After the victory of John Ashbrook's Conservatives in the 1980 presidential election, Torrijos took matter into his own days and launched "Operation Huele A Quemado" (It smells like fire) on New Year's Eve 1981 : the Panamanian takeover of the Panama Canal Zone.

Launched a few minutes after midnight, the Panamamian assault completely caught the reduced military garrison by surprise, allowing a total takeover of the Zone ; as McGovern was still residing in the White House as a lame duck President, no immediate action could be undertaken ; and the Ashbrook Administration inherited a wary situation. Torrijos had managed to build up his reputation abroad, and throughout the world, all governments saw the takeover as a legitimate operation, as long as trade was maintained throughout the Panama Canal, and that the Nicaragua Canal remained free ; the only thing Ashbrook could undertake would be a complete embargo against Panama, that was without any large effect against Panama, that let foreign ships navigate through the waters and now collected the benefits.
In November 1987, willing to score a large victory for the coming election, US President Pat Robertson tried to take matters into his own hands and launch a military invasion of Panama that would be sponsored by the World Council : but US military prestige had been damaged in the Philippines, while Torrijos' good maintenance of the Panama Canal left his intact, and the resolution was defeated in the World Council. The embargo lasted for two years more until newly inaugurated President Al Gore entered talks in Havana with Torrijos, agreeing to put an end to this situation. The Havana Treaties, also known as the Torrijos-Gore Treaties, were signed on December, 20 1989 and put a date for the official takeover of the Canal Zone to the Government of Panama, on December, 2 2002, 99 years exactly after the approval of the Hay-Bunau-Varrilla Treaty by US Congress. The illegal control of the Canal ended, returning to the United States for the remaining duration.
The ceremony was officially conducted on this date, with US President Frank Keating and still Panamamian President Omar Torrijos, completing his 25th year in power and three years before his demise. The Panama Canal, that had been controlled by the United States from 1914 to 1981 and from 1989 to 2002, was no longer theirs and all for Panama.

The Panama Canal continues to play a large role in Panamamian politics : Martin Torrijos, son and successor of Omar, laid his popularity on the achievements of his father, leading to his successful and legitimate election in 2005 until his impeachment for corruption in 2007 ; General Hugo Spafadora, who won election as an independant, established his prestige with his conducting of Operation Huele A Quemado ; as of current President Ramon Fonseca, he is still one of the main shareholders of the conglomerate that administrates the Canal Zone for the Panama Government. Every month, Panamamian officials are linked to briberies and corruption connected to the management of the Panama Canal.

 

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Manuel "El Man" Noriega (1934-1992) was a Panama-born Cuban drug lord, one of the founders of the Panama Cartel (now known as the Gulf Cartel). Born into a poor mestizo family, he was forced to go into exile in Cuba due to his rebel sympathies during the Arias Madrid regime. Serving in the Cuban military and taking Cuban citizenship, he used his family links in Panama and his relations in the Caribbean to build up with Mexican drug lords the Gulf Cartel, then named the Panama Cartel due to the popularity of Noriega and the arrival of drugs from China that was secured at the Panama Canal Zone during Pananamian Occupation, from 1981 to 1989. Known for his lavish lifestyle and his violence, Noriega was condemned in the United States in Miami in 1988, and managed to escape to Cuba, where he was murdered by rivals from the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel in 1992, his car being gunned down by hitmen. He was featured in the third Season of the TV show "Narcos" as a minor character.

 

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Portugal is a country in Western Europe, bordered by Spain in the east and by the Atlantic Ocean in the north, south and west.

History
After the overthrow of the monarchy in 1910, the Portuguese Republic wouldn’t remain quiet, due to the unbearable fractures between conservatives, monarchists and liberals within the society, the trade unions and the Church. After a failed attempt by Pimenta de Castro, Major Sidonio Pais managed to take power in Portugal after his 5-8 December 1917 coup, merging the offices of President and Prime Minister. An ardent Republican, Sidonio Pais, the President-King according to writer Fernando Pessoa, concentrated unprecedented power and wished to form a New State, an Estado Novo, that would restore Portugal’s stability. Putting in place a literal and conservative cult of personality, Pais and his ideology, Dezembrismo, has been called an ideological predecessor to pyrism, with the 1922 Constitution being seen as a direct inspiration for D’Annunzio. Surviving two close assassination attempts in 1918 and a monarchist coup attempt in 1919, Sidonio Pais would try to cement his power and protect his homeland by intervening in the Spanish Civil War in 1921. The move backfired terribly, as the Portuguese Army was untrained and the Syndicalist Armies would enter and then conquer Portugal in a matter of four months, forcing Sidonio Pais to go into exile in the Azores in May 1926. In the mean time, the Portuguese colonies in Africa were all occupied and annexed by Germany, with Madeira and Portuguese holdouts in India and China being put under “protection” by the British.

On the mainland, Syndicalist Portugal was quickly integrated into the Confederation of Workers’ Republics, even though the authorities in Paris would dismiss Portugal as too rural to sustain the Revolution and too backwards to the ideals of the working men ; nevertheless, Portuguese soldiers were strong inside the Syndicalist Armies, and some figures emerged during the Syndicalist era such as Salgado Zenha, Alvaro Cunhal or Francisco Rolao Preto.

Meanwhile, in the Azores, Sidonio Pais’ government-in-exile quickly turned into a virtual British protectorate and a phony court, uniting behind Sidonio Pais all reactionary and conservative elements of Portuguese society, including monarchists, much to Pais’s dismay. After his death in December 1943, in the opening days of the World War, Sidonio Pais was succeeded by General José Norton do Matos, inclined to democracy but willing to safeguard’s Portugal future stability by converting to constitutional monarchy, in a resigned sense.

Providing a perfect outpost for the Allied counter-attack against the CWR, the Azores saw the launch of Operation Anvil in early 1948, opening a second Iberian Front ; Norton do Matos had the intelligence to put the invading force under his immediate control, allowing Azorean forces to free Portugal on themselves and to ensure the government-in-exile a seat in the Congress of Budapest as a full allied nation. The Portuguese went as far as to take Santiago de Compostela in 1949, allowing them to form a buffer state in Galicia, a longheld dream of the Portuguese nationalists. By the time the World War was over, Portugal had managed to liberate themselves.

The nationbuilding was complete with a Constituant Assembly and the tenure of free elections, along with a referendum that approved the restoration of the monarchy, under sole pretender Dom Duarte Nuno, who would become a constitutional King of the Portuguese as Duarte II. Although Portugal escaped Allied occupation after the defeat of Syndicalism, the new country had the displeasure of only having Madeira returned in the New York Conference, with Germany refusing to return any African colony, convincing Portugal not to join the Reichspakt. Portugal compensated with the annexation of Galicia, after a referendum in 1956 deemed by many historians as heavily influenced by Portuguese authorities. Galicia would keep his autonomy by a 1959 law, and, after the outbreak of a small neo-syndicalist guerilla there, Portugal would become a federal country in 1975, granting even more powers to Galicia, the Azores and Madeira in the new Portugal.

Up to his demise in 1977, political life was dominated by General Humberto Delgado, President of Council from 1956 to 1957, from 1965 to 1969 and from 1969 to 1977, who succeeded Norton do Matos after his death : instead of installing an authoritarian regime as in much western Europe, Delgado, a convinced democrat, encouraged political alternance, giving his blessing to complete amnesty to former Syndicalists in 1959 and even accepting to quit power after student demonstrations in 1968, only to return a year later.

The 1983 crisis would strike Portugal hard, before the far-reaching economic reforms of President of Council Teresa Simoes Ferreira (1985-1997) managed to take Portugal out of the economic doldrums, becoming a darling of liberal economists. Simoes Ferreira would later become the first Chairwoman of the World Council, proving the importance of the small nation in the world, heavily invested in European construction. The ultraliberal economy would nevertheless be heavily impacted by a series of bankruptcies in 2010, resulting in massive riots and the triumph of democratic marxism in the 2017 elections.

Political situation
According to its 1949 Constitution, revised in 1975, Portugal is a federal parliamentary monarchy : regions have a strong degree of autonomy, each having their own legislative body and having exclusive jurisdiction for law and order, education, press, public housing, freedom of assembly and carceral system, as long as their decisions don’t contradict the Constitution. The government takes on foreign affairs, economy, trade, citizenship, defense, budget and currency standards, and is led by the President of Council, himself designated by the King according to the composition of the Cortes Gerais, the House of Parliament, itself elected every four years. The judiciary system is based on civil law.

The King of the Portuguese, whose succession lays in male primogeniture, must be Catholic and belong to the House of Braganza : apart from holding ceremonial powers, he however appoints the President of Council and has the power to call for early elections. The reigning king is Duarte III, who succeeded his father Duarte II on 24 December 1976 : both of them are members of the Miguelist branch of the House of Braganza, the eldest one since the passing of former King Manuel II in 1932. Born in exile in Brazil in 1945, he became Duke of Braganza and heir to the throne upon his father’s restoration in 1949 : serving in the Air Force when his father passed away, King Duarte has made efforts to uphold progressivism and democracy in Portugal, even daring to criticize President of Council Teresa Simoes Ferreira. The current heir is Infante Afonso.

The President of Council has been Marisa Matias since 1 October 2017, having been reelected on 3 October 2021. A professor of sociology from the University of Coimbra and a deputy, Matias is a member of Politics XXI (Politica XXI), a democratic marxist and reformist party : she was designated leader of Hope for Portugal (Esprança Portugal) Coalition, an alliance of leftist, progressive, liberal and center-left parties, riding on an agenda of restoring the welfare state, upholding civil liberties and dignity. Credited as one of the leaders of the European New Left, Matias managed to win reelection along with her coalition on 3 October 2021, thanks to her extremely progressive and reformist record and her excellent handling of the Wuchang Pneumonia crisis.

Social situation, population
With an aging and little population, Portugal is fairly comparable to every country in Europe : the good living conditions and enjoyable employment, along with affordable and high level public facilities (Portugal ranks high in European reviews of hospitals, universities and human rights) have led the small country to be a favorite destination for immigrants, many of them Russian,Middle Eastern, Chinese or African, with more and more Portuguese remaining in their homeland out of opportunity or sheer nationalism.

The Universities of Lisbon and Coimbra are among the most renowned in Europe, and the reaction of the Portuguese health care system in handling the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic, putting in place a harsh sanitary policy, was noticed throughout the world. With Marisa Matias’ inclusive policy of lawmaking, directed towards women protection and equality, along with the Constitution protecting individual rights (to the Catholic Church’s dismay), Portugal is considered among one of the most progressive countries in the world in terms of human rights.

Economy
Heavily concentrated on industry (mostly shipbuilding, consumer goods and construction) after the World War, member of the European Community, heavily dépendent on trade with Great Britain being the main partner, Portugal suffered terribly with the 1983 economic crisis, many industries failing and bankrupting due to all disruptions in command. Under the Presidency of Teresa Simoes Ferreira, her so-called « Shock Therapy » would forcibly turn Portugal into a tertiary economy, concentrating on tourism and telecommunications, massively privatizing all governement companies and services and effectively ending all traces of a welfare state. The policy led Portugal to quickly recover by the mid-80s and havé à profitable budget but by then, most social services were now owned by foreign companies and the inequalities grew considerably, sending hundreds of thousands of Portuguese below the poverty line and millions unemployed. These social issues led to a renewal of economic nationalism and leftist parties, effectively allowing the election of Marisa Matias, who has undertaken the renewal of a welfare state complete with small-scale nationalizations, heavy taxation on foreign assets and thé proclamation of social protection laws, ending the reputation of Portugal as Hayek’s favorite child.

Tourism is now by far the largest industry in Portugal and the country even made efforts to ride on a gray economy wave, actively wooing foreign retirees with the promise of affordable health care and tax bonuses on real estate and investments. British nationals have been so far happy to oblige, the Algarve and the Azores now speaking more and more English, until the Wuchang Pneumonia stroke.

Military
In spite of having been a member of the Allies in the World War, Portugal is not a member of the Reichspakt, political leaders having decided against in protest of the German overtaking of their African colonies. All professional since the Simoes Ferreira era, the Portuguese Armed Forces, composed of Ground Forces, Navy and Air Force, is devoted to defense missions, mostly in the maritime space held by Portugal ; built during the World War, the naval base of the Azores is still taken care of by the state, in spite of various American, German and British efforts to lease it. Having been deprived of its colonies on the onset of the Greater Game, Portugal remained a neutral country, ready to undertake its own defense, while the military has enjoyed tremendous prestige, given it led its own liberation of the country during the World War and that army generals held executive positions in the aftermath, from José Norton do Matos to Humberto Delgado.

Culture
Helped by its rich history, Portugal remains as a staple of European culture, thanks to its powerful historical heritage but also the renown of its modern culture, represented by the likes of Fernando Pessoa and Nobel Prize of Literature José Saramago in literature, Manoel de Oliveira and Miguel Gomes in cinema and the success of fado and Amalia Rodrigues in music. The federal nature of Portugal allowed also the cultures of Galicia, the Azores and Madeira to flourish and their local languages to remain strong. The national narrative tended to value the image of a precursor Portugal, unique in their culture and their contributions to mankind : a reflection of the little country’s soft power.

 

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Duarte II (born Duarte Nuno Fernando Maria Miguel Gabriel Rafael Francisco Xavier Raimundo Antonio in 23 September 1907, in Seebenstein, Austria-Hungary-died 24 December 1976 in Lisbon, Portugal) was King of the Portuguese from the restoration of the monarchy on 13 November 1949 until his death on 24 December 1976. Hailing from the House of Braganza, he was succeeded by his eldest son, Duarte III.

Born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire to Miguel Januario, Duke of Braganza and Maria Theresa of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg, Duarte Nuno’s succession was far from being granted : not only did he had two older half-brothers from his father’s first marriage, but his father was head of the Miguelist line of succession, being the son of King Miguel I, an absolutist who had been forced off the throne in 1834 and considered an usurper.

But the prospects of future King Duarte II changed during his childhood : the monarchy, held by his cousin Manuel II, was abolished in Portugal in 1910 ; while his family served in the Austro-Hungarian Army, his second brother Francisco José died in 1919 after a life shrouded in scandals, his eldest brother Miguel, renounced his claims in 1920 due to his controversial marriage, before his father himself followed suit ten days later, making Duarte Nuno heir to the Miguelist line at 12. Miguel the elder would die in 1927, four years after Miguel the younger. His aunt, the Duchess of Guimaraes, acted as regent.

The prospect of monarchy in Portugal wasn’t lost : unsuccessful uprisings occurred in 1912 and 1919, and King Manuel II, living in London, had no children nor heir since the death of his uncle Afonso in 1920. In spite of the Miguelists’ belief in absolutism and integralism, various attempts were made at rekindling the two branches and ensuring a future to the House of Braganza. The Pact of Dover (1912) and the Pact of London (1922) were private agreements acknowledging Duarte Nuno as heir to Manuel and were very controversial to both sides of the monarchist party. But the Syndicalist invasion of Portugal in 1926 reshuffled the cards and the outbreak of the Danubian War forced Duarte in exile to the United Kingdom, where he further rekindled his links with his cousin. In 1932, Manuel II died, making Duarte Nuno the sole claimant accepted by the vast majority of the Portuguese monarchists.

With syndicalism ruling at home, Duarte Nuno had yet to become the sole face of Portugal’s exiled community, as President Sidonio Pais had set up a government-in-exile in the Azores, being granted legitimacy by the close support of the British. Duarte Nuno played his game accurately : the Azores became a hotbed for the conservative Portuguese, including the monarchists, who made their way to Pais’ inner circle. Although persona non grata in the archipelago, Duarte Nuno’s presence in London, along with his close links with the Danubian monarchy, made him a good figurehead for a future liberated Portugal in the minds of the Ten Powers. Travelling between England and Brazil, where he married his wife Maria Francisca of Orléans-Braganza, a descendant of Emperor Pedro II, in 1942, further uniting both branches of the House of Braganza, he also made efforts in water down his integralist rhetoric in order to gain the support of conservative democrats and constitutional monarchists.

In 1943, Sidonio Pais died and was succeeded by General José Norton do Matos : although not a monarchist, the General was highly dependent on the Allies during the World War and accepted the principle of a constitutional monarchy in Portugal in return for a seat at the victors’ table as an official participant. In 1949, as Portugal had liberated themselves and even managed to conquer Galicia, Duarte Nuno was invited from Brazil to enter Lisbon for the first time of his life. On 13 November 1949, Duarte Nuno became King Duarte II, taking the title of King of the Portuguese to ease his moderate supporters ; he was nevertheless proclaimed the following day in the style of the earlier monarchs.

Although his reign was synonymous with democratization and prosperity in Portugal, Duarte II was known to have been grateful to have contributed to the restoration of monarchy and was displeased that his kingdom wasn’t abiding to integralist principles like France or Brazil : while accepting his prerogatives as constitutional monarch, he made harsh comments on the reformism ongoing in Portugal and called for the maintaining of Catholic values ; he gave a blank check to General Humberto Delgado, hoping to see him turning into a Monck or a Hautecloque, but was disappointed the General became an avowed democrat. Although displeased with the loss of the African colonies, he nevertheless was proud of the integration of Galicia. After the death of his wife in 1968, Duarte II fell into a deep depression, allowing further freedom to General Delgado until his death on Christmas’Eve, 1976. A father of three, he was succeeded by his eldest son, Duarte III.

 

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Duarte III (born Duarte Pio João Miguel Gabriel Rafael in Petropolis, Brazil, 15 May 1945) is the reigning King of the Portuguese. He succeeded his father Duarte II on 24 December 1976. He hails from the House of Braganza.

The eldest son of Duarte II and Maria Franisca of Orléans-Bragança, Duarte was born in exile in Brazil, as his family was hosted by their then reigning cousins : the World War was raging in Europe, Portugal was part of the Confederation of Workers’ Republics and the restoration of the monarchy was a burgeoning project for the Portuguese government in exile in the Azores, as Sidonio Pais had just passed away. Portugal retrieved its independence in 1948 and the Constituent Assembly restored the monarchy the following year, allowing Duarte Pio to become Duke of Braganza.

Graduating from the Royal Agricultural College and serving as a helicopter pilot in the Portuguese Army, Duarte Pio, as heir, affirmed himself as a supporter of democracy, quietly lending his support to anti-Delgado elements and the federalization of Portugal. His accession as king on Christmas 1976, along with the passing of President of Council Humberto Delgado the following year, ushered an era of democracy for Portugal.

King Duarte III, although a devout Catholic, has made efforts not to exceed his reserve duty as monarch, refusing to appoint a President of Council contrary to the parliamentary majority and to call for early elections. He has however been constant in his upholding of democracy, lending part of his personal wealth to ease the poorest elements of Portuguese society after the 1983 krach and criticizing President of Council Simoes Ferreira’s policies, regarding the social consequences of her decisions. He is renowned as a firm supporter of “sister” Lusophone countries and the arts. His solemn conduct after the 2010 Lisbon terrorist attacks was universally noted. His working relationship with President of Council Matias, a New Left leader and a republican, was also heralded by many commentators, national and foreign.

Married to Archduchess Monica of Austria, a daughter of Grand Archduke Otto, he has three children, including the current Duke of Braganza and heir apparent, Afonso.

 

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