page_title: History of Lisbon
section_title: First Republic
hierarchical_section_title: History of Lisbon / First Republic
caption_attribution_description: Título:	Numa das varandas do palácio de Belém, Sidónio Pais, lê à multidão o telegrama do rei de Inglaterra felicitando Portugal pela sua participação na vitória dos aliados Dimensão: 9 x 12 cm Suporte: Negativo de gelatina e prata em vidro Nota de publicação&#160;:	LISBOA. Câmara Municipal - Bellem Belém&#160;: Reguengo da cidade . Porto&#160;: Asa, 1990 Portugal Século XX - Crónica em Imagens 1910-1920, Joaquim Vieira, Círculo de Leitores 1999 LISBOAPHOTO, Lisboa, 2005 - Joshua Benoliel, 1873-1932&#160;: repórter fotográfico. Lisboa&#160;: Câmara Municipal. Arquivo Fotográfico, 2005. 417 p. Ilustração Portuguesa, 1918, 18 de Novembro MENDES, Bernardo - O último regimento a cavalo em Portugal LISBOAPHOTO- Joshua Benoliel, 1873-1932: repórter fotográfico. Lisboa: Câmara Municipal Arquivo Fotográfico, 2005. ISBN 972-8517-44-0. p.303 Notas:	Inscrição no original: 7712 Assunto:	Guarda Nacional Republicana. 1911- / Candeeiro de rua / Palácio Nacional de Belém / Uniforme / Militar / Manifestação / Pais, Sidónio Bernardino Cardoso da Silva. Fl. 1918, presidente da República / Afonso de Albuquerque (praça, Belém, Lisboa, Portugal) Código de referência:	PT/AMLSB/JBN/001445
context_page_description: The history of Lisbon, the capital city of Portugal, revolves around its strategic geographical position at the mouth of the Tagus, the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. Its spacious and sheltered natural harbour made the city historically an important seaport for trade between the Mediterranean Sea and northern Europe. Lisbon has long enjoyed the commercial advantages of its proximity to southern and extreme western Europe, as well as to sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas, and today its waterfront is lined with miles of docks, wharfs, and drydock facilities that accommodate the largest oil tankers.
  During the Neolithic period, pre-Celtic peoples inhabited the region; remains of their stone monuments still exist today in the periphery of the city. Lisbon is one of the oldest cities in western Europe, with a history that stretches back to its original settlement by the indigenous Iberians, the Celts, and the eventual establishment of Phoenician and Greek trading posts, followed by successive occupations in the city of various peoples including the Carthaginians, Romans, Suebi, Visigoths, and Moors.
context_section_description: On 5 October 1910, Portugal became a republic, ending a monarchy that had endured since the 12th century.
  The period of the First Portuguese Republic (1910–1926) was marked by strife and political violence in Lisbon: under a little less than 16 years of republican government, there would be 45 changes of government.
  Although the political environment was tense across Europe, with terrorist attacks and riots in even the most developed countries, the situation was more critical in Portugal, with economic and financial havoc. This was a time of upheavals, locally and nationally. The old Republican Party would not survive the creation of the Republic; factions quickly developed between groups within the party and formed new organizations. There was a succession of general strikes (now legal), demonstrations, gunfire exchanges, and even bombings in the streets of Lisbon; the Republican political class was divided on how to handle the situation. In 1912 the monarchists exploited discontent with liberal laws imposed by the Republicans in the north, and launched a coup that failed. In 1916, after Portugal interned German ships in Lisbon, Germany declared war on Portugal.
  In 1918 the Spanish flu descended on the city, killing many thousands and worsening the situation of the workers, who then revolted several times. Sidónio Pais, the military leader and politician was murdered in central Lisbon on 14 December 1918.
  As the city's population grew during this period, it continued to expand northward into the broad expanse above Pombal Square and Parque Eduardo VII known as “Avenidas Novas", which became the heart of the fashionable part of Lisbon, where the nouveau riche upper middle class built its grand new residences. This growth was part of the vision of engineer Frederico Ressano Garcia, with wide streets having tree-lined walkways in the middle, although the street grid was laid out unevenly as the area developed. The façades of the multi-story mansard-roofed buildings were topped by sculptures and painted in the traditional residential colors of the city: yellow, pink and light blue, presenting a characteristic appearance that remains its most visible face. Nearly all of them were built by speculators and small contractors, mostly originating from the city of Tomar, and known colloquially as patos bravos (wild ducks). Some of the new buildings were constructed in haste with little concern for safety, leading to several landslides and fatal accidents in the following years.
  The First Republic ended in 1926, well into the 20th century, when the anti-democratic conservative right (still led for the most part by the descendants of the old nobility in northern Portugal and the Catholic Church) finally took power after two attempts in 1925, leading eventually to the development of a new ideology and authoritarian government under the leadership of António de Oliveira Salazar. This was the beginning of the Estado Novo, centred in Lisbon.
caption: Sidónio Pais reads a telegram from the British king, George V, congratulating Portugal for its contribution to the allied victory in World War I – 1918
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