Random historical/military facts.

[Vasconcelos]

Everyone is welcome to contribute.




The espada portuguesa (portuguese sword) XV/XVI century



These rather unique swords seem to fit into the category of a transition between the one hand sword and the rapier. Conceived for combat at close range, the implemention of the crab shaped guard allowed the soldier to put his index finger in front of the guard, in a non-sharped part of the blade called "ricasso" or "pas d'ane".

http://i380.photobucket.com/albums/oo246/panzer18/portugueseswordJPG222.jpg

You may ask: "But what is the diference of putting the index finger in front of the guard?"
Well, it´s a big difference. It increases the angle of use of the sword from 130º to 160º. This difference is substancial because it changes the way of it´s use, for what is necessary a combination of advances and retreats, not only for the arms, but for the legs too. The crab shaped guard would also be capable of trap the enemy´s blade, or even to serve as an extra pair or blades, when the guard was sharped.
Lighter than those used by their enemies (900 grams against 1 kg), these maneuverable swords were progressively accompained by a left hand dagger, that replaced the old "medieval shield". At close range, this dagger, being an offensive weapon, would also be used to stop the enemy blade, so the final thrust could be made with the right hand sword:

http://i380.photobucket.com/albums/oo246/panzer18/portuguesesword.jpg

It was Prince Henry own desire that his sailors and navigators could be armed with the best piece of military equipment, appearing schools of fencing where they could learn the tricks of sword combat. The result of this was the creation on an elite of soldiers-sailors. This would bring undenied advantages to Portugal during their first years of Explorations. Arquebuses, muskets, spears, halberds and crossbows were also commonly used by the Portuguese during this period.


Infaltry strategy - Running forward:

"One of the techniques that the Portuguese warriors employed against their enemies who held the Moorish bow was just more than unusual.
They knew that the Moorish bow would be very effective within the range from 50 meters to 400 meters.
So when 40 Portuguese soldiers disembarked to face a first row of 300 archers also armed with tulwars, their first act was to run like madmen towards the archers, with their rapiers and left handlers in hand. The archers would be stunned by this totally insane act, as due to the heath, very few would wear armors. This stunning delay would again act in favour of the Portuguese who would close de 50 meters range with a few more seconds of advantage.
The Portuguese knew about the 50 meters bow effectiveness and that their only hope was to run frontward to cut that distance, after which their highly seasoned maneuver of the rapier and the left handler would destroy the tulwar in no time, one after the other. One blade would stop the tulwar strike and the other would dispatch the enemy, and this was one methodically in no time.
The frontal attack was a tactic that brought the Portuguese warriors great fame and respect for their bravery."


Some of these swords can be seen in Padrão dos Descobrimentos, on the unarmored men.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iPP0RLSLS44/SwasBWfoA5I/AAAAAAAAAGk/8zA8Zy6xjJg/s1600/Copy+of+DSC05211.JPG





info taken from http://www.twcenter.net

[The Journeyman]

Two of the most important military engagements in the history of Christendom were fought on September 11. The first was in 1683 at the battle of Vienna, when Sobieski and the Holy League routed the numerically superior Ottoman force. The second battle of 9/11 took place at Zenta in 1697. Some 30,000 Austrians under Eugene De Savoy defeated 80,000 Ottomans. In both battles, the Sultans lost a great deal of treasure too.

[Piparskeggr]

Everyone is welcome to contribute.

The espada portuguesa (portuguese sword) XV/XVI century

These rather unique swords (snip)

When I fenced, I preferred the very similar Italian-style hilt on my foils.

http://www.victoryfencinggear.com/images/foil%20conversion%20kit.JPG

With epee, I preferred the pistol grip to the French grip, but could do well with French grip in either foil or epee.

https://sslsites.de/fechtsport-kindermann.de/images/Fechtshopbilder/degenelektrisch.JPG

Saber, straight grip every time. :D

http://azfencing.net/joomla/images/shsafl02.jpg

Though I prefer traditional cord wrapping to the rubber sleeve as shown on this saber.

[Megrez]

The protection and impunity are part of the Luso-Brazilian tradition. See this case. A certain captain Manoel Sepúlveda was accused, in Portugal, of having murdered an English official. But he had good networks. In letter sent in 1765 to the count of Cunha, viceroy of Brazil, the Portuguese minister Mendonça Furtado (brother of the very powerful marquis of Pombal) ordered him receive the soldier in the Colony, incorporating him "in any of the regiments" of Rio de Janeiro and "guarding inviolable secret" about the case. Under the new name of José Marcelino, Sepúlveda was well accommodated in Rio, married a woman from Rio de Janeiro 23 years younger, had seven children, became brigadier and afterwards governor of the present state of Rio Grande do Sul. His past in Portugal was entirely forgotten.

Translated from Revista de História, issue #25, Oct. 2007, p. 85.




*runs before it puts the Portugal/UK relations in trouble :hiding: :p

[Vasconcelos]

Portugal's entry in World War I.



The alleged reason for Portugal's entry in the Great War was its historical alliance with England and later Great Britain, which dates back to 1386. This alliance (the Treaty of Windsor) was the cornerstone of Portuguese foreign policy until Portugal's admission into NATO after World War II, but, as is perhaps to be expected, always meant much more for Portugal than for Britain. But other causes contributed to it as well.

The Partido Republicano Português (Portuguese Republican Party) in power in 1914 owed much of its steady growth in popularity and ultimate success in overthrowing the Monarchy (which fell, being replaced by a Republic, on 5 October 1910) to the popular uproar caused by the King and Cabinet giving in to the infamous British "Ultimatum" of January 1890, which threatened Portugal with war if Portuguese colonial expeditions didn't immediately evacuate parts of what would later become Rhodesia which they had occupied. Both the Portuguese public opinion and the Republican leaders were thus still very reluctant to acknowledge as an ally a country which had inflicted upon the Portuguese Nation as a whole what was regarded as one of the greatest humiliations of its history.

But the same Republican politicians also realistically understood that Portugal's entry in the war was probably the only way to save its African colonies of Angola and Mozambique. Two secret treaties between Great Britain and Germany, signed in 1898 and confirmed in 1912, contemplated the partition of Angola and Mozambique between the former. Thus the Portuguese government felt that the only way to stop its colonies from being traded like small change between Britain and Germany at the future peace talks was to be present at those talks with a voice of its own and the right to make demands from Britain after fighting alongside her. And the only way to achieve this was entering the war.






more to come on WWI later

[Vasconcelos]

Portuguese Architecture on the XX century - the Português Suave



The Soft Portuguese style (Portuguese: Estilo Português Suave) is an architectural model used in public and private buildings in Portugal, essentially during the 1940s and the early 1950s. This architectural style is also known as Nationalistic style, Traditionalistic style and New State style, but this last denomination is not very correct, since during the Portuguese New State Regimen diverse architectural styles have been applied in public buildings.


The Soft Portuguese appeared from the ideas of several Portuguese architects that, already since the beginning of the 20th century, looked to create a "genuine Portuguese Architecture". One of the mentors of this current was architect Raul Lino, creator of the theory of the "Portuguese house". The result of this current was the creation of a style of architecture that used the modernist characteristics of engineering, masked by a mixture of exterior aesthetic elements removed from the ancient and traditional architecture of Portugal.

The Portuguese New State, authoritarian nationalist regime born from the the revolution of 1926 and led by Oliveira Salazar, initiated a policy of public works in wide scale, beginning in the 1930s. Initially, in the new public buildings, a monumental modernist style prevailed, with Art Deco characteristics. However, after the Portuguese World Exhibition in 1940, whose chief architect was Jose Cottinelli Telmo, the Portuguese Government started to prefer the Nationalistic Style for its new public constructions. This style was used in all the types of buildings, since the small rural elementary schools to the big high schools and university faculties, passing by military barracks, courts of justice, hospitals, town halls, etc.

Beyond Portugal, this style was also wide used in public buildings of the Portuguese overseas territories of Africa, Asia and Oceania. The style also reached great popularity in the private sector, being used in all the types of buildings, from the single-family houses to apartment buildings, passing by office, commercial and even industrial buildings.

The style was severely attacked by a great number of architects who had accused it of being provincial and devoid of imagination. The assignment, for which the style finished for being commonly known, "Soft Portuguese", was given to it ironically by its critics, who had compared it with a similarly-named brand of cigarettes. The biggest blow in the style was given in the Portuguese National Congress of Architecture of 1948, that originated that it was, gradually, left of being used in the public and particular constructions. From middle of 1950s, the public works promoted by the New State had come back to use the modernist architecture styles.

Despite the critics by many intellectuals, the Soft Portuguese style proved to be popular, corresponding to the tastes of the Portuguese people. Its characteristics, although attenuated, had come back to be present in innumerable private buildings, specially since the 1990s.


The typical buildings of the Architecture of the Soft Portuguese used the modern techniques of engineering, making use of concrete structures and of high constructive quality. However, in contrast to the modernists buildings, here, the modern technique is masked to the maximum by pure ornamental elements.

The ornamental elements in the style are removed from the architecture of the 17th and 18th centuries and from the Portuguese regional architecture styles. Typically, decorative elements are used as rustic rock, picked tiled roofs, pinnacles, pilasters, balconies, etc. Is is also common the existence of arches and towers topped with nationalistic and symbolic elements.






Examples:

http://ulisses.cm-lisboa.pt/data/002/008/fotos/048.jpg


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4014/4473643372_3eb33d3319.jpg


http://lisboario200anos.cm-lisboa.pt/uploads/pics/jf10_02.jpg


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4045/4472869541_0345dfb69a.jpg

[Vasconcelos]

Battle of Ceuta


Eventho Ceuta is currently a Spanish city, it was once in the hands of the Portuguese, first captured from the Moors in 1415 and formally ceded to Spain in 1668, after the Iberian Union had ended. The city chose to remain in Spanish hands after Portuguese independence in 1640.
Even to this day, the old flag remains as official, bearing the colours of Lisbon and a Portuguese shield with a XV century open crown.

http://flags-and-anthems.com/media/flags/flag-ceuta.gif
Flag of Ceuta




The Battle of Ceuta (August 14, 1415) and the subsequent conquest of the Wattasid city of Ceuta by the Portuguese had its roots in the earliest years of the House of Aviz dynasty of Portugal. Both the Battle of Ceuta and, in a larger sense, the era of European expansion were influenced by the Infant Dom Henrique of Portugal; he is better known to history as Prince Henry the Navigator.

Born in 1394, Henry was the third son of King João I and his Queen Philippa, who were monarchs from the House of Aviz. He and his brothers lived in an era where honour was as much earned as inherited; the medieval concept of chivalry still held sway in European courts. Given this worldview, it is not surprising that João I led his sons and their assembled forces in an attack on the Muslim stronghold of Ceuta in 1415. This "baptism of blood" was a traditional manner by which nobles proved their valor. In addition, the expedition fed the crusading spirit of the warriors, as there was no greater glory for Iberian Christians of the Reconquista than that attained through the defeat of Moorish forces.

The Portuguese conquest of Ceuta served larger purposes than simply winning knightly spurs for the sons of João I; their victory over the forces of Islam rekindled dreams of a unified Christendom that could subdue Islam in a multi-pronged conflict. The prospect of a triumphant military and religious unification with distant Christian empires thus increased in its attraction to European leaders.

The battle itself was almost anti-climactic, because the 45,000 men who traveled on 200 Portuguese ships caught the defenders of Ceuta off guard. An attack that commenced on the morning of August 14, 1415 ended with the capture of the town by nightfall. Prince Henry distinguished himself in the battle, being wounded during the conquest of the city that was known as the “Key to the Mediterranean.”

Thus, one of the major northern trade centers of the Islamic world was now in the possession of Portugal. This African conquest was the first significant ripple of a wave of European expansion that would reach every continent on the globe.

[Alvarado]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/portuguese/especial/images/200_descobrimentos/4212037_els2007.2.218.jpg

Capture of Ormuz (1507)


The Capture of Ormuz in 1507 occurred when the Portuguese Afonso de Albuquerque attacked Hormuz Island to establish the Castle of Ormuz. This conquest gave the Portuguese full control of the trade between India and Europe passing through the Persian Gulf.

The capture of Ormuz was a result of a plan by the king of Portugal, Manuel I, who in 1505 had resolved to thwart Muslim trade in the Indian Ocean by capturing Aden, to block trade through Alexandria; Ormuz, to block trade through Beirut; and Malacca to control trade with China. A fleet under Tristão da Cunha was sent to capture the Muslim fort on Socotra in order to control the entrance to the Red Sea; this was accomplished in 1507. The main part of the fleet then left for India, with a few ships remaining under Albuquerque.

Albuquerque disobeyed orders and left to capture the island of Ormuz. He obtained the submission of the local king to the king of Portugal, as well as the authorisation to build a fort using local labour. He started to build a fort on 27 October 1507, and initially planned to man it with a garrison, but could not hold it because of local resistance and the defection to India of several of his Portuguese captains.

During the works for the building there was the mutiny of the Captains, an episode of insubordination that led to the defection of three Portuguese captains to India. These, with the support of the sovereign of Ormuz, fought the forces of Albuquerque in early January 1508. After a few days of battle, Albuquerque was forced to withdraw from the city, abandoned the fort under construction.

He sailed away on April 1508 with the remaining two remaining ships. He returned to Socotra where he found the Portuguese garrison starving. He remained in the Gulf of Aden to raid Muslim ships, and attacked and burnt the city of Kālhāt (Calayate). He again returned to Ormuz, and then set sail to India on board a merchant ship he had captured.

In March 1515, Albuquerque returned to Ormuz, leading a fleet of 27 vessels, with a strength of 1,500 soldiers and 700 malabaris, determined to regain it. He held the position of the ancient fortress on April 1, referring to the building, now under a new name: Fort of Our Lady of the Conception.

In 1622, a combined Anglo-Persian force combined to take over the Portuguese garrison at Hormuz Island in the Capture of Ormuz (1622), thus opening up Persian trade with England. "The capture of Ormuz by an Anglo-Persian force in 1622 entirely changed the balance of power and trade".


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Ormuz_%281507%29

[Rouxinol]

Siege of Lisbon

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Siege_of_Lisbon_-_Muslim_surrender.jpg


The Siege of Lisbon, from July 1 to October 25, 1147, was the military action that brought the city of Lisbon under definitive Portuguese control and expelled its Moorish overlords. The Siege of Lisbon was one of the few Christian victories of the Second Crusade and is seen as a pivotal battle of the wider Reconquista.

The Fall of Edessa in 1144 led to a call for a new crusade by Pope Eugene III in 1145 and 1146. In the spring of 1147, the Pope authorized the crusade in the Iberian peninsula. He also authorized Alfonso VII of León to equate his campaigns against the Moors with the rest of the Second Crusade. In May 1147, the first contingents of crusaders left from Dartmouth in England for the Holy Land. Bad weather forced the ships to stop on the Portuguese coast, at the northern city of Porto on June 16, 1147. There they were convinced to meet with King Afonso I of Portugal.

The crusaders agreed to help the King attack Lisbon, with a solemn agreement that offered to the crusaders the pillage of the city's goods and the ransom money for expected prisoners. The siege began on July 1. After four months, the Almoravid rulers agreed to surrender on October 24, primarily because of hunger within the city. Most of the crusaders settled in the newly captured city, but some of the crusaders set sail and continued to the Holy Land. Lisbon eventually became capital city of the Kingdom of Portugal, in 1255.

Source: Wikipedia.org

[Rouxinol]

Battle of Diu

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Battle_of_Diu_1509.jpg
The battle


Date February 3, 1509
Location Diu, India
Result Decisive Portuguese victory


The Battle of Diu sometimes referred as the Second Battle of Chaul was a naval battle fought on February 3, 1509 in the Arabian Sea, near the port of Diu, India, between the Portuguese Empire and a joint fleet of the Sultan of Gujarat, the Mamlûk Burji Sultanate of Egypt, the Zamorin of Kozhikode with support of Ottomans, the Republic of Venice and the Republic of Ragusa (Dubrovnik).[2]

The Portuguese victory was critical: Mamluks and Arabs retreated, easing the Portuguese strategy of controlling the Indian Ocean to route trade down the Cape of Good Hope, circumventing the traditional spice route controlled by the Arabs and the Venetians through the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. After the battle, Portugal rapidly captured key ports in the Indian Ocean like Goa, Ceylon, Malacca and Ormuz, crippling the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt and the Gujarat Sultanate, greatly assisting the growth of the Portuguese Empire and setting its trade dominance for almost a century, until it was taken during the Dutch-Portuguese Wars and the Battle of Swally won by the British East India Company in 1612. It marks the beginning of the European colonialism in Asia. It also marks the spillover of the Christian-Islamic power struggle, in and around the Mediterranean Sea and the Middle East, into the Indian Ocean which was the most important region for international trade at the time.


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b5/Diu1.jpg/800px-Diu1.jpg
Portuguese fortification in Diu

Source: Wikipedia.org

[Rouxinol]

Batalha do Salado (Battle of Río Salado)

Date 30 October 1340,
Location Salado River, near Tarifa
Result Defeat of the Moroccan invasion

The Battle of Río Salado (30 October 1340) was a battle of King Afonso IV of Portugal and King Alfonso XI of Castile against sultan Abu al-Hasan 'Ali of the Marinid dynasty of Morocco and the Nasrid ruler Yusuf I of the Kingdom of Granada.

Source: Wikipedia.org

ot2geOv5aC8

[Rouxinol]

The Portuguese discover Brazil led by Pedro Álvares Cabral and make it part of the Empire

Pictures:

http://blogdopatio.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/wq_4_descobrimento-do-brasil1.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u4XNElusyGg/S8_NYNcR8-I/AAAAAAAAAZ8/xozLNPeemyE/s1600/descobrimento_do_brasil_001.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_OZx9d5Jcgu8/TSTyj72NnEI/AAAAAAAAAEk/EAhbWDxL_d0/s1600/Indios.jpg

http://sites.uol.com.br/drummerman/indescra.jpg

http://andrielli.pbworks.com/f/1214230074/Colonos%20Portugueses.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_OZx9d5Jcgu8/TSTzcgq6uhI/AAAAAAAAAEo/mDESpz6JFq8/s1600/jesuitas.png

http://mybraziltrek.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Pedro-Alvares-Cabral.jpg
Pedro Álvares Cabral

[Rouxinol]

Portugal announces war on the terrorists backed by the USSR, its allies and other traitors fighting the Portuguese on their overseas provinces of Africa:

L_e6CyvO4gA

[Rouxinol]

CONQUEST OF MALACCA, MALAYSIA

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Malacca_1630.jpg
Portuguese map of Malacca


In April 1511, Afonso de Albuquerque set sail from Goa to Malacca with a force of some 1200 men and seventeen or eighteen ships.[6] They conquered the city on August 24, 1511. It became a strategic base for Portuguese expansion in the East Indies. Sultan Mahmud Shah, the last Sultan of Malacca, took refuge in the hinterland, and made intermittent raids both by land and sea, causing considerable hardship for the Portuguese. In the meantime, the Portuguese built the fort named A Famosa to defend Malacca (its gate is all that remains of the ruins at present). "In order to appease the King of Ayudhya (Siam), the Portuguese sent up an ambassador, Duarte Fernandes, who was well received by Ramathibodi." in 1511. Finally in 1526, a large force of Portuguese ships, under the command of Pedro Mascarenhas, was sent to destroy Bintan, where Sultan Mahmud was based. Sultan Mahmud fled with his family across the Straits to Kampar in Sumatra, where he died five years later.


http://danieldeavila.com/conquista_de_Malaca.jpg
The conquest

Remnants of Portuguese rule

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/A_famosa.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/94/Melaka-Porta-de-Santiago-2Cimg2194.jpg/800px-Melaka-Porta-de-Santiago-2Cimg2194.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Portugese_ship_museum_Melaka.jpg

[Osprey]

Battle of Poitiers was one of the few battles, where hardened infantry stood against armoured cavalry and won.
Largely due to uncertainty on the part of Cavalry and the uphill terrain.

[Slycooper]

The Portuguese made so many Conquests and Discoveries. Sick how the small Country has remained basically unchanged for 900 years.