Municipal Library Elevator Coup
Encyclopedia
The Municipal Library Elevator Coup, The Elevator Coup or 28 January 1908 Coup (Portuguese: Golpe do Elevador da Biblioteca, Intentona do Elevador or simply the Golpe de 28 de Janeiro de 1908), was the name given for the attempted coup d'etat
by members of the Portuguese Republican Party
(Portuguese: Partido Republicano Português) and Progressive Dissidency (Portuguese: Dissidência Progressista), against the administrative dictatorship of Prime Minister João Franco
(and the political ascendancy of the Liberal Regenerator Party). The event was not confined to the Municipal Library Elevator, but was so named for the arrest of many conspirators at the structure on the afternoon of January 28, 1908. Although the coup was prevented by government forces, it failed to capture all the conspirators, which contributed to the assassination
of the monarch Carlos I of Portugal
and the heir to the throne, the Prince Royal, Luís Filipe. These events would continue legislative instability and lead to the Portuguese First Republic
, the raison d'etre of the coupe conspirators.
had decided to support the Liberal-Regenerator leader João Franco
and allow him to run the government as an administrative dictatorship (without parliament, but maintaining civil liberties), the parties in the Cortes had vocally rebelled. The traditional parties (the Regenerator and Progressive Parties) were the most critical, since they were fearful of losing their political clout within the rotativist system that existed (an inefficient system of rotating governments, where the main parties would alternate in government, through gentlemens agreements). The Progressive Dissidency, who had been created exclusively by José Maria de Alpoim
to obtain power, was likewise positioned in a way to remain on the fringes of power. Although it was officially monarchist, the Party and its leader were willing to abandon its platform and scruples in order to align itself with the Portuguese Republican Party
, at the time a radical group of socialists, anarchists and nationalists intent on taking power by force. João Franco, was also interested in marginalizing the Republicans, by co-opting many of the planks of the other parties in order to form a program that would remove the political instability that existed and maintain power. The election of April 5, 1908, which could have ushered in a legislative victory for João Franco's Liberal-Regenerators, and possibly install a functional parliament, united the leaders of the Dissidency and Republican Party in a conspiracy to take power by force. For this the Dissidency provided the money and arms, and the Republicans, with their contacts within Portuguese secret societies (principally the Carbonária
and Masonry
) would provide the men.
, but decided on proclaiming a republic
as the better goal. Various versions of the plan existed, although they all shared the same goal of removing the dictator João Franco without forcing the intervention of the military, and thus escalating the conflict into a civil war. In its final version, brigades of Carbonária would neutralize the lines of communication, the mounted cavalry in the Largo do Carmo, the Municipal Guard in the Largo dos Lóios, the barracks in the Cabeço de Bola and the naval officers in the Vale de Zebo, while the remaining conspirators would take the municipal office buildings and eliminate João Franco.
On January 27, 1908 the plan to remove the dictator was approved by Afonso Costa
and Francisco Correia Herédia (Viscount of Ribeira Brava) for both groups of dissidents. Meanwhile, other conspirators were not only interested in removing João Franco, but also eliminating the King. This change in plans is harder to pinpoint, but a recent study points to the end of 1907. José Maria Alpoim, who associated with members of the Carbonária, was responsible for a plan to acquire arms, promulgate a revolution, and two plans to execute the Prime Minister and the monarch. Whether republican leaders were aware of these plans is unclear; the relationships that existed between the conspirators and instigators of the coupe were later suppressed. But, these competing motivations likely played a part in the disorganization on the eve of the coupe, which was planned for either January 31 or February 1.
Regardless, the confidence of the conspirators was so high that a shop-owner, Vitor dos Santos, attempted to bribe a police officer to join the conspiracy. The officer, after seeing a box of explosives (which the proprietor presented him) reported of the conspiracy to his superiors. Informed of the possible conspiracy in the works, João Franco ordered the imprisonment of Republican leader António José de Almeida
, the Carbonária head Luz de Almeida, the republican journalist João Chagas
and other suspects, as well as ordering the reinforcement of strategic points throughout Lisbon.
to salvage the group's plans. The government had placed many sights under observation and the military was supported by government forces. A few, still belligerent conspirators, attempted to attack these forces in the bairro
of Rato, in the civil parish of Alcântara
, at the Campo de Santana and along the Rua da Escola Politécnica: one policeman was killed.
Alfredo Costa, supported by members of the Progressive Dissidency, took their positions under the conspirator's plan, at the Municipal Library Elevator. The Municipal Elevator, also known as the Library Elevator or Elevator of São Julião, was the seventh public elevator to be constructed in Lisbon. It was inaugurated on January 12, 1897 under the supervision of its designer, Raoul Mesnier de Ponsard, and operated until 1915 when it was permanently taken out of service. It connected the Largo da Biblioteca near the Municipal Library (today, the Academy of Fine Arts) with the municipal square, Largo de São Julião (today, the Praça do Município), through the buildings at 13 Largo de S. Julião and the terrace of the Palácio do Visconde de Coruche.
Waiting for confirmation from the leadership to execute their plans, and hopeful of a turn in the events, many of the remaining conspirators begin to congregate at the Elevator. Their appearance was scrutinized by a policeman, who became suspicious because the Elevator was ostensibly out of service. Calling for reinforcements, a group of officers detained and arrest the group of men, which included Afonso Costa, António Egas Moniz, Álvaro Poppe, Francisco Correia de Herédia (the Viscount of Ribeira Brava) and others. While José Maria de Alpoim
was able to escape to Spain, in all 100 people arrested during the crackdown, including the Viscounts of Pedralva and Ameal, João Pinto dos Santos, Cassiano Neves and Batalha de Freitas. The coup is crushed.
on January 30) In order to perpetuate the semblance of order, the King and Royal Family, returned to the capital on February 1, 1908, following a route through the Terreiro do Paço
until the Palácio das Necessidades. But, even with leadership imprisoned, the square was circled by gunmen of the Carbonária who assassinated the King and Prince Royal in what became known as the Lisbon Regicide
. Although João Franco was physically spared (the assassins had ignored his carriage), he was held responsible for lack of police security and a naive over-confidence that allowed the monarch to travel in an uncovered landau
.
Although the coup failed, the death of the King and heir apparent was responsible for continuing instability which was ultimately a success for the republicans. The traditional parties were able to impose an acclamation solution, with the establishment of a unity government presided by an independent (Francisco Joaquim Ferreira do Amaral
), the ostracising of João Franco's supporters, and the repeal of Francist decrees. In fact, the acclamation policies was a rendition: many of the conspirators were liberated from prison, the assassins (who were killed in the square) were eulogized as martyrs and the criminal investigation was neutered. These events only encouraged the republicans to attempt another coup d'etat 33 months later, led by the same people, that would succeed in establishing the Portuguese First Republic
. The events that gave rise to the attempted coup on January 28 were the last attempts to reform the constitutional monarchy.
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
by members of the Portuguese Republican Party
Portuguese Republican Party
The Portuguese Republican Party was a Portuguese political party formed during the late years of monarchy that proposed and conducted the substitution of the Constitutional Monarchy by the Portuguese First Republic....
(Portuguese: Partido Republicano Português) and Progressive Dissidency (Portuguese: Dissidência Progressista), against the administrative dictatorship of Prime Minister João Franco
João Franco
João Franco Ferreira Pinto Castelo-Branco, GCTE was a Portuguese politician, Minister, 43rd Minister for Treasury Affairs and 73rd Prime Minister in the last years of the Portuguese monarchy...
(and the political ascendancy of the Liberal Regenerator Party). The event was not confined to the Municipal Library Elevator, but was so named for the arrest of many conspirators at the structure on the afternoon of January 28, 1908. Although the coup was prevented by government forces, it failed to capture all the conspirators, which contributed to the assassination
Lisbon Regicide
The Lisbon Regicide was the name given for the assassinations of King Carlos I of Portugal and his heir, Luis Filipe, the Prince Royal by assassins sympathetic to republican interests...
of the monarch Carlos I of Portugal
Carlos I of Portugal
-Assassination:On 1 February 1908 the royal family returned from the palace of Vila Viçosa to Lisbon. They travelled by train to Barreiro and, from there, they took a steamer to cross the Tagus River and disembarked at Cais do Sodré in central Lisbon. On their way to the royal palace, the open...
and the heir to the throne, the Prince Royal, Luís Filipe. These events would continue legislative instability and lead to the Portuguese First Republic
Portuguese First Republic
The Portuguese First Republic spans a complex 16 year period in the history of Portugal, between the end of the period of constitutional monarchy marked by the 5 October 1910 revolution and the 28 May coup d'état of 1926...
, the raison d'etre of the coupe conspirators.
Background
Since King Carlos I of PortugalCarlos I of Portugal
-Assassination:On 1 February 1908 the royal family returned from the palace of Vila Viçosa to Lisbon. They travelled by train to Barreiro and, from there, they took a steamer to cross the Tagus River and disembarked at Cais do Sodré in central Lisbon. On their way to the royal palace, the open...
had decided to support the Liberal-Regenerator leader João Franco
João Franco
João Franco Ferreira Pinto Castelo-Branco, GCTE was a Portuguese politician, Minister, 43rd Minister for Treasury Affairs and 73rd Prime Minister in the last years of the Portuguese monarchy...
and allow him to run the government as an administrative dictatorship (without parliament, but maintaining civil liberties), the parties in the Cortes had vocally rebelled. The traditional parties (the Regenerator and Progressive Parties) were the most critical, since they were fearful of losing their political clout within the rotativist system that existed (an inefficient system of rotating governments, where the main parties would alternate in government, through gentlemens agreements). The Progressive Dissidency, who had been created exclusively by José Maria de Alpoim
José Maria de Alpoim
José Maria de Alpoim Cerqueira Borges Cabral was a politician, member of the Progressive Party of Portugal, and later the Republican Party of Portugal, who held various roles during the last years of the constitutional monarchy in Portugal...
to obtain power, was likewise positioned in a way to remain on the fringes of power. Although it was officially monarchist, the Party and its leader were willing to abandon its platform and scruples in order to align itself with the Portuguese Republican Party
Portuguese Republican Party
The Portuguese Republican Party was a Portuguese political party formed during the late years of monarchy that proposed and conducted the substitution of the Constitutional Monarchy by the Portuguese First Republic....
, at the time a radical group of socialists, anarchists and nationalists intent on taking power by force. João Franco, was also interested in marginalizing the Republicans, by co-opting many of the planks of the other parties in order to form a program that would remove the political instability that existed and maintain power. The election of April 5, 1908, which could have ushered in a legislative victory for João Franco's Liberal-Regenerators, and possibly install a functional parliament, united the leaders of the Dissidency and Republican Party in a conspiracy to take power by force. For this the Dissidency provided the money and arms, and the Republicans, with their contacts within Portuguese secret societies (principally the Carbonária
Carbonária
The Carbonária was originally an anti-clerical, revolutionary, conspiratorial society, originally established in Portugal in 1822 but soon disbanded. It was allied with the Italian Carbonari. A new organization of the same name and claiming to be its continuation was founded in 1896 by Artur...
and Masonry
Masonry
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, stucco, and...
) would provide the men.
Plans
Originally, the conspirators hoped to force the abdication of the King Carlos ICarlos I of Portugal
-Assassination:On 1 February 1908 the royal family returned from the palace of Vila Viçosa to Lisbon. They travelled by train to Barreiro and, from there, they took a steamer to cross the Tagus River and disembarked at Cais do Sodré in central Lisbon. On their way to the royal palace, the open...
, but decided on proclaiming a republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
as the better goal. Various versions of the plan existed, although they all shared the same goal of removing the dictator João Franco without forcing the intervention of the military, and thus escalating the conflict into a civil war. In its final version, brigades of Carbonária would neutralize the lines of communication, the mounted cavalry in the Largo do Carmo, the Municipal Guard in the Largo dos Lóios, the barracks in the Cabeço de Bola and the naval officers in the Vale de Zebo, while the remaining conspirators would take the municipal office buildings and eliminate João Franco.
On January 27, 1908 the plan to remove the dictator was approved by Afonso Costa
Afonso Costa
Afonso Augusto da Costa, GCTE, GCL was a Portuguese lawyer, professor, and republican politician.-Political career:Costa was the leader of the Portuguese Republican Party, and he was one of the major figures of the Portuguese First Republic. He was a republican deputy in the Chamber of Deputies...
and Francisco Correia Herédia (Viscount of Ribeira Brava) for both groups of dissidents. Meanwhile, other conspirators were not only interested in removing João Franco, but also eliminating the King. This change in plans is harder to pinpoint, but a recent study points to the end of 1907. José Maria Alpoim, who associated with members of the Carbonária, was responsible for a plan to acquire arms, promulgate a revolution, and two plans to execute the Prime Minister and the monarch. Whether republican leaders were aware of these plans is unclear; the relationships that existed between the conspirators and instigators of the coupe were later suppressed. But, these competing motivations likely played a part in the disorganization on the eve of the coupe, which was planned for either January 31 or February 1.
Regardless, the confidence of the conspirators was so high that a shop-owner, Vitor dos Santos, attempted to bribe a police officer to join the conspiracy. The officer, after seeing a box of explosives (which the proprietor presented him) reported of the conspiracy to his superiors. Informed of the possible conspiracy in the works, João Franco ordered the imprisonment of Republican leader António José de Almeida
António José de Almeida
António José de Almeida, GCTE, GCA, GCC, GCSE, , son of José António de Almeida and wife Maria Rita das Neves, was a Portuguese political figure...
, the Carbonária head Luz de Almeida, the republican journalist João Chagas
João Chagas
João Pinheiro Chagas was a Portuguese journalist and politician. He was born in Brazil, from Portuguese parents who soon moved back to Portugal. He was an editor at the newspapers "O Primeiro de Janeiro", "Correio do Norte", "O Tempo" and "O Dia"...
and other suspects, as well as ordering the reinforcement of strategic points throughout Lisbon.
Attempted coup
With the leadership of the movement almost decapitated, it fell to Afonso CostaAfonso Costa
Afonso Augusto da Costa, GCTE, GCL was a Portuguese lawyer, professor, and republican politician.-Political career:Costa was the leader of the Portuguese Republican Party, and he was one of the major figures of the Portuguese First Republic. He was a republican deputy in the Chamber of Deputies...
to salvage the group's plans. The government had placed many sights under observation and the military was supported by government forces. A few, still belligerent conspirators, attempted to attack these forces in the bairro
Bairro
Bairro is a Portuguese word and refers to a community or region within a city or municipality. Bairros exist in the majority of large cities in the world. Related words in English include neighborhood, district, borough or subdivision...
of Rato, in the civil parish of Alcântara
Alcântara
Alcântara is a Brazilian city in the state of Maranhão. The city has a population of 22,359 , and is 30 km away from the state's capital, São Luís....
, at the Campo de Santana and along the Rua da Escola Politécnica: one policeman was killed.
Alfredo Costa, supported by members of the Progressive Dissidency, took their positions under the conspirator's plan, at the Municipal Library Elevator. The Municipal Elevator, also known as the Library Elevator or Elevator of São Julião, was the seventh public elevator to be constructed in Lisbon. It was inaugurated on January 12, 1897 under the supervision of its designer, Raoul Mesnier de Ponsard, and operated until 1915 when it was permanently taken out of service. It connected the Largo da Biblioteca near the Municipal Library (today, the Academy of Fine Arts) with the municipal square, Largo de São Julião (today, the Praça do Município), through the buildings at 13 Largo de S. Julião and the terrace of the Palácio do Visconde de Coruche.
Waiting for confirmation from the leadership to execute their plans, and hopeful of a turn in the events, many of the remaining conspirators begin to congregate at the Elevator. Their appearance was scrutinized by a policeman, who became suspicious because the Elevator was ostensibly out of service. Calling for reinforcements, a group of officers detained and arrest the group of men, which included Afonso Costa, António Egas Moniz, Álvaro Poppe, Francisco Correia de Herédia (the Viscount of Ribeira Brava) and others. While José Maria de Alpoim
José Maria de Alpoim
José Maria de Alpoim Cerqueira Borges Cabral was a politician, member of the Progressive Party of Portugal, and later the Republican Party of Portugal, who held various roles during the last years of the constitutional monarchy in Portugal...
was able to escape to Spain, in all 100 people arrested during the crackdown, including the Viscounts of Pedralva and Ameal, João Pinto dos Santos, Cassiano Neves and Batalha de Freitas. The coup is crushed.
Aftermath
With the coup conspirators imprisoned, the King signed a decree (written by João Franco) to establish sentences of exile or expulsion to the colonies for those individuals caught for countervening regulations of public order (signed at the palace of Vila ViçosaVila Viçosa
Vila Viçosa is a municipality in Portugal with a total area of 195.0 km² and a total population of 8,745 inhabitants.The municipality is composed of 5 parishes, and is located in the District of Évora....
on January 30) In order to perpetuate the semblance of order, the King and Royal Family, returned to the capital on February 1, 1908, following a route through the Terreiro do Paço
Praça do Comércio
The Praça do Comércio is located in the city of Lisbon, Portugal. Situated near the Tagus river, the square is still commonly known as Terreiro do Paço , because it was the location of the Paços da Ribeira until it was destroyed by the great 1755 Lisbon Earthquake...
until the Palácio das Necessidades. But, even with leadership imprisoned, the square was circled by gunmen of the Carbonária who assassinated the King and Prince Royal in what became known as the Lisbon Regicide
Lisbon Regicide
The Lisbon Regicide was the name given for the assassinations of King Carlos I of Portugal and his heir, Luis Filipe, the Prince Royal by assassins sympathetic to republican interests...
. Although João Franco was physically spared (the assassins had ignored his carriage), he was held responsible for lack of police security and a naive over-confidence that allowed the monarch to travel in an uncovered landau
Landau
Landau or Landau in der Pfalz is an autonomous city surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town , a long-standing cultural centre, and a market and shopping town, surrounded by vineyards and wine-growing villages of the...
.
Although the coup failed, the death of the King and heir apparent was responsible for continuing instability which was ultimately a success for the republicans. The traditional parties were able to impose an acclamation solution, with the establishment of a unity government presided by an independent (Francisco Joaquim Ferreira do Amaral
Francisco Joaquim Ferreira do Amaral
Francisco Joaquim Ferreira do Amaral, GCTS, KCVO was a Portuguese naval commander and politician.-Ancestry:...
), the ostracising of João Franco's supporters, and the repeal of Francist decrees. In fact, the acclamation policies was a rendition: many of the conspirators were liberated from prison, the assassins (who were killed in the square) were eulogized as martyrs and the criminal investigation was neutered. These events only encouraged the republicans to attempt another coup d'etat 33 months later, led by the same people, that would succeed in establishing the Portuguese First Republic
Portuguese First Republic
The Portuguese First Republic spans a complex 16 year period in the history of Portugal, between the end of the period of constitutional monarchy marked by the 5 October 1910 revolution and the 28 May coup d'état of 1926...
. The events that gave rise to the attempted coup on January 28 were the last attempts to reform the constitutional monarchy.