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Portugal in European and World History

a
Tijl Vanneste
a
European University Institute
Published online: 04 Jan 2012.

To cite this article: Tijl Vanneste (2011) Portugal in European and World History, European Review
of History: Revue européenne d'histoire, 18:5-6, 865-867, DOI: 10.1080/13507486.2011.632189

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13507486.2011.632189

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 European Review of History—Revue européenne d’histoire 865

were provided by the highly educated, multi-lingual rulers, as well as the mild religious
atmosphere and the urban setting of the court of Vienna and Prague. Sambucus and Dudith
were internationally acknowledged heroes of the Republic of Letters, and while they came
from Hungary, they were highly cosmopolitan and embraced universal interests. To draw
their portraits, Almási mobilises and handles with ease a great quantity and variety of
sources in a variety of languages, and his book will undoubtedly become the main
reference on the life and times of these two humanists.
Dóra Bobory
Independent Scholar, Budapest, Hungary
dora.bobory@gmail.com
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q 2011, Dóra Bobory

Portugal in European and World History, by Malyn Newitt, London, Reaktion Books,
2009, 256 pp., £22 (hardback), ISBN 978-1-86189-519-6

Professor Newitt’s book about the history of Portugal is an analysis that integrates
European and world history. The main question underlying much of the narrative is how
such a small country, entirely surrounded by either the sea or Spain, was able to play such a
prominent role on the world stage, for such an extended time, from the discovery of sailing
routes downwards along the African coast to the establishment of Portugal as one of the
great colonial powers in Africa. The author bases his analysis mainly on secondary
material, although some primary sources are used. Two elements make this book more
than just a scholarly overview of Portuguese history. First, Portugal’s history is analysed in
relation to European and world history, offering a fresh approach to what otherwise would
have been a synopsis of well-known events. Secondly, the author has attempted in his
monograph to add to an existing Portuguese historiography that is not always readily
available to non-Portuguese scholars.
The book follows a linear time frame, and is divided into 11 chapters that each deal
with a specific topic and time period. The author states that ‘the purpose of this book is to
explore the importance of Portugal for the rest of Europe through eleven episodes in its
history’ (p. 11). After finishing the book the reader will have a general understanding of
Portuguese history as connected to the wider world over a period of almost 1000 years,
since the book covers events between 1099 and 1974, including the capture of Lisbon from
the Moors in 1147, the battle of Aljubarrota in 1385, the union with Spain between 1580
and 1640, the Napoleonic struggles, and the period of Salazar’s dictatorship and the
military government between 1932 and 1974.
Despite the different focus in each chapter, continuity can be found throughout the
book. A recurring element is the special relationship that Portugal had with England. It
speaks in Prof. Newitt’s favour that he goes beyond the traditional observation of a
privileged relationship that is illustrated by the famous Methuen Treaty of 1703 and that he
makes space for less discussed elements of the Anglo-Portuguese alliance, such as the fact
that Portugal, as a consequence, did not build up armed forces in the eighteenth century.
Another recurrent element is Portugal’s relationship with Spain. The latter often posed a
threat to an independent Portugal and the Spanish and Portuguese crowns were at times
closely tied together by marriage policy. The two Iberian kingdoms were each other’s
main competition over an enormous territory in the fifteenth century.
 866 Book reviews

Other continuities are to be found in the historical explanations behind various

decisive events. Two types of explanation figure very prominently in the narrative: natural
circumstances and finance. It is remarkable that these are seen as playing an important, and
perhaps uncontrollable, role in explaining both today’s world and Portuguese history
throughout the ages. The most obvious example of a natural event having profound
consequences is of course the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, and it is in this context noteworthy
that Prof. Newitt opens his chapter on the subject with a reference to Milton Friedman,
saying that ‘only a crisis – actual or perceived – produces real change’ (p. 132). It is not
only natural disaster that helped to shape Portugal’s position in the world. The author pays
great attention to war and diplomacy, and the strategic importance of certain places is
often attributed to geography, such as the port of Lisbon as a great natural harbour or the
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location of Porto Grande (the later Mindelo), on one of the Cape Verde islands, that in the
nineteenth century ‘expanded ahead of its rivals, largely because of its ideal geographical
location’ (p. 176). According to Prof. Newitt, geographical benefits gave Portugal ‘great
leverage in international diplomacy which Portugal by itself would never have possessed’
(p. 178). In this, he is almost suggesting that the later acknowledgement of Portugal as a
force of influence on the world stage was at least partially due to the luck of geography,
while forces of modernisation and expansion earlier were brought about by natural
catastrophe. The author is very clear about the degree of change brought about by the
disaster of 1755: ‘ . . . it provided the catalyst for radical political and social change’
(p. 139).
Although the author succeeds to a great extent in his ambition to embed Portugal in a
wider history, some criticisms have to be mentioned. The author neglects to mention the
work of Luı́s Felipe Thomaz. In his monograph on the Portuguese discoveries, Thomaz
reflects on the reasons that caused the outward movement to Morocco and along the
African coast and he constructs the hypothesis that Portugal was obliged to expand its
horizons due to social, demographic and economic pressures. (See Luı́s Felipe Thomaz,
De Ceuta A Timor, Lisbon, Difel, 1994, and especially the first chapter, pp. 1 – 42.) Even
without having to agree with Thomaz, Prof. Newitt should have perhaps paid more
attention to this kind of analysis, because it provides an alternative answer to the
question of why such a small and poor country achieved such remarkable things, by
suggesting that part of the answer lies exactly in the fact that it was such a small and poor
country, which is a very challenging hypothesis. This criticism is not to say that the
author fails in his aim of incorporating Portuguese historiography into his work, as is
proven by frequent references to authors such as Valentim Alexandre, Francisco
Bethencourt, Maria Leonor Garcı́a da Cruz or A.H. de Oliveira Marques. It neither
means that this type of explanation is totally absent in the author’s discourse, as he
recognises that Portugal’s difficult geographical circumstances contributed to the
country’s playing an important role in the European discovery of the world. The author
also acknowledges that ‘Portuguese emigration had causes specific to the conditions of
rural Portugal and the islands . . . ’ (p. 174).
A more fundamental problem arises when asserting the role of Portugal in European
and world history. Newitt inserts Portuguese history in a wider frame in two ways.
Firstly, he compares similar events, such as the rise of the Spanish and the Portuguese
Inquisitions, and how they often acted as counterweights to each other. Secondly, he
stresses the exceptionalism of Portuguese success in history. Often seen as a relatively
unimportant state by other governments, Portugal nevertheless contributed greatly to
European and world history, most importantly by the drive created by its discoveries; it
is strongly suggested that other, larger nations that may be said to have created our
 European Review of History—Revue européenne d’histoire 867

world were in fact stepping in Portugal’s footsteps. Seeing Portuguese history purely in
terms of its contribution to the world leads the author back to his main question, that of
the almost inexplicable nature of Portugal’s accomplishments in world history. But this
narrows world history down to assessments of the respective positions taken by different
countries at different times, and the contributions they have made, almost sui generis, to
the world.
It also has to be said that Professor Newitt offers a classical approach to history. His
work is most of all a history of diplomacy, conquest, warfare and of the actions of great
men. Just one example is the attention given to Beresford’s involvement with the
Portuguese Army between 1809 and 1820. This is something of a missed opportunity,
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because the author’s intention is very refreshing, and because the Portuguese case lends
itself very well to integration into a European and/or world-history scheme, not focusing
on international political events, but on social movements, economic changes or cultural
phenomena. Although mentioned throughout the book, these do not get the attention
they deserve, as can be illustrated by the treatment given to Portuguese migration. The
author lists it as one of three great streams of migrants (next to the Sephardic diaspora
and the movement of African slaves) that ‘were to merge to form the societies of the
Portuguese Atlantic with their distinctive Creole cultures, languages and social
formations’ (p. 118). The absence of a deeper analysis of this migration, in its cultural
and social aspects, means that the book’s analysis of Portugal in world history – its
central idea – remains on the surface of international political negotiations while it
could have dug deeper into the more important social, economic and cultural
determinants of Portugal’s place in world history.
Tijl Vanneste
European University Institute
tijl.vanneste@eui.eu
q 2011, Tijl Vanneste

Peter the Great, by Derek Wilson, New York, St. Martin’s Press, 2010, xv þ 236 pp.,
US$29.99 (hardback), ISBN 978-0-312-55099-8

Peter the Great (1672 – 1725) is one of the greatest leaders the world has ever known and
his fascinating personality has inspired many writers, poets and biographers. He oriented
Russia towards the West, partly by stripping it of certain oriental customs, including the
way of dressing and calendar. He also made the West turn to Russia and accept it as an
equal member by destroying the Swedish Empire and taking control of the Baltic,
creating the Russian Fleet and modernising the army. The list of Peter’s innovations is
long and he was surely an exceptional personality who cannot be assessed by
conventional means.
Derek Wilson’s biography of Peter is a remarkable analysis of how this seventeenth
and eighteenth-century autocrat has shaped the identity not only of Russia, but also of
Europe. This book provides a plausible evaluation of Peter the tyrant and Peter the
reformer by comparing him to the European rulers of his time as well as his Russian
predecessors. On reflection, he does not appear any more cruel or barbaric than his
Western counterparts. As the author states in his introduction, we are all Peter’s heirs and
all have to live with his legacy.