History, The First Republic

In 1906, with the government paralyzed, Carlos I gave dictatorial powers to prime minister Joao Franco. A supporter of the monarchy, Franco initiated a bold program of economic and administrative reforms. However, Franco’s dictatorship was widely condemned, and in 1908 Carlos and his eldest son were assassinated in Lisbon by radical republicans. Carlos’s younger son, Manuel, ascended the throne as Manuel II at the age of 18. In an attempt to save the monarchy, Manuel held new elections for the cortes, but bitter factionalism prevented the formation of a stable government. In October 1910 the army and navy backed a republican revolution that deposed Manuel and established a provisional republican government. A liberal constitution was put into effect in 1911 that abolished the monarchy, separated church from state, and granted workers the right to strike. Manuel Jose de Arriaga was elected first president of Portugal’s First Republic.