Júlio Botelho Moniz

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Júlio Carlos Alves Dias Botelho Moniz (born October 12, 1900 in Lisbon , † September 30, 1970 in Lisbon ) was a Portuguese general during the Estado Novo . In April 1961 he led a coup d'état directed against António de Oliveira Salazar .

Origin and family

Júlio Carlos Alves Dias Botelho Moniz was born in Lisbon as the second son of the couple José Carlos Botelho Moniz (1869-1941) and Maria Carlota Alves Dias (1872-1977). He married the sister of the General of the Air Force Venâncio Augusto Deslandes (1909–1985), Maria Gabriela Rodrigues Deslandes (1907–2003), who gave birth to three daughters and a son. His brother Jorge Augusto Alves Dias Botelho Moniz was also a general of the Estado Novo.

Career

Botelho Moniz attended the military college and successfully completed an artillery course in 1918. In 1926 he advocated the proclamation of the Estado Novo in Portugal. He was appointed to the General Staff in 1938 with the rank of lieutenant colonel, on whose behalf he observed the political and military developments in Germany at the beginning of the Second World War . He also carried out observation missions on the Eastern Front from 1940 to 1943, and in 1943 he took part in the negotiations that led to the stationing of US forces in the Azores .

From September 6, 1944 to February 4, 1947, Botelho Moniz was Minister of the Interior in the government of António de Oliveira Salazar . He was the first military man in this post since the constitution of 1933 came into force , which he had to give up due to the dissatisfaction of regional and local rulers. Salazar then offered him the post of colonial minister, which he refused. Instead, Botelho Moniz took over the function of military attaché in Madrid from 1947 to 1950 and from 1950 to 1951 that of military attaché in Washington, DC

In 1952 Botelho Moniz acted as inspector of the first artillery inspection, and a year later he was appointed Deputy State Secretary for National Defense and a member of the Overseas Council. On February 3, 1953, Júlio Botelho Moniz was promoted to general and on March 3, 1955 appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Portuguese Armed Forces (CEMGFA).

On August 14, 1958, he succeeded Fernando dos Santos Costa as Minister of Defense . As state secretaries he had hired the later generals Afonso de Magalhães de Almeida Fernandes and Francisco da Costa Gomes . The officer corps expected the new defense minister to repeal the strict legislation on the marriage of members of the military.

Coup

As Defense Minister, he led the unsuccessful coup in April 1961 , which was later called Golpe de Botelho Moniz (Botelho-Moniz Putsch). Botelho Moniz tried, in collaboration with the former President of the Republic of Craveiro Lopes and other personalities, to depose Salazar. In addition to the support of leading representatives of the regime, he had connections with parts of the Unión Liberal Republicana and supporters of the opposition to the regime, among whom were Lieutenant Moreira Lopes, Mário Pessoa, David Neto and Carvalho da Silva.

The coup was caused by the disagreement among the regime's elite about the Portuguese government's unyielding stance on decolonization . The immediate cause of the coup attempt was the demands of the Allies, in particular the United States of America, that Portugal should recognize the right of self-determination of its overseas territories within the framework of the global movement of self-determination of peoples .

Júlio Botelho Moniz, who rose to the regime's intellectual elite after the Allied victory in World War II, rejected the government's official position on decolonization. At the same time, he criticized the stagnation in political and social development, which he saw as the cause of the difficulties when Portugal was admitted to the United Nations in 1955 . Portugal also faced harsh criticism from its allies. Representing Portugal's isolated foreign policy position is the public support for the chairman of the UPA / FNLA (Union of Peoples of Angola / Frente Nacional da Libertação de Angola ) Holden Roberto by the US Senator John F. Kennedy , who has been in office since 1959 Resumed official policy on January 1st, 1961 as President of the United States of America .

After the failure of the coup d'état on April 13, 1961, Botelho Moniz lost his post as defense minister. He then wrote some papers on colonial issues and strategy. The regime's stubborn adherence to its colonies and the long-term colonial wars in Angola , Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau led to the Carnation Revolution on April 25, 1974 , which initiated the democratization of Portugal.

Honors

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  • Fernando Valença, As Forças Armadas e as Crises Nacionais. A Abrilada in 1961 . Lisbon: Europa-América, Colecção Estudos e Documentos , 1978, ISBN 978-972-1-00919-6
  • Carlos Henrique Pereira Viana de Lemos, Duas crises: 1961 e 1974 . Lisbon: Nova Gente, 1977

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Moniz, Júlio Botelho
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Moniz, Júlio Carlos Alves Dias Botelho (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Portuguese general
DATE OF BIRTH October 12, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Lisbon
DATE OF DEATH September 30, 1970
Place of death Lisbon