The Goa War that broke out in December 1961 is one of the highlights in Indian history. In the early 16th century, Portugal established colonial rule in the Goa region. After the end of World War II, the world pattern dominated by European powers collapsed, and the colonies became independent one after another. Even the British Empire returned the free body of India. However, Portugal did not let go of anything. As a result, the Indian government sent 30,000 troops to regain Goa with an overwhelming victory.
At that time, there were probably few Western countries that looked down on India, but the latter added another one to the record book of " Third World Weak Country Beats up the Western Power", which also made countries around the world sigh: How could the pioneer of European sailing movements, the first global empire in history, the first marine overlord, fall to the point where even third-rate countries are worse than those of third-rate countries?
Speaking of the country of Portugal, its heyday was short but extremely brilliant. During its heyday, its territory reached 10.4 million square kilometers, and gold known as the whole of Europe flowed to Lisbon day and night, and was the first global empire. When it comes to Portugal's success, it actually has a little "winning while lying down".
As early as the 8th century AD, the invasion of Arab forced many Christian European aristocrats to move outward. In this process, a new group of big and small kingdoms emerged. In the following centuries, while Europeans were fighting with the Arabs, they also urgently needed to open up new ports and routes. With the help of geographical advantages, Portugal's economic, trade and cultural exchanges became extremely active and prosperous. By the end of the 14th century, the development of this region had far exceeded that of most other European countries. If Portugal rose to the country, its fortune was far more than that.
The European continent needs Portugal on the one hand, and on the other hand, due to conflicts of interest, Spain will not easily provide convenience to Portugal, which makes the road to the core area of Europe possible to be blocked at any time, which means that Portugal must also establish its own way out.
In this process, history arranged for them a noble person - Prince of Portugal Prince Henry , that is, Don Alfonso Enrique , the person in black clothes in the picture below . This person reads a lot of books and has a broad horizon. Although he was a feudal aristocrat, he did not care about politics and power, but his life was simple. Prince Henry was later revered as the "Voyager", but interestingly, he did not even go out to the sea in person. This person has a big structure. As a devout believe that the "Big Banner of Christ" should be planted in every corner of the world, so he built a Navigation Academy and an Observatory, vigorously developed the shipbuilding industry, and sponsored the fleet sailing. With the personal participation of Prince Henry, the Portuguese invented the Calavel sailing ship in 1440, which provided great convenience for Portugal to expand its territory on the ocean.
This lord has two very commendable points: first, he is not greedy. Whenever new islands and land are discovered, he generously enfeoffed to the discoverers, requiring that these lands be paid on time after they have business income; second, he was able to accept the Moriscos and Jews and let the talented pagans convert to Christianity and serve as their advisers and think tanks. This was very subversive at the time, but it also provided great convenience for the expansion of Portuguese power to Africa.
In short, with the joint efforts of many objective and subjective factors, Portugal has taken the lead and irresistible rise in Europe.
At his heyday, Portugal established a world-class fleet, so powerful that even Spain dared not offend it.
1492, Columbus, funded by the Spanish royal family, discovered the American continent. According to the principle of "first come first served", Spain naturally swore sovereignty on the local New World. However, Portugal used the excuse that Holy See had approved "Portugal mastered all the land east of Cape Bohador" , and claimed that it was the first to reach the Indian coast ( Columbus mistakenly believed it was India when he discovered the New World ), so he challenged it. Both sides made their own sense and the final decision was decided by the Holy See.Unexpectedly, the Pope at that time, Alexander VI was an Spanish . He also wanted to use Spanish influence to promote the spread of Catholicism, so he became biased.
Although Spain won, it won thoroughly. Portugal refused to make concessions. At that time point, it was nearly a century before the emergence of " Invincible Fleet ". Spain believed that it might not be able to beat Portugal on the sea, so it took the initiative to take a step back. The two sides signed the "Toldes of Tordesillas " in mid-1494, demarcating the famous "Police Meridian" in history, and determined that 370 rigs west of Cape Verde belong to Portugal and to the west belong to Spain.
At that time, both countries felt that it was just a daily operation of dividing interests. They had no idea what kind of existence this "new world" existed. Now, from the map, the Spanish obviously made a lot of money.
The Treaty of Toldesirias provided a sample for the later division of powers, and opened the door for the great powers to divide the world openly.
At this point in time, Portugal's national strength and influence have almost reached its peak. But it is interesting that in order to protect the benefits seized from overseas, the Portuguese fleet established aroused the powerful Spanish Kingdom. Their military forces that guarded the local area were not only far from the navy, but also declined greatly.
1574, the young Portuguese king Sebasian I launched a war against Morocco , but unexpectedly suffered heavy losses; three years later, Sebastian I made a comeback, and he formed a new expeditionary force and once again led the expedition. Unexpectedly, the seemingly powerful Portuguese army was not only defeated by the backward Moraine army, but also drowned while crossing the Mahazan River, at the age of 24.
This failure appears to be full of many objective factors, but it is a manifestation of serious problems in Portugal. In fact, except for the very short peak period, this country is not so normal for most of the time.
In addition to using violent means to solve problems that cannot be handled by politics, it is nothing more than interests. As the saying goes, "fighting with war" has been the country that has gained more advanced political thinking and systems since the Age of Navigation, whether it is the Netherlands, Spain, Britain, France, Germany, or even the wealth they have relied on to establish advanced things, such as the economic system, financial system, military system, etc., which has helped these countries to give birth to more advanced political thinking and systems, allowing them to come to the forefront in the changes of the historical era. For these countries, their history has been healthy from the acquisition of the first pot of gold, with the exception of the Portuguese.
Portugal launched its navigation movement to a large extent, considering the constraints of the geographical environment and the powerful threats of its neighbors. However, after getting rid of poverty and becoming rich, Portugal not only did not maximize the role of the stolen wealth and established a strong system, but instead began to decline linearly after reaching its peak. They lay on the huge pile of wealth and were in danger of danger and forced themselves to live in their old capital until they were unable to return. In the later stage, the "European overlord" was actually a bad show. Even if other rising stars tried to make a calculation of Portugal's overseas colonies, the latter often ignored it and let it go.
When Britain launched the industrial revolution in the 18th century and other countries followed suit, Portugal still looked like a farming era temperament, and at this time it was completely left far behind by the first echelon.
Relatively speaking, Portugal before and after World Wars can even be described as "poverty". Its influence is minimal worldwide and even forgotten. Even with a rare talent like Antonio Salazar, he can only follow the powerful country cautiously and try to change the other side to be safe.
Before the Goa War, India was worried that a rash attack on Portugal, such a member of NATO, would attract revenge from other countries. Unexpectedly, the United States personally guaranteed that it would not interfere in the matter - a younger brother who had no value could be abandoned at any time, and Portugal was thus excluded from the Western core system.
Portugal is similar to Argentina in the late 19th and early 20th century. It has a good hand, but it has declined and is not enterprising. Let’s look at our China. Although it was weak during that period, it was completely different: in the late Qing Dynasty, even Cixi was beaten by the great powers and even advanced systems. We sent people to Europe to study and prepare for the reform. Even though many attempts of the ruling class in the late Qing Dynasty had huge class limitations, at least there was still some progress in understanding.
The author believes that whether a country or nation is strong does not depend on whether it is at the peak of history or the trough at the moment, but on whether it has the spirit of continuous progress in its bones. Nowadays, countries (including India) that stand at the forefront of the world (including India) have all been full of strong resilience throughout their history. This is also the reason why some great powers will completely become mediocre once they decline. No matter who their surname is in Chinese history, how badly they are beaten when they are down and out, they can always be proud of the world again.
