Portugal
Portugal is a Western European minor. Its mainland is bordered by
Spain. Portugal has several colonies scattered around the world including Macau in China, Portuguese Timor in Indonesia, Goa in India, Sao Tome, Cape Verde, Portuguese Guinea, Angola, and Mozambique in Africa.
Historical background[edit | edit source]
With a regicide in 1908 and a republican coup in 1910, the history of Portugal in the 20th century has been anything but stable. Portugal entered the first World War after interning naval vessels of the Central Powers and fought alongside the Entente on the Western Front and in Africa in its colonial holdings. Portugal's losses during the war were far more than her gains, however, political and economic instability continued into the 1920s.
In 1926, a military coup led to the rise of an authoritarian Presidential Dictatorship headed by José Mendes Cabeçadas and then Óscar Carmona, the latter appointing António de Oliveira Salazar as finance minister. The Presidential Dictatorship evolved and ended with the 1933 declaration of the Estado Novo, or "New State" regime. This new regime, with its basis in Catholic traditionalism and authoritarianism, had instead its power delegated in its new Prime Minister, António de Oliveira Salazar.
Salazar, an economist, constructed the new regime from scratch and largely rebuilt Portugal's economy and Portugal's political system. A Catholic traditionalist, Salazar developed the regime as one with a focus on conservative, nationalistic, authoritarian, and Catholic principles, as well as a staunch anti-communist stance.
In 1936, Portugal enters its third year as the Estado Novo regime, and with massive colonial holdings in Africa, as well as far-away territories such as Macau, Goa, and Timor-Leste under its grasp, the Portuguese Empire remains sizable.
National focus[edit | edit source]
- Main article: Portuguese national focus tree
Portugal gets a unique national focus tree with the
La Résistance expansion. Without the expansion, it utilizes the Generic national focus tree instead.
The Portuguese national focus tree can be divided into 5 branches and 5 sub-branches:
- Colonial Assimilation Policy branch
- This branch focuses on managing the Portuguese colonies and their industries.
- Continue the Public Works branch
- This branch focuses on industry expansion in Portugal, additional research slots and land and air military research boosts.
- Second Navy Reequipment branch
- This branch focuses on the naval industry expansion, additional research slot and navy research boosts.
- Army Reorganization branch
- This branch focuses on military infrastructure and land doctrines.
- Popular Front/Estado Novo branch
- This branch allows Portugal to choose its ideology, ruling party, and stance about the Spanish Civil War.
- Nation in Arms sub-branch
- This sub-branch allows Portugal to become communist and join the Comintern.
- Support the Spanish Republic sub-branch
- This sub-branch allows Portugal to become communist and spread it in South America.
- Strict Neutrality in the Spanish Civil War sub-branch
- This sub-branch allows Portugal to go democratic and join the Allies.
- Support the Spanish Nationalists sub-branch
- This sub-branch allows Portugal to join the Allies, remain unaligned, join the Axis or become the Fifth Empire.
- A Royal Wedding sub-branch
- This sub-branch allows Portugal to become a monarchy.
Technology[edit | edit source]
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Portugal starts with 2 research slots, and can gain 3 more slots from its national focuses, namely "Instituto Superior Técnico", "Military Research Facilities" and "Naval Research Institutes". Of note is "Naval Research Institutes", which requires owning over 15 naval dockyards to complete.
Army technology | Naval technology | Air technology | Electronics & Industry |
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Doctrines | |||
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Cosmetic names[edit | edit source]
Portugal has many unique cosmetic names for its equipment, listed here.
Type | 1918 | 1936 | 1938 | 1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 |
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Infantry Equipment | Espingarda m/04 | Espingarda m/04/39 | Bergmann MP28 | FBP m/948 |
Politics[edit | edit source]
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Portugal in 1936 is a Non-Aligned nation with no elections.
Portugal has the following political parties:
National spirits[edit | edit source]
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Portugal starts with two national spirits with the La Résistance expansion enabled. Otherwise it starts with none.

- Division Organization: -10.0%
- Recruitable Population Factor: -25%
- War Support: -5.00%
- Division Attack: -5.0%

- Daily Political Power Gain: -0.50
- Weekly Stability: -0.50%
- Construction Speed: -20.00%
Diplomacy[edit | edit source]
Portugal may release Angola,
Mozambique and
Guinea-Bissau as independent nations or puppets. It may also give the state of Macau to
China or
Communist China, and Goa to the
British Raj.
The United Kingdom may ask Portugal to join its alliance via the “Invoke the Alliance of 1373” decision, and
Italy is able to influence Portugal via the Befriend Portugal focus.
Through focuses, Portugal may form either the United Kingdom of Porto-Brazil or Iberia, depending on if it goes Monarchist or Communist. If it forms Iberia, it will gain a core on Gibraltar. Additionally, Portugal can core it's two African colonies (Mozambique and Angola) through decisions unlocked by the focus Luso-Tropicalism, regardless of ideology.
Staff and designers[edit | edit source]
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Designer | Type | Effect | Cost (![]() |
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Armor Company | Tank Designer |
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150 |
Designer | Type | Effect | Cost (![]() |
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Arsenal do Alfeite | Ship Designer |
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150 |
Economy[edit | edit source]
Laws[edit | edit source]
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This is a community maintained wiki. If you spot a mistake then you are welcome to fix it. |
Conscription Law | Economy Law | Trade Law |
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Industry and resources[edit | edit source]
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Type | No. | |
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Aluminium | 0 |
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Chromium | 32 |
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Oil | 0 |
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Rubber | 2 |
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Steel | 0 |
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Tungsten | 290 |
Type | No. | |
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Civilian factory | 11 |
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Military factory | 2 |
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Naval dockyard | 3 |
- Industry
- Portugal has 1 civilian factory in Mozambique (unavailable at game start due to insufficient compliance), 2 in Porto, Lisbon, Guarda and Santarém and 3 in Beja. Its military factories are in Lisbon and its dockyards are in Porto and Lisbon. Guarda has 3 building slots and Porto, Beja, Azores, Madeira, North Angola and South Angola has 1 each.
- Resources
- Portugal has rubber in Portuguese Guinea and South Angola, tungsten in Lisbon and Guarda, and chromium in Santarém. It can acquire additional tungsten and chromium in the metropole, as well as steel, rubber, oil and aluminium in its African colonies after completing certain national focuses.
Military[edit | edit source]
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Type | No. | |
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Infantry | 15 |
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Cavalry | 3 |
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Total divisions | 18 |
Type | No. | |
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Destroyer | 6 |
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Submarine | 3 |
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Total ships | 9 |
Type | No. | |
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Close air support | 12 |
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Tactical bomber | 12 |
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Total planes | 24 |
Army[edit | edit source]
- Portugal has 15 infantry divisions, with 5 of them made up of 6 infantry battalions, support artillery and engineer companies, and 10 of them made up of 2 infantry battalions. It also has 3 cavalry divisions made up of 4 battalions each.
[edit | edit source]
- Portugal has 6 destroyers and 3 submarines.
Air force[edit | edit source]
- Portugal has 12 interwar bombers and 12 close air support I.
Military staff[edit | edit source]
Name | Type | Effect | Cost (![]() |
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Jaime Afreixo | Naval Reformer (Expert) |
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150 |
Américo Thomaz | Naval Maneuver (Expert) |
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150 |
Name | Type | Effect | Cost (![]() |
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Manuel Gouveia | Air Safety (Expert) |
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150 |
Humberto Delgado | Ground Support (Expert) |
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150 |
Strategies and guides[edit | edit source]

To start off, the player must annex or puppet Spain. The best time for the player to attack Spain is directly after the Spanish Civil War. While recovering from said Civil War, Spain is repairing their industry and has a low division count (After the event that gets rid of the ~50 Civil War divisions). Timing is crucial to the player, as Spain begins to pump out divisions quickly after the Civil War. If the player ends up missing the window of opportunity between the Civil War and Spain's recovery in division count, then the player will be incapable of expansion over land. The War should be easy, as Spain may not even have enough divisions to cover the Portugal/Spain border. The ideal time to begin Justifying a War goal is when the Civil War appears to be wrapping up. Another option is to go down the "A Royal Wedding" path in the focus tree to "Join the Carlist fight", placing an ally on the throne of Spain, and very possibly taking large chunks for yourself, should you get enough war participation. This may not give you all of the Spanish manpower, but it also decreases the risk or resistance being a problem.
Ideologically, the most optimal route would be to go Fascist or stay non aligned. If the player fights the Nationalists whilst the player are in the Axis, they have no faction to join, they get no aid (Volunteers/Lend-Lease), and the player can get German help. If the player fights the Republicans, they can potentially join the Comintern, dragging the player into a war with the Soviet Union. Assuming they have done "The Great Purge", Germany can defeat the Soviets, but the player has to manually Justify a War Goal on Poland so Germany has a land border with the Soviets. The war with the Soviets will be a long and costly slog that may last at least 3 years. Becoming Communist is an objectively bad idea. Firstly, later in the game, the player will end up at war with the Axis after Germany declares war on the Soviet Union. This will most likely lead to Germany seizing the entire Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and Spain), and its industry with it. Secondly, war with any other country will lead to an early World War between the Comintern and (For example) the Allies. This war would cripple the Soviet Union, and, without the Soviets, the entire Comintern will fall.
The player can intervene in the Spanish Civil war, but one must be careful. If the player faces the Nationalists, they may join the Axis, prompting Italy to possibly join the war. This is less probable, however, as in a recent patch the National Spirit "Recovering From Civil War" prevents them from joining a faction. As stated earlier, and combined with this information, the best faction to win is the Nationalists. Do not, for any reason, aid the Republicans. As stated before, and early Axis-Comintern war would be a disaster, and if you do not join the allies, a war with just you fighting the Cominterm would be even more so.
The rest of this guide assumes you are Fascist and you have full control of Spain, or that you are non-aligned and have completed the focus "A royal wedding" Once Historical WW2 breaks out in Poland, Portugal can be a valuable asset to the Axis, as it leaves France's Southern flank open for attack. Once France has Capitulated, the player should mostly just aid in Germany's war operations (Operation Sealion, Operation Barbarossa, Controlling Africa, etc.)
Bonus! If the player has a sizable enough navy, you can re-colonize South America, Asia, and more. This can be achieved by Naval Invading from your colony in Guinea Bissau, taking Brazil, or taking the national focus "The Kingdom Reunited", and then moving on through South America. However, this inherently compels war with the USA, unless done through "The Kingdom Reunited" as they have guaranteed the independence of all North and South American nations other than British Canada, stemming from the historical Monroe Doctrine's prohibition on accepting further European colonization of the New World. Another option, if you don't have the ability to fight the Americans, and don't want to stay non-aligned, is to take the focus "Expand The Chinese Territory" allowing you to annex the Guangxi Clique, but be warned, they might create the Chinese United Front in response. If you can beat them, the manpower from China can propel you anywhere into the future.
GOAhead, Macau My Day[edit | edit source]
While Paradox did include a pun in the achievement Go Ahead, Macau my Day, it didn't go far enough as Portugal also owned the colony of Goa. So, let's go for the achievement and also add an added challenge of giving all cores from the British Raj to Portuguese India (which also gives us a second practically infinite source of manpower).
To start, one should aim to go Communist so they can form Iberia - as such, take 4 of the first infantry template (the one with 6 divisions), and set them in a separate group. Convert all the rest of your units to the 2-infantry division templates, and have them form a fallback line around the two provinces that will break away when you have your own civil war - Porto and Guarda. Take Popular Front, then go for Instituto Super Technico - making sure to take Improved Worker Conditions with the 100 PP you get from Popular Front. Afterwards, take Support the Spanish Republicans (send the 4 Divisions that aren't in the fallback line as volunteers with air support), then do Army Re-Organization (use the 15 XP you get from that focus to add 1 infantry and 2 artillery divisions to the stronger template) and then go down Nation in Arms up until you flip to Communism (don't join the ComIntern for now) - build an intelligence agency after doing Nationalize Industry, and as soon as it finishes, start upgrading it with the 5-civ upgrades until you unlock a second agent; put your first one to build an intel network on the UK, then when you get a second agent, infiltrate their navy (this lets you get superiority with a much smaller fleet for a period of time for naval invasions). Before you flip, you should have gotten notifications for collaboration governments - establish collaboration governments in India, China, and Guinea-Bissau, but do not establish them in Angola or Mozambique (you can core them later for more manpower through Luso-Tropicalism) - while normally puppets would side with the nation that rebels against you in the civil war, collaboration governments will stay loyal. Use Your Volunteers to make sure that the Nationalists don't border Portugal - splitting them in half makes things much easier; use the plains tiles near the Spanish-Portuguese Border to establish a wedge, then push southwards (ideally, you want to completely eliminate the forces in the south, but as long as you ensure they won't have a direct border with the Nationalists when the war starts, you'll be fine). However, that being said, don't aim to win the war before you have your civil war - you don't want to end the war until after you complete the Iberian Socialist Union focus (you can eliminate the Anarchists or Nationalists, but not both; if on ahistorical, you can eliminate one of them and the Carlists). Afterwards, take Iberian Workers, Unite, and proceed to rush the victory points (if you take Porto and Braga, they should capitulate - you'll keep 3 of your 4 volunteers; when they return, have them rush those 2 cities). Use your armed forces to finish off the Nationalists and Anarchists.
Afterwards, take the Iberian Socialist Union to annex Spain and form Iberia - this will give you more cores, and also Gilbratar as a core state. Train up some more armies (get 2 24-unit armies - use your existing troops + the troops you gained from the Spanish to fill out the first army - as well as 2 6-unit armies; make a division template of 14-4s and use it for the first 24-unit army + first 6-unit army; the second army can be whatever you can afford, we just need the border protected), deploy the 6-unit armies on your two colonies (if you need more manpower, go to Extensive Conscription, and also take Colonial Assimilation Policy and Colonial Army; you can integrate Mozambique and Angola later for even more manpower through Luso-Tropicalism), use one of the 24-unit armies to secure the French border, and the other to stage naval invasions into the UK (the 14-4 should be for the naval invasion) - they won't guard the Bay of Biscay and Western Approaches as much as they'll guard the Channel, so have your invasions pass through there (convert the army invading the UK and the one securing Goa into the 14-4 template). If the game bugs and has you keep some of the units that spawn for Spain at the start of the Spanish Civil War, use them to guard your Chinese collaboration. Justify on the UK for Gilbratar, stage naval invasions to the west side (as long as your forces launch while you have superiority, the invasions will carry out even if you lose superiority), and when the Axis and Allies go to war over Poland, declare - call in Portuguese India and Portuguese China so they can be in the peace deal; if the UK doesn't call the British Raj in, declare on them manually (since you're at war with their master, you can declare without justifying on them); you don't have to capitulate the Raj; as long as you fight them, even if you don't take any territory from them, you can take territory from them in the peace deal. Try and capitulate the UK before Germany can capitulate France (establishing a collaboration government can help), so you can take French Indochina (which gives you a lot of rubber and population, and also another place to attack the Guangxi Clique from). During the peace deal, give France and the UK's Chinese territories to your Chinese collaboration government, then give all of the Raj to your Indian collaboration government. Additionally, it's recommended you try and take some of the high population areas in Africa and Asia (excluding the territories of the Raj and the French/British Chinese Ports) as territory during the peace deal - Portugal's "Colonial Assimilation Policy" and "Colonial Army" focuses (which gives them access to a whopping 20% of non-core manpower) will give you a tremendous boost to manpower (good choices would be the aforementioned French Indochina, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Uganda, Tanganyika, Upper Volta, Egypt (specifically the parts near the Nile and Mediterranian), the Belgian Congo, and Ceylon - if you only want to give the Indian cores and Bangladesh to your Collaboration Government in Goa, the states that make up Pakistan and Burma are also worth taking directly). Also, try and puppet the UK and France for their navies. Start establishing collaboration governments in Nationalist China (you can defeat China without Order 66, but it is a massive country, so all the help you can get is needed) - by this point, you have the industry to more than afford being able to invest that many guns (plus, you likely have a decent surplus from capitulating the British and/or French).
Then, decide if you want to take down the Japanese or Chinese first - the former will fall easier, but it's easier to get more of a war score and take initial territory against the latter. If going against the latter, do not join Japan's faction, otherwise you'll get dragged into an inevitable war with the United States when Japan attacks the Phillipines (you can join them temporarily, just leave before they attack the Phillipines). If you go after the Japanese first, join the ComIntern, and stage naval invasions from Vladivostok to the home islands (while you can put troops on Vladivostok with just military access, you need to have them in the same war as you to launch naval invasions, and Japan will never attack the USSR on historical) - Japan will have very little of her forces in the home Islands, and will have them largely uninhabited. Either leave the ComIntern after defeating Japan (don't bypass the focus that lets you join the ComIntern) and form your own faction (staying neutral in the war between the Germans and Soviets; the Germans won't fight you if you don't attack them), or stay in the ComIntern and don't answer the USSR's call to arms.
Achievements[edit | edit source]
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South America |
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Africa |
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Oceania |