Coup Atlas Research Database
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23501011962AttemptedMilitary coup

Portugal, 1962 — military coup attempt

Portugal (PRT)Southern Europe, EuropeJanuary 1, 1962

Event Summary

In the early hours of New Year's Day 1962 a band of conspirators attempted an uprising at the 3rd Infantry Regiment barracks in Beja, southeast of Lisbon, in a failed bid to overthrow the long ruling authoritarian regime of Portuguese dictator Antonio de Oliveira Salazar. The plotters, a mix of dissident army officers and civilian opponents including the former army captain Joao Varela Gomes and the former Catholic youth leader Manuel Serra, gained entry to the barracks by the collusion of sympathetic officers and briefly rounded up sleeping officers before growing careless. The revolt collapsed in confused fighting, with the defense minister among the casualties, and the ringleaders were captured or fled.

The Beja rising, coming a year after the hijacking of the liner Santa Maria by the exile Henrique Galvao, showed the persistence of opposition to the Estado Novo, but Salazar survived it and ruled until incapacitated by illness in 1968.

Researched Details

Researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Dictator Antonio de Oliveira Salazar survived the Beja revolt and ruled until incapacitated by illness in 1968
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Antonio de Oliveira Salazar (dictator of Portugal, target)
Joao Varela Gomes (former army captain, plotter)
Manuel Serra (former Catholic youth leader, plotter)

Sources

At 2 am on New Year's Day, as winds and rain lashed the wheatfields around Beja 85 miles southeast of Lisbon, a somewhat amateurish band of conspirators tried to unseat Antonio de Oliveira Salazar by taking the 3rd Infantry Regiment barracks.
SOURCE REVIEWED TIME, Rebellions: Coups by Night open source ↗
The insurgents, who included ex-Army Captain Joao Varela Gomes and Manuel Serra, former head of the Catholic youth movement, along with workers from Almada, gained entry when a sentry recognized three of his own regimental officers, and easily rounded up sleeping officers before growing careless.
SOURCE REVIEWED TIME, Rebellions: Coups by Night open source ↗
The exile Captain Henrique Galvao, who had hijacked the Portuguese liner Santa Maria the previous January, called the Beja incident a great step forward and predicted 1962 would mark the end of Salazar.
SOURCE REVIEWED TIME, Rebellions: Coups by Night open source ↗
Salazar, who had ruled for 33 years and was showing the strain of power, survived the Beja revolt and continued to lead the Estado Novo until a stroke incapacitated him in 1968.
SOURCE REVIEWED TIME, Rebellions: Coups by Night open source ↗

Editorial Note

Date match, documented. The Beja revolt is a landmark of anti-Salazar opposition in the Estado Novo period. First Portugal record in this run, before the 1974 Carnation Revolution that finally ended the regime.

Cross-Reference

Datasets agree. At least two of the three reference datasets we check against carry this event, and none of them disagrees about its date or its result.

Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:

Cline Center id
23501011962
Albrecht/Koehler/Schutz (CAM) id
CAM-235-1962-01-01

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Dictator Antonio de Oliveira Salazar survived the Beja revolt and ruled until incapacitated by illness in 1968.

Baseline coding: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.

Baseline Dataset Citation
Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
Open dataset DOI ↗
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

Luttwak

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

New York Herald Tribune

“Troubled Portugal: A Revolt at Home,” January 2, 1962

Boston Globe

“Portugal Guns Down Anti-Salazar Revolt,” January 2, 1962

Times of India

“LISBON TENSE AFTER THREE UPRISINGS: Ill-fated Coup Planned Against Salazar Regime,” January 3, 1962

Historical Dictionary of Modern Coups D’´etat, John J. Chin, Joseph Wright, David B. Carter • 2022

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →

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Related Records

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