History of Portugal (1834–1910)
Militant Republicans and their allies in the Carbonária were not willing to remain in the shadows of the constitutional monarchy. Between 4–5 October 1910, members of the Carbonária, republican youth, and elements of the army instigated a coup d'état against the already weak constitutional monarchy. The young king and his family, after a few miscues, escaped from the Palace in Mafra to exile in England. On the morning of 5 October 1910, the Republic was declared from the balcony of Lisbon City Hall, ending eight centuries of monarchy in Portugal.
Portuguese Army
From 1828 to 1834, occurred the Liberal Wars, a civil conflict that opposed the Miguelites (Absolutists) led by King Michael I to the Liberals led by his brother Peter (ex-Peter I of Brazil and ex-Peter IV of Portugal, defending the rights of his daughter, the Queen Mary II). The Portuguese Army divided itself by the two sides, although most of its units aligned on the side of Michael. The Miguelite forces were occasionally referred as the "Royalist Army". The Liberals raised the so-called "Liberator Army", made up mainly of newly raised units, but also incorporating some units of the regular Army that passed to their side. Both the Miguelite and the Liberal armies were referred as the "Rebel Army" by their respective opponents. The war ended formally on 26 May 1834, with the capitulation of Michael I in the Concession of Evoramonte. Miguelites partisans continued, however, a guerrilla warfare in several regions of the country until around 1838. The Article 9 of the Concession of Evoramonte established that all regiments and corps loyal to Michael should peacefully disband themselves. This meant in practice the dismantling of the "old" Portuguese Army, as most of its centuries-old regiments were disbanded. The victorious Liberals regime then raised a "new" Portuguese Army built essentially from the Liberator Army. The Militias and "Ordenanças" were also expressly extinguished, thus ending the traditional Portuguese military territorial organization originated in the 16th century. This extinction was mainly related with political reasons, as those organizations were considered traditionalists and far aligned with the Miguelites. To serve as second line troops, partially replacing the previous organizations, the Liberal regime raised the new National Guard. The National Guard was however not part of the Army, being instead subordinated to the civil administrative authorities. Despite the new regime initially given it a high importance, the National Guard turned out to show herself inefficient, undisciplined and highly politicized, being involved in a number of conspiracies and coups, eventually losing the confidence of the authorities and be disbanded in 1847.