Author:
Frederico Benvinda
PhD Student in Contemporary History
at the Lisbon School of Arts and Humanities (FLUL)
Researcher at the Centre for history
of the University of Lisbon (CH-UL)
Contact: fbenvinda@campus.ul.pt
Fig.5 - Printed photograph depicting Francisco José Teixeira Bastos (1857-1902) in Album Republicano (RAMOS, J., JOUBERT, José Chaves (eds.), Album Republicano, Lisboa, Typographia Aldolpho de Mendonça, 1908, p.187). The text under the picture informs the reader of Teixeira Bastos’ dates and places of birth and death (Lisboa, 25th of May, 1857 - Lisboa, 24rh of May, 1902), as well as his participation as a journalist in the promotion of republican ideas in Portugal. It is further stated that he was a disciple of Teófilo Braga (1843-1924), and held anti-monarchical and anti-clerical positions.
Francisco José Teixeira Bastos (1857-1902), Portuguese republican author, journalist and Teófilo Braga’s (1843-1924) disciple held a similar position to his master in his 1881 work Ensaios sobre a Evolução da Humanidade. Teixeira Bastos mentioned the conclusions of the International Congress of Peace Societies, that had taken place in 1878 in Paris and had concluded that “offensive war is universal murder”, as well as a promoter of tyranny and economic disarray.
However, he also argued war had played an important role in earlier periods of the history of humanity. According to his position, the study of history should be based upon the Malthusian (1766-1834) theories of population and an application of Darwin’s (1809-1882) concept of struggle for existence to humanity. Since population grew exponentially and means of sustenance grew arithmetically, it followed that, along with disease and misery, in ancient times, war was a normal and recurring phenomenon for the elimination of the physically weakest in society.
“offensive war is universal murder”, as well as a promoter of tyranny and economic disarray."
Nonetheless, as the level of civilization of European nations grew, Teixeira Bastos argued, survivability started depending more significantly on moral traits, hence why European colonisers, at a higher level of civilizational development, were able to colonize the American continent and Australia. In the context of this argument, colonization represented a demonstration of “useful war”, seeing as it supposedly help to civilize the “savage peoples” Europeans encountered.
Notwithstanding, war was not of any use in the European continent in the late XIXth century. According to the Author, the development of industry, science and commerce had made peace necessary for society to function. As a result, the role of war in or between civilized nations was to be used only as a means for independence or freedom from a tyrannical government. Hence, Teixeira Bastos argued that the decision to go to war should not be in the hands of those holding executive power. Furthermore, in order to prevent war from happening all together, the Portuguese republican defended the need for a “proportional and simultaneous disarmament” in every country and a focus on education, liberty of the press and religious freedom. These measures should allow for the formation of an universal federation based upon democracy and economic liberalism.
As a consequence of this argument, Teixeira Bastos defended that any war not rooted in a desire for democracy and/or independence was a “dynastic and diplomatic war”, brought about by the imperial desires of monarchs. During the XIXth century, although civilized time par excellence, the examples abounded: “the warlike actions of the two Bonapartes”, the Crimean War (1853-1856), the austro-prussian (1866) and franco-prussian wars (1870-1871), and finally, the war Russia had started “last year” against the Ottoman Empire.
Sources and bibliograhpy:
BASTOS, Teixeira, Ensaios sobre a evolução da Humanidade, Porto, Livraria Universal de Magalhães e Moniz, 1881.
BELL, Walter F., “Russo-Ottoman War, 1877-1878” in HALL, Richard (ed.), War in the Balkans – An Encyclopedic History from the Fall of the Ottoman Empire to the Breakup of Yugoslavia, Santa Barbara, ABC-Clio, pp.252-254.
CRAMPTON, R. J., A Concise History of Bulgaria, 2nd edition, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2005.
GLENNY, Misha, The Balkans – Nationalism, War and the Great Powers (1804-2012), Toronto, House of Anansi Press, 2012.
HOWARD, Douglas A., A History of the Ottoman Empire, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2017.
LIEVEN, Dominic (ed.), The Cambridge History of Russia – Volume II Imperial Russia 1689-1917, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2006.