The development of the internal political crisis in the First Portuguese Republic in April - December 1917 (based on the materials of V.V. Vodovozov’s newspaper collection)

The subject of this research is the development of the internal crisis situation in the First Portuguese Republic from April to December 1917, based on materials from a collection of domestic newspaper clippings gathered by the renowned Russian publicist V. V. Vodovozov. At that time, under the conditions of participation in World War I, Portugal entered a large-scale, sharp, and deep internal political crisis due to the April resignation of the coalition government of Antnio Jos de Almeida, which culminated in the December coup d'tat and the establishment of the autocratic power of artillery major Sidnio Pais. For current Portuguese citizens and historians, this crisis is of significant importance, as it substantially predetermined the further direction of the state's and society's development in the 20th century. In domestic historiography, this topic has not been studied, particularly due to difficulties in accessing historical sources. The article utilized narrative and systematic methods. Their application allowed for a detailed description of the content, focusing on the important aspects, and reflected the character of previously unused newspaper clippings from V. V. Vodovozov's collection in domestic historiography, as well as traced the relationship between the content of the publications and the situation in Portugal and Russia. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that the development of the internal political crisis in the First Portuguese Republic from April to December 1917 is examined as a separate research topic with the involvement of previously unused newspaper clippings in Russian historiography from V. V. Vodovozov's collection. The main conclusions are that the information about the internal political crisis in Portugal during the specified period, according to these historical sources, was mainly detailed and descriptive and sparked interest in the domestic press regarding events in Portugal. This interest was justified by the status of the Portuguese as allies of the Entente, as well as a certain similarity in the nature and dynamics of the internal political crises in Portugal and Russia from April to December 1917. The information presented in the newspaper collection of V. V. Vodovozov allows for tracking the dynamics of the crisis and anticipating further radicalization of events in Portugal during this period.