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"Belief, and the Will to Win"
Movimento Patriótico
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Grupo dos Amigos de Olivença
Forum OlivençaGREAT BRITAIN AND OLIVENÇA
On 1 October 1801. in a secret article included in the armistice between France and Great Britain, Britain confirms the occupation of Olivença by the Spaniards (and the Brazilian part of Guiana by the French). These arrangements remained in place in the Peace Treaty of Amiens of 25 March 1802, proving British indifference to Portuguese interests at that time.
On 19 February 1810, Portugal and Great Britain signed an alliance and friendship treaty whereby Great Britain would help Portugal recover Olivença, and in exchange would receive the rights to explore the Portuguese trade at Bissau and Cacheu (Portuguese Guinea) for 50 years. Treaty of Alliance and Friendship
On 15 April 1811, Portuguese forces entered and reclaimed Olivença from the French who occupied it the previous January, but William Beresford who was then the Chief-Marshall of the Portuguese army ordered that it should be handed over to the Spanish authorities. Again we have Portuguese interests ignored and in addition, this time the treaty of 1810 is totally violated!
On 30 May 1814, in article 3 of the Treaty of Paris, Great Britain, along with other European nations affected by the Napoleonic wars, declared all treaties signed during the wars, null and void.
On 9 June 1815, in article 105, of the final act of the Treaty of Vienna, Great Britain and the same European Powers ratified that agreement. (Spain refused to sign, but voluntarily did so in Paris on 7 May 1817.)
Rui A.M. da Silva
**********See also: Between a Bully and a Fickle Friend - 10/Nov/2001, Rui A.M. da Silva
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OLIVENÇA INTERNATIONAL DISPUTE
