WI:Portugal rejected the terms of the 1890 British Ultimatum?

Would the British seriously have declared war?How much support would the government get from parliament and the public to do so?How would other countries see this blatant betrayal of an alliance?
 
I'm not convinced there was much of an alliance by this point.

The historic use of Portugal by Britain as a naval base against Spain was obsolete. Britain didn't need Portugal for much of anything by this point.
 
Would the British seriously have declared war?
Yes, there would hardly be any fallback from this.

How much support would the government get from parliament and the public to do so?
The view taken would be "look, they were forcing our hand, claiming territory meant to be British with no basis whatsoever". The public will swallow it whole.

How would other countries see this blatant betrayal of an alliance?
Indifference? Most of that territory wasn't exactly in the spheres of anyone else. Perhaps the Germans may see an opportunity?
The fact that someone starts a war over blatant expansionist reasons was normal back then.

And it's not like Portugal and Britain had a specific binding treaty. The Treaty of Windsor was and is a relic and essentially symbolic. Britain bullying a traditional ally didn't cause so much outcry in the Continent IOTL. If the UK takes a step further it shouldn't cause that much more indignation than IOTL...
 
Would the British seriously have declared war?How much support would the government get from parliament and the public to do so?How would other countries see this blatant betrayal of an alliance?

Why would they need to declare war? They only needed to stop trade with Portugal, without the brits trade we would be bankrupt.

The government felt because they accepted the ultimatum, in fact there was so much hate that in the first version of the national anthem used nowadays had this part :

Às armas, às armas! (to arms, to arms)
Sobre a terra, sobre o mar, (in the land, in the sea)
Às armas, às armas! (to arms, to arms)
Pela patria lutar! (fight for the fatherland)
Contra os Bretões! (against the Britons)
marchar, marchar! (march, march)

I believe is safe to say that the government would have 200% popularity in the country

Spain would have a laugh, France wouldn't care, Germany would what those lands to themselves, Belgium too for that mater, Italy would be more interested in Ethiopia, Russia wouldn't care, the Ottomans would love to watch an old enemy get beaten, Austria would be more interested in their own problems, do i must get going its sad for one to realize that even Spain at this point would be a better ally than Great Britain.
 
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