Portuguese Inter-Allied Victory Medal 1916-1918

 

World War I.

 

Further relevant historical context can be found at the foot of this entry.

 

 

This medal was instituted in July 1919 as a result of an international agreement at the Inter-allied Peace Conference immediately preceding the Treaty of Versailles which was signed in June 1919.

 

The basic design - a ‘Winged Victory’ - and ‘rainbow’ ribbon was adopted by Belgium, Brazil, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Union of South Africa and the USA. Siam and Japan also issued the medal but with a different design - although the ribbon matched that of the others.

 

The Portugal sent 56,000 soldiers to the Western Front in France and also fielded forces in its African colonies, Mozambique and Angola. These forces fought with distinction and suffered heavy casualties with some 8,145 men being killed and a further 13,751 being wounded - in addition some 12,318 men were either taken prisoners or were listed as missing.

 

The Portuguese medal was awarded for service in the armed forces between 9 March 1916 and 11 November 1918.

 

A first official issue was produced in small numbers by its designer, João da Silva, to be followed by a second official issue for general award, manufactured by da Costa of Lisbon.

 

Approximately 100,000 medals were awarded.

 

 

The medal is circular, 36mm in diameter and was struck in bronze. The obverse of this medal depicts a winged figure of Victory on a rayed background.

 

The reverse depicts the arms of Portugal on a lateral band of War Crosses (Medalhas da Cruz de Guerra) and it is inscribed; ‘MEDALHA DA VITORIA’, meaning ‘Victory Medal’.

 

The medal was suspended by a ring through a small laterally pierced mount fixed to the top of the medal.

 

This medal was issued un-named.

 

 

 

The ribbon is 37mm wide and is the silk moiré rainbow coloured design common to all the Inter-Allied Victory Medals issued by the First World War Allies.

 

 

None were authorised for this medal.

 

Further relevant historical context can be found at the foot of this entry.

 

 

 

* It should be noted that the values quoted above reflect the average price that a medal dealer may expect to sell this medal for - please see the ‘things you should know’ web page for more details about valuing medals.

 

 

This section contains information on:-

 

- Portuguese Forces During World War I.

- The Entente Powers.

 

Portuguese Forces During World War I - Despite having an old alliance with Britain dating back to the Treaty of Windsor in 1386 (the oldest alliance in the world which is still in force), Portugal did not initially form part of the system of alliances involved in World War I and thus initially kept its neutrality.

 

However, tensions between Germany and Portugal arose due to German U-boat warfare which sought to blockade the United Kingdom - at the time the most important market for Portuguese products. Clashes also occurred with German troops in the south of Portuguese Angola in 1914 and 1915.

 

Initially, both the Portuguese and the German Governments officially stuck to neutrality. Un-officially, there were many hostile engagements between the countries. Portugal wanted to comply with British requests and also protect its colonies in Africa, and ultimately tensions resulted in war between Portugal and Germany being declared, first by the latter.

 

Approximately 7,000 Portuguese troops died during the course of World War I, including Africans serving in its armed forces. Civilian deaths exceeded the pre-war level by 220,000, 82,000 caused by food shortages and 138,000 by the Spanish flu.

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.

 

The Entente Powers - The Entente Powers or Allies were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the French Republic, the British Empire and the Russian Empire; Italy ended its alliance with the Central Powers and entered the war on the side of the Entente in 1915. Japan, Belgium, Serbia, Greece, Montenegro, Romania and the Czechoslovak legions were secondary members of the Entente.

 

The United States declared war on Germany in 1917 on the grounds that Germany violated U.S. neutrality by attacking international shipping and because of the Zimmermann Telegram sent to Mexico.

 

The U.S. entered the war as an ‘associated power’, rather than a formal ally of France and the United Kingdom, in order to avoid ‘foreign entanglements’. Although the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria severed relations with the United States, neither declared war.

 

Although the Dominions and Crown Colonies of the British Empire made significant contributions to the Allied war effort, they did not have independent foreign policies during World War I. Operational control of British Empire forces was in the hands of the five-member British War Cabinet (BWC).

 

However, the Dominion governments controlled recruiting, and did remove personnel from front-line duties as they saw fit.

 

From early 1917 the BWC was superseded by the Imperial War Cabinet, which had Dominion representation. The Australian Corps and Canadian Corps were placed for the first time under the command of Australian and Canadian Lieutenant Generals John Monash and Arthur Currie, respectively, who reported in turn to British generals.

 

In April 1918, operational control of all Entente forces on the Western Front passed to the new supreme commander, Ferdinand Foch.

 

The only countries represented in the 1918 armistice which ended the combat were Britain, France and Germany.

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.