Asia 739
235 PORTUGAL/750 INDIAMID#1073
Dispute Number: 1073
Date(s): August 3, 1954 to May 4, 1955
Participants: 235 Portugal/750 India
Outcome (and Settlement): Unclear (None)
Fatalities: None
Narrative: Portugal put its colonial forces in Goa on alert upon news that protesters
were planning to cross into Goa from India to demand independence. Portugal also
warned India that any attempt to annex Goa by force would mean war.
Coding changes: Start Date changed from August 7, 1954. End Date changed from
June 8, 1955.
MID#1074
Dispute Number: 1074
Date(s): August 17, 1961 to December 19, 1961
Participants: 750 India/235 Portugal
Outcome (and Settlement): Victory for side B (Imposed)
Fatalities: 26–100 deaths
Narrative: India entered the international system after World War II, soon embark-
ing on the process of solidifying its borders. Goa was a natural target. It was a Por-
tuguese colony since the 16th century, but completely surrounded by Indian territory
on India’s west coast. It became high priority for the new Indian state to enact the
peaceful transfer of Goa and the surrounding areas of the Portuguese colony, but
these peaceful efforts failed. Portugal refused to think of Goa as anything other than a
constitutive element of Portugal and rebuffed all overtures from India.
India resorted to force. On August 17, 1961, Indian President Jawaharlal Nehru
warned Portugal that it was prepared to turn the Portuguese exclaves into Indian ter-
ritory. India’s Parliament had just authorized the takeover.
Portugal thought little of the threat but could find no willing party to serve as
mediator to stall for time and allay the tensions. India would tolerate no intervention
into the affair as it sought to eliminate all remnants of colonialism within the country.
An air campaign commenced on December 18 and was followed by a blitz of Portu-
guese defenses in Goa. The end result was a decisive Indian victory and the end of
the 400-year-old colony. Diplomatic relations between the two states ended after this
incident. Only after the Carnation Revolution—the end of Estado Novo in Portugal—
did relations between the two states begin again. The imposed settlement was simply
the permanent capture of Goa.
Coding changes: Outcome changed from Victory for side B.