Tom Gallagher

Tom Gallagher is a Scot who pursued an academic career as a historian in England for over three decades and is currently Emeritus Professor of Politics at the University of Bradford. He lives in the Lake District and travels widely in Europe and further afield.

This passage from a review of 'Portugal and the West' by Jamie Foster, and published in COUNTRY SQUIRE magazine on 17 September 2025, sheds helpful light on my historical writing interests over the long-term, and how they culminated in the my latest book:

'For decades, Professor Gallagher, through his seminal works on Romania, the Balkans, and Iberia, has established himself as a preeminent voice on nationalism and statecraft in regions where East meets West. With this volume, he turns his formidable analytical lens upon Portugal, delivering what is undoubtedly his magnum opus—a work that recalibrates our understanding of a nation’s defiant, solitary journey through the most fractious century of the modern age. [...]

Gallagher possesses a rare gift for synthesizing vast archives of diplomatic correspondence, economic data, and social history into a compelling and coherent story. The book’s genius lies in its powerful central thesis: that Portugal, far from being a passive backwater or a simple anachronism, was in fact a fiercely autonomous actor whose strategic calculus and unique Euro-African identity allowed it to punch far above its weight on the world stage. Gallagher, with the patience of a master cartographer, recharts the course of this journey, beginning with the humiliating British Ultimatum of 1890—a national trauma that forged a lasting siege mentality—and culminating in the chaotic, nerve-wracking collapse of empire in 1975.

Grounded in a formidable foundation of historical and political scholarship, Gallagher’s narrative masterfully illuminates the volatile interplay of national interest and overwhelming transnational forces. His analysis of the 1974 Carnation Revolution and its aftermath is handled with breathtaking insight. He frames the end of the regime not as an inevitable triumph of democracy but as a “nervous collapse” that precipitated a frantic withdrawal from Africa and a sudden diminishment of Portugal’s international influence. Most importantly, he gives due credit to the “patriotic spirit, shared by many ordinary citizens imbued with much common sense,” that foiled a subsequent Marxist takeover in the “Hot Summer” of 1975—a spirit he convincingly argues remains a detectable and powerful force in Portuguese society today.

Portugal and the West is, in its entirety, an essential and indispensable volume. It is a testament to a lifetime of profound scholarship and is required reading for any serious student of modern history, international relations, or the defiant art of preserving sovereignty in an age of collapsing empires. Professor Tom Gallagher has not only written the definitive work on the subject but has done so with a literary grace and narrative power that makes its deep learning a profound intellectual pleasure. This is a monumental achievement, a book that reshapes its field and stands as a beacon of historical understanding.' [...]