Pais, Sidónio

Pais or Pães, Sidónio sēdô´nyo͝o päNsh [key], 1872–1918, Portuguese dictator. After service in the army he was a professor of mathematics at the Univ. of Coimbra and a leader in establishing the republic in 1910. He held several cabinet posts and was minister in Berlin until Portugal entered World War I (1916). In Dec., 1917, Pais overthrew the democratic regime and made himself president. He exercised dictatorial powers that foreshadowed the Carmona and Salazar regime, although he was more populist than they. He was assassinated in Dec., 1918.

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