ABSTRACT
This chapter covers Salazar's rise to power, detailing his family circumstances and education. It stresses the importance, to Salazar, of his time at the University of Coimbra, which transformed his professional and social horizons. The chapter also traces his involvement in politics, from his student days until becoming President of the Council of Ministers in 1932, and the evolving ideological outlook which underpinned it. Special focus is placed on his relationship with the army, which took power in Portugal in 1926, and which invited him to become Minister of Finance in 1928 at the age of thirty-nine.
