The Strategic Significance of the Azores

This paper discusses the changes in the strategic relevance of the Azores as a function of technological trends and geopolitics. The nine islands of the Azores archipelago have quietly played an outsized role in world affairs and great power competition for the past six centuries. The islands facilitated Portuguese ascendency during the 15th and 16th centuries, maintaining incredible significance as a bargaining chip in Portugal's struggle to keep its empire afloat until its transition to democracy in the 1970s. Use of the Azores during the World Wars saved Great Britain from certain collapse and aided Israel during the 1973 October War. Allied presence there kept Nazi bombers from darkening American skies in the 1940s and Soviet bombers from ranging the US Capitol in the 1970s. The paper proceeds through a chronological history from the 1400s to 1800s then shifts to looking at trends in the technologies of transportation, communication, and energy production against the backdrop of world affairs from the 1800s to modern times, with special attention upon American involvement in both World Wars and the turbulent 1970s during Portugal's revolution. The paper concludes that the strategic significance of the Azores spikes as new technologies need the islands to solve problems of distance. As technology maturation overcomes problems imposed by distance, the commercial use of the islands declines, but the military utility increases.