CARNATION REVOLUTION

 


Crowds celebrating on and around a Panhard EBR armoured car in Lisbon on 25th April 1974 during the Carnation Revolution, symbolising the peaceful civilian embrace of the military action.

The Carnation Revolution was a bloodless military coup on 25.4.1974, that ended 40 years of authoritarian rule in Portugal under the Estado Novo regime. It transformed Portugal into a democracy and halted the ongoing Portuguese Colonial War. Portugal endured the Estado Novo dictatorship from 1933, first under António de Oliveira Salazar (until 1968) and then Marcelo Caetano. Mid-1973 alienation among army officers over militia commissions in colonial conflicts, plus General António de Spínola's 1974 book advocating negotiated colonial autonomy, fueled the uprising. Led by the Armed Forces Movement, the coup began before dawn with radio signals like the song "E depois do adeus" and military advances on Lisbon; by evening, Caetano surrendered after minimal resistance. Civilians flooded the streets despite calls to stay home, offering carnations to soldiers, giving the event its name. The revolution abolished the secret police (PIDE), restored freedoms, and led to decolonization in Angola, Mozambique, and elsewhere, alongside a new constitution and elections.

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