Carnation Revolution

Carnation Revolution
Part of the Portuguese transition to democracy and the Cold War
A crowd celebrates on a Panhard EBR armoured car in Lisbon, 25 April 1974.
Date25 April 1974; 50 years ago (1974-04-25)
Location
Portugal
Caused by
MethodsCoup d'état
Resulted inCoup successful
Parties
Lead figures
Casualties and losses
5 deaths[1]

The Carnation Revolution (Portuguese: Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April (Portuguese: 25 de Abril), was a military coup by military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo government on 25 April 1974 in Lisbon,[2] producing major social, economic, territorial, demographic, and political changes in Portugal and its overseas colonies through the Processo Revolucionário Em Curso. It resulted in the Portuguese transition to democracy and the end of the Portuguese Colonial War.[3]

The revolution began as a coup organised by the Armed Forces Movement (Portuguese: Movimento das Forças Armadas, MFA), composed of military officers who opposed the regime, but it was soon coupled with an unanticipated popular civil resistance campaign. Negotiations with African independence movements began, and by the end of 1974, Portuguese troops were withdrawn from Portuguese Guinea, which became a UN member state as Guinea-Bissau. This was followed in 1975 by the independence of Cape Verde, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe and Angola in Africa and the declaration of independence of East Timor in Southeast Asia. These events prompted a mass exodus of Portuguese citizens from Portugal's African territories (mostly from Angola and Mozambique), creating over a million Portuguese "returned" – the retornados.[4][5]

The Carnation Revolution got its name from the fact that almost no shots were fired, and from restaurant worker Celeste Caeiro who offered carnations to soldiers when the population took to the streets to celebrate the end of the dictatorship. Other demonstrators followed suit and placed carnations in the muzzles of guns and on soldiers' uniforms.[6][7] In Portugal, 25 April is a national holiday (Portuguese: Dia da Liberdade, Freedom Day) that commemorates the revolution.

  1. ^ "25 de Abril: a revolução que não foi assim tão branda". Diário de Notícias.
  2. ^ "1974: Rebels seize control of Portugal", On This Day, 25 April, BBC, 25 April 1974, retrieved 2 January 2010.
  3. ^ Rezola, Maria Inácia (2024). The Portuguese Revolution of 1974-1975: An Unexpected Path to Democracy. Liverpool University Press. ISBN 978-1-83553-657-5.
  4. ^ "Flight from Angola". The Economist. 16 August 1975.
  5. ^ "MOZAMBIQUE: Dismantling the Portuguese Empire". Time. 7 July 1975. ISSN 0040-781X. Archived from the original on 13 January 2009. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
  6. ^ Booker, Peter (24 April 2019). "Why April 25th is a holiday – the Carnation Revolution and the events of 1974". Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  7. ^ Robinson, Peter (26 April 2024). "Portugal's forgotten revolution". Monthly Review.