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The image of a rifle muzzle sprouting a red carnation quickly became a symbol of the revolution. The idea was copied and flower sellers everywhere donated more carnations to decorate the mutinous soldiers and their weapons.
On April 25, 1974, a revolution took place initiated by music and ornamented with flowers. Known as the Carnation Revolution, it was a near-bloodless military coup staged in Portugal that brought down the authoritarian rule of one of Europe's longest-serving dictators. In its wake, democracy prevailed and a national holiday was decreed to commemorate one of the most astonishing and significant episodes in Portugal's long history. So, what is the background behind this extraordinary event, and how was it planned?
Click through and relive the military takeover that reshaped a nation.
Since 1933, Portugal had been under the authoritarian rule of António Salazar, who led the Estado Novo (New State) regime as a dictator.
Having relinquished power in 1968 after suffering a fall, Salazar died in 1970. His successor, Marcelo Caetano, served as prime minister from 1968 to 1974, when he was overthrown during what became known as the Carnation Revolution.
Inspired by conservative and autocratic ideologies, the Estado Novo oversaw Portugal's colonial expansion into Africa and Asia. In 1961, Salazar initiated a costly and protracted colonial war that saw Portugal's military deployed against the emerging nationalist movements in its African colonies. The photograph shows Portuguese troops boarding the Vera Cruz on May 5, 1961, bound for Angola.
Angola and Mozambique were the two largest overseas Portuguese territories in Africa. Both were occupied by the country's military during the Estado Novo regime. In this image, Portuguese soldiers on patrol in the Tete region of Mozambique uncover a land mine, laid by guerrillas.
By the early 1970s, the war had become increasingly unpopular due to its length and financial costs. Bloody episodes like the Wiriyamu Massacre of December 1972, in which up to 300 civilians were murdered by Portuguese soldiers, effectively turned public opinion against the regime and served to strengthen the resolve of rebel armies (pictured) in ridding the continent of its unwelcome aggressors.
With the revolution came the end of Portugal's colonial aspirations and the country's transition to democracy. Thousands of Portuguese citizens would eventually flee the African continent after civil war overwhelmed Angola and Mozambique. Pictured in 1975 are anxious former residents of Luanda desperate to withdraw their savings from Angola's national bank.
Portugal's Carnation Revolution is known for taking place without hardly a shot being fired. The flower came to represent a peaceful transition of power. But not everyone walked away unscathed.
The revolution's success was helped by the population siding with the military. This poster from the era expresses the unity of the people (povo) and the MFA.
The revolution was a near-bloodless military coup by left-leaning military officers that toppled the despised and discredited Estado Novo regime. It was organized by the Armed Forces Movement (MFA), made up of former disgruntled colonial troops and headed by Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho (1936–2021).
The prime minister ceded power to General António de Spínola. A veteran of the colonial war, Spínola had been increasingly vocal about the government's conduct in Africa. A career soldier, Spínola was chosen as the official representative of the MFA. He played an important role in Portugal's transition to democracy and was briefly President of the Republic, from May 15 1974 until September 30 of the same year.
On the morning of April 25, 1974, Rádio Renascença broadcast 'Grândola, Vila Morena,' a song by influential political folk musician and singer Zeca Afonso. This was the secret signal that mobilized the MFA to take over strategic points of power across the country.
The revolution made national and international headlines. Such was the speed and efficiency of its execution that even the American CIA was caught by surprise, a revelation made by Frank Carlucci, the United States ambassador in Portugal in 1975.
As the dust settled over Portugal, the enormity of what had just been achieved began to sink in. After 40 years of repression, the country was finally free of dictatorship.
Salazar's long dictatorship was enforced in part by an organization called the PIDE (Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado). Modeled on Nazi Germany's Gestapo, this shadowy police force persecuted opponents of the regime, who were often tortured, imprisoned, or killed. PIDE agents were quickly identified by the MFA and immediately arrested. Anyone caught could expect little mercy.
After the overthrow of the Estado Novo regime, the National Salvation Junta (Junta de Salvação Nacional) was formed as a group of military officers designated to maintain the government of Portugal.
A second radio announcement alerted hundreds of thousands of stunned Portuguese into a realization that a new phase in their long history had begun. Soon, tanks were rolling across Lisbon's cobblestoned streets.
The most visible and endearing legacy of the Carnation Revolution is the national holiday commemorated in its honor.
Sources: (The New York Times) (Britannica) (Portugal.com) (Africanews)
See also: Revolutions and rebellions that shaped world history
The revolution owes its name to a restaurant worker named Celeste Martins Caeiro. A planned celebration to mark the restaurant's first anniversary was canceled because of the events unfolding across the capital. Red and white carnations had been ordered by the owners as gifts for loyal customers. Rather than waste them, Caeiro collected the flowers and left to walk home. When she met a group of soldiers on the street she handed each a carnation. They then placed the blooms in the muzzles of their rifles.
Three days after the coup d'état, Lisbon residents gathered at the city's train station to celebrate the comeback of exiled socialist leader Mário Soares.
On May 1, 1974, seven days after the revolution, much of Lisbon again took to the streets to celebrate May Day—the first official demonstration to take place in the capital since the fall of the Estado Novo regime.
As the day wore on, everyone it seemed wanted to see the regime fall. Thousands more filed into Lisbon, waving banners and displaying bouquets of symbolic carnations.
The city's central Praça de D. Pedro IV, or Rossio, became a focal point for many as they welcomed truckloads of MFA and, by now, government soldiers who'd surrendered their arms to join the revolution.
Mário Soares had been arrested by the PIDE as a political agitator in 1968 and jailed. He was later exiled to France. In the wake of the revolution, he was allowed to return home. He served as prime minister of Portugal from 1976 to 1978 and from 1983 to 1985, and subsequently as the 17th president of Portugal from 1986 to 1996. He is considered the father of Portuguese democracy.
In Lisbon, the MFA seized the national television and radio stations, the airport, and the Bank of Portugal, among other strategic objectives. Thousands of people gathered in the streets of the capital to cheer, wave, and—crucially—support the military insurgents. Similar scenes were replicated in Porto, Portugal's second city.
In 2015, the Museum of Aljube Resistance and Freedom was inaugurated in Lisbon. It's housed within a former prison that operated From 1928 until its closure in 1965. Here, political prisoners were held and often tortured. A special display dedicated to the Carnation Revolution is one of the museum's highlights.
Besides ending Europe’s longest-surviving authoritarian regime and introducing democracy across Portugal, the Carnation Revolution saw numerous streets renamed in honor of the date, April 25. The most noticeable name change, however, was that given to the former Ponte Salazar (Salazar Bridge). It's today known as Ponte 25 de Abril (April 25 Bridge).
The Carnation Revolution enabled Portugal's first constitutional government to be formed, in 1976. General António Ramalho Eanes, President of the Republic, and Mário Soares, Prime Minister, took office on July 23, 1976.
In the confusion, Marcelo Caetano, the prime minister, plus several government ministers, had fled to the Carmo barracks in the city center. On one of the few occasions when the MFA discharged their weapons, shots were fired against the building, as to scare them into submission. Accepting defeat, Caetano surrendered and agreed to negotiate.
Sensing the fate that awaited them, several PIDE agents took refuge in police headquarters. Surrounded by an angry mob, they opened fire on the crowd, killing four people and leaving dozens injured. These were the only fatalities of the revolution. Eventually captured, the agents were arrested and later stood trial for murder.
What was Portugal's Carnation Revolution?
A near-bloodless military coup that reshaped a small European nation
LIFESTYLE History
On April 25, 1974, a revolution took place initiated by music and ornamented with flowers. Known as the Carnation Revolution, it was a near-bloodless military coup staged in Portugal that brought down the authoritarian rule of one of Europe's longest-serving dictators. In its wake, democracy prevailed and a national holiday was decreed to commemorate one of the most astonishing and significant episodes in Portugal's long history. So, what is the background behind this extraordinary event, and how was it planned?
Click through and relive the military takeover that reshaped a nation.