The Carnation Revolution
WHAT WAS THE CARNATION REVOLUTION?
It was an almost-bloodless coup, led by members of the armed forces which – on 25 April 1974 – brought down more than 40 years of dictatorship in Portugal and ended Europe’s longest-surviving authoritarian regime.
WHY DID THE REVOLUTION HAPPEN?
Since 1933, Portugal had been ruled by the Estado Novo (New State), formally the Second Portuguese Republic. Initially under the authoritarian rule of António de Oliveira Salazar (until 1968), the new authoritarian regime ushered in an era of oppression, and the censorship of newspapers and books. Catholicism was reinstated as the state
