In Portugal, in the early 1970s, a dictatorship had lasted for almost fifty years. The Estado Novo regime was built by Salazar and continued by Marcelo Caetano. It controlled everything from politics to society. Freedoms were limited. The political police monitored the country. Colonial wars in Africa consumed resources and lives. But something was changing.
A group of army officers, tired of colonial wars and the stalled system, began to organise. They called themselves the Armed Forces Movement. They were not revolutionaries in the classical sense, but rather soldiers who sought to end a war without a solution and a regime incapable of reform. On the night between April 24 and 25, 1974, two songs were broadcast on the radio. They were not chosen at random, but were signals. The second, Zeca Afonso's work "Grandola, Vila Morena," announced the start of the operation. The troops moved in and occupied strategic points, such as airports, ministries, and communications centres. Thus, the government was isolated. President Caetano took refuge in a barracks, and, unexpectedly, the people of Lisbon took to the streets. The military had asked civilians to stay home, but the opposite happened. Thousands of people joined the soldiers, without violence. A woman, Celeste Caeiro, began handing out carnations to the soldiers, which she then stuffed into the barrels of their rifles. That gesture changed everything, because the rifles didn't fire, but displayed flowers. The revolution took its name from there: the Carnation Revolution.
It was not entirely without victims. Some civilians were killed by the last regime loyalists barricaded in the political police headquarters. Still, for an authoritarian state, the fall was swift and relatively bloodless. Within hours, the regime was over. Power passed to a military junta. Political prisoners were freed. Censorship was abolished. Exiled political leaders returned. On May 1st, for the first time, millions of people could demonstrate freely.
A complex phase began. It was called the Ongoing Revolutionary Process. The country faced intense political tensions. For months, Portugal's future remained uncertain. There were struggles between moderates and radicals. Land and factories were occupied. Still, the dictatorship was over. The colonial empire began to dissolve. Democracy was becoming possible.