Carnation Revolution

Revolução dos Cravos 25 de Abril
A mural celebrating the revolution: "25th of April Forever!"
Date	25 April 1974
Location	Portugal
Causes	Authoritarianism Portuguese Colonial War
Goals	Regime change Democracy Independence of colonies
Methods	Coup d'état Civil resistance
Result	Collapse of the Estado Novo regime National Salvation Junta formed (1974–75) Revolutionary Council of Portugal established (1975–76) Some political parties formed before/during/after the revolution become influential in elections All colonies (except Macau until 1999, East Timor until 2002) granted independence in 1975
Parties to the civil conflict
Armed Forces Movement (MFA) Estado Novo regime
Lead figures
Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho (designer of the plan of operations and chief of operations) Salgueiro Maia Americo Thomaz (President of the Republic) Marcello Caetano (President of the Council of Ministers)
Casualties
4 killed

The Carnation Revolution (Portuguese: Revolução dos Cravos), also referred to as the 25th of April (Portuguese: vinte e cinco de Abril), was initially a military coup in Lisbon, Portugal, on 25 April 1974 which overthrew the regime of the Estado Novo. The revolution started as a military coup organized by the Armed Forces Movement (Portuguese: Movimento das Forças Armadas, MFA) composed of military officers who opposed the regime, but the movement was soon coupled with an unanticipated and popular campaign of civil resistance. This movement would lead to the fall of the Estado Novo and the withdrawal of Portugal from its African colonies and East Timor (which was invaded by Indonesia).

The name "Carnation Revolution" comes from the fact that almost no shots were fired and when the population took to the streets to celebrate the end of the dictatorship and war in the colonies, carnations were put into the muzzles of rifles and on the uniforms of the army men. In Portugal, 25 April is a national holiday, known as Freedom Day (Portuguese: Dia da Liberdade), to celebrate the event.

Portugal had been run by an authoritarian dictatorship (the Estado Novo, or "New State"), which was considered by many to be fascist, for over four decades. These events effectively changed the government into a democracy, and produced enormous social, economic, territorial, demographic, and political changes in the country, after two years of a transitional period known as PREC (Processo Revolucionário Em Curso, or On-Going Revolutionary Process), characterized by social turmoil and power disputes between left- and right-wing political forces.