---
title: "Carnation Revolution Portugal"
year: 1974
country: "Portugal"
canonical: "https://recap.at/1974/carnation-revolution"
slug: "carnation-revolution"
recapType: "global_event"
startDate: "1974-04-25"
---

# Carnation Revolution Portugal

> Military coup toppling 48-year dictatorship; bloodless revolution earning its floral epithet.

On April 25, 1974, a group of Portuguese military officers seized power and dismantled nearly 50 years of authoritarian rule under the Estado Novo regime. The bloodless coup, later called the Carnation Revolution, ended Portugal's brutal colonial wars in Africa and restored democracy to the country.

## Summary

The Carnation Revolution, code-named Operation Historic Turn, also known as the 25th of April, was a military coup in Portugal by officers that on 25 April 1974 overthrew Marcelo Caetano and the Estado Novo regime established by António de Oliveira Salazar. The coup came in the midst of the Portuguese Colonial War (1961–1974) in its overseas colonies and produced major social, economic, territorial, demographic, and political changes in Portugal and in Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and other former Portuguese colonies through the Ongoing Revolutionary Process. It resulted in the Portuguese transition to democracy and an end to the Portuguese Colonial War. It also had worldwide repercussions by marking the beginning of the third wave of democracy.

## Sources

- [Carnation Revolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnation_Revolution) - Wikipedia

---
Canonical: https://recap.at/1974/carnation-revolution