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Witness History: The Carnation Revolution in Portugal

Documentaries

The Carnation Revolution in Portugal

06/03/2024 GMT

BBC World Service - Witness History, The Carnation Revolution in Portugal

In 1974, a 41-year regime was overthrown in a day

Flowers filled the barrels of guns on 25 April 1974, as Portugal’s Carnation Revolution toppled a dictatorship.

25 April is Freedom Day in Portugal. Five decades ago on that date, flowers filled the streets of the capital Lisbon as a dictatorship was overthrown.

Europe’s longest-surviving authoritarian regime was toppled in a day, with barely a drop of blood spilled.

In 2010, Adelino Gomes told Louise Hidalgo what he witnessed of the Carnation Revolution.

(Photo: A young boy hugs a soldier in the street. Credit: Jean-Claude Francolon/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images)

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