Freedom Day
National Holiday in Portugal
Freedom Day on April 25 is a national holiday in Portugal, with official commemorations.
It celebrates the 1974 Revolution that ended the Dictatorship and started Democracy.
Known as the Carnation Revolution, this was a virtually bloodless, leftist, military-led coup. It began on April 25th 1974, in Lisbon and transformed the Portuguese regime from an authoritarian dictatorship to a democracy.
It followed a long period of social change and power struggles between the left and right wing political forces. Whilst the government forces killed four people before surrendering, the revolution was somewhat unusual in that the revolutionaries didn't resort to violence to achieve their goals. The population, holding red carnations, convinced the army not to resist and the soldiers swapped their bullets for flowers.
The revolution marked the longest authoritarian regime in Western Europe.
| Translate this page | |||||||
Powered by  |
| Bookmark with: | |||
|
|
|
|
