The Carnation Revolution, an almost bloodless, leftist, military-led coup d'état, started on April 25, 1974, in Lisbon, Portugal, effectively changes the Portuguese regime from an authoritarian dictatorship to a democracy 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 dispute between left and right wing political forces.Although the regime's political police, PIDE, kill four people before surrendering, the revolution is unusual in that the revolutionaries do not use direct violence to achieve their goals.
The population, holding red carnations (cravos in Portuguese), convince the regime soldiers not to resist.
The soldiers readily swap their bullets for flowers.
It is the end of the Estado Novo, the longest authoritarian regime in Western Europe.
