Carnation Revolution

Fifty years ago, on April 25, 1974, Portugal was shaken by an earthquake. Not a geological earthquake, like the one in 1755 that razed Lisbon to the ground and killed around 50,000 people, but a political one, with only four victims. It was an uprising that would overnight bring Europe’s longest lasting fascist dictatorship tumbling down. Shortly after midnight on April 25, the popular song “Grândola Vila Moreno” (Grândola, my swarthy town) rang out over the airwaves of a private Portuguese radio station. To the nervous soldiers in their barracks listening out for it, this was the signal for them to start the engines of their tanks and armored cars and begin their revolt by rapidly taking Lisbon, the capital, and other large towns by storm.