Marcelo Caetano
Salazar's successor; surrendered at Carmo. Died in Brazilian exile.
Office
3
Day
3
After
3
Darker cells mean a higher score for this topic on that metric.
Scale16
Intensity12
Duration15
Tech shift10
Political impact58
Cultural memory48
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Last reviewed Sources & creditsMedia creditsMethodology
Quick answers
Are the scores a ranking of nations or armies?
No. Scores are browsing aids inside an era-bounded atlas — not live league tables of countries.
How many died on the day?
Four people, killed by regime police fire. The colonial wars before and the Angolan war after have much larger ledgers.
Why did officers move?
They could not win or end the African wars inside the Estado Novo's politics. The MFA was a captains' revolt against a war and a closed regime.
Who led it?
The MFA was collective; Otelo planned operations; Spinola received the surrender and briefly headed the junta -- then fell out with the leftward process.
What happened to the colonies?
Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Angola became independent in 1974-75. Angola collapsed into a long internationalised war. Hundreds of thousands of retornados came to Portugal.
Was it a left-wing coup?
It opened a left-revolutionary period (PREC) and then a pluralist constitution. Reducing 25 April to one ideology misses the captains' war-weariness.
The carnation and Grandola are the global pair. Salgueiro Maia is the captain face. Cabral is the African face English stories skip.
Caetano at Carmo is the regime's last still.
People
Antonio de Spinola
The general of the book and the Carmo surrender; not the MFA's left, and soon out.
Book
3
Carmo
3
Exit
3
Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho
Planned the Lisbon movements; later a controversial PREC figure and a 1980s trial -- a long afterlife.
Role
3
Day
3
Later
3
Salgueiro Maia
The televised young officer of Carmo -- a popular face of the captains.
Place
3
Image
3
Memory
3
Antonio de Oliveira Salazar
Dead in 1970; his system lasted until the captains. The ghost of the Estado Novo.
Rule
3
System
3
Died
3
Vasco Goncalves
The MFA left's civilian-military face in 1974-75 -- admired and feared.
Office
3
Line
3
After
3
Mario Soares
A civilian democratic pole through PREC and later prime minister/president -- the long European afterlife.
Role
3
Later
3
Point
3
Amilcar Cabral
Assassinated in 1973; his war is why Portuguese captains moved. An African icon of the cause, dead before 25 April.
Died
3
Front
3
Link
3
Debate
Was 25 November 1975 a counter-revolution or a save?
The live Portuguese argument; this page records both readings.
How gentle was it, really?
Lisbon yes; the colonial wars and Angola 1975 no. Both clocks.
Spinola is not a Portuguese Pinochet -- different project. Do not flatten 1970s officers.
Korea 1979 is the dark twin in this atlas, not a cousin to copy.