There were many revolutions and failed revolutions that occurred in the second half of the twentieth century. With communism on the rise as well as large amounts of people being governed under oppressive regimes, it makes sense that many movements were started to change the status quo. When looking at these events, however, it is necessary to keep in mind the factors which brought them to the surface. In every movement, in every revolution, there are elements which define the setting and set the stage for other such processes to occur. Keeping this in mind then we can start to look at the specific examples that caused an empire to crumble in 1974. For much of the 20th century Portugal was ruled by an authoritarian dictatorship and …show more content…
While Salazar was in control of the country, Portugal experienced extreme deflation for the better part of 40 years. Towards the end of the Estado Nova, there was a change, and Portugal started to have problems with extreme inflation when Salazar started to have the state control foreign trade. “Inflation rose from 4 per cent. in 1964 to about 20 per cent. in 1974” (Story 417). Both of these economic factors did nothing to help out the citizens in Portugal. The deflation caused depression which led to massive unemployment all through out the country. Due to the lack of jobs many people left the country and the ones who stayed were living in a country that was clearly not economically stable, and didn’t seem to be changing any time soon. In the sixties, when the country’s inflation was on the rise, prices for common goods soared and the worth of the Portuguese currency fell. Economic stagnation and failure is a long-term factor that went into why the Carnation revolution came when it did. While it may not have been enough to cause a revolution and a coup on its own, it added to the kindling when there were other events that frustrated the populous in years to …show more content…
During this time period many colonies in Africa were trying to gain their independence from their colonial rulers. In addition, “the International context was not favorable to the Portuguese regime. The Cold War was near its peak, and both Capitalist and Communist-bloc nations were supporting the guerrillas in the Portuguese colonies, attempting to bring these under, respectively, American and Soviet influence”(Statemaster). As a result of this, and the fact that Portugal would face severe losses if they lost control of these colonies, wars were fought in order to suppress the colonies and keep them under Portugal’s thumb. Over the years a large portion of the Portuguese population had served at some point in these wars. “By 1974 a million and a half Portuguese had seen service overseas. One in every four adult males was in the armed forces” (Maxwell 252). Portugal in the late 60’s, early 70’s had a population of only around 8.5 million. Looking at the quote above from Maxwell, it can be seen that a fair chunk of Portugal’s population had been in service overseas due to this war in Africa. After years of involvement in these wars, and with so much of the population being affected by it in some way, the sentiment towards these involvements and the regime started to