Portugal celebrates 50 years of democracy
STORY: Antonio Oliveira Salazar ruled Portugal from 1932 to 1968, but the regime lasted for a further six years under successor Marcelo Caetano, only crumbling on April 25, 1974.
The almost bloodless revolution was conducted by a group of junior army officers who wanted democracy and to put an end to long-running wars against independence movements in the African colonies of Angola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau.
They regarded those wars, which were killing thousands of young Portuguese conscripts, as unjust and unwinnable.
