Coup of 25 November 1975


The Coup of 25 November 1975 was a failed military coup d'état against the post-Carnation Revolution governing bodies of Portugal. This attempt was carried out by Portuguese left-wing activists, who hoped to hijack the Portuguese transition to democracy in favor of Communism.
Vasco Gonçalves, the previous Prime Minister, later described the coup as a "provocation" organised by the sixth provisional government, saying that the government had ordered the paratroopers to bomb the occupied Rádio Renascença. These orders, carried out by low-level paratroopers, had subsequently led the paratroopers to invade air bases in an attempt to force the resignation of the Air Force chief of staff. Gonçalves blamed the Group of Nine and related elements.

Events

The political, economic, and social crisis in post-Carnation Revolution Portugal, a period known as PREC, and the make-up of the new government, the first democratically elected government after the fall of the previous regime, gave rise to serious confrontations during what became known as the “hot summer” of 1975. This marked the start of the counter-revolutionary movement. This caused a division in the Armed Forces Movement which had been responsible for the overthrowing of the Estado Novo regime. It was the coup on 25 November 1975, followed by a counter-coup led by Ramalho Eanes, a pro-democracy moderate, that re-established the democratic process.

25 of November

On this day, dissident paratroopers tried to seize military complexes across the country, in a coup attempt that was easily defeated by commandos loyal to the government. With the country engulfed in political chaos, some hundreds of military personnel sympathetic to the extreme left seized the Monsanto Air Base, the Air Force School, and five other air bases in the capital and in the south of Portugal.