Watch: Portugal carnations against dictatorship (ARTE)
Portuguese General Antonio Sebastiao Ribeiro de Spinola delivers a speech during his inauguration ceremony as new President of the Portuguese Republic, at Queluz Palace, near Lisbon, on May 15, 1974. Photo: AFP
In April 1974, left-wing factions in the Portuguese military staged a coup against the authoritarian regime which had been in power for half a century. The uprising was largely peaceful and went down in history as the Carnation Revolution. But the path to a democratic Portugal was not easy and not without obstacles.