Carnation Revolution

On April 25th, 1974, the Armed Forces Movement (MFA) of dissident Portuguese Army officers led a military coup, overthrowing the authoritarian Estado Novo regime in Portugal. This led to not only kicking out the fascists in Portugal, but to the end of the Portuguese occupation of colonies around the world, including Angola, Macau, Guinea-Bissau, Timor, and Mozambique. Its name came about because almost no shots were fired. When the population took to the streets to celebrate the end of the dictatorship, Lisbon restaurant worker Celeste Caeiro was let off work early. She took the flowers that were going to be given to the restaurant's customers in honor of its 1st anniversary and gave them to soldiers in the streets instead, who placed the flowers in the muzzles of their guns; the idea took off and flower sellers around the city gave their flowers away to soldiers.