Portugal was under Salazarist dictatorship for most of this coin's design life, but the 1971 issue arrived just as Marcello Caetano had replaced the ailing Salazar — who suffered a fatal stroke in 1970 after years of incapacitation. The Estado Novo regime was hemorrhaging money and political will fighting three simultaneous colonial wars in Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea-Bissau, consuming over 40% of the national budget by the early 1970s.
The series was cut short by the Carnation Revolution of April 25, 1974, which ended 48 years of authoritarian rule in a nearly bloodless coup led by the Armed Forces Movement.
Portugal was under Salazarist dictatorship for most of this coin's design life, but the 1971 issue arrived just as Marcello Caetano had replaced the ailing Salazar — who suffered a fatal stroke in 1970 after years of incapacitation. The Estado Novo regime was hemorrhaging money and political will fighting three simultaneous colonial wars in Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea-Bissau, consuming over 40% of the national budget by the early 1970s.
The series was cut short by the Carnation Revolution of April 25, 1974, which ended 48 years of authoritarian rule in a nearly bloodless coup led by the Armed Forces Movement.