 By refusing to grant independence to its overseas territories in Africa, the Portuguese ruling regime of Estado Novo was criticised by most of the international community, and its leaders Salazar and Caetano were accused of being blind to the so-called "winds of change".After the Carnation Revolution in 1974 and the fall of the Portuguese authoritarian regime, almost all the Portuguese-ruled territories outside Europe became independent countries.Several historians have described the stubbornness of the regime as a lack of sensibility to the "winds of change".