Revolution

:This article is about revolution in the sense of a drastic change. For other meanings of the word, see revolution (disambiguation).

Social and political revolutions

Political revolutions are often characterised by violence, and vast changes in power structures that can often result in further, institutionalised, violence, as in the Russian and French revolutions (with the "Purges" and "the Terror", respectively). A political revolution is the forcible replacement of one set of rulers with another (as happened in France and Russia), while a social revolution is the fundamental change in the social structure of a society, such as the Protestant Reformation or the Renaissance. However, blurring the line between these two categories, most political revolutions wish to carry out social revolutions, and they have basic philosophical or social underpinnings which drive them. The most common revolutions with such underpinnings in the modern world have been liberal revolutions and communist revolutions. In contrast, a coup d'état often seeks to change nothing more than the current ruler.

Related Topics:
Violence - Russian - French - Protestant Reformation - Renaissance - Liberal revolution - Communist revolution - Coup d'état

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Some political philosophers regard revolutions as the means of achieving their goals. Most anarchists advocate social revolution as the means of breaking down the structures of government and replacing them with non-hierarchal institutions.

Related Topics:
Political philosophers - Anarchists

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

With Marxist communists, there is a split between those who supported the Soviet Union and other so-called 'communist states' and those who were/are critical of those states (some even rejecting them as non-communist, see state capitalism), for example trotskyists.

Related Topics:
Marxist - Communists - Soviet Union - Communist state - State capitalism - Trotskyists

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Social and political revolutions are often "institutionalized" when the ideas, slogans, and personalities of the revolution continue to play a prominent role in a country's political culture, long after the revolution's end. As mentioned, communist nations regularly institutionalize their revolutions to legitimize the actions of their governments. Some non-communist nations, like the United States, France, or Mexico also have institutionalized revolutions, and continue to celebrate the memory of their revolutionary past through holidays, artwork, songs, and other venues.

Related Topics:
Political culture - United States - France - Mexico

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ancient revolutions

• Fall of the Qin Dynasty in China, 206 BCE
• Great Jewish Revolt (66-70) and Bar Kokhba's revolt (132-135) against the Roman Empire.
• Popular revolt in late medieval Europe 14th - early 16th century, a series of attempted revolutions against the nobility

Liberal revolutions

(known to Marxists as bourgeois revolutions)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:Some of these are Atlantic Revolutions.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• English Revolution -- (1642-1653) -- Commenced as a civil war between Parliament and King, culminating in the execution of Charles I and the establishment of a republican Protectorate.
• Glorious Revolution -- (England in (1688) -- Overthrow of King James II and establishment of a Whig-dominated Protestant constitutional monarchy.
• American Revolution -- (1774-1783) -- Established independence of the 13 colonies from Great Britain, creating the republic of the United States of America
• French Revolution -- (1789) -- Regarded as one of the most influential of all Revolutions, frequently associated with the rise of the bourgeoisie and the downfall of the aristocracy.
• Irish Rebellion -- (1798) -- Failed attempt to overthrow British rule in the country.
• July Revolution (1830)
• Belgian Revolution (1830)
• Revolutions of 1848 -- (1848) -- Wave of failed liberal and republican revolutions that swept Europe.
• Taiping Rebellion -- 1851 Rebellion against the Qing Dynasty and Manchu domination.
• Indian rebellion of 1857 Also called the War of Independence of 1857 and popularly known in the West as the Sepoy Mutiny, this rebellion was against British imperialism and marks the end of Mughal (foreign Muslim) rule in India.
• Russian Revolution of 1905 -- (1905) -- Failed bourgeois-liberal revolution against Tsar Nicholas II
• Mexican Revolution -- (1910) -- Overthrow of dictator Porfirio Díaz, seizure of power by Institutional Revolutionary Party.
• Xinhai Revolution -- (1911) -- Overthrow of ruling Qing Dynasty and establishment of the Republic of China.
• February Revolution -- (1917) -- Liberal revolution against Tsar Nicholas II
• German Revolution -- (1918) -- Overthrow of the Kaiser by a workers' revolution, establishment of the Weimar Republic.

Socialist and/or Communist revolutions

• Russian Revolution -- (1917) -- The most famous and influential modern revolution, culminating in the Bolshevik seizure of power and the establishment of the Soviet Union.
• German Revolution-- (1919)) -- Failed revolution in Germany led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht
• Hungarian revolutions - 1919 and 1949
• Mongolia - 1921
• North Korea - 1948
• Chinese Revolution -- (1949) -- Victory of Communist-led peasant rebellion under Chairman Mao over the ruling Nationalist Party, establishment of People's Republic of China.
• Algerian Revolution -- (1954 - 1962) -- Revolutionary war of independence against French imperialism.
• North Vietnam - 1954
• Cuban Revolution -- (1959) -- Fidel Castro-led rebellion against U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista; victory of revolutionary government of Fidel Castro.
• The Congo - 1964 and 1968
• Cultural Revolution -- (1966-1976) Maoist led turmoil in People's Republic of China.
• South Yemen - 1967
• France, May 1968 -- (1968) -- Students' and workers' revolt against the Government of Charles de Gaulle.
• Libya - 1969
• Somalia - 1969
• Benin - 1972
• Ethiopia - 1974
• Carnation Revolution -- (1974) in Portugal -- Left-wing popular overthrow of right-wing dictatorship.
• Guinea-Bissauan Revolution - 1974
• Cambodia - 1975
• South Vietnam - 1975
• Laos - 1975
• Madagascar - 1975
• Cape Verde - 1975
• Mozambique - 1975
• Angola - 1975
• Afghanistan - 1978
• Grenada - 1979
• Nicaraguan Revolution -- (1979) -- Popular overthrow of the Somoza dictatorship by progressive/Marxist peasant movement.
• Burkina Faso - 1983
• Bolivarian Revolution -- (1998) -- Venezuela elects populist Hugo Chávez.

Anarchist revolutions

• Ukrainian Revolution -- (1918 - 1921)
• Third Russian Revolution -- (1918 - 1922) -- Failed anarchist revolution against both bolshevism and the white movement
• Spanish Revolution -- (1936) -- Social upheaval that swept Spain in response to the anti-Republican insurgency of General Francisco Franco.
• Anarchists had influence in many other revolutions, including the Mexican Revolution and the Russian Revolution, and rebellions like that in May 1968.

Eastern European anti-Communist revolutions

• Hungarian Revolution -- (1956) Workers' and peasants' left-wing revolution against the imposed Communist Party-run state dictatorship, suppressed by Soviet forces.
• Singing Revolution -- (1988) Bloodless overthrow of Communist Party-run state in Estonia.
• Romanian Revolution -- (1989) Violent overthrow of Communist Party-run state in Romania.
• Velvet Revolution -- (1989) Bloodless overthrow of Communist Party-run state in Czechoslovakia.

Islamist revolutions

• Iranian Revolution -- (1979) -- Popular overthrow of US-backed Shah, culminating in an Islamist cleric-led theocracy.
• Taliban - (1996) -- Islamist movement in Afghanistan

Color revolutions

Note that some of these (particularly the rose and orange revolutions) only changed one government with another, and did not modify the political or economic systems of their countries. As such, they are purely political revolutions.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Rose Revolution in Georgia (2003)
• Orange Revolution in Ukraine (2004)
• Cedar Revolution in Lebanon (2005)
• Tulip Revolution or Yellow Revolution in Kyrgyzstan (2005)