Portal:History of Revolution

The Revolutions Portal

Eugène Delacroix's romantic painting, Liberty Leading the People (French: La liberté guidant le peuple), is an example of a revolution in the political sense.

In political science, a revolution (Latin: revolutio, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic, or religious structures. According to the sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements at their core: (a) efforts to change the political regime that draw on a competing vision (or visions) of a just order, (b) a notable degree of informal or formal mass mobilization, and (c) efforts to force change through noninstitutionalized actions such as mass demonstrations, protests, strikes, or violence."

Revolutions have occurred throughout human history and varied in their methods, durations and outcomes. Some revolutions started with peasant uprisings or guerrilla warfare on the periphery of a country; others started with urban insurrection aimed at seizing the country's capital city. Revolutions can be inspired by the rising popularity of certain political ideologies, moral principles, or models of governance such as nationalism, republicanism, egalitarianism, self-determination, human rights, democracy, liberalism, fascism, or socialism. A regime may become vulnerable to revolution due to a recent military defeat, or economic chaos, or an affront to national pride and identity, or persistent repression and corruption. Revolutions typically trigger counter-revolutions which seek to halt revolutionary momentum, or to reverse the course of an ongoing revolutionary transformation. Autocracies that take power during revolutions tend to be exceptionally durable and long-lasting. (Full article...)


Major Revolutions

  • Neolithic Revolution (c. 10,000 BCE) – Wide-scale transition of human cultures from hunting to agriculture.
  • Scientific Revolution (1543–1687) – Emergence of modern science during the early modern period.
  • Glorious Revolution (1688–1689) – Overthrow of King James II of England, establishing constitutional monarchy.
  • American Revolution (1765–1791) – Ideological and political revolution that created the United States.
  • Industrial Revolution (c. 1760–1840) – Transition to new manufacturing processes in Europe and the US.
  • French Revolution (1789–1799) – Period of radical political and societal change in France.
  • Haitian Revolution (1791–1804) – Successful anti-slavery and anti-colonial insurrection.
  • Xinhai Revolution (1911–1912) – Revolution that overthrow China's last imperial dynasty and established the Republic of China.
  • Russian Revolution (1917) – Pair of revolutions that abolished the Russian Empire and created the Soviet Union.
  • Cuban Revolution (1953–1959) – Armed revolt that overthrew Fulgencio Batista and established a socialist state.
  • Iranian Revolution (1978–1979) – Overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty and establishment of an Islamic republic.
  • Digital Revolution (1950s–present) – Shift from mechanical and analogue technology to digital electronics.


Did You Know

"The passion for destruction is also a creative passion."

— Mikhail Bakunin

Key Figures

Portrait c. 1790s

Tipu Sultan (Urdu: [ʈiːpuː sʊlt̪aːn], Kannada: [ʈipːu sult̪aːn], Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu; 1 December 1751 – 4 May 1799), commonly referred to as Sher-e-Mysore (Tiger of Mysore), was the Sultan of Mysore from 1782 until his death in 1799. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery. He expanded the iron-cased Mysorean rockets and commissioned the military manual Fathul Mujahidin. The economy of Mysore reached a zenith during his reign. He deployed rockets against advances of British forces and their allies during the Anglo-Mysore Wars, including the Battle of Pollilur and Siege of Srirangapatna.

Tipu Sultan and his father Hyder Ali used their French-trained army in alliance with the French in their struggle with the British, and in Mysore's struggles with other surrounding powers: against the Marathas, Sira, and rulers of Malabar, Kodagu, Bednore, Carnatic, and Travancore. Tipu became the ruler of Mysore upon his father's death from cancer in 1782 during the Second Anglo-Mysore War. He negotiated with the British in 1784 with the Treaty of Mangalore which ended the war in status quo ante bellum. (Read more...)



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