Over history, it has long been debated on what qualifies or constitute a successful Revolution. For example, The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, was the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III, Prince of Orange. Though this might seem like a successful revolution because their set of actions and events led to the alteration in the way the government function. As stated in Debating Modern Revolution: The Evolution of Revolutionary Ideas, “These conflicts, however fraught, seldom had a revolutionary aim to overthrow the current form of government. As efforts to renegotiate, rather than end, the mixed system of royal” (C1) Which in fact, it is …show more content…
an unsuccessful revolution because the way the people handle the outcome. The reason it fails to be a revolution is that the people in power remain the same, they just alter the rules slightly with still holding high regards for their monarchy.
Part of the difficulty with this argument has been the lack of any real radical change in the people’s political or social environment. Which makes these events of pollical upheaval or revolts like this one, more like a political evolution rather than a political revolution.
The argument that makes up the elements of a Revolution, requires a historical understanding of what separates them from other social movement. Also, it is important to learn what defines them; and what else we can say about them. Many people have very little understanding of what a successful revolution looks like. Which is why it being common for people to dismiss the possibility or wrongly assume a what constitutes a Revolution.
What makes a social movement a pollical revolution different from a political evolution, is the events in the process. Revolution is determined and understood in terms of actual outcomes. People confuse political revolts with a revolution because they usually start off the same way. There is a conflict between the people and the authority. The public either feel mistreated, misled or neglected in most cases, which turn into political upheaval. This why it is important to understand that the outcome is what determine if those set of events could be classified as a
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revolution In a successful political revolt, the conflict is usually dealt with by altering of laws to satisfy the public wants but the people in power remain the same. To qualify for a revolution, there needs to be radical change in the political structure. In most cases, resulting in violent and gory events, with oppressed people standing up against their current regimen Looking at that different factors that are involved in a revolution, there seem to be one major culprit in these cases. That is the growth and spread of science. Religion was the former leading doctoring for people to base their understanding of the world and their relation to others. Which is why most people in the past held their religious leaders to high regards. This lead to politics and government to be heavily influence and controlled by Religion. For example, a monarch who is a sovereign head of state in a monarchy and a religious figure. Has the right to exercise the state's sovereign rights or do what freely decides, because their decision was viewed as divine and holy. Ruling monarch often sanctioned and fostered figures and even attempted to apply their ideas of government in what was known as Enlightened Despotism. “the church supervised primary education and all 348-secondary school” (H&C13). It wasn’t until till people started to prefer tangible evidence over faith, did that start to change. Science led to the invention of new technologies and ideas, which dramatically changed the way the average person viewed life and its functions. As religion is about acceptance and faith, science is about skepticisms and evidence. The scientific method, for example, is a process for experimentation that is used to explore observations and answer questions. This process requires the user to be skeptical and always question what they hear and read. Encouraging the person to question former beliefs and understandings. “It saw a substantial increase in the number of people asking questions about the natural world” (P3) These type of newly adopted ideas and characteristics transcended in the minds of humans, making them to be skeptical about everything. The Age of Enlightenment was a movement of intellectuals in the 18th century, first in Europe and later in the American colonies.
The Enlightenment flourished until about 1790–1800. Its purpose was to reform society using reason rather than tradition, faith, and revelation. Its main goal was to advance knowledge through science. It promoted science and intellectual, interchange and opposed superstition, bigotry and some abuses by church and state. It hardly made a difference as stated in the French Revolution and Napoleon: Crucible of the Modern World written by Lynn Hunt & Jack Censer , is “ event as crack widened in French Society and Enlightenment writer criticized Catholic authorities for their intolerance and bigotry, the Catholic Church continue to enjoy great influence” (H&C13).Which is why The Age of Enlightenment brought forth the ideas of individual
rights. The French revolutions are possibly one of the best examples use to identify other revolutions. This period had political upheavals that were spontaneously generated. In a series of events, these rebellions and revolts, allowed a new form of power to emerged in opposition to the established order. The French Revolution was a political uprising against the absolute power of the king and against the privileges and wealth of the elite, while the mass suffered and lived oppressed. The revolution was initiated by the dislike of tradition and desire overthrow the regime of the state to create a new order. In this new order, people are now considered as citizens of the state. The revolution was unable to establish a long-lasting reign as in a result the following century, France would be governed by different forms of government. Those varying from a republic, a dictatorship, a constitutional monarchy, and two different empires and under different constitutions. Sadly , the revolution include the Napoleonic wars, the restoration of the monarchy, and two additional revolutions as modern France took shape. French revolution formed ideas also inspired and influenced Marxist revolutionary movements such as the Bolsheviks in Russia who followed the pattern established in France of large-scale executions of the enemies of the people by impersonal government organs. “Having seized power in a nation used to authoritarian rule, the Bolsheviks, given the tenuous nature of their grasp on power, must have believed these methods of repression to be key” (C98) Well, because the Soviet Union was the first communist state that ever existed. Their aims were to unite the working class to overthrow the ruling class. “ The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions…. Working Men of All Countries, Unite!” (M&E). The issues are that what started as a dictatorship of the Communist Party under Lenin, then later turned into a dictatorship of a single man, Stalin. Any other country was either created by the Soviet Union or at least modeled in its image. The problem with the Russian revolution is,” The picture of Soviet life under Stalin is comparable to life in Nazi Germany under Hitler. Both were ‘totalitarian’ in the sense of imposing total demands on their citizens which permitted them no independence” (W&Z106). the Soviet Union discourages innovation and individuality through information censorship, intimidating, and spying on the population. Also, the Soviet Union employed a huge amount of secret police and informants This general culture of spying on the public forced people to go underground. As a result, a thriving black market and organized crime began to develop in Russia. The people were stripped of their individuality and made into a member of the masses. They lacked basic human rights, being an valueless in the eye of the government. Which is why the Russian revolution being a failed revolution, is generally not considered the model for revolution based off it unsuccessful implication. Which further validate the French revolution for being the model for all global revolutions. Since it met all the qualification for a revolution while differentiating itself from a political revolution. It was a complex and opposed achievement of bringing together huge diverse groups of oppressed people to overthrow their current regimen for one more favorable.
According to Webster’s Online Dictionary, revolution is “a sudden, radical or complete change.” During the early settlement of the British colonies, settlers became so culturally different from those in Great Britain that they already seemed to be their own country. This is what John Adams meant in saying, “What do we mean by the Revolution? The war? That was no part of the Revolution; it was only an effect and consequence of it. The Revolution was in the minds of the people… years before a drop of blood was shed at Lexington.” In fact, the revolution began years before the colonists began to feel mistreated by the British. As they arrived in the new colonies, they noticed many major differences in the society and culture of this new place. As time went on, they learned about the colonies and the society there, and eventually, they evolved their cultures and lifestyles to comply with this new society. The primary changes the colonists the colonists made were in their economic system, their lifestyle, and their freedoms. In England, the economic system was primarily industrious, while in it was agriculture. In addition, the colonists, especially those in the south, relied very heavily on slave labor for agricultural purposes. In Great Britain, however, slavery did exist, but it was not relied upon for a functional society. The final change the settlers made in the New World was religion. In Great Britain, the king forced everyone to join the Church of England and leave the Roman Catholic Church. When in the colonies, settlers could go back to whatever religion they desired, so colonial religion was extremely diverse. Therefore, three main changes or “Revolutions”
Revolution is briefly described as an attempt to overthrow a government to start a new one. The American Revolution took place between 1775 and 1783 and was a fight for American Independence from England. In 1764, the first of many “Intolerable Acts” were passed. The British Parliament began to excise tax on the American colonies without representation, sparking the great conflict. The British were continuing to incorporate new ways to make more money. England was the most powerful country at the time with an intimidating military, so this wasn’t a hard task to complete. The American Revolution was very Revolutionary because, it jump started the abolition of slavery, it brought about many political and social advances, and served as a stepping stone towards a democracy and a strong centralized government.
There were several events that contributed to the Revolution of 1688. King Charles I attempted to create an absolute monarchy in 1630’s by dismissing the sitting Parliament. His actions resulted in the English Civil War, where Charles was easily overpowered by Parliament and was consequently captured by Cromwell and executed for treason. After the removal of Charles I, England entered a period of a “republic” where it was ruled by Oliver Cromwell, also known as the Lord Protector. Parliament offered Cromwell the position of king, but he refused in order to distance England from another monarchy. Soon after Oliver’s death, the Commonwealth attempted to name Cromwell’s son, Richard as his predecessor, but the people refused arguing that a theocracy would not be an improvement from the monarchial times. Charles II, the son of Charles was brought back from exile and appointed king in 1660.
... truly set the political system of America apart from the political system of England. By only looking at the textbook definition of a revolution it can be argued that the revolution truly was not revolutionary, but after the colonists won the war nothing went back to normal. The colonists could not conserve what they had before, but instead had to completely upheave the entire system. Therefore by the definition of what a revolution actually is, allows the American Revolution to be truly revolutionary.
A revolution is a forcible overthrow of a government or social order in favor of a new system. In 1775, America was ready for dramatic change, freedom, and a disconnection with Great Britain. Taxes, trade regulations, and overarchingly, power, made all colonists, aside from the loyalists, more than ready to detach from Great Britain 's rule. The American Revolution portrays many similarities and qualities of the French revolution, due to the inspiration of one to another. The similarities and qualities lie within their down spiraling economies, selfish, money wealth-thirsty leaders, ideologies, and provocation.
During the Age of enlightenment people began to reform society using reason, challenge ideas of tyranny and of the Roman Catholic Curch. People for the first time started advancing knowledge through the use of the scientific method. Enlightenment type thinking has had a huge impact on the culture, politics, and g...
What is a revolution? By definition it means the overthrow of a government by those who are governed. That is exactly what the French and the Mexican revolutions were all about. The living conditions and overall treatment of the poor, pheasants, lower class, last man on the totem pole or what ever you want to call them, was a large factor in the coming of these revolutions. "Those who are governed" are exactly what the lower class people were. Also, liberty was one of the people's major concerns. They were ruled by men whose only desire was power and greed which is what led them into revolt.
Revolutions are usually described as “radical” events. A “radical” event is defined as one that greatly changes the political, cultural, social, and/or economic nature of a society. I believe that the American Revolution was a radical event that dramatically changed our society. There were many impacts to the changes such as slavery, primogeniture, the Articles of Confederation, republican motherhood, and government. This was the time in life, that we as America gained our independence from Britain. The American Revolution is what shaped our world to become what it is today.
Throughout history, countless uprisings have occurred. Historians classify any forcible overthrow of a government or social order in favor of a new system as a revolution. The success or failure of a revolution is directly related to the revolution’s causes and courses. The French Revolution was more successful than the Nicaraguan Revolution, because the Nicaraguan Revolution left the country in social and financial ruin, foreign powers had much greater interference, and it precipitated a period of political unrest with multiple leadership changes.
Which means all people, not giving thought to any struggle in the past. A revolution is a radical and pervasive change in society and the social structure, especially one made suddenly and often accompanied by violence. As stated before, society changed, but the social structure of the society did not. When observing historical context, this can be a revolution because social structures either reverted back to the old ways then changed to an extent.
Revolutionary is defined as “something markedly changed or introducing radical change” ("Related Queries." Revolutionary). Some events that had a radical change was the English Civil War and the Glorious Revolution in Europe. These events began when there was a split between the Parliament and King Charles I. Both sides had many arguments, and were not willing to back down over the principles that they had about the manner of the government, and how all those problems could be solved. The country then split into two sides, one was people who supported the Parliament, and then theres people who supported the Royalists, and both sides had fought many wars over the situation. This battle ended by the execution of King Charles I. The English Civil War and the Glorious Revolution were truly revolutionary events and these events had many dramatic changes that occurred and changed their society. These dramatic changes changed Europe in it’s social and political ways that the Europeans gained rights and both events had an effect to their economic ways as well.
Revolutions are a prevalent part of world history and have shaped our world into what it is today. The French and the Bolshevik revolutions serve as just two examples of the many revolutions throughout history that have brought about changes to their respective countries. Both of these revolutions had distinct causes and were stimulated by other revolutions in the past. Since these two revolutions happened many years apart, with the French Revolution in the late sixteenth century and the Bolshevik Revolution in the early twentieth century, the ideologies behind them were somewhat different. The people went the extremes in both countries to bring about the desired changes. The revolutions were both radical because of the shortage of food and the uprising of the people. In both revolutions, there is a quest for change and the citizens were willing to go as far as they needed to go to make that change, even if it meant the people had to overthrow their leaders.
In her book On Revolution, Hannah Arendt carefully characterizes a revolution, giving the exact classifications that are required of an event for it to be revolutionary. She also asserts exactly how a revolution is a beginning, using the American Revolution as an example. Through her explanation of how a revolution is a beginning, she explains how the idea of attempting to date a revolution is paradoxical.
A revolution is no piece of cake. To make a revolution, there are a few necessary ingredients, like a reason to revolt, a well-organized battle plan, and a powerful leader. Mix these all together, and there it is. A powerful Revolution. There are two specific revolutions that are very similar, and very successful.
In his book The Anatomy of Revolution, Crane Brinton describes revolutions as an illness that can be analyzed by discovering the precursors of such events. In this regard, he would argue that revolutions are not necessarily a good thing and something that can be avoided. Brinton specifically investigates the English, American, French, and Russian revolutions to dissect each one and discover the symptoms that lead to it. The Anatomy of Revolution is thus broken into the three phases that he defines as making up most revolutions: the symptoms, the fever, and when the fever breaks.