Best Revolution

The French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval beginning in 1789 and commonly ending with Napoleon Bonaparte's seizure of power in 1799. It ended the Bourbon monarchy, dismantled feudal privileges, proclaimed a republic, and produced both democratic reforms and the violence of t...

The American Revolution was the political and military struggle through which thirteen British colonies in North America became the independent United States. Armed conflict lasted from 1775 to 1783, while the Declaration of Independence stated the colonies' separation from Britain in 1776. The revo...

The Velvet Revolution was the largely peaceful movement that ended Communist Party rule in Czechoslovakia in November and December 1989. Mass demonstrations followed the violent suppression of a student march in Prague, while Civic Forum and Public Against Violence coordinated opposition activity. T...

The Dutch Revolt was a prolonged conflict from 1568 to 1648 in which provinces of the Habsburg Netherlands resisted the rule of King Philip II of Spain. Religious persecution, taxation, political centralization, and the defense of provincial privileges contributed to the uprising, which became inter...

The Singing Revolution refers to the nonviolent independence movements of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania from 1987 to 1991, distinguished by mass song festivals and human chains as primary forms of resistance against Soviet rule.

The Meiji Restoration was the political transformation that ended Tokugawa shogunal rule and established a new imperial government under Emperor Meiji in 1868. The ensuing reforms centralized administration, abolished the feudal domains, introduced conscription and national education, and encouraged...

The East German Peaceful Revolution was the largely nonviolent protest movement that ended the ruling Socialist Unity Party's monopoly on power in the German Democratic Republic in 1989. Demonstrations, church-based opposition, civic groups, and mounting emigration pressure weakened the regime, with...

The Carnation Revolution was a military-led uprising in Portugal on 25 April 1974 that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime. Organized by the Armed Forces Movement, it encountered limited resistance and gained broad civilian support, with carnations becoming its enduring symbol. The revolu...

The English Civil Wars were a connected series of armed conflicts fought from 1642 to 1651 among Royalists, Parliamentarians, and other forces across England, Scotland, and Ireland. Disputes over royal authority, Parliament, religion, taxation, and governance contributed to the wars. Parliament's vi...

The South Korean Candlelight Revolution (2016–2017) was a series of massive peaceful protests that led to the impeachment and removal of President Park Geun-hye over a corruption and influence-peddling scandal.

The Greek War of Independence was an uprising against Ottoman rule that began in 1821 and led to the establishment of an independent Greek state. Fighting involved Greek revolutionary forces, the Ottoman Empire, and Egyptian troops, while Britain, France, and Russia later intervened militarily and d...

The Glorious Revolution was the political crisis of 1688 and 1689 in which James II was displaced as ruler of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and William of Orange and Mary were installed as joint monarchs. It involved an invasion by William, defections from James's government, and limited fighting...

The Turkish War of Independence was a military and political struggle fought from 1919 to 1923 after the Ottoman Empire's defeat in the First World War and the Allied occupation of parts of Anatolia. The nationalist movement led by Mustafa Kemal rejected the proposed partition embodied in the Treaty...

The Philippine People Power Revolution was a largely nonviolent mass uprising in February 1986 that ended the authoritarian rule of President Ferdinand Marcos. Following a disputed presidential election, civilians gathered along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue in Metro Manila while sections of the arm...

The Mexican Revolution was a prolonged political and armed struggle that began in 1910 against the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz. After Díaz fell, competing movements led by figures including Francisco Madero, Emiliano Zapata, Pancho Villa, and Venustiano Carranza fought over political authority, la...

The October Revolution was the Bolshevik seizure of power in Petrograd in November 1917 by the Gregorian calendar, or October under the Julian calendar then used in Russia. Led politically by Vladimir Lenin and organized in part through the Military Revolutionary Committee, Bolshevik forces displace...

The Revolution of Dignity was the culmination of Ukraine's Euromaidan protests in February 2014. The demonstrations began in November 2013 after President Viktor Yanukovych's government suspended preparations for closer association with the European Union, then expanded in response to police violenc...

The Lithuanian independence movement was a political and civic campaign to restore Lithuania's sovereignty after decades of incorporation into the Soviet Union. Sąjūdis, founded in 1988 during the reforms of glasnost and perestroika, united advocates of democratic reform, cultural revival, and natio...

The Algerian Revolution, also called the Algerian War, was the armed struggle from 1954 to 1962 that ended French colonial rule in Algeria. The National Liberation Front led the independence campaign through guerrilla warfare, political organization, and international diplomacy, while France deploye...

The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was a nationwide uprising against Hungary's Soviet-backed government and the political and military control exercised by the Soviet Union. Beginning with demonstrations in Budapest on 23 October, it developed into armed resistance and briefly produced a government un...

The Chinese Communist Revolution was the political and military struggle through which the Chinese Communist Party gained control of mainland China, culminating in the proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Led by Mao Zedong, Communist forces defeated the Nationalist government afte...

The Indonesian National Revolution was the political and armed struggle that followed Indonesia's declaration of independence on 17 August 1945. Indonesian republican forces and civilian groups resisted attempts by the Netherlands to restore colonial rule, while diplomacy, international pressure, an...

The Irish War of Independence (1919–1921) was a guerrilla conflict between the Irish Republican Army and British forces that resulted in the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the creation of the Irish Free State.

The Soviet coup attempt of August 1991 was an unsuccessful effort by senior Soviet officials to remove President Mikhail Gorbachev from effective power and halt his reform program. The plotters formed the State Committee on the State of Emergency, confined Gorbachev in Crimea, and deployed forces in...

The Vietnamese August Revolution was the Viet Minh-led seizure of political power across Vietnam in August 1945, following Japan's surrender at the end of the Second World War. Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in Hanoi on 2 September 1945. The revolution ended the immediate...

The February Revolution was the first of Russia's two revolutions in 1917 and brought the Romanov monarchy to an end. It began with strikes and demonstrations in Petrograd, intensified when soldiers refused orders and joined the unrest, and led Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate. A Provisional Government...

The Mexican War of Independence was an armed and political struggle from 1810 to 1821 that ended Spanish colonial rule in mainland Mexico. It began with Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla's Grito de Dolores and continued under leaders including José María Morelos, Vicente Guerrero, and Guadalupe Victoria. In...

The Tunisian Revolution was a nationwide protest movement that began in December 2010 and forced President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to leave the country in January 2011 after more than two decades in power. Demonstrations were driven by unemployment, corruption, political repression, and the death of...

The Xinhai Revolution was the 1911 uprising that overthrew China's Qing dynasty and ended the country's imperial political system. It began with the Wuchang Uprising on 10 October and spread as provinces withdrew their allegiance from the Qing government. The Republic of China was proclaimed with Su...