Revolution
A revolution is a very sharp change made to something. The word comes from Latin and is related to the word revolutio (which means turnaround).
Revolutions are usually political in their nature. Some people feel unhappy with their lives, and others are not happy with whole systems. They might join together, share their ideas, and make something change. Often, revolutions include fighting and civil unrest, but there are also revolutions that happen without fighting.
The Soviet Union was started by the Russian Revolution, which killed millions, and the country later fell apart in another revolution without much fighting. However, in the French Revolution (1789), there was much bloodshed, which included the Reign of Terror.
Other events often called "revolutions" include:
- Neolithic revolution
- Industrial Revolution, a shift from an agrarian society to an industrial one(1750).
- Second Industrial Revolution, a shift from horse and wood to electricity and steel
- Green Revolution of scientific agriculture
- Green Industrial Revolution, a shift from consuming fossil fuels to clean energy (Boris Johnson, June 2021, at a G7 meeting)
- The shift from an industrial society to a post-industrial one:
- Cybernetic Revolution (1960- present)
- American Revolution
- Shift from a Communist society to a capitalist one: perestroika in the former Soviet Union (1991-2000).
The opposing idea in politics is called gradualism.
Revolution Media
A Watt steam engine in Madrid. The development of the steam engine propelled the Industrial Revolution in Britain and the world. The steam engine was created to pump water from coal mines, enabling them to be deepened beyond groundwater levels.
Revolutions of 1848 were essentially bourgeois revolutions and democratic and liberal in nature, with the aim of removing the old monarchical structures and creating independent nation-states.
The storming of the Bastille, 14 July 1789 during the French Revolution.
George Washington, leader of the American Revolution.
Vladimir Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.
Sun Yat-sen, leader of the Chinese Xinhai Revolution in 1911.
Khana Ratsadon, a group of military officers and civil officials, who staged the Siamese Revolution of 1932
The fall of the Berlin Wall and most of the events of the Autumn of Nations in Europe, 1989, were sudden and peaceful.
