34
votes
Why do revolutions "eat their own?" What is the sociological dynamic here?
Revolution and Power
As Lenin famously said, the key question of any revolution is the question of Power.
Translating it into the vernacular for the benefit of the unindoctrinated: a revolution is ...
- 26.9k
26
votes
Has there ever been a revolution backed by a royal or a noble against their own family?
Louis Philippe II the Duke of Orléans, who avidly supported the French Revolution - arguably, the quintessential revolution of the modern era. As First Prince of the Blood, he was one of the most ...
- 97.4k
18
votes
Why do revolutions "eat their own?" What is the sociological dynamic here?
Revolutions create instability.
Edmund Burke said the following after the French Revolution:
one of the first and most leading principles on which the commonwealth and the laws are consecrated is ...
- 14.3k
17
votes
Have revolutions been won without the military establishment?
The central problem in the theory presented in the question is this:
According to their reasoning, the leaders of the military control the military, and thus have enough firepower to defeat any ...
- 80.8k
17
votes
Accepted
Who were the first "businessmen" to rival the kings throughout the world?
Speaking very generally, merchant groups were relatively marginalized in all pre-modern societies. They formed networks across city-states in different regions, but were not allowed to take strong ...
- 18.9k
16
votes
Have revolutions been won without the military establishment?
Nicaragua 1979
The overthrow of the Samoza regime and the National Guard (as the Nicaraguan military was then known) by the Sandinista National Liberation Front in 1979 during the Nicaraguan ...
- 108k
14
votes
Why do revolutions "eat their own?" What is the sociological dynamic here?
Old system destroyed, new system not yet established
When you observe human behavior in large groups, you will notice a large amount of inertia. Let's take for example British political system. They ...
- 11.2k
12
votes
Has there ever been a situation where the "motherland" treated its colonies well anywhere in the world?
Some of the UK colonies became independent on very friendly terms, and still maintain close ties to the UK. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand come to mind. However... their indigenous populations ...
- 3,441
11
votes
Accepted
What did Catesby and crew expect to do after the explosion?
What we now know as the Gunpowder Plot began as a conspiracy between three men: Robert Catesby, John Wright and Thomas Winter. Only one of the three, Thomas Winter, survived to tell their account of ...
- 77.3k
11
votes
Why do revolutions "eat their own?" What is the sociological dynamic here?
It's actually very simple. So long as the target of a revolution/movement exists, the solution remains very theoretical: "solve the problem". During this time, everyone in the movement ...
- 111
10
votes
Was there risk of revolution in France at end of World War I?
Short Answer
The risk was minimal for a number of reasons, key among them being: (1) a divided political left (see SFIO) facing a basically unified centre-right, (2) firm political and military ...
- 108k
10
votes
Accepted
Why were the continuity states of Imperial and Royal Austria-Hungary disunited, while the continuity states of Imperial Russia were united?
The answer is simple. In the parts of Imperial Russia that became the USSR, the Communist Party had managed to achieve sufficient control, and was determined to form a union. The parts that became ...
- 31.4k
10
votes
Accepted
Women in the Iranian revolution
Iran and Saudi Arabia are both majority Muslim nations in western Asia, with a lot of their external revenue coming from oil extraction. But that's about where the resemblance ends.
Iran is largely ...
- 118k
10
votes
Accepted
Did Hitler and Nazi officials give interviews and cooperate with the Weimar republic general press?
Assuming that with "Weimar" the question asked exclusively about pre-dictatorship Germany then for the timespan from 1919–1934 we have to observe:
(October 1930)
It's gonna be a clean winter. ...
- 80.8k
10
votes
Has any (nominally) democratic government ever been domestically overthrown without military assistance?
The end of the GDR mastches all of your points:
Although a firm communist part of the Warsaw pact, it called itself "German Democratic Republic" and held elections regularly. They obviously ...
- 4,629
9
votes
Has there ever been a situation where the "motherland" treated its colonies well anywhere in the world?
Baltic states such as Estonia remember Swedish rule as the "good old [Swedish] times." That's because Swedish kings followed a policy of "reduction" that limited the power of nobles at home and abroad,...
- 104k
9
votes
Accepted
Which 1848 German revolutionaries became key players in the US Republican party?
This is a list-type question, and "key-player" a rather wobbly defined term.
Therefore, this answer is a community wiki. Please help to fill in the gaps.
Franz Sigel
Friedrich Hecker
...
8
votes
Which recent revolutions resulted in a major redistribution of wealth from the rich to the poor?
If I’m reading this question correctly, there are 4 criteria for an answer to be a valid example:
There was a revolution.
It was recent.
There was a major or large-scale redistribution of wealth from ...
- 108k
8
votes
Who decided on the name "Mexico"?
Your question appears to be based upon a false assumption:
As far back as 1590, the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum showed that the northern part of the New World was known as "America Mexicana" (...
- 1,004
7
votes
Accepted
Does anyone know the name of the student who died during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956? If not, why not?
One of the sources quoted by the Wikipedia article is the United Nations Report of the Special Committee on the Problem of Hungary. If the document is genuine*, I would be inclined to give it much ...
- 77.3k
7
votes
Have revolutions been won without the military establishment?
Abdication of Napoleon in both 1814 and 1815 was forced by the Paris mob, led by disloyal civilians such as Talleyrand and Fouché, despite the unquestioned loyalty of the French Army.
- 72.3k
7
votes
Accepted
What was the first recorded non-violent toppling of a dictator?
If you accept a Western Roman Emperor as a dictator, then Vetranio (March to December 350 AD) may qualify. This somewaht obscure emperor was deposed peacefully by Contantius II:
Constantius first ...
- 108k
7
votes
Accepted
Was a drop in standards of living a significant factor in the revolutions of 1848?
See the article "Economic Crises and the European Revolutions of 1848" (Berger and Sporer, 2001):
Recent historical research tends to view the 1848 revolutions in Europe as caused by a ...
- 18.9k
7
votes
Why do revolutions "eat their own?" What is the sociological dynamic here?
In these kinds of situations, the divide is between the call for "continuing" revolution by some, and the wish by others to "Join the Establishment."
Naziism was a "...
- 104k
6
votes
Accepted
New Latin American navies raiding Spanish interests
The Latin American countries that "projected" naval power were the ones that had naval power. Notably Argentina and Chile.
There were a few reasons. First, those two countries had the longest ...
- 104k
5
votes
Accepted
How do totalitarian states/empires usually fall?
Totalitarian regimes generally end in two ways:
By the sword: either a foreign invader or a domestic revolt or both forced an end to the regime.
By the pen: the ruling regime peacefully transitions ...
- 97.4k
5
votes
Accepted
What alternatives to working was proposed in Paris during May, 1968?
The anti-work current in libertarian socialism is based on a conception of work as human activity controlled by others. Basically, the marxist analysis of wage slavery is that the wage slave sells ...
- 14.6k
5
votes
Who decided on the name "Mexico"?
Mexica is the Nahuatl or "Aztec" name for the original group of "Aztecs." Over the course of several centuries, these "Mexicans" conquered the whole Central Valley of what we now call "Mexico," ...
- 104k
5
votes
Accepted
How did Tunisia's revolution (and Arab Spring) begin?
Its a truism, at least in the Lockian conception of government that any system of government that doesn't allow the governed a legal way to remove leaders that have become unacceptable (for whatever ...
- 118k
5
votes
Have revolutions been won without the military establishment?
Another revolution to consider is Haiti 1793-1804.
Although L'Ouverture allies his former slave army with the Spanish military and then the French, he is eventually betrayed in 1802. From 1802-1804 it'...
- 151
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible