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Revolution

Specialty Definition: Revolution

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Specialty Definition: 1956 Hungarian Revolution

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The 1956 Hungarian Revolution was a popular revolt against Soviet influence and control in Hungary. The revolt was brutally suppressed by Soviet troops, thousands were killed, many more wounded and nearly a quarter million left the country as refugees.

Overview

On 23 October 1956 Hungary's population rose up against their government. The population achieved control over a large number of social institutions and territory. The Hungarians began to implement their own policies. The Soviet Union's army intervened on two occastions to stop this process, once on the night of October 23, resulting in a ceasefire by 1 November 1956. On the night of 4 November 1956 the Soviet army again acted to halt this process of popular reform. By January 1957 the Soviet Union had installed a new Hungarian government and halted the reforms demanded by the people. Due to the rapid change in government and social policies; the role of left-wing ideology in uniting the population; and, the use of armed force to achieve political goals this uprising is often considered a revolution.

Historical debate

The historical and political signifigance of the Hungarian revolution of 1956 is still actively debated. The main views on the nature of the revolution are:

• That it was a nationalist and democratic revolution with an intention to create a capitalist economy. This view is popular in the United States of America.
• That it was a socialist and democratic revolution aiming to create a reformed communist society like Yugoslavia or a social democratic society like Sweden. This view was popular amongst reformist communists and is popular amongst democratic socialists.
• That it was a libertarian socialist and anarchist revolution aiming to create a new kind of society modelled on the Hungarian workers councils. This view is popular amongst council communists and left wing anarchists.
• That it was a clerical and fascist attempt to restore a Horthyite or Arrow Cross government and a feudal capitalist economy. This view was popular with Soviet Union and Chinese aligned communist parties. This position has little historical credibility, but its bias is present in many accounts of the revolution.

Due to the variety of conflicting and irreconcilable historiographical positions on the Hungarian revolution of 1956 it is difficult to produce a summary account of revolutionary events. Similarly, because the revolution was short lived it is impossible to speculate on what would have arisen from the revolution.

Why it happened

Economic collapse and low standards of living provoked working class discontent, which was visable during soccer riots. Peasants were unhappy with land policies. The Communist Party was unable to unite its reformist and Stalinist wings. Journalists and authors were upset with their working conditions, and took control of their trade union. Students were upset with academic conditions and University entrance criteria and established independant student unions. Krushchev's secret speech caused much debate within the elite of the Hungarian communist party. As the Hungarian communist party was blinded by leadership debates, the population took action.

What happened

23 October to 3 November

On 23 October 1956 students marched in the streets of Budapest and many workers joined in. Fighting broke out later at night between protesters and the secret police. The popular communist politician Imre Nagy was installed by the Hungarian communist party as Prime Minister.

While Soviet troops fought in Budapest, the rest of the country was largely quiet. Often Soviet commanders negotiated a cease-fire with the revolutionaries. In some regions the Soviet forces managed to halt revolutionary activity. In Budapest the Soviet troops were eventually fought to a stand-still.

During the following fourtnight many workers councils and national councils were formed. The workers councils were much like the independant Russian Soviets of 1905 or 1917. The national councils were like the workers councils, but governing a geographic area. Political parties from before 1945 or 1949 crackdowns were reformed, but the majority of the population only supported parties which proposed to keep socialism.

Many political prisoners were released including major Church figures.

Popular sentiment forced the government of Imre Nagy to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact. This action caused the Soviet Union to intervene again.

4 November onwards

New Soviet troops invaded. Often soldiers were illiterate or non-Russian speakers from central Asia. Many Soviet soldiers believed they were in Berlin to crush a new Nazi revolt. Others believed they were in Egypt fighting British and French forces in the 1956 Suez War.

Working class Hungarians played a significant role in fighting the Soviet troops, until the workers councils, students and intellectuals called for a cease-fire on 10 November.

Between 10 November and 19 December the workers councils negotiated directly with the Soviet occupation force. While they achieved some releases of political prisoners, they did not achieve their aims of a Soviet withdrawal.

Janos Kadar formed a new communist government, with the support of the Soviet Union, and after December 1956 steadily increased his control over Hungary.

Sporadic armed resistance and strikes continued until midway through 1957.

Imre Nagy, and many others were executed by Kadar's government. The CIA's estimates published in the 1960s approximate 1200 executions.

By 1963 most political prisoners from the Hungarian revolution of 1956 had been released by Janos Kadar.

What the revolutionaries wanted

• Peasants wanted the right to own and farm individual plots of land.

• Workers wanted self-management of the factories, free trade unions, improved living conditions.

• Intellectuals wanted freedom to write and criticise.

• Most Hungarians wanted the removal of Soviet troops, increased recognition of traditional national symbols, the democratisation of parliament, increased freedom for the Catholic church, rule of law and the continuation of socialism.

External links

• Institute of Revolutionary History, Hungary

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "1956 Hungarian Revolution."

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American Revolution

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The American Revolution refers to the events and ideas that resulted in the separation of thirteen North American colonies from Great Britain and their transformation into the United States of America.

The revolution included the direct military struggles known as the American Revolutionary War. The War itself is started with the Battle of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775 and ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

The broader sense of revolution began much earlier, continued after the peace treaty, and had a much greater impact on the human experience than simply colonial independence. The process created a new view of government and its organization that the world hadn't seen before. The terms republic and democracy had been used in histories of ancient Greece and Rome, but now they was implemented in a government whose authority was based on individual rights rather than on church or king. While earlier historic trends affected it, the revolution itself had its active roots in the Albany Congress of 1754 and ended when George Washington was sworn in as the first President of the United States in 1789.

Before the revolution most people in the British North American Colonies considered themselves loyal subjects of the British Crown, with the same rights and obligations as people in Britain. However, under the doctrine of mercantilism the British considered the Colonies more as a resource to be utilized for the benefit of their own economy and had little respect for the Colonists. This difference in perception led to a vicious cycle of Colonists acting against what they saw as unfair policies, harsh British reaction, followed by stronger Colonial reaction, leading to even harsher British reaction -- all of this spiraling into the revolution.

As the Colonists started rejecting the Crown they also started becoming more radicalized in other ways, paying more attention to the idea of a broad democracy, and people like Thomas Paine who not long before this would have been condemned as a Leveller. Thomas Paine, produced a pamphlet entitled Common Sense arguing that the only solution to the problems with Britain would be Independence.

See also: American exceptionalism, Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party, British North America, The Enlightenment, Industrial Revolution, Proclamation of 1763, Stamp Congress, Thirteen colonies, Thomas Paine

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "American Revolution."

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American Revolutionary War

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The American Revolutionary War (also known as the American War of Independence) was a war fought between the Kingdom of Great Britain and its North American colonies (these colonies allied with France, from 1775 to 1783). This war is sometimes mistakenly referred to as the American Revolution; however, the American Revolution began much earlier and refers to more than just the war discussed here. This page refers solely to the military campaign, conducted during the war.

The eventual outcome was a recognition of independence for the thirteen colonies, as well as western territories, extending to the Mississippi River.

Loyalties

It should be noted however that a large proportion of the population did stay loyal or at least neutral during the war. Loyalists, known as Tories, included members of the aristocracy who had a lot to lose as well as recent immigrants who identified more with their birthplace than their new home. Both during and following the war some Tories were forced to flee to Canada or Britain. Many Native Americans also opposed the revolution believing that they were likely to suffer more at the hands of independent Americans than the British. An estimated 10-15% of colonists were Loyalists and about one-third of them left the United States. Some 70,000 Loyalists fled along with 2,000 Native Americans. 50,000 of these Loyalists went to Canada where they helped form the colonies of New Brunswick and Ontario. Some black Loyalists went to Sierra Leone.

Initial success and British response

This political cartoon by Ben Franklin was originally written for the French and Indian war, but was later recycled to persuade the people of different colonies to join together against the British

The revolution started in April 1775 when British troops quartered in Boston attempted to seize munitions stored by colonial militias at Concord, Massachusetts. Conflict spread and the outnumbered British garrisons in the 13 colonies were quickly defeated. Fort Ticonderoga fell in May, Montreal in August. Boston was evacuated by British troops in October. By the end of 1775 Britain's holdings in North America had been reduced to the Canadian Maritimes and a besieged garrison at Quebec City in Canada.

At the Second Continental Congress of May 1775, some of the Delegates were deeply divided on agreeing upon the best way to achieve more freedom from Great Britain. Samuel Adams, John Adams, Patrick Henry, and Richard Henry Lee favored Independence from Great Britain. Others, who are now called the moderate party, favored seeking a compromise with the Mother Country.

One of the moderates wrote the Olive Branch Petition which expressed the colonists' loyalty to the King and begged him to call a cease-fire until a nonviolent agreement could be reached.

In November of 1775, the colonists found out that George III had dismissed the petition and decided to continue fighting. In 1776, the British sent 75,000 troops to North America to quell the rebellion. The colonists met in Philadelphia in June of 1776 and declared independence from Great Britain on July 4, 1776. (See United States Declaration of Independence.) The colonial army proved no match for the well-armed British and suffered an embarrassing series of defeats in the Battle of Long Island. By the end of 1776, Quebec, New York City and much of New Jersey were in British hands. However, during Christmas week, General George Washington, who had retreated into Pennsylvania, crossed the Delaware River back into New Jersey and rolled up outlying British garrisons at Trenton and Princeton. This established a pattern that held for the rest of the war. The British controlled the territory they occupied with major forces -- primarily New York City and Philadelphia. The colonists controlled everything else.

In 1777, a force of 10,000 troops started down from Quebec to cut the colonies in half. Simultaneously the much larger army in New Jersey moved across the Delaware River and took Philadelphia -- the colonial capitol and the largest city in North America. However, after retaking Ticonderoga with little trouble, the Northern army suffered a series of serious defeats at Bennington, Fort Stanwix and in two battles near Saratoga. By October the 5,700 survivors found themselves surrounded, outnumbered and short of supplies in the wilderness 130 miles (210 km) south of Montreal with winter approaching.

American success brings French aid

On October 17th General John Burgoyne surrendered an entire British Army to the colonials. News of the surrender arrived in Paris hard on the heels of news that colonial troops had caused supposedly invincible British regulars to flee in disarray in the early stages of the Battle of Germantown. Convinced by Benjamin Franklin and the news from North America that the Colonials had a reasonable chance of victory, the French agreed to support the colonists. Later on February 6, 1778 the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce were signed by the United States and France signaling official recognition of the new republic. Then on July 10 of the same year, Louis XVI of France declared war on the side of the Americans against the Kingdom of Great Britain.

With the French in the war, the conflict settled into a war of attrition. The Colonials were too weak to dislodge the British from Philadelphia and New York. The British tried various strategies, but were unable to establish permanent control over the countryside and the vast majority of the population. The economy of the colonies slowly disintegrated and the British economy -- drained by the costs of a war with France and supporting the large occupation forces in America -- also suffered substantially.

End of the war

In 1781, the British strategy changed to focus on the southern colonies. General Cornwallis led a force of 7,000 troops whose mission was to support loyalists in the South. He was opposed by Nathaniel Greene who despite losing every battle, was able to demoralize Cornwallis's troops. Running low on supplies, Cornwallis moved his forces to Yorktown, Virginia to await supplies and reinforcements.

Spain had entered the war in 1779, and in May of 1781 Spanish forces took Pensacola and with it control of the small British colony of East Florida. This was the largest battle ever fought in Florida. Accounts of what happened next are remarkably diverse -- possibly due to a desire by some American authors to minimize the French role in the events. All sources agree that French naval forces defeated the British Royal Navy on September 5th at the Battle of the Chesapeake, cutting off Cornwallis's supplies and transport. Washington moved his troops from New York and a combined Colonial-French force, led by Lafayette and Washington, of 16,000 or 17,000 troops was assembled and commenced the Battle of Yorktown on October 6, 1781. Cornwallis's position quickly became untenable. On October 19th, Cornwallis surrendered to Washington; as the substantial British force marched out and turned their weapons over, the British regimental band was instructed to play a popular song of the day entitled "The World Turned Upside Down".

In April 1782, the British House of Commons voted to end the war with the American colonies and the government of war proponent Lord North was ousted. The British removed their troops from Charleston, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia in the summer of 1782. On November 30, 1782 preliminary peace articles were signed in Paris and on February 4, 1783 Great Britain formally declared that it would cease hostilities in North America. However the formal end of the war did not occur until the Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783 and the United States Congress ratified the treaty on January 14, 1784. The last British troops left New York City on November 25, 1783.

Casualties

The United States enlisted a total of about 200,000 soldiers and sailors during the war. Battle casualties were 4435 dead and 6188 wounded. An estimated 20,000 Americans died of non-combat causes.

1200 Hessians were killed in action and 6,354 died from illness or accident.

According to data from the Daughters of the American Revolution, the last surviving U.S. veteran of the conflict, George Fruits, died in 1876 at the age of 114. However, Fruits was never on a pension roll. The last surviving veteran may have been Daniel F. Bakeman (died 1869), who was placed on the pension rolls by an act of Congress and is listed as the last survivor of the conflict by the United States Department of Veterans' Affairs.

List of battles

• Important battles (in chronological order):
  • Battle of Lexington and Concord
  • Battle of Ticonderoga
  • Battle of Bunker Hill
  • Battle of Quebec
  • Battle of Long Island also known as the Battle of Brooklyn Heights
  • Battle of Valcour Bay
  • Battle of Trenton
  • Battle of Princeton
  • Battle of Brandywine
  • Battle of Germantown
  • Battle of Bennington
  • Battle of Saratoga
  • Battle of Monmouth
  • Battle of Vincennes
  • Battle of Stoney Point
  • Siege of Charleston
  • Battle of Camden
  • Battle of King's Mountain
  • Battle of Cowpens
  • Battle of Guilford Courthouse
  • Battle of Eutaw Springs
  • Battle of Yorktown

List of important persons

• Samuel Adams
• Ethan Allen
• Benedict Arnold
• John Burgoyne
• Benjamin Franklin
• King George III of Great Britain
• John Hancock
• Thomas Jefferson
• John Paul Jones
• Jacques-Donatien Le Ray
• Louis XVI of France
• Marquis de la Fayette
• Thaddeus Kosciuszko
• Friedrich von Steuben
• Thomas Paine
• Paul Revere
• John Stark
• George Washington
• Banastre Tarleton

See also

• American Revolutionary War (1911 Encyclopedia, part 1)
• American Revolutionary War (1911 Encyclopedia, part 2)
• Boston Tea Party
• Some historical societies preserve what they interpret as the ideas of the Revolution, including
  • Daughters of the American Revolution
  • Sons of the American Revolution

External links

• American Revolutionary War History Resources
• United States Department of Veterans' Affairs

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "American Revolutionary War."

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Chinese Civil War

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

zh-cn:国共内战zh-tw:國共內戰

The Chinese Civil War was a conflict in China between the Kuomintang (the Nationalist Party; KMT) and the Communist Party of China (CPC). It began with the takeover of the KMT by the right-wing General Chiang Kai-shek and purges of leftist and Communist members in 1926 and ended in 1949 with an unofficial cessation of hostilities, with the Communists controlling mainland China and the Nationalists controlling Taiwan and several Fujianese islands.

Background

For many centuries preceding the early 1900s China had been ruled by emperors. Economic troubles led to dissatisfaction and the development of groups who wanted reforms and more developments on Western lines. Southern reformist provinces declared themselves to be independent of the emperor. The northern provinces were undecided and General Yuan Shikai controlled the Beiyang Army. Because of his powerful position Yuan Shikai was appointed prime minister of the imperial government and given authority to deal with the southern uprisings. He made an agreement with the reformers which had him becoming president and the child emperor abdicating. The Tongmenghui (subsequently Kuomintang) (anti-monarchist, reformers) party gained a majority in the national assembly elections of February, 1913. Later that year tensions between Yuan Shikai and the reformers rose, they attempted a second revolution against his rule, and he ordered the assembly dissolved and the suppression of the Tongmenghui party.

Yuan Shikai then reinstated the monarchy and declared himself to be the new emperor, during a period from December 12, 1915 to March 22, 1916. Widespread opposition led to him backing down and he died of kidney failure a few months later. The result was the era of the warlords, during which competing provincial groups and warlords fought for control. One of the strongest was the Kuomintang party and its President Sun Yat-sen, based in the southern province of Guangzhou, which sought to reunite China under a single government.

In his fight against warlordism in Northern China, Sun Yat-sen sought the help of foreign powers. His efforts to obtain aid from the Western democracies were ignored, however, and in 1921 he turned to the Soviet Union. For political expediency, the Soviet leadership initiated a dual policy of support for both Sun and the newly established Communist Party of China. The Soviets hoped for consolidation but were prepared for either side to emerge victorious. In this way the struggle for power in China began between the Nationalists and the Communists.

In 1923 a joint statement by Sun and a Soviet representative in Shanghai pledged Soviet assistance for China's national unification. Soviet advisers--the most prominent of whom was an agent of the Comintern, Mikhail Borodin--began to arrive in China in 1923 to aid in the reorganization and consolidation of the KMT along the lines of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The CPC was under Comintern instructions to cooperate with the KMT, and its members were encouraged to join while maintaining their party identities, forming the First United Front between the two parties. The CPC was still small at the time, having a membership of 300 in 1922 and only 1,500 by 1925. The KMT in 1922 already had 150,000 members. Soviet advisers also helped the Nationalists set up a political institute to train propagandists in mass mobilization techniques and in 1923 sent Chiang Kai-shek, one of Sun's lieutenants from Tongmeng Hui days, for several months' military and political study in Moscow. After Chiang's return in late 1923, he participated in the establishment of the Whampoa Military Academy outside Guangzhou, which was the seat of government under the KMT-CPC alliance. In 1924 Chiang became head of the academy and began the rise to prominence that would make him Sun's successor as head of the KMT and the unifier of all China under the right-wing nationalist government.

Northern Expedition (1926 - 1928) and KMT split

Just months after Sun's death in 1925, Chiang, as commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army, set out on the long-delayed Northern Expedition (北伐战争) against the northern warlords to unite China under KMT control.

By 1926, however, the KMT had divided into left- and right-wing factions, and the Communist bloc within it was also growing. In March 1926, after thwarting a kidnapping attempt against him, Chiang abruptly dismissed his Soviet advisers, imposed restrictions on CPC members' participation in the top leadership, and emerged as the preeminent KMT leader. The Soviet Union, still hoping to prevent a split between Chiang and the CPC, ordered Communist underground activities to facilitate the Northern Expedition, which was finally launched by Chiang from Guangzhou in July 1926.

In early 1927 the KMT-CPC rivalry led to a split in the revolutionary ranks. The CPC and the left wing of the KMT had decided to move the seat of the Nationalist government from Guangzhou to Wuhan. But Chiang, whose Northern Expedition was proving successful, set his forces to destroying the Shanghai CPC apparatus. Chiang Kai-shek, with the aid of the Shanghai underworld, arguing that communist activities were socially and economically disruptive, turned on Communists and unionists in Shanghai, arresting and executing hundreds on April 12, 1927. The purge widened the rift between Chiang and Wang Ching-wei's Wuhan government (a contest won by Chiang Kai-shek) and destroyed the urban base of the CPC. Chiang, expelled from the KMT for his actions, formed a rival government in Nanjing. There now were three capitals in China: the internationally recognized warlord regime in Beijing; the Communist and left-wing Kuomintang regime at Wuhan; and the right-wing civilian-military regime at Nanjing, which would remain the Nationalist capital for the next decade.

The Comintern cause appeared bankrupt. A new policy was instituted calling on the CPC to foment armed insurrections in both urban and rural areas in preparation for an expected rising tide of revolution. Unsuccessful attempts were made by Communists to take cities such as Nanchang, Changsha, Shantou, and Guangzhou, and an armed rural insurrection, known as the Autumn Harvest Uprising, was staged by peasants in Hunan Province. The insurrection was led by Mao Zedong.

But in mid-1927 the CPC was at a low ebb. The Communists had been expelled from Wuhan by their left-wing KMT allies, who in turn were toppled by a military regime.

The KMT resumed the campaign again warlords and captured Beijing in June 1928, after which most of eastern China was under Chiang's control, and the Nanjing government received prompt international recognition as the sole legitimate government of China. The Nationalist government announced that in conformity with Sun Yat-sen's formula for the three stages of revolution--military unification, political tutelage, and constitutional democracy--China had reached the end of the first phase and would embark on the second, which would be under KMT direction.

Agrarian Revolution (1927 - 1937)

During the Agarian Revolution (土地革命战争), Communist Party activists retreated underground or to the countryside where they fomented a peasant rebellion (Nanchang Uprising on August 1, 1927) and established control over several areas in southern China. Attempts by the Nationalist armies to suppress the rebellion were unsuccessful but extremely damaging to the Communist forces.

After Chiang Kai-shek had foiled the coup to oust him launched by Feng Yü-hsiang, Yen Hsi-shan, and Wang Ching-wei (1929-30), he immediately turned his attention to rooting out the remaining pockets of Communist activity. The first two campaigns failed and the third was aborted due to the Mukden Incident. The fourth campaign (1932-1933) achieved some early successes, but Chiang’s armies were badly mauled when they tried to penetrate into the heart of Mao’s Soviet Chinese Republic. Finally in late 1933 Chiang launched a fifth campaign orchestrated by his German advisors that involved the systematic encirclement of the Jiangxi Soviet region with fortified blockhouses. By the fall of 1934, the Communists faced the possibility of total annihilation. It seemed that the time was now ripe to finish off the CPC, then turn against the remaining warlords, before finally retaking Manchuria from the Japanese.

In October, the Communists decided to make a massive military retreat into the interior of Shaanxi to escape the ensuing KMT forces. It was under this yearlong, 8000 km retreat that Mao Zedong emerged as the top Communist leader. Along the way, the Communist Army confiscated property and weapons from local warlords and landlords, while recruiting peasants and the poor, solidifying its appeal to the masses.

Second Sino-Japanese War (1937 - 1945)

During the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) (抗日战争), Chiang Kai-Shek, who saw the Communists as a greater threat, refused to ally with the Communists to fight against Japanese. On December 12, 1936, Kuomintang Generals Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng kidnapped Chiang Kai-Shek and forced him to a truce with the Communists. The incident became known as the Xian Incident (西安事变). Both parties agreed to suspend fighting and form a Second United Front to focus their energies against the Japanese.

However, the alliance was in name only. The level of actual cooperation and coordination between the CPC and KMT during the Second World War was minimal. In the midst of the Second United Front, the Communists and the Kuomintang were still vying for territorial advantage in "Free China" (i.e. those areas not occupied by the Japanese or ruled by puppet governments). The situation came to a head in late 1940 and early 1941 when there were major clashes between the Red Army and KMT forces. In December 1940, Chiang Kai-shek demanded that the CPC’s New Fourth Army evacuate Anhui and Jiangsu Provinces. Under intense pressure, the New Fourth Army commanders complied, but they were ambushed by Nationalist troops and soundly defeated in January 1941. This clash, which would be known as the New Fourth Army Incident, weakened the CPC position in Central China and effectively ended any substantive cooperation between the Nationalists and the Communists and both sides concentrated on jockeying for position in the inevitable Civil War.

Post-war power struggle (1945-1947)

Under the terms of the Japanese surrender, Japanese troops were ordered to surrender to KMT troops and not the Communists.

With the sudden end of WWII in East Asia, Soviet forces flooded into the Manchurian Provinces to seize Japanese positions and to take the surrender of the 700,000 Japanese troops still stationed in the region. Later in the year Chiang Kai-shek came to the painful realization that he lacked the resources to prevent a CPC takeover of Manchuria following the scheduled Soviet departure, he therefore made a deal with the Russians to delay their withdrawal until he had moved enough of his best-trained men and modern materiel into the region. The Soviets spent the extra time systematically dismantling the entire Manchurian industrial plant and shipping it back to their war-ravaged motherland.

General George Marshall arrived in China with the hope of brokering a cease-fire between the KMT and the CPC, and of building a coalition government that would include all of the contending political/military groups in China. Unfortunately for Marshall, neither the Communists (represented by Zhou Enlai) nor Chiang Kai-shek’s representatives were willing to compromise on certain fundamental issues or relinquish the territories they had seized in the wake of the Japanese surrender. The truce fell apart in the spring of 1946, and although negotiations continued, Marshall was recalled in January 1947.

Final stage of fighting (1946 - 1949)

With the breakdown of peace talks, an all out war resumed. To the Communists, this stage was called the War of Liberation (解放战争). While the Soviet Union provided aid to the Communists, the United States assisted the Nationalists with supplies and generous loans.

Belatedly, the Nationalist government sought to enlist popular support through internal reforms. The effort was in vain, however, because of the rampant corruption in government and the accompanying political and economic chaos. By late 1948 the Nationalist position was bleak. The demoralized and undisciplined Nationalist troops proved no match for the communist Red Army. The Communists were well established in the north and northeast. Although the Nationalists had an advantage in numbers of men and weapons, controlled a much larger territory and population than their adversaries, and enjoyed considerable international support, they were exhausted by the long war with Japan and the attendant internal responsibilities.

After numerous operational set-backs in Manchuria, especially in attempting to take the major cities, the Communists were ultimately able to seize the region and then focus on the war south of the Great Wall. In January 1949 Beiping was taken by the Communists without a fight, and its name changed back to Beijing. Between April and November, major cities passed from KMT to Communist control with minimal resistance. In most cases the surrounding countryside and small towns had come under Communist influence long before the cities. And yet, even though the balance of power was shifting toward the CPC, there were still numerous opportunities for a negotiated settlement. Joseph Stalin attempted to restrain Mao on several occasions while he gauged American responses to developments in China. After the Huai-hai Campaign, it seemed that the Communists were going to pause on the northern bank of the Yangtze River. Only when it became clear that American and British support for negotiations was lacking, did Stalin give Mao the go-ahead to cross the river.

Ultimately, the Communist Party was victorious. On October 1, 1949 Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China. Chiang Kai-shek and a few hundred thousand Nationalist troops and 2 million refugees, predominantly from the government and business community, fled from the mainland to the island of Taiwan, there remained only isolated pockets of resistance. In December 1949 Chiang proclaimed Taipei, Taiwan, the temporary capital of the Republic of China and continued to assert his government as the sole legitimate authority in China.

People

Kuomintang

• Chiang Kai-Shek
• Wang Ching-wei
• Liu Chih
• Tu Yü-ming
• Fu Tso-yi

Communist Party

• Mao Zedong
• Zhu De
• Zhou Enlai
• Lin Biao
• Peng Dehuai
• Chen Yi
• Liu Bocheng
• Nie Rongzhen

Warlords

• Chang Hsueh-liang
• Feng Yü-hsiang
• Yen Hsi-shan

Related articles

• History of the Republic of China
• Political status of Taiwan

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Chinese Civil War."

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French Revolution

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

This article is part of the History of France series.

Gaul

Franks

France in the Middle Ages

Valois Dynasty

Bourbon Dynasty

French Revolution

First French Empire

French Restoration

Second Republic

Second French Empire

Third Republic

France during World War II

Fourth Republic

Fifth Republic

The French Revolution is a period in the history of France covering the years 1789-1799, in which the monarchy was overthrown and radical restructuring was forced upon the Roman Catholic Church.

Causes

France in 1789 was still one of the richest and most powerful nations in Europe. Other than Britain and the Netherlands the French people had more freedom and less chance of arbitrary punishment than in any other nation in Europe. The King of France, Louis XVI was overthrown in a popular rebellion, caused by a variety of reasons:

• the absolutist system of government
• rampant discourse on enlightenment ideals
• an unmanageable debt
• the system of taxation
• food scarcity

Absolutism

The French system of absolute monarchy mingled with a large and growing middle class that had absorbed the ideology of equality and freedom of the individual, brought about by such philosophers as Voltaire, Denis Diderot, Turgot, and other theorists of the Enlightenment. They attacked the undemocratic nature of the government, pushed for freedom of speech, challenged the Catholic Church, and the prerogatives of the nobles. There was virtually no representation for the lower and middle classes in government and the French parliament (Estates-General) had not met since 1614.

Economics

Debt

This was compounded by the long running fiscal crisis of the French government. Extravagant expenditures by Louis XIV on luxuries such as Versailles were compounded by heavy expenditures on the Seven Years War and the American War of Independence. This put France deeply into debt; Britain too had a great of debt from these conflicts, but Britain had a far more advanced fiscal structure to deal with it. There was no counterpart to the Bank of England in France in 1789 and there was also far less ready capital in France as it was nearly as much a trading nation as was Britain.

Taxation

Unlike the trading nation France could not rely almost solely on tariffs to generate income. While average tax rates were higher in Britain the burden on the people was greater in France. Taxation relied on a system of internal tariffs separating the regions of France, this prevented a unified market from developing in the country. Taxes such as the extremely unpopular gabelle were contracted out to private collectors who were permitted to raise far more than the government requested. These systems led to an arbitrary and unequal collection of many of France's consumption taxes.

The system also excluded the nobles and the clergy from having to pay taxes. The tax burden was thus paid by the peasants and the professional and business classes. These groups were also cut off from most positions of power in the regime.

Other Causes

Feudalism

These problems were compounded by the remnants of feudalism which gave nobles a number of rights, such as large hunting preserves, that annoyed the rest of the population.

American Influence

France had played a deciding role in the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) sending its navy and troops to aid the revolting colonists. During this time there was much contact between the Americans and the French, and revolutionary ideals spread between the groups.

Food Scarcity

These problems were all compounded by a great scarcity of food in the 1780s. Different crop failures in the 1780s caused these shortages, which of course led to high prices for bread. Perhaps no cause more motivated the Paris mob that was the engine of the revolution more than the shortage of bread. The poor conditions on the countryside had forced rural residents to move into Paris, and the city was overcrowded and filled with the hungry and disaffected. The peasants suffered doubly from the economic and agricultural problems.

History

During the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI different ministers tried to tax the nobles. Such measures encountered much resistance from the parlements (law courts), which the nobility dominated. When in 1788 all attempts had failed, King Louis XVI decided to summon a meeting of the Estates-General, the first since 1614, which he scheduled for May 1789. The King tried to make the Estates meet in a modern way but the parlements decided that the Estates-General would meet in the same way as it met in 1614: in different chambers for every class. But society had changed. The bourgeoisie had grown in the last 200 years and money lay in their hands. Now they had the chance to seize the power they wanted to have.

Right from the beginning the Estates-General were divided about what to do. Instead of discussing the taxes of the king, they began to discuss the way in which decisions should be made. The Third Estate wanted the Estates to meet as one body and vote per person, not per class. When the King doubtfully rejected this idea, the members of the Third Estate declared themselves the National Assembly, the true representatives of the people. In the Tennis Court Oath, they swore that they wouldn't disperse until France had a new constitution.

Under the influence of conservative nobles the king decided to send troops to Versailles to disperse the Assembly. The people saw this as a provocation and the poor labourers of Paris attacked the Bastille.

The storming of the Bastille prison on July 14th, 1789, is commemorated today as Bastille Day. Although only seven prisoners were released -- four forgers, two lunatics, and a dangerous sexual offender -- it became a potent symbol of all that was hated of the ancien régime. After this violent act nobles started to flee the country.

In August the Assembly abolished feudalism and published the Declaration of the Rights of Man; in 1790, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy was passed, confiscating the Church's French land holdings and making it a department of state. New paper money was introduced in that same year, causing high inflation. The King tried to flee in June 1791 to join the nobles in exile, but his flight to Varennes did not succeed. He reluctantly accepted the new constitution in September 1791, which made France a constitutional monarchy. The king had to share power with the elected National Assembly, but he still retained his royal veto and the ability to pick ministers.

New factions emerged such as the Feuillants (constitutional monarchists), Girondins (liberal republicans) and Jacobins (radical revolutionaries). The King, the Feuillants and the Girondins wanted to wage war. The King wanted war to become popular or be defeated: both actions would make him stronger. The Girondins wanted to export the Revolution through Europe. France declared war on Austria (April 20, 1792) and Prussia started participating on the Austrian side a few weeks later. The French Revolutionary Wars had begun.

The Franco-Prussian Battle of Valmy that took place on September 20, 1792 was the first significant military engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars. Although heavy rain prevented a conclusive resolution, the superiority of French artillery was evident. Nonetheless, fighting went badly and prices rose sky-high. In August 1792 a mob assaulted the Royal Palace in Paris and arrested the King. On September 21, 1792 monarchy was abolished and a republic declared. The French Revolutionary Calendar commenced.

The legislative power in the new republic was vested in the National Convention, while the executive power was vested in the Committee of Public Safety. The Girondins became the most influential party in the Convention and on the Committee.

On January 21, 1793 King Louis was executed with a Convention majority of 361 to 360 (only 1 vote!). The execution caused more wars with European countries.

When war went badly, prices rose and the sans-culottes (poor laborers and radical Jacobins) rioted and counter-revolutionary activities began in some regions. This caused the Jacobins to seize power through a parliamentary coup. The Committee of Public Safety came under the control of Maximilien Robespierre. The Jacobins unleashed the Reign of Terror. Thousands of innocent people found the death under the guillotine after accusations of counter-revolutionary activities. In 1794 Robespierre had ultraradicals and moderate Jacobins executed, so eliminating popular support. On July 27, 1794, the French people revolted against the excesses of the Reign of Terror in what had become known as the Thermidorian Reaction. It resulted in Robespierre and several other leadings members of the Committee of Public Safety being deposed and executed by moderate Convention members.

In 1795 a new constitution was drafted, which installed the Directoire. The executive power became vested in five directors who were annually appointed by a bicameral parliament (500 representatives and 250 senators). The new regime met with opposition from remaining Jacobins and royalists. Riots and counter-revolutionary activities were suppressed by the army. In this way the army and its successful general, Napoleon Bonaparte gained much power.

On November 9, 1799 Napoleon staged a coup which led to his dictatorship and eventually to his proclamation as emperor, which brought the specifically republican phase of the French Revolution to a close.

See also

• French Revolutionary Calendar
• French Revolutionary Wars
• Timeline of the French Revolution

Further reading

• Chronicle of the French Revolution - (1989) By Jean Favier, Director of the French Archives in Paris, France with Anik Blaise, Serge Cosseron, and Jacques Legrand in cooperation with more than 35 historians/authors

External links

• The French Revolution - a fictive diary, written for students

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "French Revolution."

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Glorious Revolution

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The Glorious Revolution was a largely non-violent revolution (also sometimes called the "Bloodless Revolution"), 1688-1689, in which the Stuart king was removed from the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and replaced by William of the House of Orange and his wife and joint sovereign Mary.

During his three-year reign, King James II fell victim to the political battle in Britain between Catholicism and Protestantism, between the divine right of the Crown and the political rights of Parliament. James' greatest problem was his Catholicism which left him alienated from both parties in parliament. Any attempts at reform by James were thus viewed with deep suspicion. James also pursued a number of untenable policies, such as a desire for a standing army and a pursuit of religious toleration. While his brother and predecessor, Charles II, had done the same, he had not been an overt Catholic like James. Matters came to a head in 1688 when James fathered a son. Until then, the throne would have passed to his Protestant daughter, Mary. The prospect of a Catholic dynasty in Britain was now real, however. Leaders of the hitherto loyal Tory Party united with members of the opposition Whigs, and set out to solve the crisis.

A conspiracy was launched to depose James and replace him with his daughter Mary and her husband, William of Orange -- both Protestants. William was leader of the Dutch, then in the early stages of a war with the French: the War of the Grand Alliance. Jumping at the chance to add England to his alliance, William and Mary landed at Brixham, Devon on November 5, 1688 with a large Dutch army. James' nerve broke, his army under the future Duke of Marlborough deserted, and he fled to Kent where he was captured. The memory of the execution of Charles I still being strong, he was then allowed to leave for France.

In 1689, the Convention Parliament convened and declared that James' flight amounted to abdication. William and Mary were offered the throne as joint rulers, an arrangement which they accepted. Despite an uprising in support of James in Scotland, the first Jacobite rebellion, and in Ireland where James used local Catholic feeling to try to regain the throne in 1689-1690, the revolution was remarkably bloodless. It can thus be seen as much more of a coup d'état than an authentic revolution. England stayed calm throughout, the uprising in the Scottish Highlands was quelled despite the Jacobite victory at the Battle of Killiecrankie, and James was expelled from Ireland following the Battle of the Boyne.

The Glorious Revolution was one of the most important events in the long evolution of powers possessed by Parliament and by the Crown in England. With the passage of the Bill of Rights it stamped out any final possibility of a Catholic monarchy, and ended moves towards monarchical absolutism in the British Isles by circumscribing the monarch's powers.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Glorious Revolution."

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History of Belgium

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

This is the history of Belgium. See also the history of Europe, history of the European Union, and history of present-day nations and states.

Before the independence

Belgium derives its name from a Celtic tribe, the Belgae, whom Julius Caesar described as the most courageous tribe of Gaul. However, the Belgae were forced to yield to Roman legions during the 1st century BC. For some 300 years thereafter, what is now Belgium flourished as a province of Rome. But Rome's power gradually lessened. In about A.D. 300 the Germanic tribe of the Franks penetrated into northern Belgium. About 100 years later, they took possession of the rest of Belgium and started their conquest of Gaul.
From then on the history of Belgium, the grand-duchy of Luxembourg and the country The Netherlands/Holland are the same up until 1585 : they formed the country/region of The Netherlands/The Low Countries/Les Pays-Bas (in french).
The northern part of present-day Belgium became an overwhelmingly Germanized and Germanic- (Frankish)-speaking area, whereas in the southern part people continued to be Roman and spoke derivatives of Latin. After coming under the rule of the Dukes of Burgundy and, through marriage, it passed into the possession of the Habsburgs as part of the Seventeen Provinces. Later, Belgium was occupied by the Spanish (1519-1713) and the Austrians (1713-1794).

Under these various rulers, and especially during the 500 years from the 12th to the 17th century, Ypres, Ghent, Bruges, Brussels, and Antwerp took turns at being major European centers for commerce, industry (especially textiles) and art. Flemish painting--from Van Eyck and Breughel to Rubens and Van Dyck--became the most prized in Europe. Flemish tapestries hung on the walls of castles throughout Europe.

Following the French Revolution, Belgium was invaded and annexed by Napoleonic France in 1795. After this, it was made a part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands by the Congress of Vienna in 1815.

The independence

In 1830, Belgium wrested its independence from the Dutch as a result of an uprising of several frenchspeaking intellectuals from the Liège region (which had never belonged to The Low Countries), aided by French intellectuals and French armed forces. First, their objectives were to join France, but after international pressure, Belgium became an independent state. A constitutional monarchy was established in 1831, with a monarch invited in from the House of Saxe-Coburg Gotha in Germany by the British.

The Congolese colony

During Leopold II's 44 year reign from 1865 to 1909, Belgium acquired a colony in Congo. The colony's natural resources were ruthlessly exploited, bringing prosperity to Belgium. At first, the colony was called the Congo Free State and was the private property of the king, but in 1908 the colony was transferred to the state and renamed Belgian Congo.

The integration of traditional economies in the Congo within the framework of the modern, capitalist economy was particularly exploitative. Leopold's fortune was greatly added to through the proceeds of Congolese rubber, which had never been mass-produced in surplus quantities.

Exploitation of the Dutch East Indies, French Indochina (Vietnam), German Southwest Africa, Rhodesia, and South Africa paled in comparison to that of the Belgian Congo. Like all colonial powers at the time, the fortunes of Belgium and its king, Leopold II, and those of the multinational concessionary companies under his auspices, were mainly made on the proceeds of Congolese rubber, which had historically never been mass-produced in surplus quantities. While King Leopold II was the defacto sovereign of the Belgian controlled Congo Free State, between 1885 and 1908 the population of Congo nearly halved from 20 to 10 million. Although the actual figure is disputed because of a lack of documented statistics at the time, nontheless, several million natives were the victims of murder, starvation, exhaustion induced by over-work, and disease.

20th century Belgium

Belgium was invaded by German Empire in 1914 and again by Nazi Germany in 1940 (Belgium surrendered on May 28). This, plus disillusionment over postwar Soviet behavior, made Belgium one of the foremost advocates of collective security within the framework of European integration (EU) and the Atlantic partnership (NATO).

Since 1944, when Belgium was liberated by British, Canadian, and American armies, the nation has lived in security and at a level of increased well-being.

A parliamentary democracy, Belgium has been governed by successive coalitions of two or more political parties, with the centrist Flemish Christian Democratic Party providing the Prime Minister most of the time. Two major political controversies have marked the postwar years: a dispute over King Leopold III's conduct during World War II (which caused him to abdicate in 1951), and the insistence of the nation's majority linguistic community--the Flemish--upon a reorganization of the state into autonomous regions. The two were combined together when a referendum was held about his return. In Flanders they voted in favor of his return, in Wallonia against. In total the king won the referendum, but by this troubles and the probability of the escalation of the conflict, he resigned. Baudouin became king.

The last 50 years also have been marked by a rapid economic development of Flanders, which had been largely agricultural and, since the Belgian uprising, had become the poorer half of Belgium. This Flemish resurgence has been accompanied by a corresponding shift of political power to the Flemish, who now constitute an absolute majority (60%) of the population.

Reference

Much of the material in this article comes from the CIA World Factbook 2000 and the 2003 U.S. Department of State website.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "History of Belgium."

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History of Spain

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

This is the history of Spain. See also the history of Europe and history of present-day nations and states.

It is traditional to start the history of modern Spain with the Visigoth kingdom. Although it is debatable whether there is continuity between it and the Kingdom of Castilla and Aragon after the 15th century, a discussion of modern Spain would be incomplete without a mention of the Visigoth Kingdom. Accordingly, Both it and Al Andalus have their own sections in this article, but should have full-blown articles of their own. The history of Spain just before the Visigoths belongs in the Roman Empire article. Before the Roman Empire, the Iberian Peninsula was never politically unified, see Preroman Iberia for a discussion of the indigenous groups and the colonies established by Eastern Mediterranean civilizations. Discussion of earlier periods probably belongs under prehistoric Europe.

Visigothic Spain

After the fall of the Roman Empire, Germanic tribes invaded the former empire, several turned sedentary and created successor-kingdoms to the Romans in various parts of Europe. Iberia was taken over by the Visigoths after 410.

The Visigoths article is excellent, but it does not discuss Visigothic Spain in nearly as much detail as it was traditional in Spanish schools a few decades ago.

Al-Andalus

In 711 Arabs and Berbers converted to Islam, religion founded in the 7th century by prophet Muhammad, after dominating all the north of Africa, took advantage of a civil war in the Visigothic kingdoms in Iberia, jumped the Strait of Gibraltar, and by 718 dominated most of the peninsula. The Moorish advance into Europe was stopped at Poitiers (France) in 732.

The rulers of Al-Andalus were granted the rank of Emir by the Umayyad Caliph in Damascus. After the Umayyad were overthrown by the Abbasids, Abd-ar-rahman I declared Cordoba an independent emirate. Al-Andalus was rife with internal conflict between the Arab Umayyad rulers, the Berber (North African) commoners and the Visigoth-Roman Christian population.

In the 10th century Abd-ar-rahman III declared the Caliphate of Cordoba, effectively breaking all ties with the Egyptian and Syrian Caliphs. The Caliphate reached its peak around the year 1000, under Al-Mansur (a.k.a. Almanzor), who sacked Barcelona (985) and other Christian cities. After Almanzor's death the Caliphate plunged into a civil war and collapsed into the so-called "Taifa Kingdoms". Taifa kings competed against each other not only in war, but also in the protection of the arts. The Taifa kingdoms lost ground to the Christian realms in the north and, after the loss of Toledo in 1085, the Almoravides invaded Al-Andalus from North Africa and established an empire. In the 12th century the Almoravide empire broke up again, only to be taken over by the Almohade invasion. After the decisive battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212, only the kingdom of Granada remained, until 1492.

Córdoba became one of the most beautiful and advanced cities of Europe, and an important scholarly center. (See also Abbadides, Almohades).

Reconquista: 8th-15th centuries

The expulsion of the Muslims was started by the first King of Asturias, named Pelayo (718-737), who started his fight against the Moors in the mountains of Covadonga. Later, his sons and descendants continued with his work until all of the Muslims were expelled. See Pelayo for more information.

While in the east of the peninsula, the Frankish emperors established the Marca Hispanica across the Pyrenees in part of what today is Catalonia, reconquering Girona in 785, Barcelona in 801.

The idea of the Reconquista as a single process spanning 8 centuries is historically inaccurate. The Christian realms in northern Spain warred against each other as much as against the Muslims. El Cid, the 11th-century hero of Spain's epic poem was banished by king Alfonso VI and found refuge with the Muslim king of Zaragoza. With the collapse of the Caliphate of Córdoba Al-Andalus broke apart into a number of small, warring domains, which contributed to the success of the southward expansionist drive of the Christian kingdoms. In the 11th century the Muslim realms asked for help from the North African Almoravides, who then took control of all of Al-Andalus and some Christian land. The Almohades were defeated in the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212. By the mid-13th century Granada was the only independent Muslim realm in Spain, and the 13th and the 15th centuries were spent in internal strife among the Christian kingdoms. The reconquest of Spain was declared a crusade at the turn of the 13th century.

With this declaration came the urge for religious purity in Spain, which was capitalized on by the "Catholic monarchs" (Reyes Católicos in Spanish) Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon in order to justify their invasion of Granada, the expulsion of the Jews and the forceful conversion of the Moors. In the 15th century, the Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon were united under Isabella and Ferdinand. These two able rulers ruled jointly and worked to consolidate the power of the monarchy at the expense of the nobility. During their reign, the castles of many nobles (symbols of aristocratic independence from the monarchy) were demolished, and a system of regular taxation was established. Ferdinand and Isabella established the basis for the unification of Spain religiously as well as politically and economically. Under their rule the Muslims were expelled from the Iberian Peninsula. Aragon was at that time already an important maritime power in the Mediterranean, and Castile was in competition with Portugal for domination of the Atlantic Ocean. After the final conquest of the last Moorish stronghold at Granada in 1492, Spain started financing voyages of exploration. Those of Christopher Columbus brought a New World to Europe's attention, and were followed by the Conquistadores who brought the native empires of Mesoamerica and the Inca under Spanish Control. At the same time, the Jews of Spain were ordered on March 30, 1492 to convert to Christianity or be exiled from the country.

Through a policy of alliances with other European nobility and the conquest of most of South America and the West Indies, Spain began to establish itself as an empire. The Treaty of Tordesillas, negotiated by Pope Alexander VI between Portugal and Spain, effectively divided up the non-European world between these two budding empires. Massive amounts of gold and silver were imported from the New World into Spain's coffers. However, in the long run this hurt the Spanish economy much more than it helped it. The bullion caused high inflation rates, which undermined the value of Spain's currency. Additionally, Spain became dependent on her colonies for income, and when Queen Elizabeth I of England began to capture Spanish vessels on the way to and from the New World, Spain suffered massive economic losses. These effects, combined with the expulsion of Spain's most economically vital classes in the late 15th century (the Jews and the Moors), caused Spain's econmoy to collapse several times in the 16th century, brining the Golden Age of Spain to a close.

Spain under the Habsburgs: 16th-17th centuries

Spain's powerful world empire of the 16th and 17th centuries reached its height and declined under the Hapsburgs. The Spanish empire reached its maximum extent under Charles I, who was also (as Charles V) emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. (See Castilian War of the Communities) Under his sucessor Philip II, rising inflation, the expulsion of the Jews and Moors from Spain, and the dependency of Spain on New World gold and silver combined to cause multiple bankruptcies and economic crashes in Spain. The riches of America were directed to pay the loans of European bankers like the Fugger, that funded the costly wars in defense of Catholicism and the dynastic interests. Under Phillip II Spain also suffered the inglorious defeat of its Armada As the Spanish Hapsburgs declined, they ultimately yielded command of the seas to England.

The Habsburg dynasty became extinct in Spain and the War of Spanish Succession ensued in which the other European powers tried to assume control of the Spanish monarchy. King Louis XIV of France eventually "won" the War of Spanish Succession, and control of Spain passed to the Bourbon dynasty.

Spain under the Bourbons

Philip V, the first Bourbon king, of French origin, signed the Decreto de Nueva Planta in 1715, a new law that revoked most of the historical rights and privileges of the different kingdoms that conformed the Spanish Crown, unifying them under the laws of Castile, where the Cortes had been more receptive to the royal wish. Spain became culturally and politically a follower of France. The rule of the Spanish Bourbons continued under Ferdinand VI and Charles III. His son Charles IV was truly incompetent (some say mentally handicapped), and under his reign Spain fell to the armies of Napoleon.

Under the Bonapartes, Spain failed to embrace the mercantile and industrial revolutions of the 18th century, and also failed to absorb the ideals that of the Enlightenment that were revolutionizing European thought. These missed opportunities, combined with the economic failures of the 17th century, caused the country to fall desperately behind Britain, France, and Germany in economic and political power.

Napoleonic Wars: War of Spanish Independence 1808-1812

The Napoleonic invasion gave the opportunity to the American colonies to claim their independence (See Libertadores). In 1812 the Cortes took refuge at Cadiz and created the first modern Spanish constitution, informally named as La Pepa. This constitution was revoked by the returning king Ferdinand VII.

1820-1823 [Trienio Liberal] - After the pronunciamento (coup d'etat) by Riego, the king was forced to accept the liberal Constitution.

1823-1833 [Decada ominosa] - Another coup d'etat revoked the Constitution, executed Riego, and restored Ferdinand VII as absolute monarch.

Regency by Maria Cristina

Carlist Wars

see also Tomás de Zumalacárregui

Isabella II of Spain

Amadeus I of Savoy

1st Spanish Republic

[The Restoration]

Alfonso XII -

Don Manuel Ruiz Zorilla

The "disaster" of 1898

By 1898, Spain had lost most of its colonial possessions. Then Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam were lost to the United States. (See also: Spanish-American War) Spain's colonial possessions were reduced to Spanish Morocco, Western Sahara and Equatorial Guinea.

Alfonso XIII -

The "disaster" of Annual (1921)

Mistreatment of the Moorish population in Morocco led to an uprising and the loss of all North African possessions except for the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla in 1921. Abd el-Krim, Annual. In order to avoid accountability, the king Alfonso XIII decided to support the dictatorship of general Miguel Primo de Rivera.

The dictatorship of Primo de Rivera 1921-1930

The dictatorship of Primo de Rivera collapsed in 1930. Disgusted with the king's involvement in it, urban population voted for republican parties in the municipal elections of April 1931. The king was forced to resign and a republic was established.

Second Spanish Republic (1931-1939)

First time women are allowed to vote in general elections. Autonomy devolved to the Basque country and to Catalonia.

Spanish Civil War 1936-1939

A right wing coup d'etat by Francisco Franco and other generals starts the Spanish Civil War against the Republic.

The dictatorship of Franco 1936-1975

Spain remained neutral in World Wars I and II, but suffered through a devastating Civil War (1936-39). During Franco's rule, Spain remained largely economically and culturally isolated from the outside world, but slowly began to catch up economically with its European neighbors.

Under Franco, Spain actively sought the return of Gibraltar by the UK, and gained some support for its cause at the United Nations. During the 1960s, Spain began imposing restrictions on Gibraltar, culminating in the closure of the border in 1969. It was not fully reopened until 1985.

Spain also relinquished its colonies in Africa, with Spanish rule in Morocco ending in 1956. Spanish Guinea was granted independence as Equatorial Guinea in 1968, while the Moroccan enclave of Ifni had been ceded to Morocco in 1969.

The latter years of Franco's rule saw some economic and political liberalisation, the so called Spanish Miracle, including the birth of a tourism industry. Francisco Franco ruled until his death on November 20th 1975 when control was given to King Juan Carlos.

In the last few months before Franco's death, the Spanish state went into a paralysis. This was capitalized upon by King Hassan of Morocco, who ordered the 'Green March' into Western Sahara, Spain's last colonial possession.

The transition to democracy 1975-1978

At present, Spain is a constitutional monarchy, and is comprised of 17 autonomous communities (Andalucía, Aragón, Asturias, Illes Balears, Islas Canarias, Cantabria, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, Catalunya, Extremadura, Galicia, La Rioja, Madrid, Murcia, País Vasco, Comunitat Valenciana, Navarra, Ceuta and Melilla). One of the most important problems facing Spain today is ETA's terrorism - this illegal organization defends Basque independence through violent means, which is condemned by both Central and Basque government, although there is tension between these governments since PNV (the party presently governing Basque Country) longs for greater autonomy from Spain, including the possibility of independence, something Spanish government doesn't accept.

[Spain 1978-1982] The Union del Centro Democrático governments. 1981 The 23-F coup d'etat attempt. On February 23 Antonio Tejero, with members of the Guardia Civil entered the Spanish Congress of Deputies, and stoped the session, where Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo was going to be named president of the government. Officially, the coup d'etat failed thanks to King Juan Carlos.

[Spain 1982-1996] The Socialist governments. Spain joins the NATO. 1986 Spains enters the European Union. 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Expo 92 in Seville.

[Spain 1996-2002] The Partido Popular governments of José María Aznar. 1999 Spains abandons the peseta and adopts the new euro currency.

See also: List of Spanish monarchs - Kings of Spain family tree

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "History of Spain."

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July Revolution

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

This is a duplicate article and should be merged with French Revolution of 1830

The July Revolution of July 1830, in the context of the history of France ushered in the July Monarchy of King Louis-Philippe by overthrowing the reactionary monarchical regime of Charles X.

Charles X, who ascended to the French throne on September 16, 1824, soon exhausted his popularity. While the opposition became conservative as regards the Constitutional Charter of 1814 and French liberties, the king and the clerical party surrounding him challenged the spirit of modern France by a law against sacrilege, by a bill for re-establishing the right of primogeniture, by an indemnity of a milliard francs, which looked like compensation given to the émigrés, and finally by the loi de liberté et d'amour against the press. The challenge was so definite that in 1826 the Chamber of Peers and the Academy had to give the Villèle ministry a lesson in Liberalism, for having lent itself to this ancien régime reaction by its weakness and its party-promises. The elections de colère et de vengeance of January 1827 gave the Left a majority, and the resultant short-lived Martignac ministry tried to revive the Right Centre which had supported Richelieu and Élie Decazes (January 1828).

Martignac's accession to power, however, had only meant personal concessions from Charles X, not any concession of principle: he supported his ministry but was no real stand-by. The Liberals, on the other hand, made bargains for supporting the moderate royalists, and Charles X profited by this to form a fighting ministry in conjunction with the prince de Polignac, one of the émigrés, an ignorant and visionary person, and the comte de Bourmont, the traitor of Waterloo. Despite all kinds of warnings, de Polignac tried by a coup d'état to put into practice his theories of the supremacy of the royal prerogative: and the Battle of Navarino, the French occupation of the Morea, and the Algerian expedition could not make the nation forget this conflict at home. The united opposition of monarchist Liberals and imperialist republicans responded by legal resistance, then by a popular coup d'état, to the July Ordinances of July 1830, which dissolved the intractable Chamber, eliminated licensed dealers from the electoral list, and muzzled the press. After fighting for three days against the troops feebly led by the Marniont of 1814, the workmen, driven to the barricades by the deliberate closing of Liberal workshops, gained the victory, and sent the white flag of the Bourbonss on the road to exile.

The rapid success of the "Three Glorious Days" (les Trois Glorieuses), as the July Days were called, put the leaders of the parliamentary opposition into an embarrassing position. While they had contented themselves with words, the small Republican-Imperialist party, aided by the almost entire absence of the army and police, and by the convenience which the narrow, winding, paved streets of those times offered for fighting, had determined upon the revolution and brought it to pass.

But the Republican party, which desired to re-establish the Republic of 1793, recruited chiefly from among the students and workmen, and led by Godefroy Cavaignac, the son of a Conventionalistalist, and by the chemist Raspail, had no hold on the departments nor on the dominating opinion in Paris. Consequently this premature attempt was promptly seized upon by the Liberal bourgeoisie and turned to the advantage of the Orleanist party, which had been secretly organised since 1829 under the leadership of Adolphe Thiers, with the National as its organ. Before the struggle was yet over, Benjamin Constant, Casimir-Périer, Lafitte, and Odilon Barrot had gone to fetch the duke of Orleans from Neuilly, and on receiving his promise to defend the Charter and the tricolore flag, installed him at the Palais Bourbon as lieutenant-general of the realm, while La Fayette and the Republicans established themselves at the Hotel de Ville.

An armed conflict between the two governments was imminent, when La Fayette, by switching his support to Louis-Philippe, decided matters in his favour. In order to avoid a recurrence of the difficulties which had arisen with the Bourbons, the following preliminary conditions were imposed upon the king: the recognition of the supremacy of the people by the title of "king of the French by the grace of God and the will of the people", the responsibility of ministers, the suppression of hereditary succession to the Chamber of Peers, now reduced to the rank of a council of officials, the suppression of article 14 of the Charter which had enabled Charles X to supersede the laws by means of the ordinances, and the liberty of the press. The qualification for electors was lowered from 300 to 200 francs, and that for eligibility to 500 francs, and the age to 25 and 30 instead of 30 and 40; finally, Catholicism lost its privileged position as the state religion.

The bourgeois National Guard was made the guardian of the charter. The liberal ideas of the son of Philippe Egalité, the part he had played at Valmy and Jemappes, his gracious manner and his domestic virtues, all united in winning Louis Philippe the good opinion of the public. So began the July Monarchy.

Original text from 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica. Please update as needed.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "July Revolution."

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Mexican Revolution

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The Mexican Revolution was a period of instability and civil war in Mexico which began with popular objection to dictator Porfirio Diaz in 1910 and ended with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in control of Mexico in the 1930s.

After Francisco I. Madero lost the 1910 presidential election against dictator Porfirio Diaz in results that were widely considered rigged, Madero and other men belonging to the Liberal Party fled to the United States to make what became known as the Saint Louis Plan (since it was written and proclaimed in Saint Louis, Missouri). It declared the nullity of the election, and invited the population to raise in arms agaist the Diaz government on November 20th that same year. It ignited many rebellions (with their own Plans) around the country from men like Aquiles Serdan, Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata and later Venustiano Carranza and Alvaro Obregon.

Although Porfirio Diaz was thrown from office into exile in less than a year, personal ambitions and lack of a single leadership caused the fighting to extend for many years. The new elected president Madero had neither the support of his former allies who claimed the revolution goals hadn't been met nor from the members of the old regime, and in 1913 he was murdered along with his vice-president. Former revolutionary and Chief of Armed Forces Victoriano Huerta then took power, and was quickly accused of plotting the murder of Madero in accordance with the United States ambassador, causing the war to continue.

After years of political and military turmoil, characterized by revolutionary heroes assassinating themselves (Obregon killed Carranza, who had killed Zapata in an ambush), the country stabilized in 1930s after the foundation of the Nationalist Mexican Party (P.N.M, which later became the Institutional Revolutionary Party, P.R.I) by then President, General Plutarco Elias Calles. The P.N.M succeeded at convincing most of the remaining revolutionary generals to dissolve their personal armies to create the Mexican Army, and so its foundation is considered by some the real end of the Mexican Revolution.

The Revolution also created a political tradition of loyalty (some claim submission) to the current President, a tradition that lasted around sixty years.

see also: History of Mexico

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Mexican Revolution."

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Revolution

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Other uses of the term: Revolution, a movie; Revolution (The Beatles); Revolution (band); Revolution (geology); Revolution (physics); rpm (revolutions per minute); orbital revolution; Revolution (Multimedia software) A revolution is a relatively "sudden and momentous change in situation"[1]. This may be a change in the social, economic and/or political institutions of a region over a relatively short period of time -- social and political revolutions -- or a major change in the economic structure of a society, such as the Industrial Revolution, sometimes called a technical revolution.

Social and political revolutions can both be characterised by violence, and the vast changes in power structures that result can often result in further, institutionalised, violence, as in the Russian and French revolutions (with the "Purges" and "the Terror", respectively). A political revolution is the forcible replacement of one set of rulers with another (as happened in France and Russia), while a social revolution is the fundamental change in the social structure of a society; many would point to the Spanish Revolution, which occurred parallel to the Spanish Civil War, as an example of this.

Some political philosophers regard revolutions as the means of achieving their goals. Most anarchists advocate social revolution as the means of breaking down the structures of government and replacing them with nonhierarchal institutions, while Marxist communists take revolution to be one strategy, possibly accompanied by the use of electoral politics to take over, rather than overthrow, the institution of government, their aim being to create a communist society.

A revolution is normally considered to be a relatively swift change: for example, in Spain, in 1936, anarchist and communist groups quickly took control of many areas on the first day of the Civil War (triggered by Franco's attempted coup). However, most of the philosophers mentioned above regard these first acts and processes as merely the opening of a revolution. In The Conquest of Bread, the "Anarchist Prince" Peter Kropotkin writes that

[w]e have all been bent on studying the dramatic side of revolutions so much, and the practical work of revolutions so little, that we are apt only to see the stage effects, so to speak... the fight of the first days.... But this fight... is soon ended, and it is only after the breakdown of the old system that the real work of revolution can be said to begin.[1]

Most anarchists concur with this view of revolution, and the communist view is similar; Cubans speak of "The Revolution" in the present tense, although the act of overthrowing the old Cuban government occurred decades ago. Those Cubans who believe that they are on their way to a communist utopia see The Revolution as their route, and communism as its ultimate aim.

There can also be "institutionalized revolutions" in which the ideas, slogans, and personalities of the revolution continue to play a prominent role in a country's political culture, long after the revolution's end. As mentioned, Communist nations regularly institutionalize their revolutions to legitimize the actions of their governments. Some non-communist nations, like the United States, France, or Mexico also have institutionalized revolutions, and continue to celebrate the memory of their revolutionary past through holidays, artwork, songs, and other venues.

Revolutions

Social and political revolutions

• English Revolution -- the English Civil War in the 17th century has been called the English Revolution, notably by historian Christopher Hill.
• French Revolution -- The French Revolution is the best known of the European revolutions of the period (18th century), partly because of its heavy influence on other countries.
• American Revolution
• Russian Revolution
• Spanish Revolution
• Hungarian Revolution, 1956
• Texas Revolution
• Glorious Revolution (England)
• Cuban Revolution -- as in the Russian Revolution, communists, socialists and anarchists overthrew the government of the time, and the Communist Party was installed in government.
• Mexican Revolution
• Carnation Revolution in Portugal
• Burkinabé revolution (RDP) in Burkina Faso
• Republican revolution (1911) (China)
• The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (China)
• Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia

Marxist-Leninist revolutions

• Russia - 1917
• Mongolia - 1920
• Yugoslavia - 1944
• Albania - 1944
• Czechoslovakia -
• East Germany -
• Poland -
• Bulgaria -
• Hungary - 1919, 1944 and 1949
• Romania -
• China - 1949
• North Vietnam - 1954
• Cuba - 1959
• The Congo - 1964 and 1968
• South Yemen - 1967
• Benin - 1972
• Ethiopia - 1974
• Guinea-Bissau - 1974
• Cambodia - 1975
• South Vietnam - 1975
• Laos - 1975
• Madagascar - 1975
• Cape Verde - 1975
• Mozambique - 1975
• Angola - 1975
• Afganistan - 1978
• Grenada - 1979
• Nicaragua - 1979
• There were also a number of strong attempts, notably in Malaya and Greece.

Cultural revolutions

• Sexual revolution
• Consciousness Revolution

Technical revolutions

• Industrial Revolution (though also influence in culture)

See also: revolutionary

References

• Page 25, Revolutions and Revolutionary Waves, Mark N. Katz, St. Martin's Press, 1997, hardcover, 171 pages, ISBN 0-312-17322-9

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Revolution."

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Revolution (movie)

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Revolution was a movie that came out in 1985. It was directed by Hugh Hudson and starred Al Pacino, Donald Sutherland, Nastassja Kinski, Joan Plowright, Dave King, Annie Lennox, Steven Berkoff, Graham Greene, and Robbie Coltrane.

In this movie, a strangely contemporary Al Pacino plays a fur trapper during the American Revolutionary War.

See also: revolution

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Revolution (movie)."

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Revolution (Multimedia software)

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Revolution is a multimedia authoring software in the tradition of Hypercard. The stacks produced with it run on Macintosh, Windows and Unix systems including Linux. It is compatible with Hypercard in the sense that it can read Hypercard stacks. It includes a scripting language called Transcript which is a superset of the scripting language of Hypercard Hypertalk. The basic version is free. Even if the number of lines in scripts is limited it allows to build fairly complex applications. Revolution is an environment where non-programmers feel at ease and programmers feel not too uncomfortable.

http://www.runrev.com Web site

http://wiki.macitworks.com/revdocs (wiki)

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Revolution (Multimedia software)."

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Revolution (The Beatles)

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The Beatles had three songs with "Revolution" in the title. The first, "Revolution", was on the flip side of the "Hey Jude" single and featured fuzzed-up guitars and a piano solo by session musician Nicky Hopkins. "Revolution 1" on the White Album is the same song as "Revolution" only in a more easy listening style. The third, "Revolution 9", also on the White Album, is not exactly a song as it is a tape collage of sound effects thrown together by John Lennon featuring the voices of John and George Harrison, engineer Geoff Emerick, and Yoko Ono at various speeds with some symphonic music, the words "number nine" repeated at various points, and what sounds like fan chatter from a soccer game thrown in. Revolution 9 is an integral part of the Paul Is Dead hoax theory.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Revolution (The Beatles)."

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Revolution programming language

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Revolution is a commercially marketed Cross-platform rapid application development environment by Runtime Revolution Ltd.

Revolution runs on Macintosh 7,8,9, Macintosh OS X, Windows 95 through XP, and about half a dozen Unixen -- Linux, Solaris, BSD, etc.

Revolution's language, Transcript, dynamically typed and very English-like, allowing beginners to get started easily, but contains advanced features like associative arrays, regular expressions, QuickTime support, database access, and TCP/IP connectivity.

Revolution project files can be used with any platform, and run with the platform's look and feel and behavior with very little modification. Menus, in particular, are handled correctly for each platform correctly without any intervention on the part of the developer.

Compiling a standalone produces a single-file executable for each platform targeted. There is no separate runtime necessary.

Revolution offers high-level access to many features. For example, to load the contents of a web page into a variable takes one line of code:

put url "http://www.yahoo.com" into tMyVariable

FTP and file access is similar:

put url "ftp://john:passwd@ftp.example.net:2121/picture.jpg" into url "binfile:myFile.txt"

Versions

Revolution has three versions:

• Express is designed for use and deployment on one platform only
• Developer is designed for use on one platform and deployment on any
• Enterprise can be used on any platform and deploys to any as well

External link

• Revolution

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Revolution programming language."

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Russian Revolution

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

This article is part of the History of Russia series.

Early Russian East Slavs

Kievan Rus'

Khazaria

Muscovy

Mongol invasion of Russia

Imperial Russia and Russian Tsars

Russian Revolution

Russian Civil War

History of the Soviet Union: Part I

History of the Soviet Union: Part II

Warsaw Pact

Collapse of the Soviet Union

Commonwealth of Independent States

History of post-communist Russia

List of famous Russians

The Russian Revolution (the final stage also known as October Revolution) was a political movement in Russia that climaxed in 1917 with the overthrow of the provisional government that had replaced the Russian Tsar system and led to the establishment of the Soviet Union, which lasted until 1991. This movement was led by Vladimir Lenin based upon the ideas of Karl Marx and marked the beginning of the spread of communism in the twentieth century.

On November 7, 1917, Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin led his leftist revolutionaries in a nearly bloodless coup d'état against the ineffective Kerensky Provisional Government (Russia was still using the Julian Calendar at the time, so period references show a October 25 date).

Brief Chronology leading to Revolution of 1917

Dates are correct for the Julian calendar, which was used in Russia until 1918. It was twelve days behind the Gregorian calendar during the 19th century and a day further behind during the 20th century.

• 1855 - Start of reign of Tsar Alexander II
• 1861 - Emancipation of the serfs
• 1866-74 - The White Terror
• 1881 - Alexander II assassinated; start of reign of Alexander III
• 1883 - First Russian Marxist group formed
• 1894 - Start of reign of Nicholas II
• 1898 - First Congress of Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP)
• 1900 - Foundation of Socialist Revolutionary Party (SR)
• 1903 - Second Congress of Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. Split (missing text)
• 1904-5 - Russo-Japanese War
• 1905 - Russian Revolution/Rebellion.

January - Bloody Sunday in St Petersburg.

June - Potemkin uprising at Odessa on the Black Sea

October - general strike, St Petersburg Soviet formed

- Imperial agreement on elections to the State Duma - October Manifesto

• 1906 - First State Duma. Prime Minister - Petr Stolypin. Agrarian reforms begin
• 1907 - Second State Duma, February - June
• 1907 - Third State Duma, until 1912
• 1911 - Stolypin assassinated
• 1912 - Fourth State Duma, until 1917. Bolshevik - Menshevik split final
• 1914 - Germany declares war on Russia
• 1915 - Serious defeats, Nicholas II declares himself CinC. Progressive Bloc formed
• 1916 - Gregory Rasputin killed

More detailed but still brief chronology of Revolution of 1917

January

Strikes and unrest in Petrograd

February

The February Revolution

26th -- 50 demonstrators killed in Znamenskaya Square

27th -- Troops refuse to fire on demonstrators, desertions. Prison, court and

Okhrana buildings set on fire. Garrison joins revolutionaries.

Petrograd Soviet formed.

March

1st -- Order No.1 of the Petrograd Soviet

2nd -- Nicholas II abdicates. Provisional Government formed, Prince Lvov PM

April

3rd -- Return of Lenin to Russia. He publishes his April Theses.

20th -- Miliukov's note published. Provisional Government falls

May

5th -- New Provisional Government formed. Kerensky minister of war and navy

June

3rd -- First All-Russian Congress of Soviets in Petrograd. Closed on 24th

16th -- Kerensky orders offensive against Austro-Hungarian forces. Initial success

July

2nd -- Russian offensive ends. Trotsky joins Bolsheviks

4th -- Anti-government demonstrations in Petrograd

6th -- German and Austro-Hungarian counter-attack. Russians retreat in panic, sacking the town of Tarnopol. Arrest of Bolshevik leaders ordered

7th -- Lvov resigns. Kerensky is new PM

22nd -- Trotsky and Lunacharskii arrested

August

26th -- Second coalition government ends

27th -- General Lavr Kornilov failed coup. Kornilov arrested and imprisoned

September

1st -- Russia declared a republic

4th -- Trotsky and others freed. Trotsky becomes head of Petrograd Soviet

25th -- Third coalition government formed

October

Vladimir Lenin, leader of the October Bolshevik Revolution

10th -- Bolshevik Central Committee meeting approves armed uprising

11th -- Congress of Soviets of the Northern Region, until 13th

20th -- First meeting of the Military Revolutionary Committee of Petrograd

25th -- MRC directs armed workers and soldiers to capture key buidings in Petrograd. Winter Palace attacked at 9.40pm. Kerensky flees Petrograd

26th -- Second Congress of Soviets. Mensheviks and right SR delegates walk-out in protest at coup. Decrees on peace and land reform. Soviet government declared - the Council of People's Commissars; Bolshevik dominated with Lenin as chairman

INDEX

1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern

5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art

9. Quotations: Familiar 10. Quotations: Historic 11. Quotations: Fiction 12. Quotations: Non-fiction

13. Quotations: Speeches 14. Usage Frequency 15. Names: Derived from 16. Expressions

17. Expressions: Internet 18. Translations: Modern 19. Translations: Ancient 20. Abbreviations

21. Acronyms 22. Derivations 23. Rhymes 24. Anagrams

25. Bibliography

Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.