Any rebellion, revolution that ended up successful or failed. And how did it influence history?
20 comments
The biggest ones weren’t really internal, but against external occupiers. 1794 – Kościuszko Insurrection, last try to save the Polish-Lithuaniam Commonwealth; 1830-31 – November Uprising against Russians; 1863-64– January Uprising against Russians (by the way notice the pattern, how every next generation tried again); 1905 – there was a worker’s revolution in the Polish Kingdom as well, not only in Russia, but it failed pretty quickly; 1943 – Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; 1944 – full Warsaw Uprising. Then the Solidarity Revolution between 1980-1989 was finally a huge success of course.
Even our “internal” ones weren’t fully internal. In 1792 we had the Targowica Confederation, which is to this day a symbol of treason, when rich Polish–Lithuanian magnates with support of Russia rebelled against the progressive and patriotic reforms. It failed but the country was fucked beyong repair by then anyways. Interestingly essays that we didn’t hang enough of them were still being written in the 21st century lol, and “Targowica” as a symbol of treason is still being used in the public discourse all the time.
The 80 yers war, also called the Dutch Rebellion. It led to the independence of the Netherlands in 1648.
Maybe not the biggest in numbers, but Warsaw Uprising against nazi occupants in 1944 had huge political and cultural impact. The consequences were 150k – 200k casualties and Warsaw was literally razed from earth.
To this day on 1st of August at 17.00 (because uprising started at 17.00) the whole city stops as a form of tribute – people on sidewalk, cars on the street etc. Also, to this day Poles are very divided on the evaluation of this event. Some believe it was a futile waste of life and resources, some believe it was a heroic act of resistance. But everybody agrees that it was a huge tragedy.
The motives of the Uprising – Polish underground army wanted to take control of the key locations in the city BEFORE the soviets show up, believing it would give a better position for Poland in post II WW discussion about the shape of Poland. Sadly enough, the Soviets stopped on the eastern site of Vistula river. They wanted the nazis to finish the Polish undergound state, because those people would make a strong anti Soviet opposition after the war. They just waited patiently and entered the city when it was all over. The Allies tried to support Polish resistance with resources using their planes, but it was not sufficient.
The Dutch revolt started out in Flanders in what was then the Spanish Low Countries. Flanders and Brabant were the rich parts of the Low Countries and highly educated, with many merchants in the rich cities. Lots of these were leaning more protestant than the rural farmers. They started an iconoclastic wave in Flanders, spreading around the region and ending up in the Dutch revolt.
This revolt lasted for 80 years, led to devastation of the Flanders and Brabantian countryside and cities, made all the rich and educated people flee north to Amsterdam and cemented the Dutch republic as a separate, independent nation.
One of the biggest ones, celebrated as our ’national day’:
Some guy from Stockholm was put in prison and the new ruler from Denmark killed his dad, so he fled and went up north and gathered a bunch of guys to get down to the capital and kick out a bunch of danes together with a group of germans. It was very successful, and now 400 years later we still don’t like danes.
The Count’s Feud from 1534-36 comes to mind, it was a peasant uprising, turned into a civil war, over a power struggle of the Danish throne. Skipper Clement, one of the rebel leaders is actually on my family tree, though I don’t think I’m directly related to him, some distant relative married into his family or something.
The revolt gave rise to the Danish reformation, which saw Denmark become protestant. The rebels wanted to restore King Christian II to power, though ultimately King Christian III won.
*Look at the French Revolution, which basically created the idea of the Nation State*
Nope, we have nothing really big here.
Probably the German Peasants’ War of 1524–1526. The largest uprising in Europe before the French Revolution.
Peasants and craftsmen rebelled against the upper classes, the nobility, the clergy and in the cities, against the patricians, particularly in southern Germany. This was due to increasing economic pressure, the revocation of their rights and also for religious reasons. Their demands were distributed throughout the country in 12 articles, an early form of human rights.
After several victories by the peasants, the mercenary armies of the House of Hesse, Saxony and other noble houses defeated the various peasant groups in battle.
The nobility drowned the uprising in blood, slaughtering up to 350,000 people. For almost 300 years, there were no more truly significant uprisings by the common people.
We had a few in England before the formation of the United Kingdom.
The War of the Roses was an enormous civil war between the houses of Lancaster and York over the throne, which ended at the Battle of Bosworth field. Last time an English king died on the battle field (so far, anyway).
The English civil war between parliament and King Charles I, ended with the king being executed and a short lived republic, which became a military dictatorship under Oliver Cromwell. The only time this happened in English history, and it fell apart quickly once Cromwell died. The monarchy was restored under Charles son, king Charles II.
My vote for the largest rebellion goes to The Glorious Revolution, an uprising so large that King James II, brother to King Charles II and his successor, fled without a fight, as he had so little support left. There was eventually a battle which took place in Ireland, and James lost at Boyne. His daughter and her husband, William and Mary, reigned as equals, a unique situation in English history.
In Spain the fascist rebellion on 1936 that provoked a three years civil war and ended up with the overthrow of a legitimate democratic government, the Second Spanish Republic, substituted by a fascist dictatorship that lasted almost 40 years.
The fascists only won because they had the support of the nazi Germany, and the fascist Italy
Oh fun question!
1703- 1711 – rebellion and war of independence led by Ferenc Rákóczi against the Habsburgs. Failed.
1848 -1849 – revolution and war of independence led by Lajos Kossuth against the Austrian Empire & the Habsburgs. We almost won but Austria asked help from the Russian Czar,who sent about 200 thousands troops so we failed again.
1956 – against the communist regime & the USSR. It failed of course.
The most important revolution in Swedish history didn’t happen within Swedish borders.
The october revolution in Russia put the Bolsheviks in power. Fights between “the reds” and “the whites” spread into Finland. The Swedish king got very scared of the possibility of a similar revolution or civil war occurring in Sweden – and he was right to fear such a thing. The workers were angry and fed up.
So the king did the most rational thing he could do: he instituted universal suffrage and allowed the social democrats into the halls of power.
It can not be overstated how important this was for the future of Sweden. Instead of fighting a bloody civil war which would either end up in communist dictatorship or conservative/proto-fascist dictatorship, we got universal human rights, democracy, worker protections, strong unions and a stable society.
Spain’s biggest rebellion is the War of Independence (1808–1814) against Napoleon. It kicks off with the Dos de Mayo riots in Madrid after Napoleon basically kidnaps the Spanish royal family, forces both king and heir to abdicate, and drops his brother Joseph Bonaparte on the throne. Spaniards respond with riots, priests preaching holy war, peasants grabbing pitchforks, and the invention of guerrilla warfare as a lifestyle choice. The French army technically “wins” battles but gets bled dry by endless ambushes. So much so that guerrilla becomes an international word thanks to Spain.
Joseph Bonaparte doesn’t help his image. Spaniards nickname him “Pepe Botella”. Pepe is the usual nickname for José, and botella means bottle. The joke is that he’s a drunk foreign clown king. In reality, he wasn’t especially alcoholic. But propaganda does not care about facts. The point was to make resistance feel morally justified and slightly funny.
Meanwhile, while the country is on fire, the politicians who aren’t dead or exiled meet in Cádiz and do something wild. In 1812 they pass the Constitution of 1812, affectionately nicknamed “La Pepa” because it was proclaimed on Saint Joseph’s Day. La Pepa is shockingly liberal for its time. National sovereignty, separation of powers, legal equality, limits on the king. Basically Spain speedruns the Enlightenment while under invasion. Everyone celebrates. Church bells, street parties, vibes.
Then the war ends and Fernando VII comes back. His nickname is “el Rey Felón”. Translation: the Traitor King. He promises to respect La Pepa, immediately throws it in the trash, arrests the liberals, restores absolutism, and pretends none of the last six years happened. Spain collectively experiences political whiplash.
Long term, this is where the bill comes due. By killing absolutism without successfully replacing it, the war leaves Spain in a permanent state of ideological trench warfare. The 19th century opens with a country that has learned two dangerous lessons at once. First, kings can be overthrown. Second, constitutions can be torn up. From then on, Spanish politics runs on pronunciamientos, meaning military coups as a routine governance mechanism, and on a cycle of brief liberal experiments followed by conservative backlash.
The immediate sequel is the Carlist Wars, civil wars disguised as succession disputes. On paper they are about who gets the crown. In practice they are about whether Spain will be liberal, centralized, and constitutional, or absolutist, clerical, and regional. These wars brutalize the countryside, militarize society, and teach the army that it is the ultimate political arbiter. By mid-century, Spain has lost most of its American empire, not just because of distance and war, but because Cádiz-style constitutional promises raised expectations Madrid could not or would not meet.
The century limps forward through unstable monarchies, a short-lived republic, endless constitutional rewrites, and economic lag relative to northern Europe. By 1898, Spain reaches its symbolic bottom. The Spanish–American War ends with the loss of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, the last major remnants of empire. The defeat is fast, humiliating, and psychologically devastating. Spaniards call it el Desastre del 98, and it lands like a national hangover after a century-long binge of unresolved political conflict.
So when the 19th century ends, Spain is still formally a monarchy, still deeply divided, still arguing about church, army, nation, and constitution. The rebellion that began in 1808 taught Spaniards how to resist power, but never quite how to stabilize it. The result is a country that enters the 20th century carrying all the unresolved arguments of the 19th, loaded, cocked, and waiting for the next trigger.
Woohoo our turn.
We signed the act of “your not good enough to be our king” in 1581, denouncing our Spanish ruler and declaring our independence.
>It declared that all magistrates in the provinces making up the Union of Utrecht were freed from their oaths of allegiance to their lord, Philip, who was also King of Spain. The grounds given were that Philip had failed in his obligations to his subjects, by oppressing them and violating their ancient rights. Philip was therefore considered to have forfeited his thrones as ruler of each of the provinces which signed the Act
There was the time a load of peasants led by dubious people overthrew the plans of most mainstream politicians – and almost all big business, bankers etc – inspired by a message on a bus…
The 1848 popular revolts that showed that absolute monarchies were coming to an end and that constitunions and liberal governments were what the people wanted.
While the rebellions failed everywhere and alongside them the Savoy-led First War of Independence, the whole event became a key milestone in the Italian Risorgimento which ultimately led to the unification of Italy.
Our civil war is still called “punakapina”, red rebellion by the people on the very right. And since it was an uprising against a legitimate government, I guess it technically was a rebellion although it’s most often still referred as civil war.
This took place between January 27th – May 15th in 1918. The reds lost, and it was very costly for them. More than 5k were KIA, over 7k were executed and more than 10.000 died in the prison camps after the war. The other side also had losses, but weren’t nearly as high.
Even after 100 years and Winter & Continuation wars between (which unified the nation) all wounds haven’t yet healed.
The biggest one was the Romanian Revolution in December 1989. It started in Timișoara, spread to Bucharest, and led to the overthrow and execution of the dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu.
That revolution ended more than 40 years of communism and changed the political system.
Unfortunately, even today, we are still fighting with the communism shadows
The three big ones:
Irish Confederate Wars, 1641-1653. Irish Catholics rebelled, took over the administration and set up the Catholic Confederation in 1642. England was in its own turmoil, with their Civil War. In 1949 Cromwell arrived and devastated the island. It’s estimated that there was a 15-20% drop in population, due to war and disease vs 1641.
1798 Rebellion. This was a four month long failed attempt to ally with the French during the French Revolutionary Wars. One upshot was the 1800 Act of Union, making Ireland a part of the UK, represented in Westminster.
Easter Rising (1916) and War of Independence (1919-1921). The 1916 Rising was a military failure but it radicalised public opinion. This led to a landslide in the 1918 general election for a hard line pro-independence Sinn Fein party, starting the war of independence. This in turn led to the Irish Free State (the precursor to the Republic) and the creation of Northern Ireland.
The Peasant’s Revolt of 1381 is probably the closest to a “rebellion” in the way most people imagine. It was unsuccessful, though.
There was the English Civil War, which I’ve always been surprised by how little attention it receives. I think it might be because it doesn’t really fit the romantic framing of “revolutionaries fighting for justice and freedom” that exists for the French and Russian revolutions. The anti-monarchy Parliamentarians were driven by religious zealotry and were counterintuitively the *less* progressive faction in the war.
There was also the ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1688, which in all honesty was less of a revolution and more of a coup.
20 comments
The biggest ones weren’t really internal, but against external occupiers. 1794 – Kościuszko Insurrection, last try to save the Polish-Lithuaniam Commonwealth; 1830-31 – November Uprising against Russians; 1863-64– January Uprising against Russians (by the way notice the pattern, how every next generation tried again); 1905 – there was a worker’s revolution in the Polish Kingdom as well, not only in Russia, but it failed pretty quickly; 1943 – Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; 1944 – full Warsaw Uprising. Then the Solidarity Revolution between 1980-1989 was finally a huge success of course.
Even our “internal” ones weren’t fully internal. In 1792 we had the Targowica Confederation, which is to this day a symbol of treason, when rich Polish–Lithuanian magnates with support of Russia rebelled against the progressive and patriotic reforms. It failed but the country was fucked beyong repair by then anyways. Interestingly essays that we didn’t hang enough of them were still being written in the 21st century lol, and “Targowica” as a symbol of treason is still being used in the public discourse all the time.
The 80 yers war, also called the Dutch Rebellion. It led to the independence of the Netherlands in 1648.
Maybe not the biggest in numbers, but Warsaw Uprising against nazi occupants in 1944 had huge political and cultural impact. The consequences were 150k – 200k casualties and Warsaw was literally razed from earth.
To this day on 1st of August at 17.00 (because uprising started at 17.00) the whole city stops as a form of tribute – people on sidewalk, cars on the street etc. Also, to this day Poles are very divided on the evaluation of this event. Some believe it was a futile waste of life and resources, some believe it was a heroic act of resistance. But everybody agrees that it was a huge tragedy.
The motives of the Uprising – Polish underground army wanted to take control of the key locations in the city BEFORE the soviets show up, believing it would give a better position for Poland in post II WW discussion about the shape of Poland. Sadly enough, the Soviets stopped on the eastern site of Vistula river. They wanted the nazis to finish the Polish undergound state, because those people would make a strong anti Soviet opposition after the war. They just waited patiently and entered the city when it was all over. The Allies tried to support Polish resistance with resources using their planes, but it was not sufficient.
The Dutch revolt started out in Flanders in what was then the Spanish Low Countries. Flanders and Brabant were the rich parts of the Low Countries and highly educated, with many merchants in the rich cities. Lots of these were leaning more protestant than the rural farmers. They started an iconoclastic wave in Flanders, spreading around the region and ending up in the Dutch revolt.
This revolt lasted for 80 years, led to devastation of the Flanders and Brabantian countryside and cities, made all the rich and educated people flee north to Amsterdam and cemented the Dutch republic as a separate, independent nation.
One of the biggest ones, celebrated as our ’national day’:
Some guy from Stockholm was put in prison and the new ruler from Denmark killed his dad, so he fled and went up north and gathered a bunch of guys to get down to the capital and kick out a bunch of danes together with a group of germans. It was very successful, and now 400 years later we still don’t like danes.
The Count’s Feud from 1534-36 comes to mind, it was a peasant uprising, turned into a civil war, over a power struggle of the Danish throne. Skipper Clement, one of the rebel leaders is actually on my family tree, though I don’t think I’m directly related to him, some distant relative married into his family or something.
The revolt gave rise to the Danish reformation, which saw Denmark become protestant. The rebels wanted to restore King Christian II to power, though ultimately King Christian III won.
*Look at the French Revolution, which basically created the idea of the Nation State*
Nope, we have nothing really big here.
Probably the German Peasants’ War of 1524–1526. The largest uprising in Europe before the French Revolution.
Peasants and craftsmen rebelled against the upper classes, the nobility, the clergy and in the cities, against the patricians, particularly in southern Germany. This was due to increasing economic pressure, the revocation of their rights and also for religious reasons. Their demands were distributed throughout the country in 12 articles, an early form of human rights.
After several victories by the peasants, the mercenary armies of the House of Hesse, Saxony and other noble houses defeated the various peasant groups in battle.
The nobility drowned the uprising in blood, slaughtering up to 350,000 people. For almost 300 years, there were no more truly significant uprisings by the common people.
We had a few in England before the formation of the United Kingdom.
The War of the Roses was an enormous civil war between the houses of Lancaster and York over the throne, which ended at the Battle of Bosworth field. Last time an English king died on the battle field (so far, anyway).
The English civil war between parliament and King Charles I, ended with the king being executed and a short lived republic, which became a military dictatorship under Oliver Cromwell. The only time this happened in English history, and it fell apart quickly once Cromwell died. The monarchy was restored under Charles son, king Charles II.
My vote for the largest rebellion goes to The Glorious Revolution, an uprising so large that King James II, brother to King Charles II and his successor, fled without a fight, as he had so little support left. There was eventually a battle which took place in Ireland, and James lost at Boyne. His daughter and her husband, William and Mary, reigned as equals, a unique situation in English history.
In Spain the fascist rebellion on 1936 that provoked a three years civil war and ended up with the overthrow of a legitimate democratic government, the Second Spanish Republic, substituted by a fascist dictatorship that lasted almost 40 years.
The fascists only won because they had the support of the nazi Germany, and the fascist Italy
Oh fun question!
1703- 1711 – rebellion and war of independence led by Ferenc Rákóczi against the Habsburgs. Failed.
1848 -1849 – revolution and war of independence led by Lajos Kossuth against the Austrian Empire & the Habsburgs. We almost won but Austria asked help from the Russian Czar,who sent about 200 thousands troops so we failed again.
1956 – against the communist regime & the USSR. It failed of course.
The most important revolution in Swedish history didn’t happen within Swedish borders.
The october revolution in Russia put the Bolsheviks in power. Fights between “the reds” and “the whites” spread into Finland. The Swedish king got very scared of the possibility of a similar revolution or civil war occurring in Sweden – and he was right to fear such a thing. The workers were angry and fed up.
So the king did the most rational thing he could do: he instituted universal suffrage and allowed the social democrats into the halls of power.
It can not be overstated how important this was for the future of Sweden. Instead of fighting a bloody civil war which would either end up in communist dictatorship or conservative/proto-fascist dictatorship, we got universal human rights, democracy, worker protections, strong unions and a stable society.
Spain’s biggest rebellion is the War of Independence (1808–1814) against Napoleon. It kicks off with the Dos de Mayo riots in Madrid after Napoleon basically kidnaps the Spanish royal family, forces both king and heir to abdicate, and drops his brother Joseph Bonaparte on the throne. Spaniards respond with riots, priests preaching holy war, peasants grabbing pitchforks, and the invention of guerrilla warfare as a lifestyle choice. The French army technically “wins” battles but gets bled dry by endless ambushes. So much so that guerrilla becomes an international word thanks to Spain.
Joseph Bonaparte doesn’t help his image. Spaniards nickname him “Pepe Botella”. Pepe is the usual nickname for José, and botella means bottle. The joke is that he’s a drunk foreign clown king. In reality, he wasn’t especially alcoholic. But propaganda does not care about facts. The point was to make resistance feel morally justified and slightly funny.
Meanwhile, while the country is on fire, the politicians who aren’t dead or exiled meet in Cádiz and do something wild. In 1812 they pass the Constitution of 1812, affectionately nicknamed “La Pepa” because it was proclaimed on Saint Joseph’s Day. La Pepa is shockingly liberal for its time. National sovereignty, separation of powers, legal equality, limits on the king. Basically Spain speedruns the Enlightenment while under invasion. Everyone celebrates. Church bells, street parties, vibes.
Then the war ends and Fernando VII comes back. His nickname is “el Rey Felón”. Translation: the Traitor King. He promises to respect La Pepa, immediately throws it in the trash, arrests the liberals, restores absolutism, and pretends none of the last six years happened. Spain collectively experiences political whiplash.
Long term, this is where the bill comes due. By killing absolutism without successfully replacing it, the war leaves Spain in a permanent state of ideological trench warfare. The 19th century opens with a country that has learned two dangerous lessons at once. First, kings can be overthrown. Second, constitutions can be torn up. From then on, Spanish politics runs on pronunciamientos, meaning military coups as a routine governance mechanism, and on a cycle of brief liberal experiments followed by conservative backlash.
The immediate sequel is the Carlist Wars, civil wars disguised as succession disputes. On paper they are about who gets the crown. In practice they are about whether Spain will be liberal, centralized, and constitutional, or absolutist, clerical, and regional. These wars brutalize the countryside, militarize society, and teach the army that it is the ultimate political arbiter. By mid-century, Spain has lost most of its American empire, not just because of distance and war, but because Cádiz-style constitutional promises raised expectations Madrid could not or would not meet.
The century limps forward through unstable monarchies, a short-lived republic, endless constitutional rewrites, and economic lag relative to northern Europe. By 1898, Spain reaches its symbolic bottom. The Spanish–American War ends with the loss of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, the last major remnants of empire. The defeat is fast, humiliating, and psychologically devastating. Spaniards call it el Desastre del 98, and it lands like a national hangover after a century-long binge of unresolved political conflict.
So when the 19th century ends, Spain is still formally a monarchy, still deeply divided, still arguing about church, army, nation, and constitution. The rebellion that began in 1808 taught Spaniards how to resist power, but never quite how to stabilize it. The result is a country that enters the 20th century carrying all the unresolved arguments of the 19th, loaded, cocked, and waiting for the next trigger.
Woohoo our turn.
We signed the act of “your not good enough to be our king” in 1581, denouncing our Spanish ruler and declaring our independence.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_of_Abjuration
>It declared that all magistrates in the provinces making up the Union of Utrecht were freed from their oaths of allegiance to their lord, Philip, who was also King of Spain. The grounds given were that Philip had failed in his obligations to his subjects, by oppressing them and violating their ancient rights. Philip was therefore considered to have forfeited his thrones as ruler of each of the provinces which signed the Act
There was the time a load of peasants led by dubious people overthrew the plans of most mainstream politicians – and almost all big business, bankers etc – inspired by a message on a bus…
The 1848 popular revolts that showed that absolute monarchies were coming to an end and that constitunions and liberal governments were what the people wanted.
While the rebellions failed everywhere and alongside them the Savoy-led First War of Independence, the whole event became a key milestone in the Italian Risorgimento which ultimately led to the unification of Italy.
Our civil war is still called “punakapina”, red rebellion by the people on the very right. And since it was an uprising against a legitimate government, I guess it technically was a rebellion although it’s most often still referred as civil war.
This took place between January 27th – May 15th in 1918. The reds lost, and it was very costly for them. More than 5k were KIA, over 7k were executed and more than 10.000 died in the prison camps after the war. The other side also had losses, but weren’t nearly as high.
Even after 100 years and Winter & Continuation wars between (which unified the nation) all wounds haven’t yet healed.
The biggest one was the Romanian Revolution in December 1989. It started in Timișoara, spread to Bucharest, and led to the overthrow and execution of the dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu.
That revolution ended more than 40 years of communism and changed the political system.
Unfortunately, even today, we are still fighting with the communism shadows
The three big ones:
Irish Confederate Wars, 1641-1653. Irish Catholics rebelled, took over the administration and set up the Catholic Confederation in 1642. England was in its own turmoil, with their Civil War. In 1949 Cromwell arrived and devastated the island. It’s estimated that there was a 15-20% drop in population, due to war and disease vs 1641.
1798 Rebellion. This was a four month long failed attempt to ally with the French during the French Revolutionary Wars. One upshot was the 1800 Act of Union, making Ireland a part of the UK, represented in Westminster.
Easter Rising (1916) and War of Independence (1919-1921). The 1916 Rising was a military failure but it radicalised public opinion. This led to a landslide in the 1918 general election for a hard line pro-independence Sinn Fein party, starting the war of independence. This in turn led to the Irish Free State (the precursor to the Republic) and the creation of Northern Ireland.
The Peasant’s Revolt of 1381 is probably the closest to a “rebellion” in the way most people imagine. It was unsuccessful, though.
There was the English Civil War, which I’ve always been surprised by how little attention it receives. I think it might be because it doesn’t really fit the romantic framing of “revolutionaries fighting for justice and freedom” that exists for the French and Russian revolutions. The anti-monarchy Parliamentarians were driven by religious zealotry and were counterintuitively the *less* progressive faction in the war.
There was also the ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1688, which in all honesty was less of a revolution and more of a coup.