Revolution In History

Fifteen contributors examine the interpretative value of ideas of revolution for explaining historical development within their own speciality. They assess the existing historiography and offer their personal views.

From rebellion to revolution -- Social movements and revolution -- Revolutionary states -- Revolutionary polities.

"In the 20th and 21st century revolutions have become more urban, often less violent, but also more frequent and more transformative of the international order. Whether it is the revolutions against Communism in Eastern Europe and the USSR; the "color revolutions" across Asia, Europe and North Africa; or the religious revolutions in Iran, Afghanistan, and Syria; today's revolutions are quite different from those of the past. Modern theories of revolution have therefore replaced the older class-based theories with more varied, dynamic, and contingent models of social and political change. This new edition updates the history of revolutions, from Classical Greece and Rome to the Revolution of Dignity in the Ukraine, with attention to the changing types and outcomes of revolutionary struggles. It also presents the latest advances in the theory of revolutions, including the issues of revolutionary waves, revolutionary leadership, international influences, and the likelihood of revolutions to come. This volume provides a brief but comprehensive introduction to the nature of revolutions and their role in global history"--

"Brilliant and beautiful. Now this book exists, it’s hard to know how we did without it." –China Miéville, author of October A cultural and intellectual balance-sheet of the twentieth century's age of revolutions This book reinterprets the history of nineteenth and twentieth-century revolutions by composing a constellation of "dialectical images": Marx's "locomotives of history," Alexandra Kollontai's sexually liberated bodies, Lenin's mummified body, Auguste Blanqui's barricades and red flags, the Paris Commune's demolition of the Vendome Column, among several others. It connects theories with the existential trajectories of the thinkers who elaborated them, by sketching the diverse profiles of revolutionary intellectuals--from Marx and Bakunin to Luxemburg and the Bolsheviks, from Mao and Ho Chi Minh to José Carlos Mariátegui, C.L.R. James, and other rebellious spirits from the South--as outcasts and pariahs. And finally, it analyzes the entanglement between revolution and communism that so deeply shaped the history of the twentieth century. This book thus merges ideas and representations by devoting an equal importance to theoretical and iconographic sources, offering for our troubled present a new intellectual history of the revolutionary past.

For most of us, the French Revolution has been reduced to jokes about Marie-Antoinette, guillotines and the Scarlet Pimpernel. But for Mark Steel, bestselling author of REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL, the French Revolution was one of the most inspirational moments in human history - a moment when ordinary people changed the world and became extraordinary. It deserves better jokes than that. In this revolutionary new book, Steel banishes stuffiness from history, telling us what happened in France between the storming of the Bastille and the rise of Napoleon, bringing to life the people who made them happen. His account is dominated by bizarre events and splendid characters, from the famously odd Robespierre, Danton and Thomas Paine, to the less well known Drouet, the local postman who arrested the fleeing King because he recognised him as the man off of the money. VIVE LA REVOLUTION is an uproariously serious work of history - brilliantly funny and insightful, it puts the peculiarity of individual people back at the centre of the story.

On April 25, 1974, a coup destroyed the ranks of Estado Novo's fascist government in Portugal. Ordinary people flooded the streets of Lisbon, placing red carnations in the barrels of guns and demanding a land for those who work in it. This spontaneous revolt placed power in the hands of the working classes, trade unions, and women. In order to understand the Carnation Revolution, we must recognize it as an international coalition of social movements, comprised of struggles for independence in Portugal's African colonies, the rebellion of the young military captains of the Armed Forces Movement, and the uprising of Portugal's long-oppressed working classes. Cutting against the grain of mainstream accounts, Raquel Cardeira Varela shows how it was through the organizing power of these diverse movements that a popular-front government was instituted along with the nation's withdrawal from its overseas colonies. Offering a rich account of the challenges these coalitions faced and the victories they won through revolutionary means, this book tells the tumultuous history behind the Carnation Revolution.

"Per the UK publisher William Collins's promotional copy: "There is a quarter of this planet which is often forgotten in the histories that are told in the West. This quarter is an oceanic one, pulsating with winds and waves, tides and coastlines, islands and beaches. The Indian and Pacific Oceans constitute that forgotten quarter, brought together here for the first time in a sustained work of history." More specifically, Sivasundaram's aim in this book is to revisit the Age of Revolutions and Empire from the perspective of the Global South. Waves Across the South ranges from the Arabian Sea across the Indian Ocean to the Bay of Bengal, and onward to the South Pacific and Australia's Tasman Sea. As the Western empires (Dutch, French, but especially British) reached across these vast regions, echoes of the European revolutions rippled through them and encountered a host of indigenous political developments. Sivasundaram also opens the door to new and necessary conversations about environmental history in addition to the consequences of historical violence, the extraction of resources, and the indigenous futures that Western imperialism cut short"--

Discover the history of the American Revolution—an introduction for kids ages 6 to 9 On April 19, 1775, the American Minutemen clashed with British troops in the Battles of Lexington and Concord. These battles marked the beginning of the American Revolution. After five years of planning and fighting, the British surrendered and the United States was finally free. This colorfully illustrated story takes kids on a journey through the events that led to revolution, the war itself, and the birth of a new nation. This guide to the American Revolution for kids features: A visual timeline—Kids will be able to easily follow the history of the American Revolution thanks to a timeline marking major milestones. Core curriculum—Teach kids about the Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How behind the American Revolution, then test their knowledge with a quick quiz after they finish. Lasting changes—Encourage kids to explore thought-provoking questions that help them better understand what life was like during the war. Get early readers excited to learn about the United States with this standout among American history books for kids.

In History and Revolution, a group of respected historians confronts the conservative, revisionist trends in historical enquiry that have been dominant in the last twenty years. Ranging from an exploration of the English, French, and Russian revolutions and their treatment by revisionist historiography, to the debates and themes arising from attempts to downplay revolution's role in history, History and Revolution also engages with several prominent revisionist historians, including Orlando Figes, Conrad Russell and Simon Schama. This important book shows the inability of revisionism to explain why millions are moved to act in defence of political causes, and why specific political currents emerge, and is a significant reassertion of the concept of revolution in human development.