What is a revolution? Is it when people take to the streets and scream, or are there ever really true revolutions where someone takes up arms against an oppressive leader? Probably not!

Revolutions happen slowly, often times starting with something very small. It can be a little thing like when one person gets their coffee order wrong, or something bigger like when an organization is no longer needed.

As these things occur more and more of a trend emerges until eventually it becomes impossible to ignore. When this happens it is necessary to make changes to prevent further bad behavior.

That’s what happened in America back in our country’s second century. In fact, we got our name at the height of this phenomenon -- the Revolution!

It took many years for Americans to realize that they were being duped into creating an economy that only benefited a few elite individuals. This was made clear during the Gilded Age, a period characterized by widespread poverty and suffering.

During this time, wealthy elites built large estates surrounded by walls and guardhouses. They also created monopolies and gathered power through cronyism.

When ordinary people tried to use the resources these rich individuals had access to, they found themselves facing severe punishment and even death.

This isn’t some distant historical event; these injustices still happen throughout the world today. We must be aware of such trends so we can work to mitigate them before they get worse.

A spark that starts a fire

What usually happens is someone sets an event as a goal, says they will do something before the start of the event, and then they don’t.

This cuts off their access to the incentive to keep going because they have no longer reward for doing so. It also creates anxiety and stress about what people are going to think of them if they don’t stay until the event.

For example, let's say your friend announces she is leaving town for the weekend without telling you where or for how long. You know her very well, and it is clear she wants to be somewhere else, but you don’t know why.

You can easily draw conclusions like “she found someone new” or even “something bad happened,” but none of these are true. She just didn’t feel like staying in one place this week.

The perfect revolution

Recent events have shown that not only are revolutions possible, but they have already happened several times across history. Looking at past revolutions can give us some insight into how to start our own!

Recent news reports tell of large scale protests in Hong Kong where people gathered outside government buildings to demand more democracy. Many protesters used direct action tactics like wearing masks and carrying weapons to express their discontent with the current leadership.

These types of actions are referred to as guerilla or stealthy warfare because they don’t use military equipment, instead relying on creativity and clever strategies to win the battle. (Something that we can learn from!)

Stealthy warfare was an important strategy for revolutionaries during the French Revolution. While no one knows what thoughts went through Robespierre’s mind before he made his famous speech “To be citizens is noble, to be good citizens is honorable, but to be great citizens is glorious,” many believe he was secretly planning a violent coup against the monarchy.

In fact, just months later he led a militia called the Revolutionary Guard which carried out attacks on members of the aristocracy. When this violence was discovered, it helped inspire other radicals to take similar action and cause a revolt.

The conditions for a revolution

There are always people who are in need of a change. Whether it is because they have lost confidence in an organization, system, or individual, or because they are no longer happy with their life, they require significant changes to fix them.

There are also individuals and groups that feel like their needs are not being met within current systems, structures, and/or things. They are feeling unappreciated and discouraged by how little progress they see coming from normal channels.

When these situations reach a critical mass, then there are no longer adequate barriers to cause a shift in power towards those that want fundamental systemic changes.

A revolution happens when large numbers of people come together under one common goal with enough intensity to effectively overthrow the old regime. This is very difficult because most people do not agree on what should be done next!

During revolutions, many different factions emerge and fight each other for control of the country.

Dictatorships and revolutions

Recent events have shown that even in the most peaceful of environments, civil unrest is never far away. With technology advancing at an ever-increasing rate, it seems like anyone can make or break the next ruler or government within their reach.

This is not just limited to politicians doing things they should be held accountable for, but also everyday individuals picking sides between what type of lifestyle they believe in. It is easy to get inspired by stories of past revolutionaries and see how much power they had before taking action.

There are several theories as to why this happens, some more scientific than others. In this article we will discuss one theory about how dictatorships come to an end – internal revolution.

Look at China and Hong Kong

Ever since Britain handed over control of the city-state of Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China in 1997, there has been constant unrest here. It is one thing when people are protesting about an individual leader or policy, but it is something else when they express discontent with the overall direction their country is taking.

In late June, protesters took to the streets again in what would become a nearly month long movement called the Umbrella Revolution. This time, however, they targeted not just one part of the government, but the very principle upon which this nation was built – universal suffrage.

Under the current system, only candidates that run under the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) banner can win elected positions such as president. More than 2,000 non-party individuals have ran for office in recent years, all of whom were rejected by voters. The CCP doesn’t tolerate dissent.

By making protests against the party illegal, the state ensures that any attempts to overthrow it will be brutally suppressed. As we have seen many times before, this creates more anger towards the regime instead of apathy.

The French Revolution

One of the biggest revolutions in human history happened almost 200 years ago, when the people took control of their government. This is what happens in a revolution –- usually at the beginning, there’s a lot of chaos.

Some people are in favor of the current regime, others are not. Some are well educated about how to run the country effectively, while others aren’t.

There are sometimes violent clashes between those who support the existing system and those who don’t. It's very difficult to tell which side will win until the fight has started, but once it does, it's hard to stop it!

"A popular uprising is always dangerous," said Professor Cook. "It can be led by demagogues with false promises."

In some cases, revolutionaries take over an institution that was clearly working poorly before, so they're just replacing one corrupt leader with another. But because they now have total power, they can do things differently.

This article explains why this kind of revolution often leads to bigger changes. You'll learn about something called the Enlightenment, and how important thinkers like Thomas Jefferson used it to inspire the American Revolution.

The American Revolution

After King George III dissolved Parliament, he made many unpopular decisions. He raised taxes without consent, banned certain foods and beverages from being imported into England, and stopped the practice of sending ships to trade with other countries for needed supplies.

When these shortages happened, British farmers could not afford food or raw materials to make more of it, so they had to stop producing it. This resulted in lower production and higher prices, which only helped rich people stock up but hurt average citizens who needed the products.

Many French merchants were angry about the high tax rates the English imposed on imports, so some didn’t want to do business with them anymore.

Other European countries also noticed how much money Britain spent, and got scared that their exports would be taxed as well, making it even harder to import things. So they started boycotting British goods too.

This is called economic retaliation, and it can really hurt someone. For example, when Japan faced huge debts after World War II, they canceled all diplomatic relations with Germany, France, and Italy (the former nations) because of their involvement in the war.

The Russian Revolution

During the Industrial Age, revolutions were mostly fueled by two things: power and money. Power was usually derived from control over natural resources or military strength, while money made it possible to buy more power via political influence or weapons.

As we see in the case of the Russian revolution, however, the source of power that sparked one of the biggest uprisings in modern history came not from controlling land or armies, but instead from something very powerful: fear.

The Russians experienced a dramatic increase in their sense of security when they heard Vladimir Lenin speak. Not only did he offer them an alternative way to run their country, he also gave them hope for a brighter future. He painted a picture of a nation with potential that had been ignored for too long.

When Lenin spoke, many people listened because his message sounded logical and believable. His speeches struck a chord because they appealed to someone like you – an individual who is hungry for change and believes that our world no longer works.

After listening, these individuals are sometimes inspired to do what has never done before- try new things. Some may even begin questioning the current state of affairs and whether this is really the best option. If there’s one thing we know about revolutionaries, it’s that they don’t wait for opportunities to arise; they make ones out of nothing.