Vive Le Revolution! What Do You Need to Have a Revolution?

The Five As Necessary For A Revolution To Occur At least two opposing sides Access to weapons Aims expressed in a slogan Accomplished leaders Ailments present socially, economically, and politically

What goes into a Revolution? Conditions (Ailments) 1-Political 2-Social 3-Economic

Aims (Goals or Philosophy) Aims (Goals or Philosophy) Must be clearly defined or made into a slogan.

Leaders (Accomplished Leaders) *They need to be convince people to rise up against the current leadership. *People need a framework for a new government. *Too much opposition is not good.

Stages of the Revolution Stages of the Revolution 1-Incubation Stage *The intellectuals desert the existing system *There is sharp criticism of the authorities *Faith in the system is lost *The ruling class becomes more incompetent

Stages Cont. At least one class is on the rise economically. *The class begins to demand participation in government. *The upper class locks them out, and the ranks of aristocracy close. *Class distinctions become more hardened.

Stages Cont. Government suffers serious financial and economic problems.

2. Moderate Stage *Moderates rise to prominence and challenge existing authority. *As authority is challenged, some acts of violence occur. *Government fails to use force effectively. * Moderates win the day and get power. Honeymoon period where the revolution seems to be over.

Moderate stage continued *Pressure from extremists grows. *Moderates are overthrown.

3.Crisis/Radical Stage *Reign of terror and executions *Use of secret police *Foreign threat to revolution *Class struggle *Economic crisis

4.Recovery Stage *Things revert back to normal (reign of terror over) *Government resorts to pre-revolution form of government. *Peace is made with neighboring countries

The End Result There are two possibilities at this point… #1 Stability returns because of reform #2 Revolution begins again.

For a Revolution to be Successful The aims need to be defined and propagandized (Some sort of slogan) The leaders must have a social and educational background that allows them to hold the government together. They must be able to produce a framework and a coalition for a new government.

… The degree of the opposition cant be too great, or too strong. The problems present for the revolution to occur must be resolved.