Revolution

{{politics}}{{cquote|''plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose'' — the more things change, the more they stay the same<ref>https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/plus_%C3%A7a_change,_plus_c'est_la_m%C3%AAme_chose</ref>}}
A '''revolution''' is a change which is either sudden, profound, or both. [[Evolution]] is more gradual or transitional changes.

Revolutions can include [[nation]]al revolutions and regime-changes such as the [[French Revolution]], [[American Revolution]], and [[Russian Revolution]], as well as societal shifts in practices or attitudes, such as the Industrial Revolution or the [[sexual revolution]].

==National revolutions==

Revolutions usually refer to the overthrow and replacement of a [[government]]. This can occur violently (like most of the ones we usually talk about) or non-violently (like the many "color" revolutions in the early 21st century<ref>This refers to the "Orange Revolution" ([[Ukraine]] 2004), the "Rose Revolution" ([[Georgia]] 2003), the "Blue Revolution" ([[Kuwait]] 2005), and the "Purple Revolution" ([[Iraq]] 2005). [[Belarus]] had a "Denim Revolution" and [[Burma]] a "Saffron Revolution." Of course, the "rose" revolution may have been about the flower, as there was a "Tulip Revolution" in Kyrgyzstan (2005) (also called "Pink Revolution") — and a "Cedar Revolution" in [[Lebanon]]. If we say that denim is indigo, then we pretty much have an entire rainbow of revolutions.</ref>).

Revolutions are usually swift. When they aren't, they can degenerate into [[civil war]] (one exception is when colonies try to throw off their [[colonial]] masters; those are still called revolutions, even when the fighting goes on for decades).

The [[French]] (1789 – 1799) and [[Russia]]n (1917) revolutions are among the most noteworthy of modern revolutions, although there was a ''minor'' altercation on the eastern coast of [[North America]] (1775 – 1783) which has some claim to notoriety. A more contemporary example would be the 2014 [[Ukraine|Ukrainian Revolution]], which replaced the incredibly corrupt pro-Russia government with a less corrupt parliamentary democracy.

A ''counterrevolution'' occurs whenever someone tries to undo the revolution. It is an odd thing, though, when powers that have been in place for fifty years call people fighting against them "counterrevolutionaries" (as Communist Party of China propaganda still does). At that point, you'd think they'd be regular revolutionaries again.

==Economic revolutions==
A revolution can also refer to when [[social]] and [[economic]] dynamics are fundamentally transformed. For example, the Industrial Revolution led to mass production and urbanization, the [[Green Revolution]] spread advanced agricultural techniques to parts of the [[Third World|developing world]], and the [[Internet|Information Revolution]] placed much of human knowledge at the fingertips of every well-off man, woman, and child on [[Earth]].

==Scientific revolutions==
:''See main article: [[Scientific revolution]]''

Also known as "[[paradigm shift]]s", [[scientific]] revolutions are periods when our understanding of the world around us is radically altered or improved. Some examples include:
*The [[Nicolaus Copernicus|Copernican]] revolution, which displaced [[geocentrism|geocentric]] theories in [[astronomy]]
*[[Isaac Newton|Newton]]'s [[physics]]
*[[Charles Darwin|Darwin]]'s [[biology]]
*[[Sigmund Freud|Freud]]'s [[psychology]]
*[[Albert Einstein|Einstein]]'s [[relativity]]
*[[Quantum mechanics]]

==References==
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[[Category:Culture]]
[[Category:Political theory]]
[[Category:Political terms]]
[[Category:Revolution]]
[[Category:Totalitarianism]]

Categories: Culture, Political theory, Political terms, Revolution, Totalitarianism