Revolution

In politics, any extensive change in the constitution of a country suddenly brought about. The most important events in history known under this name are: The destruction of the A yrian empire, and the foundation of that of the Medes and Persians by Cyrus the Great, 536 B.C. ; the foundation of the Maced on i an empire on the destruction of the Persian, by the defeat of Darius Codomanus, by Alexander the Great, 331 B.C. ; the establishment of the Roman empire on the ruins of the republic by Julius Cæsar, 47 B.C. ; the establishment of the empire of the Western Franks under Charlemagne, 800; the revolution in Portugal, by which the Portuguese threw off the Spanish yoke and placed John, duke of Braganza, on the throne, 1640; the English revolution of the 17th century, which began in the early part of the reign of Charles I., with the struggle between that king and his Parliament. In 1642, the struggle became a civil war, in which the Parliament obtained the ascendency, and brought Charles to the block in 1649. A republic followed, under the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, which was succeeded in 1660 by the restoration of monarchy in the person of Charles II.; but the arbitrary rule of James II. brought the king and people again into antagonism, and James having fled the country, William III. was called to the throne under such conditions and safeguards as secured the balance of the constitution. The revolutions in Ru ia, 1730 and 1762. The French revolution was a violent reaction against that absolutism which had come in the course of time to supplant the old feudal institutions of the country. It began with an outbreak of insurrectionary movements at Paris in July, 1789, including the destruction of the Bastile. On January 21, 1793, King Louis XVI. was beheaded. A disastrous reign of terror followed (see Reign of Terror ), which was brought to an end in 1794. The revolution in Sweden, 1772 and 1809; in Holland, 1795, and counter-revolution in 1813; in Poland, 1704, 1795, and 1830. The American Revolution of 1775, by which the United States threw off their dependence on Great Britain. The French revolution of 1830, which drove Charles X. into exile, and raised Louis Philippe, duke of Orleans, to the throne by the will of the people; as also the revolution of 1848, when France rose against Louis Philippe and adopted for a time a republican form of government; which was followed by the revolution of 1851. The revolutions in the Netherlands, and in Brunswick, 1830; in Brazil, 1831; in Hungary, 1848; in Rome, 1798 and 1848; in Italy, 1859-60, when the various minor sovereigns were driven into exile, and the whole of the peninsula, with the exception of the Roman and Venetian territory, became subject to the constitutional sway of Victor Emmanuel; in the United States, 1860-65; in the Danubian principalities, 1869; and the Papal States, suppre ed, October, 1867.