Revolution Theory Question

In PLP we have been learning about revolutions. To learn about revolutions we had to know what a reavolution is so we look at Crane Brinton’s Theory. His theory follows many steps and he compared the steps to a fever. A revolution starts off with a few signs such as people disagreeing with the ruler with is much like a fever starting off with a sore throat. In this post my job was to ask a question about his theory and answer it. My question is “Why did crane compare revolutions to fevers as if they are all bad?”. Now I will try to answer that question. 

To try to answer my question I will tell you about a few different revolutions and see how they end. I will tell you a little about the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, and the American Revolution. First up is the French Revolution. The French Revolution started in 1789 and lasted 10 years. A revolutionary government was formed and was in constant turmoil throughout the revolution. There was also the reign of terror. The reign of terror was 1793-94 anybody who opposed the revolution would be charged on treason and executed by the guillotine. Thousands of people were executed including the Queen Marie Antoinette. The revolution changed the social and political structure of France with an end to the French monarchy. It took political power from the Catholic Church and brought new ideas to Europe as well as giving freedom to commoners and abolishment of slavery. These new ideas Continued to influence Europe and helped to shape modern day governments. The outcome was both positive and negative because change was necessary and it gave freedom and rights to the working people but many people lost their lives to make that happen.

The next revolution I will be talking about is the Russian Revolution. There was a series of revolutions against the Russian empire during 1917. Russia was becoming more industrialized bringing many people to the cities for jobs. Working in living conditions were very poor and the people were being oppressed by the ruling family led by tsar Nicholas the second. He was forced to step down and create a provisional government. The second revolution was in October. Communist bolsheviks replaced the provisional government and the royal family was shot and called. Millions of people died of starvation as the bolsheviks fought to control and create a communist government none as the Soviet Union. Communists were able to establish a goverment that was recognized by the rest of the world. The outcome wasn’t good because the people of the Soviet Union were still oppressed by the communist regime.

The last revolution I will be talking about is the American Revolution. Essentially the British government was making new laws and taxes on the colonies of America and the colonies had no say. These 13 colonies wanted a say in the government if they were going to pay these taxes. At first there were just protests and arguments, then some small skirmishes between the colonists and the local British army. Things got worse and worse over the years until the colonies of Great Britain were at war. America gained its independence and united as a single government in 1776. Their were lots of wars and many people were killed.The outcome of this revolution was good. They did have independence and formed a untied government. Even though many people died the America was on their way to becoming the united country and that was better for everyone. 

It appears that revolutions were necessary evils in order for change to take place. It’s important to remember that change takes a long time and Revolutions were not a quick fix. I have drawn a few pictures to represent each of the revolutions I looked at and I put them on an Instagram page for people to see. Here is one of them.

H After all of my reasearch I partly agree with Crane that revolutions are like fevers because they can be very bad but they can also be very good and have helped shape our world and make it great.