The Success of Revolutions
In times of social, political, and economical turmoil, I've noticed that citizens have bonded together through history to change the status quo by means of a revolution. As supporters of a revolution begin fighting for change, it seems like their methods used to reach that goal often decide whether the revolution will be violent or peaceful. Whether causing the deaths of over fifty-two million people in a worldwide war, or leading harmless protests in the streets of East Germany, peaceful and violent revolutions use extremely different approaches to achieve their goals (History). While violent revolutions may seem temporarily successful, I often believe that peaceful revolutions are more successful in the areas of developing a positive image of the rebellion, gaining widespread popular support, and eventually creating lasting changes.
A key characteristic of a successful revolution is that the revolution must have a large amount of popular support. In October of 1989, the Peaceful Revolution occurred in East Germany when demonstrations with over 300,000 participants were held in the streets of Leipzig to peacefully protest the restricted travel from the country (Curry). Consider that next time we go insane when our flights are briefly delayed at an airport. Within two weeks of the demonstrations, the Berlin Wall was exuberantly torn down, and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany Politburo resigned (Discover). Unlike East Germany’s Peaceful Revolution, the Ku Klux Klan’s attempt to revolutionize society in the United States failed because of the lack of support by the general public. Originating after the American Civil War, the Klan’s violence eventually escalated to the bombing and lynching of groups of African Americans in order to violently demonstrate the Ku Klux Klan’s belief in white supremacy (JRank). Culminating with the conviction of the Klan’s state leader for Indiana, David Curtis Stephenson, for murder, the American public quickly condemned the revolutionaries. Although the Americans in the past reacted much more mildly than the American public would have today, citizens were appalled, so they helped demolish the Klan and its revolution (Simkin).
While the support behind a revolution is key in the movement growth, the image that the revolution adopts is just as important in ensuring its success. By participating in sit-ins, practicing civil disobedience, and marching down the streets of Washington D.C., brave civil rights leaders, such as Martin Luther King Jr., used peace to promote justice for African Americans (Civil). With sympathy from the rest of the nation, the peaceful, yet widely persecuted, Civil Rights movement was able to achieve its goals with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Brunner). Instead of creating a positive image for a cause, some revolutions, such as the Nazi’s attempt to create a lasting Third Reich, created terrible portrayals that helped bring about their demise. Believing that the Aryan race was the most dominant of all races and that all German speaking people should be united, Adolf Hitler forcefully attacked European nations in a quest to eliminate inferior races (ThinkQuest). Through its slaughter of Jewish people and brutish invasions of surrounding nations, the Third Reich created such a negative image for itself that countries around the world bonded together to crush the violent revolution (History). By building a positive image and portrayal of a revolution, I feel that societies often sympathize with the movement and work for its success rather than if a revolution appears harsh and forceful.
Along with gaining a positive image and popular support, peaceful revolutions are more successful than violent revolutions because they have lasting changes as a result of their occurrence. When the Catholic Church was engaging in corruption in the early sixteenth century, Martin Luther started a revolution by publicly stating the flaws of the Church in his Ninety-Five Theses. Through his belief in salvation for all who believed in God, Luther peacefully helped establish lasting change and lay the foundation for the rise of new religions such as Calvinism (Smith). Thanks to Martin Luther, people today all over the world are able to choose their own religion depending on their beliefs and values. Contrary to the enduring change brought about by the Protestant Reformation, there were few lasting changes in the United States stemming from the American Civil War. Leading to over 620,000 deaths, the Civil War was more violent than anyone expected, and the Confederates gained almost nothing as a result of their aggressiveness (Davis). I can only see the success of the Confederates’ violent revolution as minimal, if at all, because they were unable to maintain separate states and keep the use of slaves legal through the use of force.
When a revolution is started, I have to take certain factors into account in order to consider the revolution as being successful. In a revolution, the decision on whether or not the participants will act violently often determines the fate of the rebellion and its success. Violence shapes the opinions of the outside world, and it either creates a positive or negative portrayal of the revolution. When factoring violence and aggression into the picture, I believe that peaceful revolutions are more successful than violent ones in creating a positive image, gaining popular support, and establishing lasting changes.
Works Cited
Brunner, Borgra, and Haney, Elissa. “Civil Rights Timeline.” Infoplease (2007). Web. 30 Sep. 2010. http: //www.infoplease.com/spot/civilrightstimeline. html
“Civil Disobedience.” The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia.© 1994, 2000-2006, on Infoplease © . 2000-2007 Pearson Education, publishing as Infoplease. 30 Sep. 2010
Curry, Andrew. “We are the People.” Spiegel Online International (9 Oct. 2009). Web. 1 Oct. 2010. http: //www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,654137,00. html
Davis, Burke. “The Price in Blood! Casualties of the Civil War.” Home of the American Civil War (11 Jun. 2004). Web. 2 Oct. 2010. http: //www.civilwarhome.com/casualties. htm
Discover Germany. “From Peaceful Revolution to German Unity.” Discover Germany. Web. 1 Oct. 2010. http: //www.discover-germany.diplo.de /Vertretung /entdeckdeutchland/en/04_ Politik/20_Jahre_Einheit/Unity_timeline_en. html
History Place. “World War II in Europe.” The History Place (1996). Web. 2 Oct. 2010. http: //ww w.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/ww2time. htm
Jrank. “D.C. Stephenson Trial: 1925." Jrank (2010). Web. 1 Oct. 2010. http: //law.jrank.org/pages/ 2863/D-C-Stephenson-Trial-1925. html
Simkin, John. “USA History: Civil Rights 1860-1980.” Sparticus Educational (2 Oct. 2010). Web. 29 Sep. 2010. http: //www.sparticus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAkkk. htm
Smith, Adam. “Protestant Reformation Timeline.” SocyBerty (30 Jan. 2010). Web. 30 Sep. 2010. h ttp: //socyberty.com/history/protestant-reformation-timeline/
ThinkQuest. “World War II: The Homefront.” ThinkQuest (1998). Web. 2 Oct. 2010. http: //librar y.thinkquest.org/15511/data/encyclopedia/hitleradolf. htm
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