Rebellion

A rebellion is, in the most general sense, a refusal to accept authority. It may thus be seen as encompassing a range of behaviors from a mild flouting of social norms to a violent organized attempt to destroy established authority. It is often used to refer to armed resistance to an established government. Those who participate in rebellions are "rebels".

Throughout history many different groups that used violent methods were called rebels. In the U.S, the term was used for the Continentals by the British in the Revolutionary War and the Confederacy by the Union in the Civil War. It also includes members of paramilitary forces who take up arms against an established government. For example, the Boxer rebellion was an uprising against Western commercial and political influence in China during the final years of the 19th century, and the Jacobite Risings which attempted to restore the deposed Stuart kings to the thrones of England and Scotland were called the Jacobite Rebellions by the government.

A violent rebellion is sometimes referred to as an insurgency while a larger one may escalate into a civil war. There are a number of terms that fall under the umbrella of "rebel", though they range from those with positive connotations to those that are considered pejorative. Examples, in rough order from complimentary to pejorative, are:

  • "Resistance" carried out by freedom fighters, often to an occupying invader
  • "Revolution" by revolutionaries, often meant to indicate a desired change in type in government
  • "Uprising"
  • "Insurrection" by insurrectionists
  • "Insurgency" by insurgents
  • "Revolt"
  • "Mutiny" by mutineers, normally of military or security forces to commanders
  • "Subversion" by subversives
  • "Terrorism" by terrorists, refers specifically to the method of avoiding pitched battle

The difference between rebel and terrorist is often subjective. While the term rebel can sometimes have positive connotations as an agent of change, "terrorist" implies destructive action and is always used pejoratively, often by an establishment opposed to rebellious activities.

Famous rebellions / uprisings in history

73 BC - 71 BC The Roman Slave rebellion
66 AD - 70 AD Great Jewish Revolt
1378 Revolt of the Ciompi in Florence
1381 Peasants' Revolt in England
1519 - 1659 Jelali Revolts in the Ottoman Empire
1524 - 1526 Peasants' War in Germany
1612 Minin-Pozharsky Uprising
1637 - 1638 Shimabara Rebellion
1642 - 1649 The English civil wars, also known as the Great Rebellion
1670 - 1671 Insurrection of Stepan Razin
1676 Bacon's Rebellion
1689 Jacobite Rising
1715 the 'Fifteen Jacobite Rising
1739 Stono Rebellion
1741 New York Slave Insurrection of 1741
1745 the 'Forty-Five Jacobite Rising
1763 - 1766 Pontiac's Rebellion
1773 - 1774 Insurrection of Emelyan Pugachov
1775 - 1783 American Revolutionary War
1786 Shays' Rebellion
1792 New York Revolt of 1792
1794 Whiskey Rebellion
1798 Irish Rebellion of 1798
1800 United Irish Uprising in Newfoundland
1800 Gabriel Prosser's Rebellion
1804 - 1807 First Serbian Uprising
1811 Charles Deslandes' Louisiana Territory Slave Rebellion
1815 George Boxley Rebellion
1816 Fort Blount Revolt
1822 Denmark Vesey's Uprising
1825 Decembrist revolt
1839 Amistad Seizure
1831 Nat Turner's rebellion
1837 Rebellions of 1837 in Canada
1848 Young Irelanders' Rebellion
1851 - 1864 The Taiping rebellion
1853 - 1868 Nian Rebellion (捻軍起義)
1857 - 1858 Sepoy Rebellion
1867 Fenian rebellion
1899 - 1913 Moro Rebellion
1900 Boxer rebellion
1916 Easter Rebellion
1917 Russian Revolution
1919 - 1921 Tambov rebellion
1921 Kronstadt rebellion
1932 Mäntsälä rebellion
1940 - 1945 French Resistance
1952 - 1959 Mau Mau Rebellion
1968 May 1968 revolt in France
1994 - Present   Zapatista Rebellion
1992 Northern Alliance

Famous rebels

See also

Fictional rebellions

pl:Rebeliant zh:起义

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