How would you distinguish a revolution from a civil war, an uprising, a coup d’etat, a rebellion or revolt, or a protest or demonstration?
Answers
Explanation:
The prime-minister of Slobovia suffers calls to resign. A large crowd gathers before the Slobovian Diet to voice their support for him. That’s a demonstration.
Another large crowd gathers at the opposite side to call for his resignation. That’s also a demonstration. And since they criticize his policies it is also a protest.
The two mobs and police clash violently. What ensues is a riot.
The prime-minister uses his authority to issue a decree giving himself unconstitutional emergency powers to restore order. This is a coup — a civilian one.
The Slobovian military proceeds to arrest the prime-minister and his cabinet, replace it with a Government of National Defense (GONAD) in name of his majesty the King of Slobovia, and have a Parliament purged of their adversaries rubber-stamp their acts. This is also a coup - a military one.
The province of Cissylvania was very supportive of the toppled government and is now very upset. They immediatly take to arms and gather in militias, which is an uprising. And they target the forces and institutions of the ruling GONAD, which is an act of rebellion, therefore starting a revolt. The GONAD forces fight back, and the resulting conflict between them constitutes a civil war.
The ensuing power vaccum and discontent due to this civil war leads other factions to gain momentum. Among them is the Slobovian Communist Party.
After gathering enough forces in critial places and mobilizing some elements in the GONAD military and civil service, they launch an uprising across the country in open revolt against the sitting junta, while also carrying out mass demonstrations in the form of protests which result in riots in several cities, opening new fronts of the civil war against GONAD forces in the countryside.
Chiefly, they are able to storm and conquer several cities including the capital, where the GONAD junta is liquidated and the State Supreme Socialist Soviet of Slobovia established in a civilian-military coup.
The SSSSS quickly goes about building a new regime, rolling out a series of new decrees completely reshaping the Slobovian state and institutions and setting them on a radically different path than before. That’s what is called a revolution.
(Note that the GONAD junta was also doing something similar before being rudely interrupted, but you too will be on a radically different path if you insinuate that anyone but the SSSSS can be revolutionary).
The SSSSS crushes the GONAD holdouts and the Cissylvanian revolt, thereby winning the Slobovian civil war and achieving full control of the country so as to advance their revolution, collectivizing Slobovian agriculture, nationalizing mining and industry, banning philately and generally building Socialism.
They however face the opposition of a party faction called the Totalniks. The SSSSS is dominated by a centrist faction dubbed the Halfniks according to which only half of the Cissylvanian population should be executed for counter-revolutionary activities, while the Totalniks argue that the Halfnik comrades have not studied their theory properly and that the totality of the Cissylvanian people is an obstacle to the revolution that needs to be overcome.