Warfare 102: Revolution
Greetings and Salmonella! ...Wait, okay, biological warfare is forbidden by the Orion Accord! So none of that! Well, it is I, Vivian, your favourite alien Limax, who is here to enlighten you about Anne’s favourite thing: Revolutions! (Anne: Vive la révolution!)
What is a revolution?
A very general definition of a revolution can be said to be “Sudden change to the political system”, which is in many cases fine to use, but for our topic here, especially given the category is warfare, it is insufficient. So I define it as
When the population, excluding the ruling elite, attempts to overthrow the current government through means outside of the current system.
I included the last bit because a government can allow itself to change and morph over time to fit the people, such as in democracies, where it is a feature of the system. So to be a revolution, it has to be through other means, usually violence.
Why do they happen?
Revolutions are complicated beasts, but whether they happen or not can be summed up in 5 points that I will go through here. One thing to remember though is this: if the population is poor and starving, no revolution can happen as everyone is too busy surviving to actually overthrow the government. (Anne: Worldbuilders take note there on how to prevent them; to actual potential dictators, nothing to see here, nothing at all). Now, onto the actual points! (Which I totally didn’t steal I mean knick! Wait… Oh well, yeah, I got them from Hello Future Me's Channel, but I have my own contributions and spin on them.)
Proximate socio-economic instability
Let’s face it, humans are selfish bastards. If it doesn’t affect you, you won’t care more than to show your support in the vaguest of manners. I support a lot of things… but rarely enough to do anything beyond voting for a party that will do the work for me. It is because it is all so distant, so unaffecting me.
How is it for those that are in the midst of it? Well, they are doing more because their very lives might be in the balance! This is why it needs to be proximate. And of course socio-economic; why of course? Because that is what will make or break your day. Can you support yourself? Your family? Are they safe? Unsafe? Or maybe worse, they might already be incarcerated! There needs to be economical and social issues that affect the people directly for it to start causing revolutionary sentiments.
Funnily enough, this is also a reason why people might oppose a revolutionary force! If people start to associate the revolutionary forces with the instability, then they are the cause of it! Not necessarily true, but human brains are gonna be logically flawed until the end of time. If your auntle is killed by revolutionary forces, you will be more likely to support the current regime no matter how bad they are; they didn’t kill your beloved auntle!
(Anne: Story note this time! People tend to love underdogs and the audience and characters will tend to root for a rebel force unless you portray them as agents of chaos who either don’t care about or can’t control damage to people, places, and things. Want to make your characters or audience hate a revolution and cheer for an existing government? Have revolutionary forces kill a close friend or relative or torch your character’s beloved hometown!)
Alienation
As an alien, I feel this term is very xenist! But regardless, alienation here refers to when groups are pushed away and unable to participate in the politics of the nation. They are not given any form of power or representation and are, quite often, entirely ignored, as the imbalance doesn’t affect the rest of the population.
This of course means that the group in question is either intentionally, or unintentionally, losing any political power and the ability to change things that relate to them. This will naturally enrage people because their needs and desires are not being met. (Anne: If people don’t have the option to create change within the system, they’ll pursue change outside of the system. Generally, if there are legal options, your audience–and onlookers in the real or story world–will view revolutions less favourably than if legal means are denied or have been thoroughly explored). Well said mysterious random voice!
We all know how infuriating it is in our friend groups when you are being ignored, except now you are ignored AND left to fend for yourself. You are not important enough to matter! Your way of life is irrelevant to the nation; your local government and official government is not there for you; it is for the state to exert power onto you, not serve you!
This will naturally anger people and make them want to take up… I am not saying it, a certain someone reading might start doing it then. These are typical things that happened in the old overseas territories–oh I mean colonies!–of Europe. They were alienated because they did not matter to their overlords, and thus revolutions and revolts started. Ungrateful colonies 😛 (Anne: No taxation without representation!)
Elite infighting
So your country has its elite, the ruling class, and everything is fine! Just give the plebs circuses and bread, and all will be well! Well, let’s skimp a bit on those things; they don’t need circuses AND bread, right?
Elites can easily take lots from generic people because of their power. And the people can generally do little about it. We like to imagine that a random rascal can mobilise people and create a revolution to change everything! But in reality, that is not how things go. People can want and want and want all they want, but the elite, with the military and all other powers on their side, will crush every single attempt to revolt with ease. You have seen these in a lot of dictatorships where revolts are crushed and people scatter off like cockroaches just found in the light.
But that is if, and only if, the elite has a united front against the people. But there’s a chance they might start attacking each other, either to win favour with the SUPREME LEADER! or because of ideological differences, or even because they are all starting to encroach on what keeps other elite members rich and powerful… Anyway, there are many reasons! The point is, when they start attacking each other, the elite is weakened, and this means that revolution becomes possible because they cannot form a united front. The military might fracture along the lines of dissidents of the elite and thus weaken itself by becoming smaller factions. Some elite members might even start siding with the population to get more favour and bolster their power. (Anne: Ah yes, the alienated child of the elite joining the rebellion and bringing their connections to lowly commoners who could never accomplish revolution on their own! But don’t dismiss this trope: if done well, it can be quite compelling!)
This one is important: do not underestimate the power of the elite. And do not underestimate how much damage their disagreements can cause as time moves on.
International support
This one is more for more globalised worlds and lesser so for the less globalised ones, but it is still important. No state is alone in the world, and the moment it starts looking like a revolution or any instability is possible, the eyes of neighbours and world-playing states will come onto that nation.
No matter how good a nation is, no matter how noble, they will always have international (or interstellar if you do space opera!) interests that can and will contradict their stated positions. Like if Revoland, a made up country, possesses large deposits of Winchellium crystals that power the known civilization, similar to oil, then the moment it looks like there might be a possibility for revolution, what will people do? They need the Winchellium crystals to power their own nations! Well, they will start supporting whichever faction is aligned with their interests and willing to give favourable trading deals to their supporters. (Anne, an American: …no comment 😉). How’s your oil? (Anne: 😅 )
This can make it so that revolutionary forces gain much more power and force to utilise than they should have because someone else is supplying them with everything they need: weapons, training, and more. All in the hope that the revolution is successful and, in the end, will give a better deal on the Winchellium Crystals! This can be an otherwise pacifist nation that supports the revolution; after all, it is not Pacifiland fighting, it is you, the revolutionaries, who are doing the fighting!
(Anne: Storywise, bringing in international players can be a fun way to tip the scales one way or another and can reveal those other nations’ true values. And if your story is actually about those other nations, and their support for a revolution in a far off land is part of the story but not central, it’s equally good!)
Injustice
This is the one that gets the most attention but is generally a symptom of the others. Though it can be the trigger that makes people wake up and see the massive turd they are standing in.
It is when a people are facing, well, injustices. Their crimes are overly punished, their issues never addressed. Whenever things happen, no one really cares. Justice exists, but it is not for these people, and any definition of justice either explicitly excludes them, or implicitly ignores their pleas.
This can be a very powerful tool to get people onboard for the revolution. Because like the Proximate blah blah above, this one is very personal, something they experience and might not have thought of until it is stated. It can be used to galvanise people around the cause and to get an end to it all.
(Anne: This is also a great way to get elites or at least those with the power to change things on board with the idea of change. They can potentially work within the system to prevent the revolution, or they can join the fight, but as Vivian states above, getting elite support can be crucial).
So an easy way to avoid revolutions is to not have injustices… But it would make for a boring world if no injustices existed. (Anne: When even the idealist Vivian says to include injustice in your world, you know it’s important!)
THE REVOLUTION IS ON!
People are disgruntled, the government is weakened, the elite is fracturing, it is time for revolution! SHUT UP ANNE! What do you do now? Well, that depends on a lot of factors. As much as a revolution is glorified and the like, it is still fundamentally a war. So you have to treat it as such. The big difference is you are not an outsider moving in; you are already inside and have to move to the same points like a real war!
You need the centres of infrastructure, which in modern times include electricity generators, clean water plants, and communication centres, aka broadcasters. You might not want to use your infrastructure to push the people into submission, but you certainly want to make certain that the government and thus the enemy don’t have access to these so they can start forcing your supporters into submission! Keep in mind, people are lazy, and the moment it gets too hard and difficult, they will start wilting and succumb to any force that will bring normality to them.
(Anne: A lot of stories feature characters who will suffer anything to achieve the revolution’s goals, and while there certainly are individuals like this, most people won’t. If you want to depict an accurate revolution, it can’t get too bad; remember, if people associate the revolution with chaos, they’ll turn on it).
After you have done these and secured your base of operation, it is time for the final march! March on the capital! Raise your arms, drive your trucks, march along toward the political centre of your country! Even if you fail to capture the leaders, you will then possess nearly all political infrastructure to project your new power outward and have the entire country under your rule! But to be absolutely certain that the revolution will not revert, you need to get those old bastards.
A manhunt must be on: send your soldiers, send your hunters, send everything you have to capture everything and everyone of the old regime and bring them back! But do not give orders to execute them on sight! You want to seem reasonable and just, and with this new order of the country, they are taken back alive, given a… “fair” trial, then, OFF WITH THE HEAD! Crush the old elite that refuses to cooperate with you! The elite who switched sides shall be handsomely rewarded for their wise choice, but never never forget… They are not your friend, only your supporter. (Anne: Don’t piss them off too much though! They’ve already shown they’ll betray their allies. These can be fun characters since they’re generally motivated by self-interest, always a fun motivation to explore). I hope there aren’t purges to be had…
The aftermath
The revolution has succeeded; the old order of the country is replaced by a new one! A new structure for the country is to emerge and become the de facto one, and in time, de jure! What now? Well, rough times are ahead. (Anne: A lot of stories end with a successful revolution, or show people easily forming a new government, but that’s not the case at all in the real world and robs you of a lot of potential for drama. You might do the aftermath in a sequel, though!)
Your revolution was a coalition of people from many strands of life, but the one thing you all agreed on was that the regime must DIE! Now that the regime is gone, you are all falling apart. Some want this, others want that, and you cannot agree because you are too different in your visions of the future.
You stand before a choice: you can try to figure out something that everyone is okay with, which will be an insane amount of work and seriously destined to fail. Then you take out the second tool in this toolbox, the other option to your choice: PURGES! Purge everyone that opposes you, purge everyone not supporting your ideals as you rise to the top to be the leader of the revolution! Claim they are counter-revolutionaries who want to undermine the will of the people who built your revolution!
The streets will be filled with blood! Heads will be rolling, chaos will once more reign, peace will be destroyed by drowning it with the blood of all who dares oppose you! Wait… Are we becoming like the old leaders? Eh, it is different this time! You are good, after all!
Yeah, this is a huge reason why a lot of revolutions flail around and eventually fail: they become no better than what they overthrew, and often, they become even worse. The power corrupts what were once idealistic people, and they become obsessed with retaining power. (Anne: Great character arc!) This is why in a supposedly good revolution, the power structure that is to emerge at the end often needs to be agreed upon beforehand so everyone knows what to work toward, and when cutting throats… It is those that broke the deal, not those that disagree. (Anne: Including these discussions and negotiations within your story can be a great way to hint at the aftermath and allow you to end the book with the end of the revolution if you don’t want to show the aftermath in the story/sequel).
Of course after this, there is the question of international legitimacy… Nothing a bit of money greasing won’t fix in the long run!
The narrative
Another important aspect of a revolution is the narrative that surrounds it.
I started a revolution cause I wanted power
Does not make for a good story that makes people want to join, let alone keep telling the tale as generations pass on. As a revolution takes place, like with everything, a narrative needs to be constructed, and the closer it is to the truth, the better!
Some narratives are very genuine, and some are very much false. Like Lenin was very genuine in his desires and beliefs in communism, but a lot of human greed and power hogging along with infighting ruined his dream, and what came to be was nothing like he imagined. But Lenin’s narrative lived on in the Soviet Union because it was a damn good story to tell.
The French Revolution is another example: “Liberté, égalité, fraternité!” translated means “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity!” The last one is meant to be understood as brotherhood in the genderless manner, so more siblinghood. Everyone is equal and together. Fighting against an oppressive monarch who would not give the majority of people what they needed is another damn good story! And for the most part, it was accurate even! It quickly went off the rails and became much worse than it was meant to, but hey, what are a few oceans of blood if you can have a good revolution? The sentiment lives on even if the first revolution failed miserably in the end due to human fallibility.
To take an example from my universe: the Tsxobjezn (Anne: My people!). Their origin and social structure lies during the industrial revolution, see, revolution in revolution! But no inception… or maybe? Kwxents, their founder, was an idealist and endured a lot of hardship until the spark finally ignited, and revolution was on. Down with the capitalists and all governments that enabled them! Kwxents rose up and kept pushing, and to this day in my universe, Kwxents’ powerful tale is told, and while most people are certain that the details of the tale are fabricated for the tale itself, almost no one believes they are wild exaggerations that have no basis in truth. (Anne: Do they dare question Kwxents’ legacy?!)
So whether it fails, survives, starts, continues, or whatever stage the revolution is in, it needs a narrative that will engage people and make them believe in it, even if it was centuries ago. The closer to the truth it can be, the better. (Anne: The storytelling potential here is obviously obvious, but keep in mind that the establishment can try to smear this story and weaken people’s support both during and after the revolution. This is especially true if it fails, but if those pesky elites who betrayed the initial government to support the revolution want to stage a counter revolution… Well, it’s time to destroy the new government’s credibility! And if you want to prevent people from supporting a revolution in the first place, destroying their narrative helps a lot).
Coup vs Revolution
Some might think these are equivalent, but they are NOT! Coups are elites attacking each other, generally, and then assuming power. There is a reason why nigh all forms of coups are the military going in and taking power. The military, despite what many might think, is in fact an elite and part of the governing force.
There is a reason why in any government, a general rule is “Do not piss off the military.” Sure, if you are good and all and the military believes in the government, you can get away with it, but that is because they allow it. How much can a civilian government do if a military decides they are not good enough to rule? Well, without splitting the military due to loyalty, they can do nothing!
This also shows how important the military is in general, and why a lot of militaries are structured the way they are. For democratic nations, they swear allegiance to the constitution and to uphold it (if a country has one, else it is modified to fit). This primes people to support things in spite of coups and revolutions to maintain the status quo. But dictatorships often have militaries swear an oath to a person, which can be incredibly powerful, but also dangerous if they stop believing the person is right to rule anymore.
So to summarise, a coup is more the elites fighting each other, and one seizes the power from another faction of elites, while a revolution is the people, not the elites, seizing the power to change institutions. A coup is not necessarily interested in changing anything but which faction is in power.
(Anne: This is one reason why some stories focus on the elites only and aren’t considered works about revolution, and while it’s a great way to tell the story, make sure not to confuse it! It’s also why a lot of stories focus on the military, either with characters in the military or having it factor in prominently. Power tends to follow military might. Sure, people and even elites can try to rule, but they can’t exactly stand against tanks rolling through the streets or missiles aimed at their headquarters–or homes 🚀 ).
The leader
While there are examples of revolutions that had no specific central head or leaders, most of them always get a leader. Usually a charismatic one, but there have been quite a few leaders through history that are anything but. They were just the right person at the right time. And as I described before, it can be incredibly easy for them to become dictators afterward through purges. A common example of a leader that became the leader but was not charismatic is, well, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. If you have looked at his recordings and speeches, he is… extremely boring. But he knew how to play the game to gain the power, and afterward, he knew how to maintain power! Do not DARE to be the first one to stop clapping!
A charismatic opposite to that example is, well, Napoleon Boneparte. He was technically not part of the central circle of the revolution, but his military brilliance was so great that he became a superstar among the French. He was so capable that even 10:1 odds against him were bad statistics for his opponents, and he managed to save France, and the revolution, from everyone who tried to suffocate it. He became so good, in fact, that the government agreed to his crazy ideas just to get him AWAY from France, hoping he’d kill himself in his insane endeavours in Egypt! Well, we all know how that went: he came back and eventually crowned himself as nothing less than “Emperor of France” which at that time was… most of Europe.
So while not all revolutions need a leader, they often get one because someone will rise up and try to take power through charisma or through power plays like Stalin. (Anne: Great way to mess up a revolution? Kill off the leader! But watch out, there’s a good chance they’ll become a martyr, and the revolution will gain even more speed, especially if someone else can step in to lead). Great point! This is one of the worst things that can happen to one side, turning someone on the other side into a martyr, because it will galvanise people and make them far more ready to die for their cause!
In my own setting, Kwxents was the leader despite not living to the end of the revolution, and after their death, their partner, Akxsana, came to be the leader of the revolution. Kwxents became famous because they were charismatic and able to make rousing speeches that would galvanise people for the cause. Akxsana inherited the reins to the revolution from their partner because they were the one behind the scenes orchestrating and planning things. While Kwxents could speak to make people move mountains, Akxsana was the one that laid out the logistical routes needed to pull it off. (Anne: The greatest duo of all time!)
Summa Summarum
Revolutions are complicated! Dance with me! Okay, maybe not dance, but it is a complicated issue that needs many things in society and people to coincide in order for a revolution to happen and in the end be successful. Many things can go wrong before it starts, during, and even after the revolution. Things can quickly turn absolute shit in a moment's notice if one does not take things into account, yet revolutions are not carefully orchestrated things. They spring from a spark of discontent and someone is there “to help”. (Anne: Will your revolution be a polka or a slow waltz? Line dance or partner? The only requirement is that you revolve!)
Anne asked me an important question when I started this post: how can she overturn her government? My advice is, wait until the boiling point of the people is exceeded and all faith and hope in the ordinary re-courses are gone and dead. Then grab your torch and bitch-fork (intentional) and rise up with your fellow men and women as the military is falling apart from their own intrigues, that is when it is… REVOLUTION TIME!
(Anne: 🗡️ 🔥 😈)
Legend tells that when Kwxents was embalmed and put to rest in the depths of the catacombs, they had no smile to their face, but once Akxsana was laid to rest by their side, holding their hand together in the conservation fluids, Kwxents has since smiled.
The federation will endure as long as they smile together.
(Image is approximation by Anne Winchell)
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Copyright ©️ 2024 Vivian Sayan. Original ideas belong to the respective authors. Generic concepts such as revolutions, how they work, and how they can be applied to stories are copyrighted under Creative Commons with attribution, and any derivatives must also be Creative Commons. However, specific ideas such as the Tsxobjezn, Kwxents, Akxsana, and their legend, plus all language or exact phrasing are individually copyrighted by the respective authors. Contact them for information on usage and questions if uncertain what falls under Creative Commons. We’re almost always happy to give permission. Please contact the authors through this website’s contact page.
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