- Revolutions can change entire countries
and set people on a whole new course
that's completely different than where they were
and it can all happen in an instant.
But how do they occur?
How is it possible that people can rise up
against a seemingly unchallengeable power?
Well, the following revolutions were just that.
(man shouts)
(pounding footsteps)
Here are the 10 most important revolutions in history.
Number 10 was the American Revolution.
The American Revolutionary War
was fought between 1775 and 1783
and saw Britain's 13 colonies
battle against the British colonial government.
The colonists had been increasingly upset with high taxes,
fewer rights than British subjects,
and little representation in British Parliament.
The two sides had been meeting to talk things over,
but violence broke out before they could reach a solution.
Colonial delegates voted to form an army,
led by George Washington, and went to battle
on June 17th, 1775.
The Declaration of Independence was voted in
on July 4th, 1776, and on September 3rd, 1783,
peace was negotiated and Britain formerly announced
the United States as independent.
Number nine is the French Revolution.
The French Revolution took place between 1789 and 1799
and was partly inspired by the success
of the American Revolution in giving power back to people.
Many citizens were living in poverty
compared to the monarchy and the church,
who didn't pay taxes.
The Revolution was bloody and violent
and tens of thousands of people were killed in battle.
Most of the aristocracy went to the guillotine,
and the monarchy ended
when the king met the same fate in 1793.
The slogan, Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity,
inspired revolutionaries to fight for major social reforms.
Freedoms were given back to the people
and the arts and culture spread.
The Revolution came to an end
as Napoleon Bonaparte rose to power in the late 1790s
and declared himself Emperor of France in 1804.
I don't know how much you know about Napoleon Bonaparte,
but he was about my height, which is pretty short.
But he had a cool hat and a horse.
Hmm, I guess you need those things to be Emperor.
I'm never gonna be Emperor.
Number eight is the Haitian Revolution.
In 1791, Haiti was a French colony calls Saint Domingue,
and their agricultural industry
was a huge money maker for France.
It relied heavily on slave labor
and nearly 800,000 Africans were enslaved there.
Unrest began after the French Revolution
that fractured the white and mixed race populations.
The slave majority took advantage of this
and staged a massive uprising on August 27th, 1791.
Nearly 350,000 people were killed
as many different sides fought for power and control.
In November of 1803, Napoleon's forces were defeated
and eliminated his foothold in North America.
On January 1st, 1804, the nation became independent
and renamed Haiti, becoming the first black republic
and country to be founded by its former slaves.
Number seven is the Russian Revolution.
Before 1917, Russia was ruled by an imperial government
and czarist autocracy.
The Petrograd Soviet was formed by
and gained support of the army
and pressured the czar, Nicholas II, to abdicate.
Power was shared between a provincial government
and the Petrograd Soviet until the October revolution.
On October 24th and 25th, the leader, Vladimir Lenin
and the Bolshevik party, who were Marxin socialists,
stormed the city and occupied government buildings.
They formed a new government, with Lenin as dictator.
This gave rise to communism and the establishment
of the Soviet Union in 1922.
Number six was the Cultural Revolution.
The Cultural Revolution in China was started in 1966
by Communist Party of China Chairman, Mao Zedong,
four years after his failed iniative,
The Great Leap Forward, which caused millions of deaths
and economic crisis.
Mao wanted to regain power
and restore true communist ideology,
eradicating western influence.
Mass amounts of youths got behind Mao
and formed paramilitary groups called the Red Guards.
They destroyed heritage sites
and traditional cultural artifacts
and were violent to anyone who went against Mao.
The government and economy fell apart
and the country went into chaos.
Over 1.5 million people were killed
and millions more were tortured and imprisoned.
The revolution caused widespread social destruction
and only ended when Mao died in 1976.
Number five is the Cuban Revolution.
The Cuban Revolution took place between 1953 and 1959,
when Fidel Castro led the revolt against Cuban dictator,
Fulgencio Batista, to end corruption.
On July 26th, 1953,
the rebels tried to raid the Moncada military base,
but were stopped and Castro was jailed.
After he was released in 1955,
he formed the 26th of July movement
with other exiles and political prisoners.
In November of 1956, the rebels took to the mountains,
where they learned guerrilla warfare
and fought off Batista's troops.
In 1958, the rebels set out taking over towns
and gained support as they made their way
to the capital, Havana.
At least 5,000 people were killed.
Batista was finally ousted on January 1st, 1959,
and Castro took over.
He eventually reformed as the Communist Party,
with close ties to the Soviet Union,
and was a central figure to the Cold War.
Number four is the Iranian Revolution.
The Iranian Revolution took place between 1977 and 1979.
Iran was a majority Shia Muslim population
and was a monarchy, headed by the Shah,
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
He wanted to modernize Iran based on western practices,
but by 1977, his corruption was revealed
and protests against his growing dictatorship began.
Religious revolutionaries wanted to replace the Shah
with an Islamic republic.
From August to December of 1978,
the violent protests and strikes were so widespread
that the country came to a standstill,
and 2,781 people were killed.
On January 16th, 1979, Pahlavi went into exile
and his reign collapsed.
Khomeini took power and the Islamic republic
was voted in on April 1st.
All secular rules and relationships
with the west were reversed.
Number three is the Industrial Revolution.
The Industrial Revolution took place
between the late 18th century and 19th century.
It began in Britain, which was able to use their colonies
to grow the market for manufactured goods.
Before the revolution, society was made up
of mostly small, rural communities,
and was centered around agriculture and manual labor.
But when powered machines were introduced,
work was done quicker, which was huge
for the iron and textile industries.
With fewer people needed in the fields,
there was mass migration to urban centers
to meet the demand of new factory jobs,
which changed city infrastructures dramatically.
The booming economy grew the banking system and global trade
and saw the rise of capitalism.
Labor reforms and civil rights
also adapated to the changes in society.
Number two is the Egyptian Revolution.
In early 2011, Egyptians were finally fed up
with high unemployment rates and government corruption.
Protesters wanted President Mubarak out
and the return of democracy and free elections.
On January 25th, the Day of Anger, thousands of people
gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square to protest.
Over the next two days, the protests grew
and turned into riots.
The army and police became more violent
and the government started censoring the news media.
Protesters used social media to coordinate
and get the truth out about what was really happening,
but by the 28th, the government had blacked out cell phone
and internet access.
846 people were killed, thousands more were injured,
and at least 12,000 were arrested.
Mubarak finally stepped down on February 11th
and the country was put under military rule.
And number one is the Digital Revolution.
The Digital Revolution came in the late 1950s
and led the way for the informational age.
The technical revolution in the 20th century
made huge advancements in engineering
and general purpose technologies,
specifically electricity, crude oil,
and the internal combustion engine.
Digital technology quickly made
analog technologies obsolete.
Digital allowed information to be copied
and endlessly duplicated,
while remaining identical to the original.
In a short time, those digital files
got smaller and easier to share.
After the Second World War, advanced military technologies,
particularly in communication and aviation,
were filtered to the population,
and by the '80s, home computers were popular,
followed by the World Wide Web in 1992.
In a few decades, the way the world operated
and connected changed forever.
And because of that, I can exist.
I'm not a real person.
I'm all digital
(creepy laugh)
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