Rebellion
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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
Famous rebels
- Bohdan Chmielnicki
- James Connolly
- Michael Davitt
- Che Guevara
- Helgi Hóseasson
- John O'Mahoney
- Subcomandante Marcos
- Francis Meagher
- John Mitchel
- Emelyan Pugachov
- Stenka Razin
- William Smith O'Brien
- Eric Raymond
- Lucifer
- Spartacus
- Leon Trotsky
- Jack Cade
- Owen Glendower
- Emiliano Zapata
See also
- American Slave rebellions (Nat Turner's rebellion, Stono Rebellion, et cetera)
- Polish uprisings
- Rokosz, a legal rebellion in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
- The Open Source Movement has been called a "rebellion" against closed source software and intellectual capitalism.
Fictional rebellions
- Maquis (Star Trek)
- Rebel Alliance (Star Wars)de:Aufstand