20 Times Governments Were Overthrown by the People

In 1688, James II lost the support of the people so quickly that the entire system surrounding him seemed to collapse all at once. Parliament called upon William of Orange, but this story only makes sense because James had already alienated so many people that resistance collapsed and the monarchy was reformed under pressure from public opinion and political circles. 

France in 1789 was the classic example of a government that seemed absolute—until it was no longer so. Bread shortages, debt, the anger of the working classes, and a monarchy that had lost its aura all combined, and once the common people of Paris stormed the Bastille, the Ancien Régime no longer felt untouchable.

It wasn’t just a revolt. It was slaves and free people of color who overthrew the French colonial regime and built a new state in its place—which is why this story remains so powerful to read. All of this forced the world to confront a reality that empires detested: the people they treated as property could overthrow a government and govern themselves.

France managed to do so once again in 1830, in what stands as one of history’s most striking lessons: restoring a dynasty is not enough to restore legitimacy. Charles X attempted to steer the country back toward a more reactionary path; Paris rose up, and after three days of street fighting, he was driven from power. 

Then came the year 1848, when another king of France discovered that the people’s patience had its limits. Economic hardship, political exclusion, and mounting protests forced Louis-Philippe to abdicate, and the monarchy collapsed with surprising speed as soon as the streets filled with people and the National Guard faltered. 

The Qing dynasty had been growing weaker for years, and by 1911, that weakness was evident enough for the revolution to take hold. Provincial uprisings and popular anger helped topple a dynasty that had reigned for centuries—the kind of statement that seems inevitable only after the fact.

The Russian Empire did not fall because a single speech struck a chord. It fell because war, famine, strikes, and mutinies mounted until the tsarist regime lost all ability to enforce obedience, and Nicholas II was forced to abdicate. What is striking is the speed with which a government that had relied on force discovered that force no longer commanded authority. 

In 1918, sailors mutinied, workers’ and soldiers’ councils sprang up everywhere, and the German monarchy collapsed under the pressure of defeat and unrest. By the time the republic was proclaimed, the imperial system had not so much been overthrown in a single spectacular blow as it had been driven to collapse by a population that had ceased to believe in its permanence.

The Shah’s government appeared to be heavily armed, firmly supported, and deeply entrenched, which made its collapse in 1979 all the more surprising. Mass demonstrations, strikes, funerals that turned into protests, and a broad coalition of people who agreed on almost nothing—except that the monarchy had to go—made it impossible to stabilize the regime. 

It is one of those moments that remain etched in people’s memories because the images are so striking: crowds in the streets, hesitant soldiers, nuns kneeling in front of tanks. Marcos had the apparatus of power at his disposal, but in 1986, the widespread refusal to accept him and the scale of the uprising forced his regime into exile. 

East Germany did not collapse in a single heroic and spectacular moment, but the weekly demonstrations, public pressure, and the sheer scale of the exodus and dissent made the regime unmanageable. Once the Wall was opened in 1989, the government’s claim to exercise control appeared to be an illusion almost overnight.

The Velvet Revolution still seems almost unbelievable, given how quickly the rigid system collapsed as soon as the mass protests gained momentum. Students, artists, workers, and ordinary citizens overthrew the communist government without the bloodshed that everyone had feared, giving this event a character that was both fragile and historic. 

Romania went through a more tumultuous period than the term “revolution” sometimes suggests. What began as a demonstration turned into a national uprising; the regime resorted to violence, and Nicolae Ceaușescu was overthrown and killed in a collapse brought about both by the popular uprising and by divisions within the state itself.

In 2000, following a disputed election, huge crowds flooded into Belgrade, preventing Slobodan Milošević from clinging to power. That nickname sounds almost like something out of a cartoon—until you remember what it actually meant: people who were literally shaking up the inner workings of a regime that had run its course. 

The 2003 uprising in Georgia was unique in that it was both spectacular and effective. Protesters waving roses disrupted parliamentary proceedings, public anger over the fraud continued to mount, and Eduard Shevardnadze resigned as soon as it became clear that the old system could no longer be restored. 

The Orange Revolution was not so much about storming a palace as it was about refusing to accept a stolen election result. Massive protests against electoral fraud forced the government to hold a new presidential election, and this popular mobilization shifted government policy in a way that seemed undeniably dictated by the will of the people. 

The 2005 uprising in Kyrgyzstan erupted due to anger over corruption and disputed elections; as soon as the protests spread, President Askar Akayev fled the country. It was one of those cases in which a government that had learned to manage dissent realized too late that it had mistaken the people’s frustration for resignation. 

The Tunisian uprising began as an act of desperation before growing into something much larger. Protests against unemployment, humiliation, and repression forced Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali to step down in 2011, and this success sent shockwaves throughout the region, as it demonstrated that an autocrat could still be overthrown by the people in the streets. 

That winter, Egypt changed at a dizzying pace. Massive protests against corruption, repression, and stagnation swept through Cairo and other cities, and after eighteen days of pressure, Hosni Mubarak resigned, bringing an end to a regime that had seemed unshakable. 

The 2019 uprising in Sudan erupted following a rise in the price of bread, before expanding far beyond that and becoming a much more serious threat to the regime. Months of protests and mobilization forced Omar al-Bashir to step down, and even though the military took the reins to shape the future, his downfall was the result of sustained popular pressure that never wavered and never ceased.