Curated playlist
Democratization
- Demokratizatsiya (Soviet Union)Soviet voters in March 1989 crossed off unopposed Communist candidates, startling the ruling party.
- Second Spanish RepublicThe Second Spanish Republic went through eight prime ministers and nineteen cabinets in eight years.
- Socialism with a human faceIn March 1968, Czechoslovakia abolished censorship for the first time in its history.
- French RevolutionThe Bastille held only seven prisoners when a crowd stormed it in 1789. It was an early moment in the French Revolution.
- German revolution of 1918–1919Germany's 1918 revolution toppled an empire in days with almost no one killed.
- United States invasion of PanamaThe United States invasion of Panama began at 12:46 a.m. local time on the 20th of December 1989. Over the following hours, 27,684 American troops and more than 300 aircraft went into action. Washington's stated aim was to remove General…
- American RevolutionIn early 1783, King George III privately admitted he had lost America in the Revolution.
- Overthrow of the Roman monarchyRome's last king came home from a war and found the gates shut. The plotters had turned his own army against him.
- Arab SpringThe Arab Spring began with a confiscated fruit stand. On the 17th of December 2010, in the Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid, a municipal inspector seized the wares of Mohamed Bouazizi. He could not find other work and had been selling fruit…
- Second Polish RepublicJózef Piłsudski left a German prison and became Poland's leader within a week.