Revolutions Timeline - Political Science Theme

Andi 0:01

there are no obvious good guys and bad guys in history, but it's still a very major moment.

Tanner 0:07

let's try to add some pieces to the puzzle. So if you watch The Crown,

Sups 0:13

it's, one of those most chilled out, like transfer of powers.

Andi 0:18

So revolution number three is not commonly called a revolution. But I consider it one. So deal with it. I am the dictator of this podcast. Hello and welcome to this episode of the ihad Have Known podcast, the trivia podcast that can't be trusted. Each week, our Quizmaster presents you with four big facts on a topic, but one of those facts is a lie, and we are continuing our political science themed month. today I am your quizmaster Andy, and I am doing a timeline episode on Revolutions. So I will present you with four revolutions. That all really happened, and I will present them in chronological order. except that one of these events is not in the correct order. So, Join our other hosts, soups and Tanner in figuring out the correct order of the timeline. And just to be clear, the four events, they all happen. Nothing I'm gonna say is a lie. Except date related. Mm-hmm. and the events are still in the correct order relative to each other except the one. So if you took the one wrong one out, they all, their three are still in chronological order.

Tanner 1:26

Right.

Sups 1:27

Understood.

Andi 1:27

Yeah. let's start with little hanging fruit. Mm-hmm. do some etymology

Sups 1:33

Oh,

Andi 1:34

the word revolution. Comes from the Latin word. Reto which means what in English

Tanner 1:40

to turn around.

Andi 1:41

Yeah. Means to turn around or to spin. you know, if the earth revolves around the sun. So it spins around the sun, right? And one of those, one instance is called a revolution, right? This is the same word of course, in politics, has a very different meaning.

Tanner 1:58

course Yeah. Yeah.

Andi 1:59

But it does kind of reflect it, so it needs to turn around. So it involves change. revolutions and history in general are, messy. So there's no real clear definition of what a revolution is. For the purposes of this episode, these four revolutions, they have two major things in common. One is the turnaround, the about face is a major change in the structure of the government. Okay. not going from one king to a different one. Mm-hmm. because you sell the monarchy, we're talking about a whole restructuring of the government. Okay. And the second factor is it happened fairly quickly. So in less than one generation, because other revolutions, such as the Catholic churches, hold on, the politics of Europe kind of slowly over time, it lessened into the point where now they don't really have any actual political power. Yeah. That's a kind of revolution. But that took a long time. So I'm not counting that. Mm-hmm. these are fairly short.

Tanner 2:51

all

Sups 2:51

Okay. All right.

Tanner 2:52

Let's start with the first Chronologically. according to you,

Andi 2:55

Yes. I will give you a bit of a hint though Okay. All four of these happened after the American Revolution.

Sups 3:01

All right. Okay, so so now I know where to

Tanner 3:05

What centuries

Andi 3:06

There's, that's a big hint. So the first revolution, I'm not going to call by its name because it has its date and its

Tanner 3:12

Oh

Sups 3:12

Oh no.

Andi 3:13

Revolution number one is Springtime of the Peoples.

Sups 3:17

Revolution,

Tanner 3:18

Okay.

Andi 3:18

Or the Springtime of Nations So, springtime of the peoples is actually several revolutions and attempted revolutions, mostly across Europe and mostly against monarchies. So we were going from Monarchies to nation states. It encompassed 50 plus countries, depending on how you count it. Not all of them were successful. Some of the major successes though, was the end of Sedo in Austria-Hungary. end of the absolute monarchy in Denmark. and the establishment of. Democratic Republic of the Netherlands. Okay. So these were the three major successes of this, and it's called Springtime of the Peoples because it literally lasted less than a year. Wow. In like the springtime.

Tanner 4:02

So this is with the Aroung. Kingdom.

Andi 4:06

The

Tanner 4:07

The Habsburg

Andi 4:08

Mm-hmm.

Tanner 4:08

and the Kingdom of Denmark.

Andi 4:10

Which they still have

Sups 4:11

they still have it. I mean even the Dutch have the king and queen, but it's just that they don't really have any power.

Andi 4:17

They're no longer absolute monarchies where they wield political power.

Sups 4:21

Yeah, definitely read about all three of

Tanner 4:24

them.

Sups 4:24

And now I'm really trying to think of

Andi 4:27

what's the real name?

Sups 4:28

or what's the year

Tanner 4:29

that

Andi 4:29

Right? yeah, Another major event of this time was The overthrow of the French monarchy. Mm-hmm. also the formation of the middle class and within the German states, many of them over through their monarchy is leading to what eventually would become the German

Tanner 4:46

Yeah Okay I don't really have a date in mind or even a decade really, but this must be early

Sups 4:54

early 18 hundreds

Tanner 4:55

Yeah. The French overthrow and then Austria-Hungary.

Sups 4:59

I'm thinking if the year is in the name right. I'm trying to think like the 18, 20, Spring 18. I'll try. Yeah. It's something. like that. And no, no

Tanner 5:09

doesn't ring a bell. Yeah. Maybe the next

Sups 5:11

Next one

Andi 5:11

Yeah So obviously you can't really play the game yet until you hear the other events Exactly. Yeah. So let's get to the second revolution. This is probably one you've heard of at least. Revolution number two is the Haitian Revolution.

Tanner 5:21

Oh sure Yes The revolution in Haiti is one of the more famous non-European revolutions I

Andi 5:30

think yeah The Haitian Revolution is especially noteworthy because it was started by and largely Fought by formerly enslaved people. So self liberated, enslaved people, and they

Tanner 5:43

lived Yeah. Wasn't it one of the only ones like that where the people who were enslaved rose up and changed the government and then they ran

Andi 5:49

things? Yeah, It was the largest slave uprising since

Tanner 5:54

was the

Andi 5:55

Against the Roben Empire. That's

Tanner 5:57

That's huge.

Andi 5:58

Yeah. and importantly, they won so. what is now known as Haiti was at the time known as Song di Mingue. Okay. Which is because, Haiti is on the western half of the island of his Penola. Mm-hmm. The Dominican Republic is on the other side. In the Caribbean, So it was a sugar colony with many enslaved Africans who were working the plantations there. And it was a colony of France, right. So at the time of this event France was a little bit busy. Yeah Uhhuh. So many of the enslaved people fought against the plantation owners. Very violently.

Tanner 6:36

Yeah

Sups 6:36

Of course didn't

Andi 6:37

fresh revolutions don't tend to be very

Sups 6:39

No it's It's not for the fainthearted

Andi 6:41

Yeah.

Tanner 6:41

This was a bloody event

Andi 6:43

Yeah. So they revolted and the white plantation owners, those who lived, they were. Somebody help us. Mm-hmm. So they appeal to the British who if you know your history, France and Britain do not like each other Yeah. So France is like, Wait, wait, wait, wait. What? and then Spain, which was on the other side of the island, right? Was a Spanish colony. Yeah. They were like, Ooh, France is busy. Yeah. Okay. So Spain and Britain are like, Let's get together. Take this from France Yeah Yeah. Yeah. It's complicated. So probably the most important person from this revolution that you should know about is to Tucson Louver.

Tanner 7:22

So he was Haitian.

Andi 7:24

Yeah. Yeah. He was a former domestic slave in Haiti. Okay. Freedom himself Became a general, fought for Spain, and then France was like, No, we'll abolish slavery. so then the formerly enslaved people were like, Great, we'll fight for France now, who they had just rebelled against. So now louverture fights for France, but then they kind start winning and Britain and Spain are kinda like the appetite is kind of lessening here. Yeah. And they're like, you know, even though you abolish slavery, we don't wanna be French at all. We're gonna do our own thing. So he becomes the leader of the Haitian Army against the

Tanner 8:02

And that's what this revolution

Andi 8:04

all of this is considered the revolution, Oh, and that, but the end result is that they, including a lot of other people, defeat the French Army and France recognizes the independence of the first Haitian empire

Tanner 8:17

That's so interesting that not only is France kind of included in all these facts so far, but also it's a revolution. But what if they hadn't won? Would it still have been called a revolution?

Andi 8:27

Probably not,

Tanner 8:28

Right? Cause there wouldn't be a change in government, so then,

Sups 8:31

That is just like a failed uprising.

Andi 8:34

right

Sups 8:34

Yeah, this revolution is important from the perspective that all of. Colonial powers got played

Andi 8:41

Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. And you know, Simone Volva, the famous revolutionary in South America, right Said that this revolution was an inspiration for him. Wow. So, yeah. For, colonized people, and especially for enslaved people, it's a major moment. Right. you know, it was one thing for the American revolutionaries to defeat one of the strongest armies in the world Mm-hmm. But for people that you had enslaved and forcibly brought there to turn around and defeat you, That's pretty big deal. Yeah. It did not go super well afterwards. No, once Haiti was free, they massacred all of the white plantation owners Yeah So that was pretty ugly. there are no obvious good guys and bad guys in history, but it's still a very major moment. Mm-hmm. and unfortunately for Haiti did not end. Super great. Yeah. They got saddled with a debt to France that they're still paying off for some reason. It's pretty ridiculous. Yeah. it's reparations for the slave owners, boy. Haiti owes them money

Tanner 9:40

reparations to the slave owners? Yeah. Yeah. That doesn't make sense

Andi 9:44

Yeah That's, but after the revolution

Tanner 9:46

Right I like that each of these is kind of sparking a different revolution somewhere else. Mm-hmm. But we already have to put an order event number one and event number two. So if France kind of had their hands full with the Haitian one and the French government was changing already before the Austro-Hungarian one kind of lets you. Begin to put things in order.

Sups 10:08

so far, I'm very happy with the timeline I've no, no doubts, no debates you know? Yeah. Happy, with the timeline, but let's see, who knows? You know, even three might be a twist in the tail.

Andi 10:24

right? So revolution number three is not commonly called a revolution. But I consider it one. So deal with it. I am five I am the dictator of this podcast. So revolution number three, Canadian independence.

Sups 10:40

Okay.

Tanner 10:41

Yeah. They didn't fight a bloody war.

Andi 10:44

yeah, this particular transition, the date of which I'm counting as the revolution, was perfectly peaceful. Oh yeah. There were many rebellions beforehand, which helped to inspire and drive forward this eventual change. And they were bloody mm-hmm. but for the most part, this was a very, very peaceful revolution. Especially as revolutions go. So Canada, Was a colony of primarily at this time the British. Mm-hmm. So the Canadian Confederation was formed from the former colonies of Canada Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, and they became the dominion of. This was a new independent country from Britain.

Tanner 11:29

Ah

Andi 11:29

And so while the governance of the country is not that different, because Britain at this time did have a representative democracy, and then Canada had a representative democracy afterwards as well. And technically their heads of state was still The British monarch at the time.

Tanner 11:45

Mm-hmm.

Andi 11:46

It was no longer a colony. It was independent rules. That's why I'm cutting as a revolution. Right, It was now Fully self-governance.

Tanner 11:52

It was a colony and then it wasn't. Right. That's the revolution,

Andi 11:56

Okay So how this happened was the premieres as they were called mm-hmm. of each of these colonies. They got together, they had several conferences. It's very boring to read about. And they were all like you guys, we kinda wanna be our own thing. And they were feeling very threatened. The Americans were up to a lot of things at this time I won't get into details but the colonists in Canada kind of saw that, Britain's far away. And the Americans are right here. And so they were kind of like, it would be easier if we were in charge of our own military and our own things. Because these Americans are bothersome.

Tanner 12:32

of the border

Andi 12:33

Yes They were very like mm than I So they got together. They wrote up a kind of constitution and a bill for an act of parliament. Mm-hmm. for their independence. They go to London, take it to parliament, Parliament votes on what became known as the North American Acts. And is like, yeah, sure. Cool. They were like weirdly cool

Tanner 12:54

with it What Yeah. They said, Yep.

Andi 12:56

I think they were being, again, busy with other stuff

Tanner 12:59

Yeah

Sups 13:00

I think Britain had slightly different priorities.

Andi 13:02

Yeah. At this time. Yeah. And so the British Parliament voted. Yep. Okay. You guys can be your own country now. And the Monarch at the. Declared that on July 1st, such and such year. Mm-hmm. Canada will be a new country and it's gonna be called Straight Up Canada That's the whole that is the full name of that country. It's just Canada. And so then eventually other former colonies joined and they became the provinces that we now know of as Canada. But yeah.

Tanner 13:32

Wow. That's why. Canadians are celebrating Independence Day a couple days early

Andi 13:37

Yeah I know It's so ridiculous. Like, come on.

Tanner 13:40

How did you sneak that in there?

Andi 13:41

Yeah. Yeah They had to try to make it about themselves Yeah.

Tanner 13:44

Yeah.

Sups 13:44

it's, one of those most chilled out, like transfer of powers.

Andi 13:48

Yeah. It's kind of actually annoying cuz you think about how bloody and ruthlessly Britain tried to hold onto other colonies and Canada, they. eh? Some people might get mad at the idea that this is a revolution, but I wanted to count it. I wanted a peaceful one. cool. And it was a changing in

Tanner 14:05

Yeah Leave it to the Canadians to do it peacefully. I like that.

Sups 14:08

So now that we have three events where do you think this one falls?

Tanner 14:13

I feel like I'm kind of playing the game like I'm zooming out and using extra facts. But like, if the Americans were busy, Is it during the American Civil War?

Sups 14:22

Canadian independence is not recent. It's, it's been a

Tanner 14:25

right? So I think maybe in the middle of the 18 hundreds

Sups 14:28

Mm. Okay. Got one more to

Tanner 14:30

Yeah that might help narrow down.

Andi 14:33

Revolution number four, The first Egyptian revolution. So Egypt and Sudan at the time were colonies of the British Empire.

Tanner 14:44

Uhhuh.

Andi 14:46

everyone was at some point but officially at the time they were actually a part of the Ottoman Empire. So there's kind of a bit of a hint on some time period the Ottomans were their official rulers. But Britain occupied the territory at this. So the defacto leaders were the British, though technically the Ottomans. with, Yeah. Oh yeah. Very, messy. So some certain world events happen and the British end up consolidating control and the normal people of Egypt. Led by, and I'm really sorry. This name is in Arabic, and if you know anything about Arabic, they have like multiple dialects. Yeah. And sounds that I cannot make, so I'm sorry. This is my best attempt at this guy's name. sa Zaul, or GL or U, depending on which dialect of Arabic you speak. Wow. He was a revolutionary leader and he got. Every day Egyptians to take part in protests and petitions against the British occupation and Egyptian independence. British did not like this. they arrested Zaul. And that was when people got real mad and things started to get violent. Cuz they were like, No, absolutely not. Give us our guy back and get out of here. And the British kind of, at this time again, their appetite for maintaining power in. Was kind of lessened.

Tanner 16:20

they, mm-hmm.

Andi 16:21

So They didn't wanna deal with this. the British monarch in a, the British Parliament, offer to recognize Egyptian independence as long as they can still maintain control of Sudan, the Suez Canal, and a few other protectorate rights.

Tanner 16:35

Oh yeah.

Andi 16:35

Otherwise, they're like, You can, do what you want. And so Egypt became for a while. Yeah. An independent nation with a parliamentary system and elected Zaul as their first prime

Tanner 16:46

wow.

Sups 16:47

Yeah.

Andi 16:47

Didn't last

Tanner 16:48

back

Andi 16:49

long. It

Sups 16:49

It didn't last super long.

Tanner 16:50

but they threw off the

Sups 16:52

Yeah

Tanner 16:53

Interesting. I hadn't heard about this one,

Andi 16:56

and just so you know, I'm calling it first Egyptian revolution because it's actually called the Egyptian Revolution of Year

Sups 17:03

Yeah of course

Andi 17:04

say that.

Sups 17:05

Makes sense.

Tanner 17:05

So again, someone is revolting against the British

Andi 17:09

Yeah, it's a

Sups 17:10

mean I mean Can you imagine like this small country at some point ran more than half of this planet,

Andi 17:16

Yeah I mean, yeah They are responsible for a lot of independence

Tanner 17:19

independence Yeah But the Egyptians, When did they do this? let's try to add some pieces to the puzzle. So if you watch The Crown,

Andi 17:29

you talk about,

Sups 17:32

which season

Andi 17:33

you know, no

Tanner 17:34

season Yeah I'm not gonna assume anyone knows that, but if you watch The Crown, they talk about the British owning the Suez Canal, right? And Prince Phillip goes to Egypt and deals. Losing control of this who has canal, But that's already in the 19 hundreds. So like this must have been Yeah This must have been solidly already figured out before then But I don't know what other world events were happening when like the British were preoccupied. Right. And let the Egyptians run themselves. Oh man.

Sups 18:04

before we actually do the placing. Yeah. Let's get a reminder of all the four events. Cuz I think we've taken a good tour of history here.

Andi 18:13

Okay. my events in chronological order. Which I'm of course lying about. first revolution, springtime of the people. Second revolution, the Haitian revolution, third, the Canadian independence, and fourth, the first Egyptian revolution.

Sups 18:44

Right.

Tanner 18:45

Okay.

Sups 18:45

which one is out of order?

Andi 18:47

Yes. So if you remove one of them mm-hmm. the other three will still be in the correct order. Right.

Sups 18:52

I think from what I understand, what I vaguely remember, dates and everything, the one that I want to remove Is the Canadian I think Canadian independence is like the First event Yes. Because I think Canadian, It took place soon after American.

Tanner 19:10

Canadian you think Okay I'm So you think it's like American Revolution, Canadian and then or The springtime

Sups 19:16

Haitian

Tanner 19:17

then Haiti, Egypt, and then Egypt.

Sups 19:19

Because we're talking about the Ottoman Empire,

Tanner 19:21

right for the Egyptian

Sups 19:22

one. Egyptian one. So has to be Late 18 hundreds,

Tanner 19:26

Well I think. it could be as late as like the 19 hundreds because when Turkey was made a country that's like the official end of the Ottoman Empire, right

Sups 19:34

Yeah.

Tanner 19:35

Oh boy. I don't know.

Sups 19:37

we still have our I mean Ottoman Empire. Well First World War is still there, so that's

Tanner 19:42

so it could go very late Yeah,

Sups 19:43

good

Tanner 19:43

but the Canadian one you think thinking, So I'm thinking it's the Haitian one. Oh. So I think that the spark for the Haitian one Yeah. Was like the American Revolution. And so it was like American, Haitian, and then the springtime in Europe, and then the Canadian one, like around the 1860s, like Civil war in America, and then the Egyptian one.

Sups 20:07

Oh, Okay.

Tanner 20:09

first but I'm not that confident.

Andi 20:11

Right This is my guess. Yeah. All right. So give us the order you think it

Sups 20:15

So okay So My order is Canadian independence, springtime in Europe, Haitian Revolution, Egypt.

Andi 20:22

Okay.

Tanner 20:22

and mine is Haitian Springtime in Europe, Canadian, Egyptian.

Andi 20:27

Okay. I'll give you the orders and I'll give you some dates. Okay. Tanner is annoyingly dead on and I hate it. Oh,

Tanner 20:33

no,

Sups 20:33

wow.

Andi 20:34

you didn't say the actual revolution. That was the major factor behind the Haitian Revolution, the French Revolution. It is the French. So the Haitian Revolution started in 1791, along with the French Revolution and when France invaded Haiti to come fight. Yeah. Do you know who led that in? Is Napoleon The first Yes it's Napoleon So this is the time period. So right after the American Revolution, the French Revolution. So the Haitian Revolution was from 1791 until 1804. So it's very early. It's the earliest of these, right? Springtime of the peoples is more commonly known as the revolutions of 1848.

Sups 21:14

1848.

Tanner 21:15

Okay.

Andi 21:16

Yeah later And the French monarchy, that kind of throws you off. Cause So the French revolution happens, throws down the monarchy. Monarchy comes back for a little bit. Napoleon comes back for a hundred days. They get rid of the monarchy for a hundred days. Monarchy comes back. Yeah. Springtime 1848. That monarchy the French monarchy

Tanner 21:34

one

Andi 21:34

for good.

Tanner 21:35

Right.

Andi 21:36

But it wasn't the first time it fell Yeah. So that was a little, tricky trick I threw in there. So the fall, the French monarchy was a part of that revolution, but Fell multiple times.

Tanner 21:45

times So we've got the Haitians, we've got the Austria Hungarians and the Danish, and the

Andi 21:51

and the French and the German states. Ireland was involved actually many events and rebellions that led to the Canadian independence.

Sups 22:00

Makes sense

Andi 22:01

1867

Tanner 22:02

it is Okay the Americans were busy. the

Andi 22:05

the American Civil War was a major reason that Canadians were set because one many formerly enslaved people. We're fleeing to Canada. Right. And Canada wasn't a big fan of this. They're like, We don't wanna be pawns in your game. Like, we're not a part of this.

Tanner 22:17

and the south in America was also appealing to the British to help them. So then if they're going to the British owned Canada, that's a mess,

Andi 22:25

Yeah. Yeah. So that was Big thing was Canada wanted to have its own say in this because they felt Britain was helping the south. They didn't like that because they were mad at the south because all of these formerly enslaved people were coming. Yeah. So they wanted to be able to do their own thing. Okay. And they were worried about the Alaska purchase. Oh, sure. And manifest destiny. Yeah. So Canada was nervous. The Americans were gonna come for them But It's like a shockingly young democracy. Right? Nearly a hundred years after America's independence It's pretty surprising. And then the Egyptian Revolution of 1919.

Tanner 22:59

wow

Andi 22:59

War. World War I. Exactly. With the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the British occupation where they shot off the nose on the finks. then that was during World War I that was then, And the Egyptians are like, Nah

Sups 23:10

Yeah

Tanner 23:10

Okay,

Sups 23:11

this one I was confident is like the last event in the Yeah.

Andi 23:14

of thought it was obviously late,

Tanner 23:16

Yeah,

Sups 23:16

But Haitian 1791, of course. Okay. Napoleon. Napoleon

Andi 23:20

was involved

Sups 23:21

out to

Tanner 23:21

in Napoleon and you're like Wait okay up though Yeah.

Andi 23:25

these things are connected

Sups 23:27

Yeah

Tanner 23:27

Oh man.

Sups 23:28

but anyway I should have known

Tanner 23:29

I should have known

Andi 23:31

Thanks for listening to this episode of the I Should Have Known podcast will be continuing with our political science theme for the rest of the month. And as always, thanks for listening. oh Sorry. Can we be independent now?