RK--
You point to our revolution as an example, but I believe this can occur in most any civilization. It's just that we are more familiar with our own history. Examples:
The Magna Carta and eventual marginalizing of the monarchy.
The French Revolution
Ghandi and Indian Independence
The American Industrial Revolution and the Child Labor Laws (also the fight against company scrip)
I'm not as familiar with the history of African, Asian or South American nations, but I'm sure the same dynamics apply. Especially if you subscribe to some of the theories put forth by John Stuart Mill.
I believe that most societies work in cycles. There is peace, there is unrest/disaffection, there is eventual revolt, there is peace again. No society can live in constant turmoil, although some do so more than others. Even Cuba, under Castro, became a stable society.
In the end, if there is mob rule, it is only transitory. Society as a whole gravitates towards order.
Originally Posted by charlestudor2005
Magna Carta 1215 to the Glorious Revolution 1688 = 473 years (to the American Revolution 1775 = 560 years)
French Revolution 1789 to the Treaty of Paris 1814 = 25 years (there was that one hiccup at Waterloo in 1815) resulted in restoring the Bourbon dynasty until 1848—when there was another revolution. Paris wouldn’t be the beautiful city it is were it not for the 1848 “mobs.”
The history of the American labor strikes against capital begin in 1619, and the violence really crescendoed after the Civil War: e.g., the Polish craftsmen strike 1619, the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, the "Molly Maguires" 1885, the Haymarket Riot 1886, the Pullman Strike in 1894, the Homestead Strike 1892, the "Ludlow Massacre" 1914, the Everett Massacre 1916 (aka “Bloody Sunday” to the “Wobblies”), the Centralia Massacre 1919 (the “Wobblies” again), the Battle of Matewan 1920 (great movie), Columbine mine massacre 1927, the River Rouge (Ford Motor Company) strike 1941, and the Federal air traffic controllers 1981 (to mention a few). I am fairly certain this is an ongoing struggle.
Indian independence movement is somewhat more convoluted. British dominion in India starts with the British East India Company’s victory at the Battle of Plassey in 1757. Followed by the First Anglo-Mysore War (1766-1769), the Second Anglo-Mysore War, (1780-1784), the Third Anglo-Mysore War (1789-1792) and in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War (1799) when Tipu Sultan was killed. Then there is the First Anglo-Sikh War (1845–46) and then the Second Anglo-Sikh War (1848–49) to consider. Plus, the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 These armed conflicts would continue into the 1880s.
Coincidentally, there were mob uprisings in China. One of the bloodiest uprisings in history, along with the Russian Revolution of 1917, was the Taiping Rebellion which lasted from 1850 to 1864. More famous is the Boxer Rebellion (1898 to 1901) aka "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" (called "Boxers" by the English and Americans). There is some degree of similarity between the Boxer Rebellion and our present conflict. Both were/are fired by anti-Western sentiment. Plus, both conflicts were/are publically condemned by the government(s) in power to pacify the Western press and diplomatic corps, but—behind the scenes—the Boxers, like the Islamist, were/are supported and encouraged the government(s) in power.
Another instance of mob rule occurred in 1979 in Iran. Of course, we all know what happened there. That rising of the mob resulted in a regime change in Iran—and in the U.S.
My point is that none of these events have led to any extended period of peace. The Pax Britannia was marred by the civil wars in Germany and Italy, the Crimean War, the Balkan Wars, the Boer Wars and the Zulu uprisings (who, like the Chinese and Indians, did not like British rule). U.S. cavalry units were engaged in a similar struggle against Native Americans in the West (1823-1890). And the U.S. had that little tango with Spain in 1898.
The conflict between Christian and Muslim is even longer. North Africa, during the age of St Augustine, was once Christian. Byzantium, now part of Turkey, was once Christian. Christianity had spread to India, but that region was also overrun by Islam. India was conquered. Indonesia and Malaysia were conquered. All of these regions were converted to Islam at the point of a sword. Islam tried to conquer Europe.
Moorish Muslims invaded the Iberian Peninsula early in the 8th Century and, under the Ottomans, gained a foothold in Southeastern Europe in the middle of the 14th century. It took the Spanish Christians 700 years to reconquer the Iberian peninsula. Christian Europe (principally Spain and Venice) defeated the Ottoman (Muslim) fleet at Lepanto in 1571 ending its naval preeminence. The Ottomans were checked in their march against Vienna in 1683 in a war that lasted until 1699. Greece finally regained its independence in 1832. During the Balkan Wars of 1812 and 1813, the Ottomans were driven out of Europe except for a toehold in Thrace: which modern Turkey still claims.
As you can see, it’s been a long, protracted struggle. We’ve enjoyed but a momentary respite in 1400 years of Islamic expansionism. It’s only been 90 years since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1923, and it’s been only 60 years since the emergence of Sayyid Qutb’s pan-Islamic dogma that took root and flowered in the 1950s. It is said, that Qutb is the architect for the ideas and policies adopted by modern terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda.
We are in a conflict with people who despise us for our pop culture, our political tenets, and our religious beliefs. As long as Islamic governments play both sides in the conflict, like the Qing Dynasty did with the Boxers, the struggle will continue.
Whether we in the U.S. like it or not, we are players on the world stage. More than half a century ago, Pearl Harbor demonstrated—once and for all—that the U.S. could no longer use two oceans to hide from world events.
