Rebellion vs. revolution or patriot vs. traitor

Just an observation.

What is the technical difference between a revolution and a rebellion? It seems to me that as far as military history is concerned, the only difference is dependent on who won. If the ruling power looses the war, we call it a revolution. If the ruling power wins the war, we call it a rebellion. Why?

For instance;
American Revolution- colonists win, government (the Crown) lost
French Revolution- French people win, government (King Louis) lost
Russian Revolution- Reds win, government lost
Mexican Revolution- Mexican people win, government lost

Boxer Rebellion- Boxers lost
Phillipine Rebellion (Insurrection)- Phillipine natives lost
American Civil War- while not called a rebellion in name, the term Rebel is commonly used to refer to the Confederates. Even today, the name Rebel is a point of pride to many Southerners.

Another observation;
What is difference between a traitor and a patriot? I bring this up because many historians consider General Robert E Lee and Jefferson Davis to be traitors. However, they are not guilty of anything that General George Washington and Benjamin Franklin are not guilty of. Apparently if your side wins, you are a patriot, if you loose, you are a traitor. Was Oliver Cromwell a patriot or a traitor? How about Napoleon Bonaparte?

Not trying to make a point, just figured it would make for an interesting discussion.

 

The winners write the history books?

 

A liitle qoute from my favorite action movie "The Rock":

I guess it's all in winning or loosing. Everybody starts as a traitor. If you win in your cause, you are called a patriot. If you loose, the goverment will call you a traitor.

 

The difference between revolution and rebellion is, in the sense of the word, whether it was succesful or not. The word revolution implies that it was actually succesful, in that the word signifies a change.

 

Here in Ireland there were a few individuals that went full circle Traitors due to the Easter Rising, Patriots with indepence, back to Traitors during the Irish Civil War and in a few cases back to Patriots after the war. :-?

 

To sum up; it lies with the beholder.

 

“Treason doth never prosper: what's the reason? Why if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
Ovid

 

history is full of rebellions ,which almost always end rather badly for the instigators ..revolutions are rather few and far between and often end badly for the former (so called ) oppressors ...although in the modern usa davis and lee are not ever referrred to as traitors but merely confederates..... great reb generals tend to be veiwed more as great american generals ..ie ..ww2 us army tanks named for reb cav leaders as well as union leaders ..
...

 

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Rebellion are armed opposition
Revolution are when the perception of legitimacy change for a whole people

:smok:
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The difference is mostly subjective; it depends on what associations you have with the word and that which it is used to describe. If you think a certain "revolution" is a positive thing, then it is obvious that you want to distinguish it from other, less succesful uprisings, therefore referred to as mere "rebellions". If you want to distinguish between those who betray a cause for a new, perhaps better one, and those who simply betray a cause, you need to contrast the word "traitor" with the word "patriot".

As for the last pair, though, I think the distinction is quite messy. A patriot is one who loves and is willing to fight for his fatherland, whereas a traitor is one who betrays a cause. Technically there can be no patriots on the American side of the American War of Independence because there is no fatherland, only thirteen colonies of Britain. The patriots of this war would be the ones fighting to keep the colonies British. In the American Civil War, or any given civil war for that matter, who is the patriot and who is the traitor depends entirely on the side you support, and the two sides are exact mirror images of each other. Only when all subjective support is removed could you objectively establish which side was fighting to preserve a country (patriots) and which side was trying to establish something new (traitors). Obviously these definitions are not exactly the most common ones of the terms given.

 

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Roel !Roel ! during the American civil war , the whole issue was allegiance

R.E. Lee followed his duty against his patriotism by defending his state , Virginia , in his word " his section"
most southerner thought general H. Thomas a traitor since he fought ( very well ) for the union to the horror of his Virginian family .

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So far we have some very interesting statements. Let's keep it going.

 

Fortunately Pemberton, from Pennsylvania in the North, didn't do such a good job for the south at Vicksburg.

 

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The old chesnut , why oh why were southerners such great soldiers

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