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The French Revolution is a very good example for the importance of delays in communication in terms of world history, though. The Haitian revolution might have
by Tainnor 6y ago
The French Revolution is a very good example for the importance of delays in communication in terms of world history, though.
The Haitian revolution might have played out very differently had it not taken months for developments in Paris to make their way over to the colony. By the time certain decrees were put into effect, sometimes they had already been overturned back home.
Similar things happened with the wars of Spanish American Independence. When the French occupied Spain and the country fell into a power struggle, there was no clear signal from the mother country to the colonies as to what they should do. The result was factional struggles in Latin America which also bolstered the independence movements.
(Also, I take issue with the statement of the French and American revolutions not having a preamble. I think quite the opposite is true.)
- dalbasal 6y agoTrue, but I don't know how to relate this to "terrorists using telegram." I mean, communication is fast these days. It's not like we can prevent a militant in Syria from hearing news from Europe for months. re preamble: Of course, everything has stuff that happen before it. But, it's not like there were decades of "something major is cooking here" before the revolutions. No one really expected them. Voltaire, Rousseau and others associated with the revolutions had just recently published. Even they were cagey about being labeled "liberals." The idea of absolute sovereignty of "the third estate" was considered out there until the revolution was already happening. AKAIK, the term "democracy" went from meaning "naive anarchist ideas" to an actual system of government within 3-4 years. Monarchism went from being the only realistic option to outdated and doomed very fast, viral and global 250 years ago.