ABSTRACT
The study of revolution is and has perennially been a favorite of scholars, but some of the discussion of social violence and revolution has generated more acrimony than consensus, while other aspects have simply proved unfruitful. However, certain major themes from the study of revolution and violence will help shed some light upon the Nicaraguan revolution. On a brighter horizon, from the extensive descriptive analyses of revolutions have emerged more useful generalizations about important aspects of and commonalities among revolutions. Efforts to identify the fundamental causes or preconditions of revolution have achieved greater progress than any other aspect of the theory of revolution. The search for the origins of the contemporary Nicaraguan revolution leads back to the eighteenth century and covers a stage much larger than the national territory of the small Central American nation itself. Nicaragua's main exports have suffered dramatic price fluctuations that have, especially since the late nineteenth century, badly buffeted the tiny nation.
