ABSTRACT
A revolution is an illegal, usually violent, seizure of power that produces a fundamental change in the institutions of government. However, the concept of ‘revolution’ has been used in many ways, with some variation in meaning. ‘Revolution’ is sometimes used to describe any fundamental change, whether or not it was violent or sudden. In this sense we speak of the ‘Industrial Revolution’ or the ‘Scientific Revolution’. Fundamental changes in government that occur through elections, rather than violent seizures of power, are also sometimes described as revolutions: for example, the ‘Nazi revolution’ in Germany which followed Hitler's electoral victory in 1933.
