Abstract
This chapter is devoted to the study of revolutionary waves—integrated processes that combine sequences of several revolutions. Tsygankov analyzes and clarifies criteria for distinguishing certain types of revolutionary waves in the history of European countries, Russia and Turkey in the Early Modern period. The chapter suggests the following types of relationship between revolutions: endo/exostructural, ideological, organizational, and “domino dependence”. The main types of connections between revolutions in relation to the period under consideration are explained using the concept of absolute monarchies (used both in the framework of the theory of formations and in the framework of the theory of regime evolution), the model of the military revolution (in the framework of the theory of modernization) and the “core-periphery” model framework of world-systems analysis. Based on the proposed explanation, in European history of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries we identify four long waves of structurally dependent revolutions and about a dozen short waves in which “domino-dynamics” was predominant.
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Notes
- 1.
For definitions and other theoretical ideas on revolutionary waves see Chapter “Introduction. Changing yet Persistent: Revolutions and Revolutionary Events” (Goldstone et al., 2022a), Chapter “On theories and phenomenon of revolution” (Goldstone et al., 2022b), Chapter “Typology and principles of dynamics of revolutionary waves in world history” (Rozov, 2022), Chapter “On revolutionary waves since the 16th century” (Grinin, 2022d), Chapter “The European revolutions and revolutionary waves of the 19th century: their causes and consequences” (Grinin, 2022c), and Chapter “Revolutionary waves and lines of the 20th century” (Grinin & Grinin, 2022, in this volume).
- 2.
About the contributions of the French Revolution of 1789 to the subsequent revolutions see Chapter “Evolution and typology of revolutions” (Grinin, 2022a, in this volume).
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- 4.
In the treatment of revolutionary waves by C. Beck, there is the category of “brittle regimes” (i.e., those that are especially vulnerable to revolution): namely patrimonial and personalistic ones. Firstly, in their logic, the amount of resources (and the resources dynamics) of the state is especially tightly connected with the loyalty of the elites; secondly, these are regimes that feature “limited capacity for pretenders”: they exclude rather than absorb potential adversaries. As a result, such regimes produce apostasy and heresy (or a republican movement) among the elites. “Brittle regimes” may also include empires, an indirect consequence of expansion of which is increase in the autonomy of peripheral subjects (Beck, 2017). In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, virtually all political actors fall in the category of “brittle” regimes; the turn from feudal to absolute monarchy was linked with the special demands of the “military revolution,” which added greatly to expenses and reduced the role of aristocrats as military retainers, but added to the autonomy of military leaders, as embracing the military revolution was impossible without widespread use of irregular autonomous and semi-autonomous military troops.
- 5.
The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the sixteenth century was characterized by an intermediate variant of the “military revolution”: the cavalry was the noble military gentry class (like Turkish thimariots), but there was no mass “official” infantry like janissaries who would act as counterweight to the gentry militia. Instead, the usual practice was to use irregular mercenaries (Cossacks or Lisowczycy). As a result, the King felt the pressure of the nobles’ Sejm (assembly) regarding taxes, whereas the Cossacks conducted protest wars either in order to gain privileges similar to gentry or obtain an “official” allowance from the King (or the Sultan, or the Tsar).
- 6.
“Soldiers’ Republics or Confederations” in Western and Central Europe were often formed by unpaid soldiers. Such soldiers. “confederations,” that is, unions of armed resistance, demanded their pay and other rights from the king (see e.g. Sysyn, 1985:17). These formations are structurally equivalent to the Cossack formations at the periphery of the Ottoman Empire. By the end of the seventeenth century, the major wars, which were carried out by absolutist regimes, were conducted to a large extent with the help of mercenaries who, in the situation of irregular payments to troops, sought to create various kinds of political autonomies. In this case, it did not matter whether it was hired troops or sailors, the Zaporozhian Cossack Army or the pirate Coastal Brotherhood of the Caribbean Sea (Trinidad, Espagnol, Tortuga).
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Tsygankov, V. (2022). Revolutionary Waves of the Early Modern Period. Types and Phases. In: Goldstone, J.A., Grinin, L., Korotayev, A. (eds) Handbook of Revolutions in the 21st Century. Societies and Political Orders in Transition. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86468-2_10
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