The term "revolution" comes from the Latin word revolutio, which literally means "coup, transformation." Initially, this term was used in astrology and alchemy and meant precisely “rotation” of, for example, celestial bodies, or the transformation of creatures - metamorphoses.
Instruction manual
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Now most often the term "revolution" is used in a political and sociological context. From this point of view, a revolution is a radical revolution in the political system of a particular state, which leads to the fact that power is forcibly transferred to another ruling class. In this case, there is a complete change in the political, and most often the social structure of the state.
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An example of such a coup is the Great French Revolution of 1789 or the February Revolution of 1917. In the first case, France turned from a monarchist republic into a democratic one (at least that was at first), and in the second case, Russia became a republic from a monarchy.
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By and large, no revolution can do without human sacrifice. For example, in the same French revolution, about a total of 4 million people died. However, this does not always happen. For example, the 1989 revolution in Czechoslovakia was called the Velvet Revolution, as it went without any bloodshed. The term "velvet revolution" began to be used to refer to any bloodless revolution in general.
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It happens that a revolution is called a political coup, which de facto is not a revolution. For example, the change of one ruling dynasty to another, even if bloodshed is committed, is not a revolution, because the political and social system does not change (for example, the monarchy remains a monarchy).
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The term "revolution" is used in other meanings. Most often, it is understood as a coup, a change in one or another idea of a subject, or some fundamental change. For example, the Industrial Revolution is not a political phenomenon, but only a global transition from one type of labor to another.
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A revolution can also be called a change of some public moral principles. As, for example, the sexual revolution is a term introduced by V. Reich, which means cardinal changes in the sexual life and values of society in the second half of the 20th century.
