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Revolutions – Historic Turning Points

Premium images capturing key revolutions in history – from the American and French to the German, Russian, and November Revolutions.

American Revolution - Founding of the United States The American Revolution encompasses the events surrounding the struggle for independence of the thirteen British colonies in North America from the British Empire - from the Boston Tea Party (1773), through the War of Independence (1775-1783), the Declaration of Independence on July 14, 1776, to the adoption of the Constitution of the United States of America in 1787.

American Revolution - Founding of the United States

Französische Revolution 1789 -1799 The French Revolution (1789 -1799) is considered one of the most important political-social turning points in European history. It eliminated absolutist rule and the prerogatives of the nobility and the church and established the "third" bourgeois class in their place. The supporting element was the National Assembly, which in 1789 adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and drew up the first constitution. With the coalition wars from April 1792 to January 1793, the revolution became radicalized and culminated in the Jacobins' reign of terror. The subsequent bourgeois Directory (1795-1799) ended on November 7, 1799, with Napoleon's seizure of power.

Französische Revolution 1789 -1799

German Revolution 1848 - 1849 After the French February Revolution of 1848, unrest also broke out in the states of the German Confederation. The so-called "March demands" included freedom of the press and social justice, as well as the enactment of a constitutional constitution. When bloody barricade fighting broke out in Berlin on March 18, 1848, Prussian King Frederick William IV and other rulers of the individual German states agreed to have an all-German parliament elected. On May 18, 1848, the National Assembly met in the Paulskirche in Frankfurt to discuss a liberal constitution and the formation of a German nation-state. In parallel, there were repeated riots and uprisings by radical democratic groups, including in southern Baden. The plan for a constitutional monarchy failed when the Prussian king refused to be elected "Emperor of the Germans." The National Assembly dissolved in May 1849. A renewed uprising of Baden revolutionaries in the federal fortress of Rastatt on May 11, 1849, ended on July 23, 1849, breaking the last revolutionary resistance.

German Revolution 1848 - 1849

Paris Commune 1871 Starting on May 18, 1871, revolutionaries attempted to establish a city council in Paris along socialist lines. The enterprise failed after the "bloody May Week" on May 28, 1871, with the shooting of the last 148 Communards by government troops.

Paris Commune 1871

Russia Revolution 1917 The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917 that led to the abolition of the Russian Tsarist Empire and the establishment of the Soviet Union.
Revolutionary unrest had already occurred in the Russian Empire between 1904 and 1907. Although the revolutionaries did not succeed in their demands, the events are considered a prequel to the February Revolution of 1917, the forced abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, and the subsequent October Revolution of 1917.

Russia Revolution 1917

November Revolution 1918 - Struggle for a Republic in Germany The November Revolution, which began with the sailors' uprising and the formation of workers' and soldiers' councils, initiated the overthrow of the German Empire. On November 9, 1918, Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated and the Republic was proclaimed in Berlin. Bloody clashes ensued between radical leftists and supporters of parliamentary democracy, who ultimately prevailed. On January 19, 1919, the National Assembly was elected and opened in Weimar.

November Revolution 1918 - Struggle for a Republic in Germany

Milestones That Changed History

From the American Revolution to the 1918 November Revolution – our photos document pivotal turning points in world history.