Revolutions always leave a significant mark in the life of a country. And it’s not at all for the reason that they are truly the most important events in world history. However, it is difficult to argue with the fact that they really are its vivid episodes. For this reason, such turbulent events are so widely represented in the culture and collective memory of peoples.
The names of revolutionaries are often immortalized in the names of cities, streets, squares. Their names are full of cinema and literature. Famous revolutionaries often become an image (often positive), recognizable not thanks to history textbooks, but thanks to street posters, movies, images on T-shirts. But is it possible to single out the most important popular uprising? Who is the most famous revolutionary? Whose name is most recognizable? Of course, nobody will answer you unequivocally. However, we will nevertheless name three surnames, which at every point of the Earth are associated with rebellions against oppression of power and with the restoration of justice.
Idol and tyrant of the Great French Revolution
Perhaps the most famous revolutionary of the New Age is Maximilian Robespierre. The historical portrait of this man demonstrates that uprisings and coups are tears and blood. And far from always they end in the way dreamed of by ideologists, humanists and romantics. A deputy of the General States from the third estate, and later one of the leaders of the masses, began his revolutionary activity with just demands and logical actions. In parliament, he insisted on the introduction of universal suffrage, the abolition of slavery, and the death penalty. Only after a few tumultuous years Maximilian Robespierre himself came to power. The years of his reign were remembered by the French as the "Great Terror" - the era of far-fetched conspiracies, executions and total fear. In this way, Robespierre fought with his political rivals to build a republican society on the foundations laid down by MF. Russo. During the terror, from 15 to 40 thousand Frenchmen were killed, on the slightest suspicion declared enemies of the revolution.
In addition to freedom and equality, the guillotine was added to the symbols of the latter. In the end, the terror leaders lost touch with reality, which led to the coup in the summer of 1794 and the execution of most of them. Including Robespierre, who went down in history not only as a revolutionary, but also as a bloody executioner carried away by an intangible idea.
The most famous revolutionary in Russia
Of course, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin has been and remains such for our country. For decades, he almost deified whole nations, and later completely opposite estimates appeared, representing yesterday's leader almost the main culprit of all the troubles for the countries of Eastern Europe. This biography hardly makes sense especially to tell the compatriot. However, Vladimir Lenin is a very eloquent example of how important the image is in building historical memory - it becomes clay to create positive and negative archetypes. And it’s not so important how the person really was. Historiography and propaganda will do their job.
The most famous revolutionary
But no matter how popular the image of Lenin is, in this regard he has a very worthy competitor. It's about Ernesto Guevara. Che devoted his whole life to the struggle against imperialist forces, primarily against the USA, as he saw them, as well as against the values of capitalist states - first in Cuba and later in a number of other countries. Despite this, his image gained crazy popularity precisely in these Western countries. The Maryland Institute of the Arts called Che's photograph the most famous image and symbol of the 20th century. Yes! It is the very photograph that comes to mind when mentioning the name of Ernesto Guevara, made by the talented Cuban photographer Alberto Corda in 1960. Che's face today has become a real brand of the revolution, a symbol of the struggle against any kind of injustice and oppression.