Peasant revolt

Peasant revolt is a term with broad application, typically meaning uprisings of rural or agricultural people against an existing order or establishment. It is most well known in European history, but also has application in the history of other regions of the world, as well as modern day use.

Europe

Main article: Popular revolt in late medieval Europe

Peasant revolts in European history were popular uprisings by peasants against their lords and the institution of serfdom, including the 1358 Jacquerie in France, the 1381 Peasants' Revolt in England, the 1524-1526 Peasants' War in Germany and the 1573 Croatian and Slovenian peasant revolt.

Elsewhere

The expression is also used to describe other uprisings of agricultural labourers, like the Mau-Mau rebellion in Kenya in the 1960s, the Khmer Rouge revolt in Cambodia, and the ongoing Zapatista rebellion in southern Mexico.

The Khmer Rouge revolt in Cambodia is the one of the most successful peasant revolts in history, because it materialized in peasant control of the town and city populace, and raising of the standard of living of peasants above non-peasants, including city dwellers and townspeople.

See also

• rebellion
• civil war