These modern revolutions reshaped the world. Welcome to WatchMojo, for this list, we’ll be looking at some of the largest and most sociopolitically consequential insurgencies throughout the world since the year 2000.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and for this list we'll be looking at some of the largest and most
00:07socio-politically consequential insurgencies throughout the world since the year 2000.
00:12As he shot him, or as he video, we will shot him.
00:17Taliban insurgency, Afghanistan.
00:19The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan was established in 1996 with most of the country governed by the theocratic Taliban regime.
00:35Following 9-11 five years later, U.S. forces that once supported the regime's leaders against Soviet invasion overthrew them.
00:42This gave the Americans a stronghold in the controversial War on Terror.
00:45It has raised concern over how Afghan security forces will cope with an intensifying insurgency
00:51once most foreign combat troops leave the country by the end of 2014.
00:57Meanwhile, the exiled Taliban launched an armed revolt seeking the expulsion of Western forces
01:01overseeing the secularization of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
01:05This sparked nearly 20 years of heated discourse and violence over the ideological future of a society
01:10that has long endured some form of occupation.
01:12In 2021, American troops withdrew, and the emirate was quickly reinstated in a Taliban uprising.
01:17Several militias now fight to resist their return to power.
01:26The Second Chechen War, Chechnya.
01:28Centuries of conflict between Russia and the North Caucasus region naturally escalated after the U.S.S.R.'s dissolution in 1991.
01:44The most brutal battleground was Chechnya.
01:46Three years after a war decided Russian Federation's sovereignty, Islamist rebels from autonomous Ichkirya demanded full independence.
01:53When Russia responded by occupying the state in 2000, the Second Chechen War became an insurgency.
01:58Guerrilla fighters' gruesome nationalist revolutions spilled over throughout Eastern Europe.
02:11Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's counterterrorism campaign was integral to his ascension to the presidency.
02:17Russia ultimately reclaimed dominion in 2009, though it would be another turbulent eight years before the end of the conflict with Chechnya was proclaimed.
02:24Conflict had been going on since 1785. For many within and beyond the Republic, however, the fight for independence continues.
02:30The rebels have sworn to fight a partisan war. There's little, it seems, the Russians can do to stop them.
02:36Niger-Delta conflict, Nigeria.
02:39What you see here is just a means of survival. We are fighting to eat.
02:43The minority citizens of Nigeria's Niger-Delta became incensed by the growing presence of foreign oil companies in the 1990s.
02:50In 2003, they took action. Multiple militant groups rebelled against the recently democratized government for protection and economic control of the environment.
02:58Violence rapidly spread throughout the region and included acts of piracy against the oil industry.
03:03This contributed to national energy crises.
03:05The Nigerian government has responded with security engagements and protection for victims of the conflict.
03:10They have war and their family, their livelihoods have been destroyed, their farmlands are gone, the water is gone, and tell me how could they possibly survive?
03:18But they've rarely addressed the rebels' cause. Since negotiations broke down in 2016, the conflict has expanded into demands for Biafran separatism.
03:26Despite being destabilized by rampant internal conflicts and civilian casualties, rebellion through the Niger-Delta is as strong as ever.
03:33The smoke, the heat, he says. I cannot count the number of people who have died in explosions because they cannot escape the flame.
03:42Iraqi Insurgency, Iraq.
03:44Right in the middle of Baghdad, Zarqawi's black flags lining the streets. There's fighters everywhere.
03:50The brutal reign of President Saddam Hussein came to an end with an American invasion in 2003.
03:55In the war for Iraq's resources and political transition, nationalist groups violently rebelled against American occupation.
04:01By 2006, an insurgency against the reconstituted government splintered over Shia and Sunni ideologies.
04:07This civil war made Iraq one of the most chaotic countries in the world even after occupation ended in 2011.
04:13I keep on thinking in terms of Shakespearean tragedy, and I think we're probably only in act four right now.
04:18Act five, you know, the bloody conclusion of Hamlet or Macbeth still has not happened.
04:24The U.S.'s military actions have since been widely condemned as poorly formulated and illegal, leaving Iraq in an unstable democracy.
04:31Controversial elections have led to violently suppressed protests, and a war with the Islamic State has spawned Islamist insurgencies throughout the country.
04:38Democracy in Iraq continues to be endangered by civil unrest and political corruption.
04:43War in Darfur, Sudan.
04:45We're fighting for our freedoms. We want our freedoms. We want our mother lands.
04:52Against 20 years of civil war in Sudan's southern region, two militias in Darfur united against the marginalization of non-Arab citizens.
04:59President Omar al-Bashir responded by supporting Arab militias ethnic cleansing campaigns.
05:04The ensuing violence inspired uprisings throughout the country and drew international condemnation of the Sudanese government.
05:10It was under this pressure that one of the longest recorded civil wars ended with the secession of South Sudan.
05:15Meanwhile, Darfur's governance continued to be divided by revolution, genocide, and failed peace negotiations.
05:21Today, the attacks are still on the ground. The bombardierings have been set. The conflict was to a not-ending war.
05:29Finally, in 2018, much of the country rose up in non-violent protests.
05:33This Sudanese revolution set the stage for Bashir's deposition and trial in the International Criminal Court.
05:38After years of historic bloodshed, Sudan finally began its transition to democracy in 2020.
05:43The government deceived us. They made us flee from our lands. We knew with time that they have no principles.
05:50Arab Spring, Middle East and North Africa.
05:52The scenes here are absolutely amazing. Just when you thought that they couldn't possibly fit another body onto Tahrir Square,
05:58well, crowds and crowds are coming in by the thousands to join in.
06:02Historic political instabilities throughout the Arab world culminated in the winter of 2010.
06:07The Arab Spring ceremoniously began with a Tunisian street vendor's self-immolation to protest his government's corruption and economic mismanagement.
06:14The responding Jasmine revolution inspired reformist protests in more than a dozen countries throughout North Africa and the Middle East.
06:21The leaders of Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Yemen were deposed within a year.
06:25And debates between secularist and Islamist regime changes often turned to violence.
06:29The mobile phone footage was shown on the internet. It was broadcast on Al Jazeera. By then, Tunisia was on fire itself.
06:38Though the mass unrest was officially suppressed by the end of 2012, it was only considered the first Arab Spring.
06:43Many of its legacies of unstable systems and civil war remain.
06:46Many still consider the two-year phenomenon to be the largest revolution in the 21st century so far.
06:52There was a sense of hope that they would bring about change. There was also a sense of determination.
06:57And actually, if they had to die doing it, they would get prepared to die doing it. I was quite staggered by that.
07:02In 2009, Iran's populist president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad narrowly won re-election against reformist Mir Hussein Mousavi.
07:11Questions about the election's legitimacy soon inspired nationwide protests for its annulment.
07:15Mousavi's campaign color green became a symbol of unity among all reform activists.
07:20After violent episodes allowed authorities to suppress public demonstrations, the green movement adopted more modern methods.
07:26Social media activism became so widespread that the movement was nicknamed the Twitter revolution.
07:31It's likely that with a Mousavi presidency, the response to President Obama's overtures to Iran would be more positive than it has been to date.
07:41This gave protesters a platform that local and international media outlets fell short on.
07:46Its scale and effectiveness were still subject to debate, especially with the government's internet regulation.
07:50The green movement was ultimately unsuccessful, but impacted the nation as its largest protest since the Iranian revolution.
07:56It would be Ahmadinejad's last term as president.
07:59Kitchenware revolution, Iceland.
08:01The 2008 global financial crisis forced Iceland's three leading banks to default.
08:06With the stock market plummeting and unemployment soaring, the government nationalized the banks responsible.
08:11This sparked the largest protest in the country's history, symbolized by protesters banging kitchenware outside of the parliament in Reykjavik.
08:17There were huge daily protests then too. It was called the pots and pans revolution.
08:24The entire economy was in freefall.
08:27Their outrage eventually triggered an emergency election that removed the independence party from power.
08:32The new government then introduced a referendum in which over 90% of voters decided that taxpayers shouldn't be responsible for the bank's debts.
08:39Citizens were also invited to draft a new constitution.
08:42These reforms were ultimately not adopted, but the prospect represented a watershed moment in modern democracy.
08:48In a time of global crisis, the people of Iceland determined their direction forward.
08:52People were angry, so you had to come up with some kind of political solution.
08:58Orange revolution, Ukraine.
09:00They saw that the majority of protesters were young people who can express their thoughts intelligently,
09:05and it assured them that there were no bandits here.
09:07As the Russian Federation began to expand by the turn of the 21st century,
09:11former Soviet states saw rise in movements to preserve democratic sovereignty.
09:15These so-called color revolutions included the Orange Revolution in Ukraine.
09:19After the pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovych won the 2004 presidential election,
09:23If they shoot us, if they send tanks, no matter what,
09:28there's nothing that can overpower the will of the people.
09:32Evidence of fraud led to widespread civil disobedience.
09:35Thousands of protesters in Kyiv alone prompted the Supreme Court to investigate the legitimacy of
09:40Yanukovych's election.
09:41He was ultimately removed from office in favor of pro-Europe opponent Viktor Oshchenko.
09:45It was a victory for peaceful anti-corruption protests,
09:48but Yanukovych was eventually elected president in 2010.
09:51Corruption and Russian alignment policies throughout his term culminated in the violent
09:55Euro-maiden protests of 2014. Ukraine has been at war with Russia ever since.
09:59We understood perfectly that our opponents go to the extreme instruments.
10:05There are no prohibits to use any methods.
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10:23People's April Revolution
10:26Kyrgyzstan
10:27The history of Kyrgyzstan has been haunted by unrest over inter-ethnic and economic tensions.
10:31They continue to escalate after the tulip revolution overturned the controversial
10:35parliamentary election of 2005. President Kerman Bek Bakayev's own authoritarian tendencies
10:41inspired a number of protests calling for his resignation. As he fled in April 2010,
10:45Kyrgyzstan fell to chaos. Ethnic clashes displaced hundreds of thousands,
10:49with many Uzbek citizens being forced to leave the country. Finally, a referendum in June led to
10:54constitutional amendments limiting presidential powers. The People's April Revolution is now
10:58commemorated with a national holiday. For many, it's more of an especially solemn chapter of
11:03unrest for the Kyrgyz Republic. Kyrgyzstan's president has reportedly fled to his power base in
11:08the south of the country. For now, the border with neighboring Kazakhstan is closed,
11:13and so is the airport in the Kyrgyz capital. Following violent protests of the 2020 election,
11:18another referendum restored the presidential system. What are some other revolutionary
11:22conflicts that you feel deserve more attention? Join the discourse in the comments.