A revolution, lets say within the last 100 years or so, 150 years max, against a democratic government that has a well equipped military under its command. A revolution begun by the people themselves, and not instigated by another country meddling in their affairs.
that really depends on your definition of "revolution".
i mean, the french fourth republic practically self-destructed during the algerian war in 1958, when the army seized control of algiers and corsica, and threatened to drop paratroopers into paris unless de gaulle was installed as president. and it was clear that the revolting army officers had the firepower to do it-- so de gaulle, with popular support of most major political parties and the army, was granted the power to rule by fiat for six months.
under these conditions, the government of the fourth republic agreed to install de gaulle, voting itself out of existence.
jonathan fenby, the general.
The first thing that came to my mind is the "Velvet Revolution", which ended the rule of the Communist Party in Czechoslovakia. I'll cover the broad highlights here and leave some reading recommendations at the bottom.
The revolution started on November 16, 1989, where around 50,000 students marched to commemorate the death of Jan Opletal who was a student killed in 1939 after leading anti-Nazi demonstrations during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia. The students called for an end of communist rule, but the march was broken up by police. According to a cable from the US Embassy in Prague the protest was "Brutally dispersed by truncheon wielding riot police". The next day more peaceful anti-Communist movements lead by future Czech President Václav Havel attracted thousands of protestors. This started off weeks of protest and strikes that lead to the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSC) permitting the Federal Assembly to strike a provision in the Czech constitution an article that required the party to hold a dominating position. By the end of the year, on December 29, Václav Havel was sworn in as President of Czechoslovakia after an unanimous vote by the Federal Assembly.
For more readings on the Velvet Revolution I recommend:
"The Velvet Revolution: Czechoslovakia, 1988-1991" by Bernard Wheaton and Zdenek Kavan
"Czechoslovakia: The Velvet Revolution and Beyond" by Robin E. H. Shephed
I would also check out the National Security Archive's page on the Velvet Revolution for really interesting US State Department documents on the revolution.
You might be interested in this related question about countries voluntarily rewriting their constitution: http://www.reddit.com/r/Ask_Politics/comments/2gr4nm/has_any_nation_voluntarily_rewritten_its/
Please note to everyone in this thread: This submission has been approved only because the poster has specified that answers be about events within about 100 years of present day. Please remember our rules about current events. Any answer that violates this rule will be removed, as usual.
The breaking of the personal union between Norway and Sweden in 1905 might qualify. The Swedish military at the time was fairly well equipped and trained; although Norway had been modernising its own separate military forces for some time, they were still rather outnumbered and much poorer. The Swedish government, nonetheless, rejected the use of force - after careful consideration - probably on the grounds that it was one thing to defeat the Norwegian army and another to occupy and pacify the country.
As stated earlier, the definition of "revolution" plays greatly here. Granted, this was unsuccessful, but the Scottish independence referendum of 2014 would have been a "revolution" against the United Kingdom. They held a simple majority vote to determine if Scotland should be an independent country. Holding a democratic vote for independence is as non-violent as it gets.
Well I guess you could say that Salvador Allendes presidency for Chile was a peaceful revolution when it happened. He was elected eith 36% of the popular vote and that won him presidency since there were 3 main parties in Chile at the time. He was big into social reforms and workers rights. But then he got oustes by Augusto Pinochet who was backed by the American government. It was a short lives revolution which sparked a lot of push back from people that were content with how democracy was working before Allende came to power. Needless to say Revolution coupled with communism worked for a little and then when people got restless and the U.S. Got scared of communism they basically killed Allende off as well as anyone who wasn't associated with the military coup. Very interesting read about internment camps that were established by Pinochet at the time. Sorry I was on my phone so it was kinda hard to type