# Examples of Failed Rebellions Given Official Public Support/Recognition **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 14, 2024, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-failed-rebellions-given-official-public-support-recognition/997571 "2024-02-14T21:09:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Room](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_room/32/5069_2.png) [@Little\_Room](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Room)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2024, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-failed-rebellions-given-official-public-support-recognition/997571/1 "2024-02-14T21:09:32Z")
I live in a place where we have some Confederate monuments scattered about. I know the historical context of almost all of these; they were placed some decades after the end of the war in concert with the development of a “lost cause” mythology, an early 20th century resurgence of the Klan, and an attempt to sustain open racism in public life. I get all of that. **It raises the question: are there other examples in history where a failed rebellion/revolution was given this much free reign to propagate their symbols and/or promote their cause with the support (tacit or explicit) of the government opposed by the rebellion?** I’m not talking about private memorials here; many (if not most) of these monuments are on public property, street rights-of-way, etc. Sometimes, there was a legal fiction where the Daughters of the Confederacy or whoever would “own” the little bit of public square beneath the monument, but this still counts as public support, in my view. Intuitively, it seems like this would be quite rare, but I’m sure it’s happened in other times or places. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2024, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-failed-rebellions-given-official-public-support-recognition/997571/2 "2024-02-14T22:07:17Z")
There are several statues of William Wallace, mainly in Scotland. There’s a memorial in London near where he was executed. There’s also a statue of Oliver Cromwell near parliament in London. Yes, he won and turned us into a republic, but the people later changed their minds and put Charles II back in charge. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2024, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-failed-rebellions-given-official-public-support-recognition/997571/3 "2024-02-14T22:09:39Z")
Not so much a rebellion or other civil war, but the losing side of one of the theaters of World War II: Japan > **[Controversies surrounding Yasukuni Shrine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_surrounding_Yasukuni_Shrine)** > > The controversies surrounding Yasukuni Shrine are related to the choice of Japanese people to visit this Shinto shrine and war museum in central Tokyo. The shrine is based on State Shinto, as opposed to traditional Japanese Shinto, and has a close history with Statism in Shōwa Japan. Most of the dead served the Emperors of Japan during wars from 1867 to 1951 but they also include civilians in service and government officials. It is the belief of Shinto that Yasukuni enshrines the actual souls o... More than a thousand prosecuted and convicted World War II war criminals are enshrined as _kami_ in this State Shinto shrine; the worst of them are actually called “Martyrs of Showa” (i.e., martyred in the service of the god-emperor). The Wikipedia article lists other places where this kind of “we weren’t actually wrong” revisionism is on display. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2024, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-failed-rebellions-given-official-public-support-recognition/997571/4 "2024-02-14T22:24:35Z")
[Statue of Lenin in the Freemont neighborhood of Seattle](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Lenin_(Seattle)). If the city not demanding it be removed from the private property (though clearly on public display) constitutes “official public support/recognition.” It’s a symbol of hipster irony, not a validation of the Red Terror. But it’s also an example of how the USSR gets a pass. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2024, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-failed-rebellions-given-official-public-support-recognition/997571/5 "2024-02-14T22:46:23Z")
There are many monuments to the various failed rebellions in Irish history: > **[Garden of Remembrance (Dublin)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_of_Remembrance_(Dublin))** > > The Garden of Remembrance (Irish: An Gairdín Cuimhneacháin) is a memorial garden in Dublin dedicated to the memory of "all those who gave their lives in the cause of Irish Freedom". It is located in the northern fifth of the former Rotunda Gardens in Parnell Square, a Georgian square at the northern end of O'Connell Street. The garden was opened by President Eamon de Valera during the semicentennial of the Easter Rising in 1966. > The Garden commemorates freedom fighters from various uprisings,... Of course it helps that ultimately Ireland got independence. I’m sure India and other former colonies have similar ones. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2024, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-failed-rebellions-given-official-public-support-recognition/997571/6 "2024-02-14T22:47:12Z")
There is a memorial to the peasants revolt: > **[Memorial to Wat Tyler and the Peasants’ Revolt 1381 in Smithfield](https://memoirsofametrogirl.com/2015/12/17/wat-tyler-memorial-london-peasants-revolt-1381-smithfield-st-bartholomew/)** > > Over 600 years after his death, Wat Tyler and the Peasants’ Revolt have finally been commemorated with a memorial. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2024, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-failed-rebellions-given-official-public-support-recognition/997571/7 "2024-02-14T22:59:38Z")
Are there memorials to John Brown? ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2024, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-failed-rebellions-given-official-public-support-recognition/997571/8 "2024-02-14T23:26:58Z")
There are at least a few failed rebellions depicted on the [Knesset Menorah](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knesset_Menorah) in Jerusalem, including the Bar Kokhba Revolt and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-failed-rebellions-given-official-public-support-recognition/997571/9 "2024-02-15T00:48:57Z")
There is a memorial to the Mayan leader [Jacinto Pat](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacinto_Pat#:~:text=and%20Rancho%20Panab%C3%A1.-,The%20Caste%20War,the%20area%20south%20of%20Tihosuco.) in the Yutacan. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-failed-rebellions-given-official-public-support-recognition/997571/10 "2024-02-15T00:50:42Z")
There is a memorial in Montreal’s Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery to the _Patriotes_ who were exiled to Botany Bay after the 1837 Rebellion in Lower Canada. > **[Montreal’s mysterious monument: Whose past do we commemorate?](https://theconversation.com/montreals-mysterious-monument-whose-past-do-we-commemorate-91377)** > > Why is a memorial to 29 Francophone men who were executed by the British government as well as to 58 men who were exiled to Australia in 1838 hidden away in a Montreal cemetery? ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-failed-rebellions-given-official-public-support-recognition/997571/11 "2024-02-15T03:37:37Z")
IIRC there’s a statue to Louis Riel in Manitoba on the legislature grounds. Louis Riel tried to institute a government for the Metis, half-French half-Native culture. Unfortunately, he had the temerity to hang a white man to assert his authority as leader of the nation, thus bringing down the wrath of the British Empire. After two failed revolutions, and a stint as a surreptitious elected member of parliament, he was eventually captured and hanged. Since then, he became a cult hero. the latest (indigenous) premier of Manitoba has moved to officially revise history and recognized Riel as the “first premier of Manitoba”. He even has a provincial holiday I think. News articles when the statue went up mentioned that it featured Riel in a knee-length gown, but giggling schoolkids could peek under the gown to see that the statue was anatomically correct in the tradition of Michealangelo’s David. According to Pierre Berton’s _National Dream_, the first British army to put down the rebellion was permitted to travel through Minnesota, but had to go in civilian clothes and pick up their arms afterward. By the second rebellion, they took the train as far as it went from the east, marched a hundred miles along the ice of frozen Lake Superior, and boarded the train line which had been building eastward from Winnipeg. When they were done, the lines had been connected and they rode the train all the way home. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-failed-rebellions-given-official-public-support-recognition/997571/12 "2024-02-15T03:45:09Z")
> [@JacobSwan](#): > > There are several statues of William Wallace, mainly in Scotland The Wallace Monument outside Stirling is a bit more than a simple statue. Very impressive and imposing. The relationship between Scotland and England has always been interesting. So venerating William Wallace is hardly a surprise. > **[Wallace Monument](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_Monument)** > > The National Wallace Monument (generally known as the Wallace Monument) is a 67 m (220 ft) tower on the shoulder of the Abbey Craig, a hilltop overlooking Stirling in Scotland. It commemorates Sir William Wallace, a 13th- and 14th-century Scottish hero. > The tower is open to the public for an admission fee. Visitors approach by foot from the base of the crag on which it stands. On entry there are 246 steps to the final observation platform, with three exhibition rooms within the body of the to... ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-failed-rebellions-given-official-public-support-recognition/997571/13 "2024-02-15T04:21:45Z")
Bonnie Prince Charlie seems to have become a folk hero - especially tolerated since once he no longer posed a threat. Are there many memorials and statues to him? ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-failed-rebellions-given-official-public-support-recognition/997571/14 "2024-02-15T04:42:24Z")
It’s interesting how public perception of Guy Fawkes has evolved from a villainous traitor to a symbol of resistance to authoritarianism. Obviously, in recent years, this has a lot to do with Alan Moore’s graphic novel _V for Vendetta_ and the film adaptation. And the British government lent significant support to the film, providing tax breaks and allowing crews access to normally off-limits areas of Westminster. Then-Prime Minister Tony Blair’s son was employed by the production. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-failed-rebellions-given-official-public-support-recognition/997571/15 "2024-02-15T05:39:47Z")
> [@Little\_Room](#): > > It raises the question: are there other examples in history where a failed rebellion/revolution was given this much free reign to propagate their symbols and/or promote their cause with the support (tacit or explicit) of the government opposed by the rebellion? South Africa - the Boers were the losing side in the South African war (AKA Anglo-Boer War). You would not know this in mid-20th C. South Africa, which resulted from the British literally handing the country over [to the people who fought _on the Boer side_ in that war](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Smuts_and_the_Old_Boers). I’d call that the British supporting the rebels. There were plenty of monuments to the Boer side. Hell, even [the monument ostensibly dedicated to their Voortrekker forebears](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voortrekker_Monument) still has Boer War iconography prominently displayed. Also, Nazi links, so that one’s a two-fer. Note that it was built before the British gave South Africa actual independence in 1961. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-failed-rebellions-given-official-public-support-recognition/997571/16 "2024-02-15T05:42:24Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > There are at least a few failed rebellions depicted on the [Knesset Menorah](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knesset_Menorah) in Jerusalem, including the Bar Kokhba Revolt and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. I don’t think the members of the _Knesset_ would have been opposed to either of those two rebellions, though, right? > [@Little\_Room](#): > > with the support (tacit or explicit) of the government opposed by the rebellion? ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-failed-rebellions-given-official-public-support-recognition/997571/17 "2024-02-15T06:01:14Z")
The Canadian exiles to Australia are also commemorated in the locality of Canada Bay in Sydney’s inner west on the Parramatta River [geographically not on Botany Bay], and the local government authority of Canada Bay Council takes its name from that. The naming connection to the exiles is well-understood. A similar level of tolerance and recognition seems to have been applied to Irish exiles from the Young Ireland movement in the mid-19th century in Van Diemens Land / Tasmania. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-failed-rebellions-given-official-public-support-recognition/997571/18 "2024-02-15T11:53:25Z")
There have been a mere handful of armed rebellions in Australia. Most would be better described as skirmishes. The first Vinegar Hill (western Sydney) in 1804 which is barely recalled. The second was Eureka Stockade in 1854 at Ballarat, Victoria is well known and celebrated. The rebel flag flown there might just become our national flag. [![](https://i.ibb.co/5R83vb1/Eureka-Flag.png) ](https://i.ibb.co/5R83vb1/Eureka-Flag.png) ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-failed-rebellions-given-official-public-support-recognition/997571/19 "2024-02-15T13:31:13Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > Bonnie Prince Charlie seems to have become a folk hero - especially tolerated since once he no longer posed a threat. Are there many memorials and statues to him? The [Glenfinnan](https://www.nts.org.uk/visit/places/glenfinnan-monument) monument in Scotland. ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-failed-rebellions-given-official-public-support-recognition/997571/20 "2024-02-15T15:12:09Z")
AFAIK the Russian revolution is not considered a failed rebellion. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-failed-rebellions-given-official-public-support-recognition/997571.md?page=2)