While South Africa has three: Pretoria (executive), Bloemfontein (judicial) and
Cape Town (legislative).
I am curious. When did that begin?
It looks like it was around 1910. South Africa was made from multiple colonies. The three most important were Cape Colony, Orange Free State, and Transvaal. All three wanted to have the capital, so they compromised and set one type of capital for each.
Netherlands also has two capitals, Amsterdam (official) and The Hague (where parliament meets).
This wikipedia article(link below) distinguishes between “the American Revolution” and “the American Revolutionary War”. Is this distinction acceptable now? I have only rarely seen 1765-1783 as being the dates for the begin and ending of the American Revolution. Do mainstream historians make the above distinction?
“The American Revolution was a political upheaval that took place between 1765 and 1783”
and
"The Patriots fought the British and loyalists in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). "
Yes, I would say that’s pretty normal. The Stamp Act Crisis (1765), the Boston Massacre (1770), and the Boston Tea Party (1773) can certainly be spoken of as part of the American Revolution, even though they preceded the Revolutionary War.
I have never seen anyone draw a distinction between “the American Revolution” and “the American Revolutionary War” (or “the War of Independence”). They are synonymous in all the history books I’ve read.
I can’t find any reason why websites and one book I’v read recently (The Oxford and Cambridge Questions: “So You Still Think You’re Clever” by John Farndon p. 41 footnote: “American Revolution of 1765-83”) would say the American Revolution began in 1765 other than that hostilities/acts of violence towards British customs officials began following the Stamp Act of 1765.
I’m with EH. Until it’s a war, it’s not really a revolution. Unless it would still have been called “the American Revolution” if it got as far as 1765 and then failed. But it wouldn’t. It would be called the American Mutiny.
Peter D. Thomas, British Politics and the Stamp Act Crisis: The First Phase of the American Revolution, 1763-1767
Herbert Aptheker, The American Revolution, 1763-1783
Daniel P. Murphy, The Everything American Revolution Book: From the Boston Massacre to the Campaign at Yorktown
Robert Middlekauff, The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789.
This is not an uncommon usage.
It’s one of the fun things about history and “historians”. I’m pretty serious and have provided programming for a lot of museums and historic sites. When me and other experts get together for seminars and round-table discussions, this is exactly the stuff we like to argue. Do we even find a set and sure answer? Rarely. But it makes the study worth the time we put into it.
Freddy the Pig, can you tell me when those titles you listed were first published? Is this 1765-1783 dating of the Revolutionary War a recent trend? Thanks
Sorry, scratch that. Just clicked on the links. The first on said 1975. So I get the picture. Still very interesting why there is this divergence in dating.
The second is from 1960, but the third and fourth were first published in 2008 and 2005.
If anything, the trend in modern historiography is to take a more expansive view of social movements, looking beyond leaders and battles. By this token, the various riots, protests, and tax evasion of 1765-1775 were as valid as revolutionary acts as was taking up arms at Lexington and Concord.
I hasten to add, this is not necessarily my personal view. If you would have asked me, out of the blue, before this thread, “When did the American Revolution begin?”, I would have said, “1775”.
But an earlier dating is not unusual, incorrect, or as davidmich put it, “out of the mainstream”.
Thanks Freddy the Pig. That makes sense now. But I’m probably going to avoid using 1765 as the beginning of the Revolution. It doesn’t sit well with most people. 1775 seems to be more acceptable.
The 21st Century was full of revolutions without war. A few were even bloodless, or nearly so.
Ignorance fought - thanks. I’d never seen that before. Of course I concede that revolutions don’t just start on a dime; such armed conflicts are part of a continuum of events which led up to actual gunplay.