IB History Violent Opposition Key Definitions

A sudden, illegal overthrow of a government, often carried out by the military. The term comes from French, meaning 'blow of state.'

The granting of the right to vote. In the context of the suffrage movement, it refers to extending voting rights to women. In the Canadian Indigenous context, it had a different meaning: the process by which an Indigenous person gave up their legal status and rights as an Indigenous person in exchange for Canadian citizenship.

A form of irregular warfare in which small groups use ambushes, sabotage, raids, and hit-and-run tactics against a larger, conventional military force. The term comes from the Spanish word for 'little war.'

A Canadian federal law that governs matters relating to First Nations peoples and their reserves. It defined who qualified as "Indian," imposed the band council system, restricted cultural practices and controlled nearly every aspect of Indigenous life. It has been amended many times but remains in force.

Founded in 1885, the INC was the main political organisation leading India's independence movement. Initially moderate and dominated by educated elites, it became a mass movement under Gandhi's leadership in the 1920s. After independence in 1947, it became India's dominant political party.

A committee or council that rules a country, usually after seizing power by force. The term is most commonly associated with military rulers of Latin American countries.

A campaign launched by Gandhi and the INC in 1920 calling on Indians to withdraw from British institutions: returning titles, boycotting courts, schools and elections, and refusing to buy British goods. It was suspended in 1922 after the Chauri Chaura incident, where protesters killed 22 police officers.

A 78-day standoff between Mohawk protesters, Quebec police and the Canadian army over the proposed expansion of a golf course onto Mohawk burial grounds and sacred pine groves near Oka, Quebec. It resulted in one police officer's death and drew national and international attention to Indigenous land rights in Canada.

British colonial laws that extended wartime emergency powers, allowing detention without trial and trials without jury for suspected revolutionaries. They provoked widespread protest across India and directly led to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar.

The collective leadership of the Egyptian military that took power after Mubarak's resignation on 11 February 2011. Led by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, SCAF governed Egypt during the transitional period, overseeing elections while also suppressing protests and consolidating military influence over the political system.

A major public square in central Cairo that became the focal point of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. Hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered there from 25 January 2011, and the sustained occupation became a symbol of popular resistance to Mubarak's regime. The name means "Liberation Square" in Arabic.