Global InformationSlave rebellion information
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A slave rebellion is an armed uprising by slaves, as a way of fighting for their freedom. Rebellions of slaves have occurred in nearly all societies that practice slavery or have practiced slavery in the past. A desire for freedom and the dream of successful rebellion is often the greatest object of song, art, and culture amongst the enslaved population. These events, however, are often violently opposed and suppressed by slaveholders.
Ancient Sparta had a special type of serf called helots who were often treated harshly, leading them to rebel.[1] According to Herodotus (IX, 28–29), helots were seven times as numerous as Spartans. Every autumn, according to Plutarch (Life of Lycurgus, 28, 3–7), the Spartan ephors would pro forma declare war on the helot population so that any Spartan citizen could kill a helot without fear of blood or guilt in order to keep them in line (crypteia). In the Roman Empire, though the heterogeneous nature of the slave population worked against a strong sense of solidarity, slave revolts did occur and were severely punished.[2] The most famous slave rebellion in Europe was led by Spartacus in Roman Italy, the Third Servile War. This war resulted in the 6,000 surviving rebel slaves being crucified along the main roads leading into Rome.[3] This was the third in a series of unrelated Servile Wars fought by slaves against the Romans.
The Mamluk Sultanate reigned for centuries out of a slave rebellion[dubious ] in Egypt. It gave birth to both the Bahri dynasty and Burji dynasty and their countless artistic and scientific achievements. Among many accomplishments, the Mamluks were responsible for turning back the Mongol conquest. In Russia, the slaves were usually classified as kholops. A kholop's master had unlimited power over his life. Slavery remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter the Great converted the household slaves into house serfs. Russian agricultural slaves were formally converted into serfs earlier in 1679.[4] During the 16th and 17th centuries, runaway serfs and kholops known as Cossacks, ("outlaws") formed autonomous communities in the southern steppes. There were numerous rebellions against slavery and serfdom, most often in conjunction with Cossack uprisings, such as the uprisings of Ivan Bolotnikov (1606–1607), Stenka Razin (1667–1671),[5] Kondraty Bulavin (1707–1709), and Yemelyan Pugachev (1773–1775), often involving hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions.[6] Between the end of the Pugachev rebellion and the beginning of the 19th century, there were hundreds of outbreaks across Russia.[7]
One of the most successful slave rebellions in history was the Haitian Revolution, which saw self-emancipated slaves in the French colony of Saint-Domingue overthrow the colonial government and repulse invasion attempts by the French, Spanish and British to establish the independent state of Haiti. Another famous slave rebellion, the Third Servile War, was led by the slave Spartacus. In the 9th century, the poet Ali bin Muhammad led imported East African slaves against the Abbasid Caliphate in Iraq during the Zanj Rebellion. The Nanny of the Maroons was an 18th-century leader of the Jamaican Maroons who led them to victory in the First Maroon War. The Quilombo dos Palmares of Brazil flourished under Ganga Zumba. In the United States, the 1811 German Coast Uprising in the Territory of Orleans was the largest rebellion in the continental United States; Denmark Vesey and Madison Washington both launched slave rebellions in the U.S. as well.
- ^ "Sparta - A Military City-State". Ancienthistory.about.com. Archived from the original on 2005-11-07. Retrieved 2013-10-04.
- ^ "Resisting Slavery in Ancient Rome By Professor Keith Bradle". Bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2009-02-02. Retrieved 2013-10-04.
- ^ "The Sicilian Slave Wars and Spartacus". Ancienthistory.about.com. Archived from the original on 2013-10-04. Retrieved 2013-10-04.
- ^ "Ways of ending slavery". Britannica.com. 1910-01-31. Archived from the original on 2013-03-09. Retrieved 2013-10-04.
- ^ "Russia before Peter the Great". Fsmitha.com. Archived from the original on 2004-12-08. Retrieved 2013-10-04.
- ^ "Rebellions". Schools.cbe.ab.ca. Archived from the original on 2018-05-02. Retrieved 2013-10-04.
- ^ Aptheker, Herbert; Woodward, C. Vann. "The Slave Revolts". Nybooks.com. Archived from the original on 2009-01-12. Retrieved 2013-10-04.
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