1908 postcard depicting nineteen reigning monarchs; twelve of their thrones were abolished during the twentieth century, although the Spanish monarchy was later restored.
Throughout history,
monarchies have been abolished, either through
revolutions,
coups d'état, wars, or legislative reforms (such as
abdications). The founding of the
Roman Republic is a noteworthy example. The twentieth century saw a major acceleration of this process, with many monarchies violently overthrown by revolution or war, or else abolished as part of the process of
decolonisation. By contrast, the restoration of monarchies is rare in modern times, with only two major examples,
Spain and
Cambodia.
Seventeenth and eighteenth centuries[edit]
Anti-monarchism in the United States developed out of the gradual process of revolution that began as early as 1765, as colonists resisted the Stamp Act through boycott and the expulsion and condemnation of royal officials. With the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the most violent wave of anti-monarchial protest began, with the systematic destruction of the relics and symbols of monarchy. Examples can be found in the toppling of the equestrian statue of George III on Bowling green in New York City. Monarchic loyalists were particularly affected, with hundreds of thousands exiled to Canada and the East Indies. Their property was immediately turned over to the State. Thomas Paine, the famous author of the revolutionary pamphlet "Common Sense," extolled the colonists to finance the revolutionary war through this means. Even today, very few artifacts depicting the British monarchy from the colonial period can be found in the United States.
However, the most famous abolition of monarchy in history is that of the
French monarchy in 1792, during the
French Revolution. The French monarchy was later restored several times until 1870.
Nineteenth century[edit]
In 1858 the
Mughal Empire came to an end after losing a war against Britain, and its Emperor,
Bahadur Shah II, lost his throne. Between 1859 and 1861, four monarchies in Southern Europe ceased to exist:
Parma,
Modena,
Tuscany and
the Two Sicilies, when they all became part of the new
Kingdom of Italy. The
Second Mexican Empire collapsed in 1867, and its Emperor,
Maximilian I of Mexico, was executed. The
Second French Empire came to an end in 1870 after it had lost the war against Prussia, causing Emperor
Napoleon III to lose his throne. He was the last monarch of France.
Twentieth century[edit]
In 1910 the last emperor of Korea,
Sunjong, lost his throne when the country was annexed by Japan. However, the Korean royal family was kept as a puppet family. Many of the Korean royals were forceably re-educated in Japan and forced to marry Japanese royalty and aristocrats to meld the ruling families of the two empires.
The monarchy of Portugal was also overthrown in 1910 (
5 October), two years after the assassination of King
Carlos I, ending the reign of
Manuel II, who died in exile in England (1932), without issue.
The ancient monarchy of China ceased to exist in 1912 after the revolution of
Sun Yat-sen overthrew Emperor
Puyi. General
Yuan Shikai, then provisional president, unsuccessfully tried to make himself a monarch in 1915.
World War I led to perhaps the greatest spate of abolition of monarchies in history. The conditions inside Russia and the poor performance in the war gave rise to a
revolution which toppled the entire institution of the monarchy, followed by a
second revolution against that government in October of the same year that executed Emperor
Nicholas II and implemented a
Marxist-Leninist government. The defeated
German,
Austro-Hungarian and
Ottoman empires saw the abolition of their monarchies in the close aftermath of the war, ending the reigns of
Wilhelm II,
Charles I and
Mehmed VIrespectively. The monarchs of the constituent states within the German Empire, most importantly
Ludwig III of Bavaria,
Frederick Augustus III of Saxony and
Wilhelm II of Württemberg, soon abdicated. During the war, monarchies were planned for the
Grand Principality of Finland (to have a
Finnish King), and for Lithuania (
Mindaugas II of Lithuania), with a
protectorate-like dependency of Germany. Both intended kings renounced their thrones after Germany's defeat in November 1918. King
Nicholas I of Montenegro lost his throne when the country became a part of Yugoslavia in 1918.
World War II saw another spate of abolitions. In 1939 Italy invaded Albania and removed the reigning self-proclaimed
King Zog and instated their own King
Victor Emmanuel III as its new monarch. Italy, along with the eastern European monarchies of Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania joined with Germany in World War II against the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the
Western allies and the
Soviet Union. As the
Axis powers came to a defeat in the war, communist partisans in
occupied Yugoslavia and
occupied Albania seized power and ended the monarchies. Communists in Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania removed their monarchies with strong backing by the Soviet Union, which had many troops and supporters placed there during the course of the war. Through this,
Peter II of Yugoslavia,
Simeon II of Bulgaria and
Michael I of Romania all lost their thrones. King
Victor Emmanuel III of Italy had switched sides during the war in favour of the western allies, but a
referendum in 1946 ended the short reign of his son King
Umberto II and the Italian monarchy ceased to exist. A unique result of the war was that Emperor
Hirohito of Japan, who had held a debated but important role in Japan's warfare against the Allied powers, was reduced in stature from a
divine monarch to a figurehead by the occupying United States, instead of losing his throne altogether.
Many monarchies were abolished in the middle of the 20th century or later as part of the process of decolonisation. The monarchies of India, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanganyika, Uganda, Guyana, and Malawi were abolished shortly after they became independent of the United Kingdom, while remaining within the
Commonwealth. That of Ireland was not abolished when Ireland became independent of the United Kingdom in the 1920s, but by the
Republic of Ireland Act of 1948, which came into force in 1949. Some
Commonwealth realms waited a little longer before abolishing their monarchies: Pakistan became a republic in 1956 and South Africa in 1961. Gambia abolished its monarchy in 1970, while Sierra Leone became a republic in 1971, as did Sri Lanka and Malta in 1974, Trinidad and Tobago in 1976, and Fiji in 1987. The latest country to become a
Commonwealth republic was Mauritius in 1992.
That of Egypt was abolished in 1953, after the
revolution of 1952, which caused King
Farouk I to abdicate in favour of his infant son
Fuad II. The monarchy of Tunisia ended in 1957 when
Muhammad VIII al-Amin lost his throne and that of Iraq when King
Faisal II was killed and a republic proclaimed. The monarchy of Yemen was abolished in 1962 when King
Muhammad al-Shami was overthrown in a coup, although he continued to resist his opponents until 1970. King
Idris of Libya was overthrown by a military coup led by
Muammar Gaddafi in 1969. The monarchy of Afghanistan was abolished in 1973 after a coup d'état overthrew King
Mohammed Zahir Shah. That of Iran was abolished by the
Islamic revolution of 1979 overthrowing
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In Ethiopia, Emperor
Haile Selassie I was overthrown in 1974 as a result of a
leftist coup. King
Palden Thondup Namgyal of Sikkim lost his throne in 1975 when the country became a state of India following a
referendum. Political upheaval and Communist insurrection put an end to the monarchies of
Indochina after World War II: a short-lived attempt to leave a monarchical form of government in post-colonial
South Vietnam came to naught in 1955, a military coup overthrew the kingless monarchy in Cambodia in 1970 and a Communist takeover ended the monarchy in Laos in 1975. Cambodia's monarchy later saw an unexpected rebirth under an internationally mediated peace settlement with former king
Norodom Sihanouk being restored as a figurehead in 1993.
Brazil rejected an attempt to restore its monarchy in the 1990s. Unsuccessful efforts to restore the monarchies of some of the Balkan states in the former Eastern Bloc continue. Former King
Michael of Romania and
Prince Alexander of Serbia have been allowed to return, gained some popularity, played largely apolitical public roles, but never came close to being restored to their ancestral thrones. However, in Bulgaria,
Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, who was deposed from the Bulgarian throne in 1946, was elected and recently served as the Prime Minister of his country from 2001 to 2005. The only formerly socialist country to have held a referendum on the monarchy was Albania where the claimant to his father's throne, the self-styled
Leka I,
lost by a huge margin.
In a
1999 referendum, the voters of Australia rejected a proposal to abolish their monarchy in favour of a specific republican model. The proposal was rejected in all states, with only the
Australian Capital Territory voting in favour.
Twenty-first century[edit]
On 24 December 2007, the Nepalese government decided in an accord to abolish the monarchy after the elections to be held in April 2008.
[1] The Nepalese monarchy was formally abolished on 28 May 2008, causing King
Gyanendra to lose his throne.
Monarchies abolished in the 20th–21st centuries[edit]
| Country |
Last Monarch
|
Year
|
Annotations
|
|---|
| 1900s |
|---|
| Dendi | Askia Malla | 1901 | Ousted by French, the country became a part of French West Africa. |
 | Ashanti | Prempeh I | 1902 | Ousted by British, the country became a part of Gold Coast (British colony). |
| Oyo | Adeyemi I Alowolodu | 1905 | Last monarch died, the country became a part of British Southern Nigeria Protectorate. |
 | Mwali | | 1909 | The country was incorporated into French Third Republic. |
| 1910s |
|---|
 | Portugal | Manuel II | 1910 | Republican Coup d'État. |
 | Korea | Sunjong | Native monarchy abolished; replaced by rule by Japan, a monarchy, through 1945. |
| Angoche | | Ousted by Portuguese, the country was incorporated into Portugal. |
| Nri | Eze Nri Òbalíke | 1911 | Ousted by British, the country became a part of Southern Nigeria Protectorate. |
| Kasanje | | The country was incorporated into Portuguese West Africa. |
 | China | Xuantong | 1912 | Xinhai Revolution – Emperor ousted by warlords and republicans. |
| Ndzuwani | Saidi Mohamed bin Saidi Omar | The country was incorporated into French Third Republic. |
 | Kongo | Manuel III | 1914 | Position abolished by Portuguese after an unsuccessful revolt. |
| Darfur | Ali Dinar | 1916 | Darfur formally re-incorporated into Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. |
 | China | Hongxian | Monarchy abandoned, shortly after the outbreak of the National Protection War. |
 | Russia | Nicholas II | 1917 | Russian Revolution of 1917. |
| Finland | Finnish Declaration of Independence. |
 | Sultanate of Sulu | Sultan Jamalul-Kiram II | Split into North Borneo, and the Philippines |
 | Montenegro | Nicholas I | 1918 | Referendum deposed King and united Montenegro with Serbia. |
 | Germany | William II | All on account of German defeat in World War I and the following German Revolution. |
 | Prussia |
 | Bavaria | Ludwig III |
 | Württemberg | William II |
 | Saxony | Frederick Augustus III |
 | Hesse | Ernest Louis |
 | Baden | Frederick II |
 | Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach | William Ernest |
 | Mecklenburg-Schwerin | Frederick Francis IV |
| Mecklenburg-Strelitz | Adolphus Frederick VI |
| Oldenburg | Frederick Augustus II |
 | Brunswick | Ernst Augustus |
 | Anhalt | Joachim Ernst |
 | Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | Charles Edward |
 | Saxe-Meiningen | Bernhard III |
| Saxe-Altenburg | Ernst II |
 | Waldeck-Pyrmont | Friedrich |
 | Lippe | Leopold IV |
 | Schaumburg-Lippe | Adolf II |
 | Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt | Günther Victor |
| Schwarzburg-Sondershausen |
 | Reuss Elder Line | Heinrich XXIV |
 | Reuss Younger Line | Heinrich XXVII |
 | Austria | Charles I | Charles I "renounced participation" in state affairs, but did not abdicate. Monarchy officially abolished by the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, on 10 September 1919. |
 | Finland | Frederick Charles I | Monarchy never in effect. |
 | Lithuania | Mindaugas II |
 | Poland | Ruled byRegency Council |
 | Hungary | Charles IV | Monarchy restored in 1920, although the throne remained vacant with aRegent. |
 | Serbia | Peter I | Country transformed to Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. |
 | Ukraine | Pavlo Skoropadskyi | Removed from power, following an uprising led by Symon Petliura and the withdrawal of German forces from Kiev. |
| |
|---|
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