Fact check: Which countries have successfully abolished their monarchies through popular movements?

1. What claimers point to when they say “abolished by popular movements”: clear-cut revolutionary cases that changed state form

The clearest historical instances invoked as popular-movement abolition are revolutionary moments where mass mobilization and political upheaval dismantled existing royal institutions. France’s 1792 abolition of the monarchy and proclamation of the First Republic is the canonical example: parliamentary action occurred amid revolutionary street politics, mass mobilization, and insurrectionary pressure, followed by the execution of Louis XVI ^{[1] [5]}. Similarly, Portugal’s October 1910 revolution combined republican activism, military conspiracies, and urban uprising to end the constitutional monarchy and establish the First Portuguese Republic ^[2]. These episodes illustrate how popular revolutionary energy intersected with institutional collapse to produce abolition ^{[1] [2]}.

2. Beyond Europe: mid-20th-century decolonization and abolition framed as popular-nationalist transitions

In the 20th century many monarchies associated with imperial structures ended amid broad anti-colonial or nationalist movements; countries such as India and Pakistan removed the British monarch as head of state through constitutional change tied to mass nationalist struggles for independence, while others like Nigeria and later Barbados removed monarchs during republicanization processes driven by national political movements ^{[4] [6]}. These transitions combine popular sentiment, elite negotiation, and constitutional mechanisms; they often reflect sustained public mobilization against colonial rule even when formal abolition was implemented by political leadership rather than through a single revolutionary rupture ^{[4] [6]}.

3. How historians and lists complicate the “popular movement” label: revolutions, elite bargains, and legal procedures

The category “abolished by popular movements” is analytically slippery. Some transitions were violent popular revolutions (France, Portugal), others were mass nationalist movements culminating in legal or constitutional decision-making by elites (India, Pakistan, Barbados). Compilations of state transitions emphasize dates of republican proclamation but do not always parse who drove the change—street actors, political parties, military officers, or colonial negotiators ^{[6] [5]}. This matters: describing a shift as “popular” can conflate genuine grassroots insurrection with elite-led constitutional reform that followed mass mobilization.

4. Contemporary examples: protest movements raising the question but not necessarily delivering abolition

Recent reports on Eswatini show sustained popular protest against King Mswati III and calls for political reform; these movements demonstrate strong anti-monarchical sentiment and risk escalation, but they have not resulted in abolition and remain contested between protesters, security forces, and regional mediators ^[3]. News coverage frames Eswatini as Africa’s last absolute monarchy shaken by protest. Such cases highlight that popular mobilization can threaten monarchies without guaranteeing their removal, especially where rulers retain coercive capacity and regional diplomatic support ^[3].

5. What counts as success: legal abolition, complete regime replacement, or symbolic repudiation?

Assessing success requires defining outcomes: formal abolition of the royal office and replacement by a republic; effective elimination of dynastic power even if a monarch remains titular; or sustained diminishment of royal authority with constitutional limits. The records cited treat France 1792 and Portugal 1910 as textbook cases of abolition, while many 20th-century examples reflect hybrid paths where abolition followed nationalist victory and constitutional reconfiguration rather than a single street revolution ^{[1] [2] [4]}. That distinction shapes whether a movement is described as the decisive agent of abolition.

6. Sources, framing, and possible agendas in the materials reviewed

The supplied sources range from news reporting on active protests to historical summaries and list-type compilations; each carries framing choices. Contemporary reporting foregrounds immediacy and protest dynamics ^[3], while historical pieces emphasize canonical revolutionary narratives ^{[1] [2]}. Aggregated lists and retrospective analyses may compress complex multi-actor processes into tidy dates ^{[6] [4]}. Readers should note that news outlets emphasize present contestation, history pieces highlight dramatic ruptures, and lists can obscure the role of elites versus grassroots actors ^{[3] [1] [6]}.

7. Bottom line: which countries fit the user’s specific question?

If the question asks for countries where monarchies were abolished through demonstrable mass revolutionary movements, the best-documented examples are France ^[7] and Portugal ^[8], where revolution and popular mobilization played central roles in dismantling the monarchy ^{[1] [2]}. Broader 20th-century republicanizations—India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Barbados and others—occurred in the context of mass anti-colonial movements but often involved elite constitutional decisions as well; they should be described as abolitions tied to popular-nationalist movements rather than single popular revolutions ^{[4] [6]}. Contemporary protests, such as in Eswatini, demonstrate potential for change but have not achieved abolition ^[3].