Throughout history, monarchies have been abolished, either through revolutions, legislative reforms, coups d'état, or wars. 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 de-colonisation. The twenty-first century has already seen several monarchies abolished, usually by peaceful means in a referendum. By contrast, the restoration of monarchies is rare in modern times, with only two major examples, Spain and Cambodia.
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Ones of the earliest examples in modern times is the overthrow in 1649 of the English monarchy by the Parliament of England, led by Oliver Cromwell. The monarchy was restored in 1660. 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.
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. The Second Mexican Empire collapsed in 1867, and its Emperor, Maximilian I of Mexico, was executed. In Spain monarchy was abolished from 1873 to 1874 by the First Spanish Republic, but then restored until 1931. In 1893 foreign business leaders overthrew the Queen of the Kingdom of Hawaii. They established a republic, which joined the United States in 1898. The monarchy of Madagascar, known as the Merina Kingdom, came to an end in 1897 when France made it a colony and overthrew Queen Ranavalona III. In Brazil, monarchy was abolished in 1889, when Emperor Pedro II was overthrown by a republican military coup (the status of the republic was fully confirmed by a plebiscite in 1993 that resulted in 86,6% of the votes to the republican government).
In 1910 the last emperor of Korea, Sunjong, lost his throne when the country was annexed by Japan. The monarchy of Portugal was also overthrown in 1910, two years after the assassination of King Carlos I, ending the reign of Manuel II.
The ancient monarchy of China ceased to exist in 1912 after the revolution of Sun Yat-sen overthrew Emperor Puyi. General Yuan Shikai unsuccessfully tried to revive the monarchy 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 communist revolution which toppled the entire institution of the monarchy, 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 VI respectively. 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.
| Part of a series on Orders of succession |
| Former monarchies |
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| Albania · Austria-Hungary Baden · Bavaria · Brazil Bulgaria · China · Ethiopia · Finland Germany · Glücksburg Greece · Hanover Hawai'i (Kawānanakoa • Laanui) Mecklenburg-Strelitz Mexico · Montenegro · Nepal Oldenburg · Ottoman · Portugal · Prussia Romania · Russia · Saxonya Thurn and Taxis · Tuscany · Two Sicilies Württemberg · Yugoslavia |
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a Kingdom / Grand Duchy / Duchies. |
| See also
Template:Orders of succession
by country for current monarchs Template:Presidential orders
of succession |
After the death of the last Emperor, Bogd Khan, in 1924, Mongolia became a republic. In Spain the monarchy was again abolished in 1931 by the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1936/39) and the dictatorship of Franco (1936/39–1975). Constitutional monarchy was restored in 1975 under King Juan Carlos I.
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.
Throughout Greece's eventful modern history, the monarchy was toppled and restored several times between and after the two World Wars. The last king, Constantine II, was forced into exile after a coup d'état in 1967 and the republic was proclaimed in 1973 by the then ruling military dictatorship. Final abolition of the monarchy was confirmed overwhelmingly after constitutional legality was restored, by free referendum in 1974.
Many monarchies were abolished in the middle of the 20th century or later as part of the process of de-colonisation. The monarchies of India, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe were abolished when, or 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. Pakistan became a republic in 1956. The monarchy in South Africa was abolished in 1961 by an apartheid referendum. 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 minor 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. 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 democratic revolution supplanted later by a radical leftist coup. 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 1997.
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.
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. After the death of its last non-elected ruler in 2007, Malietoa Tanumafili II, Samoa became a de-facto republic.
| Country |
Last Monarch |
Year |
Annotations |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900s | |||||
| Dendi Kingdom | Askia Malla | 1901 | Ousted by French, the country became a part of French West Africa. | ||
| Ashanti Empire | Prempeh I | 1902 | Ousted by British, the country became a part of Gold Coast (British colony). | ||
| Oyo Empire | Adeyemi I Alowolodu | 1905 | Last monarch died, the country became a part of British Southern Nigeria Protectorate. | ||
| Mwali Sultanate | 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 Sultanate | Ousted by Portuguese, the country was incorporated into Portugal. | ||||
| Kingdom of Nri | Eze Nri Òbalíke | 1911 | Ousted by British, the country became a part of Southern Nigeria Protectorate. | ||
| Kasanje Kingdom | The country was incorporated into Portuguese West Africa. | ||||
| China | Xuantong | 1912 | Xinhai Revolution – Emperor ousted by warlords and republicans. | ||
| Sultanate of 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. | ||
| Sultanate of 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. | ||||
| Montenegro | Nicholas I | 1918 | Referendum deposed King and united 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 by Regency Council | ||||
| Hungary | Charles IV | Monarchy restored in 1920, although the throne remained vacant with a Regent. | |||
| 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. | |||
| 1920s | |||||
| Bukhara (Uzbekistan) | Mohammed Alim Khan | 1920 | |||
| Khiva (Uzbekistan) | Abdallah Khan | ||||
| Witu Sultanate | Fumo `Umar ibn Ahmad | 1923 | Sultanate abolished by British, the country was incorporated into Kenya Colony. | ||
| Ottoman Empire | Mehmed VI | Turkish War of Independence followed by the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. | |||
| Ottoman Caliphate | Abdülmecid II | 1924 | Caliphate abolished by the Grand National Assembly. | ||
| Greece | George II | Restored 1935 and later abolished in 1974 (see below). | |||
| Mongolia | Bogd Khan | Communist People's Republic proclaimed after Khan's death. | |||
| Albania | William I | 1925 | Monarchy restored in 1928 (Albanian Kingdom). | ||
| Kingdom of Orungu | Rogombé-Nwèntchandi | 1927 | Position abolished by French. | ||
| 1930s | |||||
| Spain | Alfonso XIII | 1931 | Later restored (see below). | ||
| Kingdom of Jimma | Abba Jofir | 1932 | Ousted by Ethiopians, Jimma incorporated into Ethiopia. | ||
| Albania | Zog I | 1939 | Throne usurped by Victor Emmanuel III, after Italian invasion. | ||
| 1940s | |||||
| Albania | Victor Emmanuel III | 1943 | Relinquished throne after Italian armistice. | ||
| Croatia | Tomislav II | Abdicated after withdrawal of Italian support. | |||
| Iceland | Christian X | 1944 | Union with Denmark terminated. | ||
| Montenegro | Ruled by Governor | Monarchy abolished after takeover by Yugoslav Partisans | |||
| Yugoslavia | Peter II | 1945 | Communist reconstruction. | ||
| Manchukuo | Kāngdé | Merged into the Republic of China after abolition of the Empire. | |||
| Vietnam | Bảo Đại | Monarchy abolished after the Surrender of Japan. | |||
| Hungary | Miklós Horthy as Regent | 1946 | Decision of the parliament without a referendum. | ||
| Italy | Umberto II | Referendum; official result: 54,3% in favour of republic. | |||
| Bulgaria | Simeon II | Referendum held to decide whether the monarchy would be retained; official results: 95% against monarchy. | |||
| Sarawak | Charles Vyner Brooke | White Rajahs hand over power to British crown. | |||
| Romania | Michael I | 1947 | Forced out by the communists. | ||
| India | George VI | Became an independent Commonwealth monarchy. | |||
| Ireland | George VI | 1949 | Abolished the last "King of Ireland", the King of the United Kingdom. | ||
| 1950s | |||||
| India | George VI | 1950 | Abolished Commonwealth monarchy. | ||
| Egypt | Fuad II | 1953 | Republic proclaimed one year after the 1952 Revolution. | ||
| Vietnam | Bảo Đại | 1954 | Vietnam partitioned through the Geneva Accords. | ||
| Vietnam | Bảo Đại | 1955 | Referendum in South Vietnam. | ||
| Pakistan | Elizabeth II | 1956 | Abolished Commonwealth monarchy. | ||
| Tunisia | Muhammad VIII al-Amin | 1957 | coup d'état | ||
| Iraq | Faisal II | 1958 | |||
| 1960s | |||||
| Ghana | Elizabeth II | 1960 | Abolished Commonwealth monarchy. | ||
| South Africa | 1961 (referendum 1960). | ||||
| Rwanda | Kigeli V | coup d'état | |||
| Tanganyika | Elizabeth II | 1962 | Abolished Commonwealth monarchy. | ||
| Yemen | Muhammad XI | coup d'état | |||
| Nigeria | Elizabeth II | 1963 | Abolished Commonwealth monarchy. | ||
| Uganda | |||||
| Kenya | 1964 | ||||
| Zanzibar | Jamshid bin Abdullah | Zanzibar Revolution | |||
| Burundi | Ntare V | 1966 | coup d'état | ||
| Malawi | Elizabeth II | Abolished Commonwealth monarchy. | |||
| Fadhli Sultanate | Nasser bin Abdullah bin Hussein bin Ahmed Alfadhli | 1967 | The countries were incorporated into newly created People's Republic of South Yemen. | ||
| Qu'aiti Sultanate | Ghalib II bin Awadh bin Saleh Al Qu'aiti | ||||
| Sultanate of Upper Yafa | Muhammad ibn Salih Harharah | ||||
| Sultanate of Lower Yafa | Mahmud ibn Aidrus Al Afifi | ||||
| Muflahi Sheikhdom | al Qasim ibn Abd ar Rahman | ||||
| Audhali Sultanate | Salih ibn al Husayn ibn Jabil Al Audhali | ||||
| Emirate of Beihan | Saleh al Hussein Al Habieli | ||||
| Dathina Sheikhdom | |||||
| Emirate of Dhala | Shafaul ibn Ali Shaif Al Amiri | ||||
| Wahidi Sultanate of Balhaf | |||||
| Sheikhdom of Shaib | Yahya ibn Mutahhar al-Saqladi | ||||
| Alawi Sheikhdom | Salih ibn Sayil Al Alawi | ||||
| Aqrabi Sheikhdom | Mahmud ibn Muhammad Al Aqrabi | ||||
| Wahidi Sultanate of Haban | Husayn ibn Abd Allah Al Wahidi | ||||
| Qutaibi Sheikhdom | |||||
| Hadrami Sheikhdom | |||||
| Mausatta Sheikhdom | |||||
| Busi Sheikhdom | |||||
| Dhabi Sheikhdom | |||||
| Haushabi Sultanate | Faisal bin Surur Al Haushabi | ||||
| Kathiri Sultanate | Al Husayn ibn Ali | ||||
| Mahra Sultanate | |||||
| Sultanate of Lahej | Ali bin Abd al Karim al Abdali | ||||
| Lower Aulaqi Sultanate | Nasir ibn Aidrus Al Awlaqi | ||||
| Upper Aulaqi Sultanate | Awad ibn Salih Al Awlaqi | ||||
| Upper Aulaqi Sheikhdom | Amir Abd Allah ibn Muhsin al Yaslami Al Aulaqi | ||||
| Maldives | Muhammad Fareed Didi | 1968 | Independence referendum. | ||
| Libya | Idris I | 1969 | coup d'état | ||
| Amb | Nawab Sir Muhammad Farid Khan | Pakistani Frontier States abolished, merged into the N.W.F.P. | |||
| Chitral | Mohammad Saif ul-Mulk Nasir | ||||
| Dir | Muhammad Shah Khosru Khan | ||||
| Swat | Miangul Abdul-Haqq Jahan Zeb | ||||
| 1970s | |||||
| Cambodia | Norodom Sihanouk | 1970 | Later restored (see below). | ||
| The Gambia | Elizabeth II | Abolished Commonwealth monarchy. | |||
| Guyana | |||||
| Sierra Leone | 1971 | ||||
| Ceylon | 1972 | Abolished Commonwealth monarchy, state name changed in to "Sri Lanka". | |||
| Afghanistan | Mohammed Zahir Shah | 1973 | coup d'état | ||
| Ethiopia | Haile Selassie I | 1974 | |||
| Greece | Constantine II | referendum; official result: 69% against monarchy | |||
| Malta | Elizabeth II | Abolished Commonwealth monarchy. | |||
| Laos | Savang Vatthana | 1975 | Communist takeover | ||
| Sikkim | Palden Thondup Namgyal | Referendum; official result: 97% to become a state of India. | |||
| Trinidad and Tobago | Elizabeth II | 1976 | Abolished Commonwealth monarchy. | ||
| Iran | Mohammad Reza Pahlavi | 1979 | Iranian Revolution | ||
| Central Africa | Bokassa I | coup d'état | |||
| 1980s | |||||
| Southern Rhodesia | Elizabeth II | 1980 | Abolished Commonwealth monarchy. Unofficially, had declared a republic in 1965 under the name Rhodesia, but this was not internationally recognised. Briefly became Zimbabwe Rhodesia, then restored to being Southern Rhodesia, before gaining independence as Zimbabwe. | ||
| Kingdom of Rwenzururu | Abel Muzorewa | 1982 | Forced to abdicate by the government of Uganda; declaration of independence of Rwenzururu was annulled. | ||
| Fiji | Elizabeth II | 1987 | Abolished Commonwealth monarchy. Elizabeth II remains recognised as Paramount Chief by the Great Council of Chiefs. | ||
| 1990s | |||||
| Mauritius | Elizabeth II | 1992 | Abolished Commonwealth monarchy. | ||
| 2000s | |||||
| Samoa | Malietoa Tanumafili II | 2007 | Last non-elected ruler (O le Ao o le Malo) died, country de facto switched to parliamentary republic. | ||
| Nepal | Gyanendra | 2008 | Monarchy abolished on 28 May 2008, replaced with secular federal republic.[2] | ||
| Country |
Year Abolished |
Annotations |
Year Restored |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seventeen Provinces, part of the Holy Roman Empire and held by the Habsburgs | 1581 | Dutch Republic established | 1806 | |
| England, Scotland and Ireland | 1649 | Commonwealth of England established | 1660 | |
| Spain | 1873 | First Spanish Republic established | 1874 | |
| 1931 | Second Spanish Republic established, then restored in 1947 (de jure), initially under the regency of Francisco Franco | 1975 (de facto) |
||
| Ankole | 1967 | Four traditional Ugandan monarchies abolished by government under new constitution of Milton Obote | 1993 | |
| Buganda | ||||
| Bunyoro | ||||
| Toro | ||||
| Cambodia | 1970 | Coup d'état | 1975 | |
| 1976 | King forced into exile once again by Khmer Rouge | 1993 | ||
| Rwenzururu, a part of Uganda | 1982 | Abolished by the government. | 2009 (de facto) |
|