Is there any other country in the world, besides the US, that erects monuments to those who took up arms against it and lost?

Question

Richmond's mayor Levar Stoney was quoted as saying (in the context of the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee)

Mr Northam called the statue "a monument to the Confederate insurrection". [...]

"There's no other country in the world that erects monuments to those who took up arms against their country," Mayor of Richmond, Levar Stoney, told BBC News.

No doubt it's unusual for a country/government to have monuments honoring those that "took up arms against it". But if one considers winning revolutions/insurrections, surely there are plenty of examples of statues for those who overthrew the old regime. In the more autocratic cases, statues even ordered by themselves after taking power, but often enough by later generations if the change/revolution was stable enough in terms of outcome.

So, I'm thinking that the claim needs to be more narrowly interpreted as in: no country that hasn't seen a [dramatic/substantial] change in regime or constitutional order has erected such statues to defeated insurrectionists, revolutionaries, or separatists. I.e. given some reasonable level of regime or constitutional continuity, such statues really are non-existent. Is the claim true in this sense, which is probably how it was meant? Or are there some counter-examples even to this?

(I could ask this on Skeptics, but given that the claim is not literally true as in the quote, I may get flak there for asking my own question/interpretation.)

Answer 1

There are plenty of counter-examples in the UK; commenters have mentioned Guy Fawkes, who unsuccessfully plotted to assassinate King James I and restore the Catholic monarchy - commemorated with a statue, and carnival, in Bridgwater, Somerset, and Oliver Cromwell, who successfully overthrew King Charles I in the English Civil War and ruled as Lord Protector until his death in 1658 - commemorated with a statue outside of Parliament, as well as others in St Ives, Manchester, Warrington, and Bradford. The monarchy was later restored, so I suppose Cromwell could also be classified as having been unsuccessful.

Other examples of statues commemorating participants in an unsuccessful rebellion might be those in memory of the Jacobite Risings of 1745. Charles Edward Stuart, often known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, led the rebellion in an attempt to reclaim the British throne for his father, James Stuart, son of James II and IV. Both the Glenfinnan Monument of the Unknown Highlander, located at the spot where the rising began, as well as the statue of Bonnie Prince Charlie in Derby, England, where the Jacobites retreated back to Scotland, commemorate the participants.

Another example might be the statue in St Keverne, Cornwall, of two of the leaders of the Cornish rebellion of 1497 - Thomas Flamank and Michael An Gof.

Further examples mentioned by commenters:

• Many monuments/memorials to the Covenanters, named after a document called the National Covenant, which pledged to resist changes to the Church of Scotland planned by Charles I. Uprisings included the 1679 Rebellion which culminated in the Battle of Bothwell Bridge.
• Statues of Charles I, defeated by Thomas Fairfax, Oliver Cromwell and the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War.
• The statue of Mahatma Gandhi which was placed in Parliament Square in 2015.
• The memorial in Smithfield to Wat Tyler, John Ball and other leaders of the 1381 Peasant's Revolt.
• The statue of Owain Glyndŵr in Corwen, who led the Welsh Revolt against English rule in 1400-15.

Answer 2

It's certainly not true in the way the mayor stated, there is a statue of George Washington in London:

It's a statue of George Washington, onetime citizen of Great Britain, father of the United States and rebellious colonial. In a square that marks one of Britain's greatest victories stands a reminder of one of its greatest defeats. Washington's statue is not only there, it's resplendent with symbols of authority, like the 13 wooden rods on which he leans (also a symbol of the 13 colonies). It's just hanging out in a square owned by the crown -- and built on soil shipped in from the state of Virginia.

https://www.military.com/history/george-washington-statue-london-british-soil.html

I'm sure if you add enough caveats you could stretch it to true, but I'm guessing this was more of a case of a politician who was more interested in saying something that makes a good soundbite than caring about the truth of what they were saying.

Answer 3

Right next door in Canada, there are a couple of counterexamples.

In Winnipeg, there are two statues of Louis Riel, one of them being on the grounds of the provincial legislature, and Louis Riel Day is a statutory holiday in Manitoba. He led the North-West Rebellion in 1885.

In Montreal, there is a "Le Monument aux Patriotes" statue commemorating those executed or exiled for participating in the Rebellions of 1837–38, and Quebec commemorates them on the National Patriots' Day statutory holiday, which coincides with Victoria Day in the rest of Canada.

In Toronto, there is a statue (a bust) of William Lyon Mackenzie on the grounds of the Ontario provincial legislature. He was the military leader of the 1837 rebellion in Ontario. His grandson, incidentally, was the longest-serving prime minister of Canada.

Technically, the 1837 rebellions didn't happen in the modern country of Canada, which was formed in Confederation in 1867, but rather in the provinces of Upper Canada and Lower Canada in British North America, but that's a mere quibble. It's taught as part of Canadian history.

Meanwhile, statues of Sir John A. Macdonald are these days being removed or vandalized. He was the first prime minister of Canada and pre-eminent founding father of the country, and he had Louis Riel hanged. Go figure.

Answer 4

According to wikipedia the Romans built a number statues to honor their defeated Carthaginian enemy Hannibal.

Answer 5

Here are two examples from Sweden. The modern Kingdom of Sweden is generally said to have been founded by Gustav Vasa, who ascended the throne in 1523. These examples assume that Sweden fulfills the criterion of "reasonable level of regime or constitutional continuity" since then.

Nils Dacke

Nils Dacke, the famous leader of a peasant revolt in the 16th century, is commemorated with at least one statue and a memorial in the province of Småland, where the revolt originated.

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Snapphanarna

Here are a two examples of statues commemorating the pro-Danish Snapphane militia, which during the 17th century fought against the Swedish army in a series of conflicts in the recently conquered province of Scania. Both statues depict unnamed soldiers.

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Context

Both Nils Dacke and Snapphanarna are symbols of local patriotism in their respective regions. Claiming that their rebellions were justified is not controversial today, although some may disagree. Neither of them is intimately associated with a morally abhorrent institution, such as chattel slavery.

Answer 6

Australia - Ned Kelly

According to Wikipedia:

Ned Kelly (December 1854 – 11 November 1880)[a] was an Australian bushranger, outlaw, gang leader and convicted police-murderer. ... In a manifesto letter, Kelly—denouncing the police, the Victorian government and the British Empire—set down his own account of the events leading up to his outlawry.

To be clear, this wasn't just an ordinary criminal, he tried to take on a police train and lots of supporters!

In 1880, when Kelly's attempt to derail and ambush a police train failed, he and his gang, dressed in armour fashioned from stolen plough mouldboards, engaged in a final gun battle with the police at Glenrowan. Kelly, the only survivor, was severely wounded by police fire and captured. Despite thousands of supporters attending rallies and signing a petition for his reprieve, Kelly was tried, convicted and sentenced to death by hanging, which was carried out at the Old Melbourne Gaol. His last words were famously reported to have been, "Such is life".

Now to the issue, of statues, I can find at least three notable examples:

The Big Ned Kelly, Maryborough:

Big Ned Kelly, Warrenheip:

The Big Ned Kelly, Glenrowan:

All shamelessly appropriated from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia%27s_big_things.

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To be fair, none of these appear to be sponsored by the government, unlike some (but not all) confederate statues. Also, Ned Kelly is obviously not tied to slavery or the like.

However, the spirit of rebellion against what is seen as an unfair oppressor, so far as becoming a controversial cultural icon that is still widely recognized, taught about, and even celebrated over a hundred years later has similarities.

Answer 7

This is trivially disproven for almost every European country, considering the nature of European wars of annexation, and insurrections against aristocratic or totalitarian regimes. The US is relatively unusual in only having had one attempted insurrection over the course of its history, and no attempted annexations.

To modify the mayor's statement though, it certainly is true that it is very rare to erect statues to insurrectionists whose cause even at the time was clearly morally wrong.

Answer 8

Brazil has a repertoire of insurrectionists glorified as heroes, some nowadays declared heroes by law in civic memorial Panteão da Pátria e da Liberdade ("Pantheon of Homeland and Freedom"). Examples include:

• Tiradentes was an insurrectionist against Portugal colonization around 1790, ended up being publicly executed by the government. Since Brazil became a republic near a century later in 1889, he became a symbol of brazilian identity, patron of Police Forces and has a national holiday. His face is shown in the 5 centavos coin, and there are many statues of him all over the country, including major monuments in Belo Horizonte and Brasília.
• Zumbi dos Palmares led a resistance of over 30000 black slaves against the Portuguese Crown by the end of the 17th century, and had his head served to the governor. He is nowadays considered "The Black Leader Of All Races", a symbol of brazilian black people, and the day of his death is also the holiday of Black Awareness Day. There are monuments of his image all over the country, especially in the states of Pernambuco and Bahia.
• Anita Garibaldi participated in the Farrapos war, in which the province of Rio Grande do Sul became by arms a Republic independent from the Brazilian Empire, from 1835 to 1845, before becoming once again part of the Empire. She also fought in the Risorgimento, Italia's unification war, and died while fleeing from the Austrian Army. She has monuments in Belo Horizonte and Rome (Italy), and her name was given to two brazilian cities.
• Antônio Conselheiro was a religious leader who led a resistance in the village of Canudos against the newly installed Republic in 1896-1897, known as the Canudos War. The supposedly monarchic-sympathists religious village was massacred and wiped by the Republican Army in the fourth attempt, after three failed sieges. There are two museums in his honor, one in the modern city of Canudos, the other in the house he grew up in the city of Quixeramobim, Ceará.

While the first three were insurrectionists against a "country" that no longer exists (either the Portuguese Crown or the Brazilian Empire), the last one should fit all the criteria, and was fought against the currently existing Brazilian Republic. Though historians may argue the politics of the Canudos War, Conselheiro is often portrayed with sayings somewhat equivalent to "the Republic is the materialization of the Anti-Christ, a profanation of the Catholic Church", and that "the civil marriage and the separation of Church and State is cabal proof of the end of the world". These teachings are very against current values and morals of the brazilian people, however the law declaring him a national hero in 2019 mentions his "social leadership" and "the fight against social and economic inequality".

Answer 9

Spartacus There are statues of Spartacus all over the Roman Empire. Spartacus led a slave revolt against Rome that was ultimately defeated.

Vercingetorix There are several statues of Vercingetorix, who led the resistance to Roman conquest of Gaul.

Edit:

Pompey. He lost to Caesar in the civil war. His statue was kept in the place where the Senate met.

Answer 10

Spain has a good share of statues to Largo Cabellero, Manuel Azaña and others of the losing side of their civil war.

Ireland's losing warriors in 1921-23 eventually won power in 1932 and we now have statues of de Valera, Lemass, Barry, etc.

I wouldn't be surprised if other countries did likewise.

In Turkey they didn't have civil war. But they did have a number of coups to remove 'weak' or 'corrupt' administrations. In some cases the leaders were imprisoned or hanged. Yet years afterwards the merits of of some of these deposed leaders have been rehabilitated by history, evolution of society and the unviability of military governments and military policing. Adnan Menderes was hanged by the Grey Wolves junta led by Alparslan Türkeş in 1961. A generation later in 1990 he was officially pardoned by the Turkish parliament and a public tomb, airport and university created in his name.

Time is a great factor in changing previously hardened attitudes. Hate is a poor inheritance and most young people - thankfully - see this for themselves.

Answer 11

There are many statues in Germany to commemorate the unsuccessful democratic March revolution of 1848.

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Of course one can discuss if it was really unsuccessful. At least the modern Germany tries to trace back its tradition more to the Weimar republic and the March revolution. For example the "Schwarz-Rot-Gold" (black-red-yellow) national flag comes directly from this tradition.

Answer 12

I know this is a little specific, but I think there's a bit of a mistake here. This statue wasn't built by the United States of America to honor Robert E Lee. It was built by the people of Richmond, VA to honor someone that had fought for their beliefs and protected their lives during the Civil War.

Due to the way the US constitution works, I doubt there's much that the federal government could have done to actually prevent/take down the statue; which is why many have stood until their local municipalities wised up.

So it's not really an example of a government building a statue of someone that took arms against them. The mayor majorly misspoke when he said that, but hey politicians always try to bend their words for the best outcome for them.

Answer 13

If we stretch the term "took up arms against" a bit, then Abdurrahman Abdi Pasha might qualify. (is it "taking up arms" if you're the leader of an occupying army and you resist an army sent to liberate the lands you are occupying?)

He was the governor of Hungary most of which was under Ottoman occupation at that time. He fell defending a castle when a Christian army retook Hungary from the Ottomans, and he now has a monument there.

A memorial to the late commander, the last vizier of Buda, stands on the Anjou bastion of the Buda castle, halfway between the Military History Museum and the Vienna Gate. The memorial was erected in 1932 by the descendants of György Szabó, who was a Hungarian soldier of the liberating army and also fell on this spot on September 2. The inscription, in Hungarian and Turkish, says: "The last governor of the 145 year long occupation of Buda, Abdurrahman Abdi Pasha the Albanian fell at this place on September 2, 1686, when he was 70 years old. He was a heroic enemy, may he rest in peace."

Also, if we can stretch the "and lost" part, there is another example, also from Hungary. I would guess the purpose of the "... and lost" in the question was to exclude statues built by the winner. However, in this second example, even though the conquerors won, it was not them who erected the monument, but the conquered people, long after they have regained their freedom. It's a monument of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, who conquered large parts of Hungary before dying in a pyrrhic victory in a siege. The monument commemorates both the attackers and the defenders, and a bust of the leaders of both armies are present there.

Answer 14

The July 20, 1944 plot was a failed attempt to kill Adolph Hitler and replace the Nazi government. It is better known as Operation Valkyrie, which was the plan for continuity in case of the loss of the Nazi leadership. The overall plot was led by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, who was put to death with the other conspirators after the attempt failed to kill Hitler.

A statue and plaque commemorating the conspirators was erected in the courtyard of the Bendlerblock, where they were executed.

Answer 15

Seven years after the failed Spartacus uprising of 1919 in Berlin, a monument for its (murdered) leaders Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg was erected in the Berlin-Friedrichsfelde cemetery. The monument was privately funded, but it was erected on public ground and with the necessary permits from the authorities. (Incidentally, this monument was one of the earlier works of the well-known architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe)

Answer 16

Poland:

1. On commemorative plaque commemorating victims of 1970 mass protests against communist regime is listed Marian Zamroczyński. He was a member of communist riot police who shot dead one of protester and shortly afterwards angry crowd has disarmed and lynched him. Commemorating him there was highly controversial, as is independent Poland communist regime is effectively seen as collaborators, while he can be seen as perpetrator who just met swift justice. However, the rationale behind commemorating him there anyway, that in bigger picture he was just a victim of a regime that sent him against his own society which ended up tragically for many people, including him.

2. When Poland was Soviet Union satellite state there was a genuine problem of selecting of national heroes as either one was looking to times with monarchs or period where important historical figures were fighting against Russia. Effectively it ended up that Moscow appointed government selected as national heroes a few figures who literally took weapons against Russians and their puppets.

Tadeusz Kościuszko, a leader of anti-Russian uprise of 1794 was even put on banknotes during late communism. How? Well, he was also clearly a social reformer who managed to mobilise peasants and promised dramatic reduction of serfdom, so from Marxist perspective they interpreted it as more or less as leader of peasant revolt (very good) who thought against tzar (also OK).

Answer 17

Many William Wallace statues and at least one William Wallace monument exist in the UK. They are more often found of course in then region that tried to secede, Scotland, much like American statues of Jackson and Lee are more often found in the American South.

And in America we have numerous monuments to insurrectionists from various American Indian tribes. FSU has a statue of Osceola. Even the US Naval Academy has a statue for Tecumseh. There is an ongoing effort to carve a large statue of Crazy Horse into a mountain.

Answer 18

In London, the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square currently holds a statue of the Baptist preacher and pan-Africanist John Chilembwe. He was the leader of the unsuccessful Chilembwe uprising against British rule in what was then the protectorate of Nyasaland but is now Malawi.

Answer 19

In Russia there are such example:

Monument to Pugachev

The monument to Yemelyan Pugachev was erected on the site where in 1774, from June 27 to July 3, the headquarters of the rebel troops under the leadership of Pugachev was located, immediately after the capture of the city. Pugachev freed the serfs, distributed the requisitioned wealth to his troops, and was considering a plan for further actions.

The monument stands on a pedestal built of stone blocks. The composition of the monument located on a hill symbolizes Pugachev looking at the conquered city, his hands folded behind his back. The monument is surrounded by a stone wall with three metal cannons around the perimeter.

The monument is included in the list of cultural heritage of the Republic of Mordovia.

Monument to the Decembrists

There are some monument to the Decembrists all around Russia including the one on the place of their execution.

Answer 20

In a park near the Hibiya Park, Chiyoda City, Tokyo contains a fully functional scale replica of the Liberty Bell, a symbol from the United States, that was gifted to the Japanese people shortly after World War II. For those unfamiliar, Hibiya Park is across the street from the Imperial Palace grounds.

Elsewhere in Tokyo, there is a 1/7th in Odaiba (Yes, the same Odaiba featured in the original Digimon anime) though the statue is equally commemorative of Japanese-French relations. Two more replica statues exist in Osaka and Shimoda.

For the record, the United States is the only nation to ever have a military victory against Japan.

In the United States, Pearl Harbor architect Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is generally not as villainized as he was during the war, after it became apparent to the American Public that Yamamoto sincerely advocated to avoid war with the United States and only planned and executed the surprise attack because it was his job (The surprise nature of the attack was also not his fault but delays in the Japanese embassy in Washington in decrypting the declaration of war that he was unaware of when he launched the attack).

Answer 21

In Mahachkala Russia there is a monument to Imam Shamil and even a mosque that bears his name. Shamil was the leader of the resistance against Russia in the entire Caucasus.

Answer 22

usa

Yes, I know, the Q says "besides the US", but it then goes on to talk about only the Confederate monuments, and this question is asked in that context.

So... US recognition of some of its Native American opponents...

Tecumseh

This is a list of memorials to Tecumseh (c. 1768 – October 5, 1813), the Shawnee leader who was killed in the War of 1812 and became an iconic folk hero in American, Indigenous, and Canadian history.

Four ships of the United States Navy have been named USS Tecumseh.

The first USS Tecumseh (1863), was a Canonicus-class monitor, commissioned on April 19, 1864. It was lost with almost all hands on August 5, at the Battle of Mobile Bay.
The second USS Tecumseh (YT-24), was a tugboat, originally named Edward Luckenbach, purchased by the Navy in 1898 and renamed. She served off and on until she was struck from the Navy list ca. 1945.
The third USS Tecumseh (YT-273), was a Pessacus-class tugboat, commissioned in 1943 and struck from service in 1975.
The fourth USS Tecumseh (SSBN-628), was a James Madison-class ballistic missile submarine, commissioned in 1964 and struck in 1993.

In Lafayette, Indiana, Tecumseh appears along with the Marquis de Lafayette and Harrison in a pediment on the Tippecanoe County Courthouse (1882).[13]

Sitting Bull (from Little Big Horn)

The Sitting Bull Monument is located about seven miles southwest of Mobridge. Chief Sitting Bull, or Tatanka Iyotake, was a Hunkpapa Teton Sioux spiritual leader. In the 1870s, Sitting Bull had relocated to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation near the Grand River in present-day Corson County. He became a great spiritual leader and organized a resistance movement against US expansion on treaty-reserved lands.

Crazy Horse (Little Big Horn), albeit on private land, with private funds

From the campus, visitors can also take in the massive size of the Sculpture in Progress; the tons of rock that have been removed, the time-tested techniques that have been used throughout history leading to the impressive technology available today, and the labor-intensive work that is done year-round by the dedicated Mountain Carving Crew. Take a moment to stare at the 87.5-foot-high face of Crazy Horse – an opportunity that not even the Sculptor himself was able to have except when he saw it finished in his mind and heart.

Home of the Crazy Horse Memorial: Crazy Horse Memorial®