Fall from within is one thing. Being toppled externally is another entirely.
Governments don’t actually get toppled by mobs of protesters storming the palace gates. Machine guns are quite effective at preventing that. They topple when some other individual or faction convinces enough key players in the country that the new guys are a better option. The protesters only storm the gates when the army decides to look the other way. And the army only decides to look the other way when there’s some viable alternative to the existing government. No high-ranking general with a retirement to worry about wants to see the state they serve collapse into complete anarchy.
The point of this is that internal revolutions tend to be good for their people. A revolutionary movement can only successfully topple a government when they can make a good case to a lot of powerful people that they can competently manage the gears of state.
But imposed from without? You can invade a place and stick someone on the throne, but they won’t have any legitimacy. And that power and legitimacy vacuum leads to sectarian violence and civil wars. Or, as in the case of the Shah, the foreign-imposed leader maintains their position through shear force and barbarity.
Fall from within is one thing. Being toppled externally is another entirely.
Governments don’t actually get toppled by mobs of protesters storming the palace gates. Machine guns are quite effective at preventing that. They topple when some other individual or faction convinces enough key players in the country that the new guys are a better option. The protesters only storm the gates when the army decides to look the other way. And the army only decides to look the other way when there’s some viable alternative to the existing government. No high-ranking general with a retirement to worry about wants to see the state they serve collapse into complete anarchy.
The point of this is that internal revolutions tend to be good for their people. A revolutionary movement can only successfully topple a government when they can make a good case to a lot of powerful people that they can competently manage the gears of state.
But imposed from without? You can invade a place and stick someone on the throne, but they won’t have any legitimacy. And that power and legitimacy vacuum leads to sectarian violence and civil wars. Or, as in the case of the Shah, the foreign-imposed leader maintains their position through shear force and barbarity.