On this day, 18 May 1980, workers and students in Gwangju, South Korea, rose up against their brutal US-backed dictator, Chun Doo-hwan.
Peaceful protesters were fired upon, with many shot and others beaten and stabbed to death by paratroopers. This sparked an uprising across the city, as local residents raided local armouries and police stations, seized weapons and eventually succeeded in driving out government troops.
Workers and locals then took control of the city, running it collectively for several days, until paratroopers invaded once more and bloodily suppressed the rebellion, killing hundreds.
Though unsuccessful in meeting its immediate goals, the uprising contributed to the end of decades of dictatorship late in the 1980s.
We spoke with participants in the rebellion for our podcast episodes 53-56: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e53-the-gwangju-uprising-1980/https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=628119062694646&set=a.602588028581083&type=3
The Coup of 18 Brumaire (9-10 November 1799) was a bloodless coup d'état in France that overthrew the government of the French Directory and replaced it with the French Consulate. The coup brought Napoleon Bonaparte to power and, in the view of many historians, marked the end of the French Revolution (1789-1799).
