From Monarchy to Chaos to Totalitarianism, Part 1: The Rule Explained

It should be clear to regular readers, from my posts on Nepal, Georgia, and America, that I am a constitutional monarchist. I believe that a constitutional monarch, often wielding great theoretical power or constitutionally designated as a national symbol, can play a great role in stabilizing a nation during difficult times. Or as conservative journalist Peter Hitchens once said:

I think [a monarch] is an essential part of a balanced constitution in much the same way that the king is an essential part of the game of chess. He doesn’t actually do very much, but by occupying his square, he prevents others from occupying it. I think the history of most countries… which haven’t had monarchies or which have gotten rid of monarchies, suggest that once they’ve gone and politicians start seeking the kind of loyalty and love which monarchs enjoy, you get very serious political problems, and often you get an end to democracy.

That may sound farfetched to an ahistorical citizen of the 21st century. Monarchy today is viewed by many as a backwards entitlement regime, giving benefits to undeserving aristocrats at the expense of hardworking, ordinary people, with no basis other than outdated history. But history shows that Peter is right. The abolition of a nation’s monarchy is regularly followed by a distinct pattern, a steady progression from a politically stable monarchy, followed by a quasi-democratic chaos, consolidated only through brutal totalitarianism. This slow pattern, typically taking 6-12 years, has been startingly reliable in a number of countries regardless of region over the past two centuries. Let’s look at five representative examples.

FRANCE
1789: King Louis XVI dethroned
1793: King Louis executed, start of Reign of Terror—calendar replaced, Constitution suspended, anti-clerical law passed, law of suspects passed
1795: National Convention dissolved, Executive Directory takes power
1799: Napoleon takes power in coup, war ravages Europe for the next 15 years

RUSSIA
1917: Czar Nicholas dethroned and executed, Russian Civil War begins
1923: Last hostilities of Russian civil war
1927: Stalin consolidates power, followed by collectivization and the reign of terror

CAMBODIA
1969: King Sihanouk leaves for China to recieve medical care.
1970: The absent king is dethroned and the monarchy abolished in a military coup.
1975: Khmer Rouge capture the Cambodian capitol of Phnom Penh, marking the start of a genocidal cleansing that kills millions of civilians, approximately one in seven of the entire population.

AFGHANISTAN
1973: King Zahir Shad deposed by brother-in-law Daoud in bloodless coup.
1978: Daoud murdered in Marxist coup. Communist regime established.
1979: Communist regime faces collapse to tribal insurgency, and the Soviets invade to prevent the regime from collapsing. Two decades of chaos begin.

ETHIOPIA
1974: The Derg, set up to investigate mutiny in the army, depose King Haile Selassie.
1975: After attempts at a constitutional monarch fail, Selassie is imprisoned and later strangled.
1977: Two consecutive presidents are murdered before the Derg elect Mariam Mengistu as head of state, Red Terror begins that leads to the deaths of millions
1984: Soviet-style civilian constitution enacted

Scary history—and what’s worse, it’s in danger of being repeated even today. Part 2 of this mini-series will cover some states in danger, and part 3 will address how the inevitability of this post-monarchy calamity can be avoided.