The Arab Spring
Popular uprisings topple rulers in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen, but most end in renewed authoritarianism or civil war.
- Arab Spring — Encyclopaedia Britannica
- The Arabs: A History — Eugene Rogan, Basic Books (2009)
In December 2010 Mohamed Bouazizi, a young street vendor in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia, set himself on fire after officials confiscated his goods. Protests spread, and on 14 January 2011 President Ben Ali fled. Within weeks, demonstrations in Cairo’s Tahrir Square forced Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak to resign on 11 February.
- Arab Spring — Encyclopaedia Britannica
- The Arabs: A History — Eugene Rogan, Basic Books (2009)
The protests spread to Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and Syria. Islamist parties such as Tunisia’s Ennahda and Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood won the first free elections, but in 2013 Egypt’s army overthrew the elected president, Mohamed Morsi. Libya and Yemen collapsed into civil wars, and in Syria, Bashar al-Assad’s crackdown led to a war that killed hundreds of thousands, drove millions from their homes, and gave space to the so-called Islamic State.
- Arab Spring — Encyclopaedia Britannica
- The Arabs: A History — Eugene Rogan, Basic Books (2009)
- Arab Spring — Encyclopaedia Britannica
Why it matters today
The uprisings showed millions of Muslims, many of them young, demanding dignity, jobs and freedom in the language of citizenship rather than religion. Their aftermath, from Egypt's coup to the wars in Syria, Libya and Yemen and the refugee crisis, still shapes the region and Muslim communities in Europe.
Egypt's 18-day uprising was the Arab Spring's most watched moment, and its outcome, the army's removal of President Morsi in 2013 and a harsher authoritarianism, shaped how the whole region read the revolutions. Egyptians remain deeply divided over what 2011 and 2013 meant.