1908 postcard depicting nineteen reigning monarchs; twelve of their thrones were abolished during the twentieth century, although the Spanish monarchy was later restored.

Throughout history, monarchies have been abolished, either throughrevolutions, coups d'état, wars, or legislative reforms (such as abdications). The founding of the Roman Republic is a noteworthy example. The twentieth century saw a major acceleration of this process, with many monarchies violently overthrown by revolution or war, or else abolished as part of the process of decolonisation. By contrast, the restoration of monarchies is rare in modern times, with only two major examples, Spain and Cambodia.

Seventeenth and eighteenth centuries[edit]

One of the earliest examples in modern times is the overthrow in 1649 of theEnglish monarchy by the Parliament of England, led by Oliver Cromwell. The monarchy was restored in 1660.

Anti-monarchism in the United States developed out of the gradual process of revolution that began as early as 1765, as colonists resisted the Stamp Act through boycott and the expulsion and condemnation of royal officials. With the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the most violent wave of anti-monarchial protest began, with the systematic destruction of the relics and symbols of monarchy. Examples can be found in the toppling of the equestrian statue of George III on Bowling green in New York City. Monarchic loyalists were particularly affected, with hundreds of thousands exiled to Canada and the East Indies. Their property was immediately turned over to the State. Thomas Paine, the famous author of the revolutionary pamphlet "Common Sense," extolled the colonists to finance the revolutionary war through this means. Even today, very few artifacts depicting the British monarchy from the colonial period can be found in the United States.

However, the most famous abolition of monarchy in history is that of the French monarchy in 1792, during the French Revolution. The French monarchy was later restored several times until 1870.

Nineteenth century[edit]

In 1858 the Mughal Empire came to an end after losing a war against Britain, and its Emperor, Bahadur Shah II, lost his throne. Between 1859 and 1861, four monarchies in Southern Europe ceased to exist: Parma, Modena, Tuscany and the Two Sicilies, when they all became part of the new Kingdom of Italy. The Second Mexican Empire collapsed in 1867, and its Emperor, Maximilian I of Mexico, was executed. The Second French Empire came to an end in 1870 after it had lost the war against Prussia, causing Emperor Napoleon III to lose his throne. He was the last monarch of France.

In Spain monarchy was abolished from 1873 to 1874 by the First Spanish Republic, but then restored until 1931. The monarchy of Tahiti came to an end in 1880 when France made it a colony and overthrew King Pōmare V. That of Burma was abolished in 1885, when the last king, Thibaw Min, lost his throne and the country was annexed by Britain. In Brazil, themonarchy was abolished in 1889, when Emperor Pedro II was overthrown by a republican military coup (the status of the republic was fully confirmed by a plebiscite in 1993 that resulted in 86.6% of the votes to the republican government). In 1893 foreign business leaders overthrew the Queen of the Kingdom of Hawaii. They established a republic, which joined the United States in 1898. The monarchy of Madagascar, known as the Merina Kingdom, came to an end in 1897 when France made it a colony and overthrew Queen Ranavalona III.

Twentieth century[edit]

In 1910 the last emperor of Korea, Sunjong, lost his throne when the country was annexed by Japan. However, the Korean royal family was kept as a puppet family. Many of the Korean royals were forceably re-educated in Japan and forced to marry Japanese royalty and aristocrats to meld the ruling families of the two empires.

The monarchy of Portugal was also overthrown in 1910 (5 October), two years after the assassination of King Carlos I, ending the reign of Manuel II, who died in exile in England (1932), without issue.

The ancient monarchy of China ceased to exist in 1912 after the revolution of Sun Yat-sen overthrew Emperor Puyi. General Yuan Shikai, then provisional president, unsuccessfully tried to make himself a monarch in 1915.

World War I led to perhaps the greatest spate of abolition of monarchies in history. The conditions inside Russia and the poor performance in the war gave rise to a revolution which toppled the entire institution of the monarchy, followed by asecond revolution against that government in October of the same year that executed Emperor Nicholas II and implemented a Marxist-Leninist government. The defeated German, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires saw the abolition of their monarchies in the close aftermath of the war, ending the reigns of Wilhelm II, Charles I and Mehmed VIrespectively. The monarchs of the constituent states within the German Empire, most importantly Ludwig III of Bavaria,Frederick Augustus III of Saxony and Wilhelm II of Württemberg, soon abdicated. During the war, monarchies were planned for the Grand Principality of Finland (to have a Finnish King), and for Lithuania (Mindaugas II of Lithuania), with aprotectorate-like dependency of Germany. Both intended kings renounced their thrones after Germany's defeat in November 1918. King Nicholas I of Montenegro lost his throne when the country became a part of Yugoslavia in 1918.

After the death of the last Emperor, Bogd Khan, in 1924, Mongolia became a republic. In Spain the monarchy was again abolished in 1931 by the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1936/39). In 1947, General Franco declared Spain arealm, and appointed Juan Carlos of Bourbon his successor in 1969. The Prince of Spain became king at Franco's death in 1975, and constitutional monarchy was restored in 1978 under him.

World War II saw another spate of abolitions. In 1939 Italy invaded Albania and removed the reigning self-proclaimed King Zog and instated their own King Victor Emmanuel III as its new monarch. Italy, along with the eastern European monarchies of Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania joined with Germany in World War II against the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the Western allies and the Soviet Union. As the Axis powers came to a defeat in the war, communist partisans in occupied Yugoslavia and occupied Albania seized power and ended the monarchies. Communists in Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania removed their monarchies with strong backing by the Soviet Union, which had many troops and supporters placed there during the course of the war. Through this, Peter II of Yugoslavia, Simeon II of Bulgaria and Michael I of Romania all lost their thrones. King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy had switched sides during the war in favour of the western allies, but areferendum in 1946 ended the short reign of his son King Umberto II and the Italian monarchy ceased to exist. A unique result of the war was that Emperor Hirohito of Japan, who had held a debated but important role in Japan's warfare against the Allied powers, was reduced in stature from a divine monarch to a figurehead by the occupying United States, instead of losing his throne altogether.

Throughout Greece's eventful modern history, the monarchy was toppled and restored several times between and after the two World Wars. The last king, Constantine II, was forced into exile after a coup in 1967 and the republic was proclaimed in1973 by the then ruling military dictatorship. Final abolition of the monarchy was confirmed overwhelmingly after constitutional legality was restored, by free referendum in 1974.

Many monarchies were abolished in the middle of the 20th century or later as part of the process of decolonisation. The monarchies of India, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanganyika, Uganda, Guyana, and Malawi were abolished shortly after they became independent of the United Kingdom, while remaining within the Commonwealth. That of Ireland was not abolished when Ireland became independent of the United Kingdom in the 1920s, but by the Republic of Ireland Act of 1948, which came into force in 1949. Some Commonwealth realms waited a little longer before abolishing their monarchies: Pakistan became a republic in 1956 and South Africa in 1961. Gambia abolished its monarchy in 1970, while Sierra Leone became a republic in 1971, as did Sri Lanka and Malta in 1974, Trinidad and Tobago in 1976, and Fiji in 1987. The latest country to become a Commonwealth republic was Mauritius in 1992.

That of Egypt was abolished in 1953, after the revolution of 1952, which caused King Farouk I to abdicate in favour of his infant son Fuad II. The monarchy of Tunisia ended in 1957 when Muhammad VIII al-Amin lost his throne and that of Iraq when King Faisal II was killed and a republic proclaimed. The monarchy of Yemen was abolished in 1962 when KingMuhammad al-Shami was overthrown in a coup, although he continued to resist his opponents until 1970. King Idris of Libya was overthrown by a military coup led by Muammar Gaddafi in 1969. The monarchy of Afghanistan was abolished in 1973 after a coup d'état overthrew King Mohammed Zahir Shah. That of Iran was abolished by the Islamic revolution of 1979 overthrowing Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In Ethiopia, Emperor Haile Selassie I was overthrown in 1974 as a result of aleftist coup. King Palden Thondup Namgyal of Sikkim lost his throne in 1975 when the country became a state of India following a referendum. Political upheaval and Communist insurrection put an end to the monarchies of Indochina after World War II: a short-lived attempt to leave a monarchical form of government in post-colonial South Vietnam came to naught in 1955, a military coup overthrew the kingless monarchy in Cambodia in 1970 and a Communist takeover ended the monarchy in Laos in 1975. Cambodia's monarchy later saw an unexpected rebirth under an internationally mediated peace settlement with former king Norodom Sihanouk being restored as a figurehead in 1993.

Brazil rejected an attempt to restore its monarchy in the 1990s. Unsuccessful efforts to restore the monarchies of some of the Balkan states in the former Eastern Bloc continue. Former King Michael of Romania and Prince Alexander of Serbia have been allowed to return, gained some popularity, played largely apolitical public roles, but never came close to being restored to their ancestral thrones. However, in Bulgaria, Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, who was deposed from the Bulgarian throne in 1946, was elected and recently served as the Prime Minister of his country from 2001 to 2005. The only formerly socialist country to have held a referendum on the monarchy was Albania where the claimant to his father's throne, the self-styled Leka I, lost by a huge margin.

In a 1999 referendum, the voters of Australia rejected a proposal to abolish their monarchy in favour of a specific republican model. The proposal was rejected in all states, with only the Australian Capital Territory voting in favour.

Twenty-first century[edit]

On 24 December 2007, the Nepalese government decided in an accord to abolish the monarchy after the elections to be held in April 2008.^[1] The Nepalese monarchy was formally abolished on 28 May 2008, causing King Gyanendra to lose his throne.

Monarchies abolished in the 20th–21st centuries[edit]

Country		Last Monarch	Year	Annotations
1900s
	Dendi	Askia Malla	1901	Ousted by French, the country became a part of French West Africa.
	Ashanti	Prempeh I	1902	Ousted by British, the country became a part of Gold Coast (British colony).
	Oyo	Adeyemi I Alowolodu	1905	Last monarch died, the country became a part of British Southern Nigeria Protectorate.
	Mwali		1909	The country was incorporated into French Third Republic.
1910s
	Portugal	Manuel II	1910	Republican Coup d'État.
	Korea	Sunjong		Native monarchy abolished; replaced by rule by Japan, a monarchy, through 1945.
	Angoche			Ousted by Portuguese, the country was incorporated into Portugal.
	Nri	Eze Nri Òbalíke	1911	Ousted by British, the country became a part of Southern Nigeria Protectorate.
	Kasanje			The country was incorporated into Portuguese West Africa.
	China	Xuantong	1912	Xinhai Revolution – Emperor ousted by warlords and republicans.
	Ndzuwani	Saidi Mohamed bin Saidi Omar		The country was incorporated into French Third Republic.
	Kongo	Manuel III	1914	Position abolished by Portuguese after an unsuccessful revolt.
	Darfur	Ali Dinar	1916	Darfur formally re-incorporated into Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.
	China	Hongxian		Monarchy abandoned, shortly after the outbreak of the National Protection War.
	Russia	Nicholas II	1917	Russian Revolution of 1917.
	Finland			Finnish Declaration of Independence.
	Sultanate of Sulu	Sultan Jamalul-Kiram II		Split into North Borneo, and the Philippines
	Montenegro	Nicholas I	1918	Referendum deposed King and united Montenegro with Serbia.
	Germany	William II		All on account of German defeat in World War I and the following German Revolution.
	Prussia
	Bavaria	Ludwig III
	Württemberg	William II
	Saxony	Frederick Augustus III
	Hesse	Ernest Louis
	Baden	Frederick II
	Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach	William Ernest
	Mecklenburg-Schwerin	Frederick Francis IV
	Mecklenburg-Strelitz	Adolphus Frederick VI
	Oldenburg	Frederick Augustus II
	Brunswick	Ernst Augustus
	Anhalt	Joachim Ernst
	Saxe-Coburg and Gotha	Charles Edward
	Saxe-Meiningen	Bernhard III
	Saxe-Altenburg	Ernst II
	Waldeck-Pyrmont	Friedrich
	Lippe	Leopold IV
	Schaumburg-Lippe	Adolf II
	Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt	Günther Victor
	Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
	Reuss Elder Line	Heinrich XXIV
	Reuss Younger Line	Heinrich XXVII
	Austria	Charles I		Charles I "renounced participation" in state affairs, but did not abdicate. Monarchy officially abolished by the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, on 10 September 1919.
	Finland	Frederick Charles I		Monarchy never in effect.
	Lithuania	Mindaugas II
	Poland	Ruled byRegency Council
	Hungary	Charles IV		Monarchy restored in 1920, although the throne remained vacant with aRegent.
	Serbia	Peter I		Country transformed to Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
	Ukraine	Pavlo Skoropadskyi		Removed from power, following an uprising led by Symon Petliura and the withdrawal of German forces from Kiev.