Turmoil, radicals and revolution are three terms that you’ll see bandied around a lot while playing Victoria 3.
Turmoil can lead to revolution. What starts as civil disobedience can quickly become revolution. An unstable nation, full of radicalised people will certainly lead to both. But what exactly do the terms turmoil, radicals and revolution mean in the case of Victoria 3?
Radicals and Turmoil
Radicals are the people in your population that are angry with the state and are ready to lash out. They are opposed by loyalists that are willing to put up with ideas they don’t always agree on and get on with the day.
Turmoil is dependent on the ratio of radicals and loyalists within a state. This is essentially a way of displaying the level of civil disobedience and disorder within a local populace. Turmoil will affect infrastructure, taxation and interest group opinion. This can spiral if not dealt, with as turmoil in Victoria 3 makes life worse for your population who then become radicals and increase turmoil.
Population that is discriminated against by your government will more likely become radicals, but they also have less influence on political power. Essentially, discriminated people are dangerous but only in big numbers. You can change the law on citizenship to combat this however you seem fit.
Revolution in Victoria 3
If there is a significant amount of radicals that support an angry interest group, then this group has the possibility of starting a revolution, or a civil war. The group in question will take over states roughly equal to their overall clout (political power), if neither side backs down then it will lead to open war and the winner takes all.
If there are enough radicals within an interest group whose mood goes below -9, then this group will start a countdown to revolution. You will see a bar in your outliner that shows you the progress of the interest group/s that are rebelling. When this hits 100, the revolution breaks into a diplomatic play.
It may not get to 100, however, as the revolution needs to have enough power behind it that is willing to go to war. If you hover over the bar, you will see the total number it will get to as things stand. It will be higher the more clout there is for the group and the percentage of radical people within the group. In other words: are enough powerful people enraged for civil war?
How to stop a revolution in Victoria 3
The methods to stop a revolution in Victoria 3 are quite simple. All you have to do is stop the relative interest group. There are three ways to do so:
- You can placate the group and make them approve of your government. For example, ditching a law change, or increasing spending in their areas may help. (Keeping the military on side is often as simple as raising the armed forces wages.)
- You can also decrease the amount of radicals, meaning there is less appetite for rebellion. This can be done by making the population happier by reducing general tax, creating a higher standard of living than is expected, or by choosing some event decisions. There are also the ‘Law Enforcement’ and ‘Home Affairs’ institutions that limit the amount of radicals. They function in different ways depending on the laws they correspond to.
- Lastly, you can limit how powerful the interest group is, making them too weak to effectively rebel. You do this by lowering its clout.
If you want a revolution then you just do the opposite!
What happens when a revolution starts?
When the revolution bar hits 100 in Victoria 3, a diplomatic play will start. At this point, you will have a brief amount of time to sway interested nations to your defence. You may want to do so as normally the rebelling nation is stronger than you, due to power being essential to rebel in the first place.
You also have the option to switch from playing as the defending faction to the revolting one during the short time the diplomatic play has started but war hasn’t erupted. Click on the diplomatic play to see the option to do so.
Pick carefully, because if you lose a civil war then it is game over. Though in non-ironman mode you can choose to carry on with a new nation (even the one that won the civil war).
If you have won the civil war then the losing interest groups also lose all their clout. It will take them a while to get back to equilibrium. In that time you should pass laws to stop them ever reaching the same heights as they won’t be able to stop you doing so.
