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For other uses, see Rebel (disambiguation) and Rebellion (disambiguation).

A rebellion is, in the most general sense, a refusal to accept authority. It may therefore be seen as encompassing a range of behaviours from civil disobedience to a violent organized attempt to destroy established authority. It is often used in reference to armed resistance against an established government, but can also refer to mass nonviolent resistance movements. Those who participate in rebellions are known as "rebels".

Throughout history, many different groups that opposed the government have been called rebels. In the United States, the term was used for the Continentals by the British in the Revolutionary War and the Confederacy by the Union in the American Civil War. It also includes members of paramilitary forces who take up arms against an established government.

Most unarmed rebellions have not been against authority in general, but rather have sought to establish a new government in their place. For example, the Boxer Rebellion wished to implement a stronger government in China over the weak and divided government of the time. The Jacobite Risings (called "Jacobite Rebellions" by the government) attempted to restore the deposed Stuart kings to the thrones of England and Scotland, rather than abolish the monarchy completely.

During the Twentieth Century, the term rebellion carried an expectation of futility: a revolution, by definition, succeeded in establishing a viable government; while a rebellion, by definition, failed to do so.^{[citation needed]} Perhaps this was due to the history of the American Civil War, which did create a new government, the Confederacy, for the southern part of the United States, but that new government failed to sustain itself after losing a long and bloody war, due both to economic weakness and to internal contradictions.

A violent rebellion is sometimes referred to as an insurgency while a larger one may escalate into a civil war. There are a number of terms that fall under the umbrella of "rebel", though they range from those with positive connotations to those that are considered pejorative. Examples, in rough order from sympathetic to pejorative, are:

• "Nonviolent resistance" or "civil disobedience", for protest actions not resorting to military force
• "Resistance movement" carried out by freedom fighters, often to an occupying foreign power
• "Revolution" carried out by revolutionaries, often meant to indicate a desired change in the form of government; a revolution is a successful rebellion
• "Uprising" carried out by militants
• "Insurgency" or "insurrection" bys
• "Revolt", sometimes used for a more localized rebellion rather than a general uprising.
• "Mutiny" carried out by mutineers, the revolt of military or security forces against their commanders
• "Subversion" carried out by subversives or foreign spies, implying non-overt attempts at sabotaging a government

• Civil disobedience
• Nonviolent resistance
• Revolution
• Renegade
• Slave rebellions
• List of revolutions and rebellions
• List of fictional rebellions
• Teenage rebellion