The toppling of Bashar al Assad and the regime change in Syria within two weeks of the opposition's advancements from Idlib and Daraa came as a shock to many. Assad's ouster came after 13 years of civil war. But it is actually the result of a process that started some 100 years ago.

On the fifth anniversary of the Syrian uprising in March 2016, commentators argued that the revolution had failed. Arab Spring turned into Arab Winter. And Syria especially turned into a cold case.

Revolutionary dynamics force us to think beyond geopolitical analysis, which focuses on the role of regional and global actors. In the case of Syria, this was achieved by the steadfastness of the Syrian opposition, who kept their memory fresh regarding the cruelties of the al Assad regime, even in the diaspora.

The social and political dynamics of the recent December 8th revolution in Syria will be analysed more thoroughly in the coming decades from different sides. If we are fortunate enough, we will read accounts from all parties involved about how the revolutionary blitzkrieg was achieved, and the reaction of the Assad family.

However, one thing should be clear by now: the Syrian revolution must be analysed as a continuation of a process that started not in 2011, but one that goes back in time to the anti-colonial Great Syrian Revolt against the French in 1925.

Revolution is a........

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