Republic Day
This was a deliberate act: The 26 January was initially India's "Independence Day", one of Mahatma Gandhi's many symbolic acts during India's struggle for freedom against British colonial rule, and the adoption of the Constitution on this date was felt able to strengthen its initial meaning, one calling for Indians of all ages to declare their freedom from the British Raj by Mahatama Gandhi.
To mark this occasion, a grand parade is held near Kartavya Path, formerly Rajpath in New Delhi, the capital of India, beginning from Raisina Hill near the Rashtrapati Bhavan (Presidential Palace), along the Kartavya path, formerly Rajpath, past India Gate and on to the historic Red Fort in the old quarter of the city.
It traditionally ends with a colourful flypast by Indian Air Force jets in a tiranga formation.
A decade-long People's Revolution by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) along with several weeks of mass protests by all major political parties of Nepal in 2006, culminated in a peace accord and the ensuing elections for the constituent assembly voted overwhelmingly in favor of the abdication of the last Nepali monarch Gyanendra Shah and the establishment of a federal democratic republic on 28 May 2008.
In 1922, the rise of Benito Mussolini and the creation of the Fascist regime in Italy, which eventually resulted in engaging the country in World War II alongside Nazi Germany, considerably weakened the role of the royal house.
Following the Italian Civil War and the Liberation of Italy from Axis troops in 1945, a popular referendum on the institutional form of the state was called the next year and resulted in voters choosing the replacement of the monarchy with a republic.
The former King Umberto II voluntarily left the country on 13 June 1946, headed for Cascais, in southern Portugal, without even waiting for the results to be defined and the ruling on the appeals presented by the monarchist party, which were rejected by the Supreme Court of Cassation on 18 June 1946.
With the entry into force of the new Constitution of the Italian Republic, on 1 January 1948, Enrico De Nicola became the first to assume the functions of president of Italy.
It was the first time that the whole Italian Peninsula (excluding Vatican City) was under a form of republican governance since the end of the ancient Roman Republic.
14 July 1958 is the day the Hashemite monarchy was overthrown in Iraq by popular forces led by Abdul Karim Kassem, who became the nation's new leader.
It is now celebrated as Republic Day, despite the fact Transnistria declared independence from the USSR completely 11 months later on the 25th.
10 October in Taiwan is a national holiday commemorating the establishment of the Republic of China in 1911, the symbolic start of the Chinese revolution with the Wuchang uprising.
Although the government of Ian Smith declared Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) a republic on 2 March 1970, it was officially commemorated on 24 October.
Republic Day (Turkish: Cumhuriyet Bayramı) is celebrated throughout Turkey and Northern Cyprus every year.
On 15 November 1889, in the city of Rio de Janeiro (the Brazilian capital at that time), a military coup led by Field Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca overthrew Emperor Pedro II and declared Brazil a republic.
Urban dwellers took the occasion to visit their relatives in the country, who marked the event with pig slaughter and the ensuing feast.
In the 1980s, as central and Communist Party authority eroded, dissenters targeted Republic Day celebrations for criticism.
In 1987, Bosnian garage rock band Zabranjeno pušenje published a song entitled Dan Republike, in which they criticized the state of the economy and protested the general indifference to the ideals behind the holiday.
This occasion is marked every year as Republic Day (Maltese: Jum ir-Repubblika) in Malta.
