Retrospective legitimacy of revolutions depends heavily on their success.

Evidence

The issue of whether political violence is ever morally justifiable is made more complex by the fact that successful revolutions, including the French and American Revolutions of the 18th century, began as seemingly unjustifiable acts of mass violence. That they are now seen as legitimate protest movements is at least partially attributable to the fact that they were successful; these examples suggest that at least sometimes the ends do justify the means. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 152

Categorization

• XREF: Resonates with the ‘On Sacrifice’ article and moral panics writing — legitimacy is awarded retrospectively by winners. — connects to: Revolutionary situations recur often but rarely become outcomes
• DEEPTHINKING: The moral condemnation of violence is revealed as contingent on outcome, destabilizing the clean ethical framing most political theory assumes.