Overview
I had no idea such a feature existed even though I had more than two hundred hours on my game. Then I read on the internet about this and now I am letting all of you know. With this feature of the game you can cause revolutions or civil wars which can change your nation’s leaders and its government type; it also has an effect on diplomacy and it is very easy.
Advice
As is said in the description, causing a civil war or a revolution will have a dramatic effect on diplomacy; sometimes good, sometimes bad so always save your game before doing this. You might end up with every nation being hostile towards you.
You might be wondering what the difference is between a Revolution and a Civil War.
A brief explaination would be,
Revolution:
If your government type is Absolute Monarchy, it will change to Constitutional Monarchy or Republic.
If your government type is Constitutional Monarchy, it will change to Republic.
Civil War:
If your government type is Republic, it will change to Constitutional Monarchy or Absolute Monarchy.
If your government type is Constitutional Monarchy, it will change to Absolute Monarchy.
It is all mainly about government types which affect diplomacy, happiness of your people etc.
Update, 28/07/2015:
I tried to get my Absolute Monarchy (AM) to become a Constitutional Monarchy (CM) and it didn’t happen. From AM it went directly to Republic (R). To get a CM when your default government is AM, you first have to get to R then CM. To do that, first you have to cause a REVOLUTION and then a CIVIL WAR.
Sounds elaborate, I know but if you want your AM to become a CM, that’s the only way I know.
How-To (Revolutions)
First of all, you will need to exempt from taxes all of your regions in your capital theater, the theater in which your capital is located, except your capital region; which is the region in which your capital city is located. If you do not do this, all of your regions will rebel and you will, most probably, lose all of them.
Then raise the tax level for the Middle Classes as much as you can; remember, only raise taxes for the middel classes. Now move all of your armies, in your capital region, away from your capital city otherwise when you attack, you might not succeed.
After three turns of high taxation, the people will rebel and you will be asked to join forces with either the government or the rebels; choose the rebels. Then attack the capital city and sack it! That is all; the revolutionary war is over, the peasants have taken command and a different leader should be in charge of your nation and a different government type should be in effect.
How-To (Civil Wars)
Just like what you did to start a revolution, you will need to exempt from taxes all of your regions in your capital theater, the theater in which your capital is located, except your capital region; which is the region in which your capital city is located. If you do not do this, all of your regions will rebel and you will, most probably, lose all of them.
Then raise the tax level for the Nobility as much as you can; remember, only raise taxes for the nobles. Now move all of your armies, in your capital region, away from your capital city otherwise when you attack, you might not succeed.
After three turns of high taxation, the people will rebel and you will be asked to join forces with either the government or the rebels; choose the rebels. Then attack the capital city and take it! That is all; the civil war is over, the nobles have taken command and a different leader should be in charge of your nation and a different government type should be in effect.