Answer to question 3:

Although it is often thought that nonviolent action takes a long time, that is not the case. Chenoweth and Stephan’s empirical study has shown that violent struggle actually lasts longer than nonviolent resistance. For nonviolent anti-government campaigns (regime change), the average duration is 16 months. For nonviolent resistance to expel a foreign invasion or end an occupation, that is 4.25 years. The average total duration for all three of these nonviolent campaigns is approximately 2 years.

However, it takes more than 6 years for violent anti-government campaigns and about 8 years for violent territorial campaigns. The overall average duration of violent campaigns is approximately 7 years. Nonviolent campaigns are therefore more than three times faster than violent conflicts for similar goals.

Note: The above figures measure from the start to end of the campaigns when they have at least 1,000 participants and exclude the planning stages of violent or nonviolent resistance. (Read for example this article)

Read here an example of successful nonviolent resistance in Serbia in 2000, which lasted 8 months, against Milosovic’s dictatorship.