The Causes of the Russian Revolution in March 1917 There were many causes to explain the outbreak of the Russian Revolution in March 1917. Some of these can be defined as long term causes as their origin goes way back to pre-revolutionary times. Others are short-term reasons or even immediate effects, which act as the last spark, to bring the tense situation out of control. In this essay I will be looking at some of these long and short-term causes in more detail. The long term causes lead back to the time between the end of the 1905 revolution and the beginning of the war. What they are can be summarized as the economic, social and political problems within Russia. Economic causes are probably the most obvious. There was an unbearable poverty amongst a large amount of peasants. The poorer, non-land-owning peasants have lost their jobs shortly after the 1905 revolution due to the new creation of a middle, land-owning class. Furthermore the farming methods were still old fashioned and life barely rose above the starvation level. The peasants were dissatisfied with the situation, leading to social difficulties within Russia. Working conditions for both peasants and the working class have barely improved, resulting an urge for change among many Russians. Their most important desire was the longing for a new leader to replace the Tsar. Although the creation of the Duma has promised political changes, few of those proposals have actually become real. The Duma had little power to enforce new laws or make important decisions. The Tsar always had the final word. Therefore the people living in Russia were not heard through the Duma, and ... ... middle of paper ... ... the war and the conditions they were in. This made the demonstration of 1917 different from anything that had happened before because for the first time the Tsar had to fight against his own army. As a conclusion I suggest that the war was the main cause of the Russian Revolution. It is the origin of all the further problems that were facing Russia at the time. If there had not been a war then perhaps the Tsar could have concentrated on the co-operation with the Duma and could have resulted changes for the better in Russia. However we cannot be certain that this would have been the case. It is possible that no changes would have occurred and in that case the Revolution might have taken place anyhow. In my opinion the war was like a catalyst which speeded up the outcome of all these crisis and problems in Russia.
Nicholas II ruled Russia from 1894-1917 and was to be its final tsar. He ascended the throne under the impression that he would rule his whole life as it's undisputed leader. Accompanied by his wife, Alexandra, they lived a comfortable life of luxury while the country suffered around them. Nicholas was determined to rule as harshly as his father; however, he was a very weak and incompetent character who did not posses the qualities capable of guiding Russia through its time of turmoil.
The Transformation of Bolshevik Position Between February and October 1917 Most historians think that the Bolshevik’s position went from playing almost no role in February 1917; they had only 150 members in the Pultilov Works which had 20,000 workers, to taking control of the country in October by a combination of luck and skill. It was said of the Bolshevik party in early 1917 that “The Communist Party existed solely in the leaders.” Many historians think Lenin’s leadership was the joint main reason for making the party into the leading revolutionary group in Russia, along with the luck the Bolsheviks had in the circumstances under the Provisional Government. A few historians claim Germany played a major role in the Bolshevik’s road to power. The Germans helped many previously exiled revolutionaries to get back to Russia when the Tsar abdicated and the Provisional Government came to power from March onwards, in the hope that they would end the war.
Edward Dunes’ life as a revolutionary during Russia’s transition from a Tsarist state to that of a Marxist-Socialist regime, was propagated by many situational influences/factors stemming from his families relocation from Riga to Moscow. As a young boy in Riga, Dunes’ thirst for books along with a good educational elevated his potential to be a highly skilled worker. Dune’s childhood education coupled with factory life in Moscow along with a subsequent influential individual in his life with his father’s heavy labor socialist views, molded Dune into the Bolshevik revolutionary he became.
Russia's overthrows and shortage caused revolutionary upheaval and massive inflation, which led to deprived infrastructure. During World War I, Russian society naturally caused great dissatisfaction among the serfs. As the revolution wore on, numerous reform and Tsar Nicholas II, a ruler, tried to change Russia's social structure and government. Among the masses, there was discontentment with Russia's social system and living conditions. Laborers worked and lived in horrendous conditions, which played a crucial role in aggravating the condition of workers and peasants. As a result, peasants starved and Russia’s armies were overpowered on the battlefield because much of its terrain was occupied by enemies. Hence, Imperial Russia was a catastrophe. Some scholars believe that despite the Russian empire's undeveloped economic, social, and political weakness during World War I, Russian empire's economic and social advances occurred decades before World War I, which shows that World War I was not a crucial reason of the Russian Revolution. Although a reason of the Russian Revolution was possibly Tsar's deprived governance because of his misconduct towards inhabitants, the main cause of the Russian Revolution was World War I because The First War demonstrated poor infrastructure in the Russian government politically and economically.
Revolutions are a prevalent part of world history and have shaped our world into what it is today. The French and the Bolshevik revolutions serve as just two examples of the many revolutions throughout history that have brought about changes to their respective countries. Both of these revolutions had distinct causes and were stimulated by other revolutions in the past. Since these two revolutions happened many years apart, with the French Revolution in the late sixteenth century and the Bolshevik Revolution in the early twentieth century, the ideologies behind them were somewhat different. The people went the extremes in both countries to bring about the desired changes. The revolutions were both radical because of the shortage of food and the uprising of the people. In both revolutions, there is a quest for change and the citizens were willing to go as far as they needed to go to make that change, even if it meant the people had to overthrow their leaders.
Causes of the Russian Revolution Consider the following causes of the October 1917 Russian Revolution: Poor Living and Working Conditions Effects of the First World War The Appeal of Lenin and the Bolsheviks The Limitations of the 1917 Provisional Government Was any one of these causes more important than the others to the Bolsheviks’ seizure of power in 1917? Explain your answer. A1. When the Bolsheviks seized power in the October Russian Revolution, the country was in complete turmoil. Every one was unhappy about something and things weren’t going so well for the Royal family and the aristocracy.
Historical Essay: The role of internal and external forces in the collapse of the Tsar
The Russian Revolution was the most important revolution in the 20th century. This revolution is one of the most important in history. This revolution was against economic oppression meaning the class higher lower and middle were being affected. The main causes of the Russian revolution were the wars that Russia was in which affected the economy. Russia lost most of the wars except for one. These wars caused workers to riot because there pay was low due to the fact most of the money was used for the war. Tsar Nicholas was the leader of Russia during that time was thinking more about his family then about leading his country to success. Which caused citizens to riot then Russia was in anarchy everyone fighting each other. Then, was rise of Lenin who took over Russia and created the Bolshevik party. The Russian revolution is the most important event in history due to the wars, the crash of
By February 1917, discontent within the Tsarist society had risen to such a level that a revolution occurred. Originally, the revolution began as several protests about poverty, crime and the conditions in which Russians were forced to work and live in. These protests soon vilified Tsar Nicholas and turned into brutal and violent riots, although it can be argued that the Tsar acted villainous towards his people and thus deserved his status as an enemy of the people. There were many contributing factors that led to the Spring revolution, chiefly the growing vexation of the public that began many years before the war and the catalysis of the war in fuelling the fire of discontent. This essay will discuss the effects of these factors on the breakdown of the Tsarist society by February 1917 and form a supported conclusion on which factor had the largest impact and was, ultimately, the main reason for the breakdown of society and the subsequent revolutions.
Throughout history, revolutions have developed in response to a variety of conditions. These revolutions have often resulted in significant political, economic, and social change. As the 1900’s rolled in, European nations were at peace, that is until the darker forces were pushing Europe toward war. Those darker forces included nationalism and alliance systems that would help fuel the Great War or World War I. The effects of World War I were massive including the Treaty of Versailles and the enormous amount of human casualties as well as economic losses. During World War I, another revolution broke out in Russia, removing Russia from the war and transformed the Russian empire into the first Communist state. There were many causes of the Russian Revolution including the weakness of the Czar and World War I. Finally, there were many effects of the Russian Revolution, two of which included the establishment of a communist government as well as a new economic policy.
The Russian Revolution The Russian revolution can be broken up into short and long term causes. In March 1917 the Tsars regime was overthrown and that was the end of Russia’s monarchy, Tsar Nicolas’ inability to see the needs of the Russian people led to his collapse and eventually death. The long term causes can be broken into four main sections. Firstly the Russian middle class had lost all respect for the tsar, they no longer believed that Tsar Nicolas could restore law and order, demonstrations were being held regularly, his only known course of action to take was violence, like the horrific incident of bloody Sunday 1905, in which the tsar’s loyal Cossacks opened fire upon unarmed demonstrators. The Tsar could not see the unbelievably clear needs of his people, industrial development was at low, weapons and vital minerals were in short supply, workers began to strike, the average wage of a worker during 1917 would not have been enough to feed one mouth let alone a family.
Many people wonder why some countries, like Russia, are the way they are today. What most people do not realize is that most of these countries have gone through many changes in government and society. The Russian Revolution was one of the most significant events because of how is changed not only Russia's government, but also the whole country.
Russia was ruled by the Tsars and followed a monarchy until 1917. The last Tsar of Russia was Nicholas II who had a turning point in the relationship with his people after the 1905 Russian Revolution. This revolution was “sparked off by a peaceful protest held on January 22nd” (Trueman, 2016). Russian people, after being humiliated by the defeat of Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), wanted the transformation of their government from an autocracy into a constitutional monarchy (Britannica, n.d.). Followed by the industrial revolution that Nicholas II had brought, few other unwanted events occurred in Russia before the Revolution of 1905.
The Russian Revolution Today, when one thinks of the communist form of government, they often think of oppression, domination and corruption. We see that people do not have the freedom to their rights and are not allowed to go forth and conquer their goals. However, communism in its pure form appeared to be fair and just. The idea of communism basically formed around the idea of equality.
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