The Fundamental Causes of the Russian Revolution

The Fundamental Causes of the Russian Revolution

The fundamental causes of the Russian Revolution were the direct consequence of a dreadfully long period of suppression of the Russian people combined with a prolonged instability of the Russian government. For centuries, czarist regimes forced their strict demands upon the populace by exerting their unilateral power, with no moral consideration for human life or freedom. At the same time, to maintain its status as a great power, the Tsar promoted higher education. The result was perpetual tension between government and society, especially its educated element, known as "intelligentsia."

The United States emerged as the leader in automated technology in the late 1800's and human rights quickly became a concern in places of employment. This gave stimulation to industrial development in Russia. 1890 was the beginning of the great leap forward in Russian industrialization. Huge factories were constructed, implementing the most modern technologies available, which were imported from England, Germany and the USA. Along with the most up to date technology brought in from the West, came the most current and advanced ideas of socialism. As a result, big industrial towns sprang up rapidly. Peasants were now required to be relocated from their work place in the fields in order to now be employed in these giant factories, thus the Proletarian class emerged and became an important social class in Russian society. By 1914, their number reached approximately 225 million and by 1917, Russia had over 3 million workers. There was an elite group of educated Russians that attempted to adopt the Western ideals of human rights and to apply them to the Russian work force. This spark...

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...ed by the 'intuitions' of their leader Joseph Stalin. By 1942, the Soviets established a group of interacting agencies and collection and analysis methods that are still in use today. By war's end, the Soviets had refined their procedures in a series of regulations, directives, and instructions. Although the Soviet empire is gone, the lessons enumerated in this book are still applicable

Read, Anthony and David Fisher. Deadly Embrace: Hitler, Stalin, and the Nazi-Soviet Pact. New York: W. W. Norton, 1988.

An in depth view of the strategies used by Stalin and Hitler with the emphasis on the psychological implications of Stalin's behavior.

Shukman, Harold. Stalin: Triumph and Tragedy. New York: Grove Widenfeld, 1988.

The weather in Russia was the most important aspect of Stalin's plan. This book gives a chronological weather related report of the war.