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. The ongoing First World War with Russia was
despised by the army, the terrible working conditions were unbearable
for the industrial workers in the cities and the rich had all the best
farming land which was hated by the peasants. This was the situation
when the Bolsheviks, given Lenin as their leader, seized power and
made to form a Communist nation from the philosophy of Karl Marx.
In the cities, under the tall exhaust masts of factories laid millions
of industrial workers who lived in atrocious conditions. They worked
for up to 14 hours a day and received extremely low wages. Also, the
Russian factories were not up to date and were not efficient at all.
After a day like that, they hardy had any time for entertainment or
any money left for the basic needs. The workers could not do anything
about this as strikes were considered a mutiny and were crush with
extreme force. The Bolsheviks used this for their own ends by
promising a better deal with more money, more bread, more land and
peace. They said that...
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... Russia in the war, which was probably his biggest mistake and an
unexpected decision as almost every one in Russia hated the war.
Although he did make reforms to improve life for the people but these
were limited. After a while, it was understood that this Provisional
government was incapable of understanding the common man’s need.
I think that all the causes of the October Revolution were equally
important for Lenin and the Bolshevik’s seizure of power as the
Revolution wouldn’t have worked without any of them. Altogether, the
causes made a ‘mood for revolution’ and put a yearning for change in
the hearts of men. They made the people against the monarchy and the
Provisional government and, combined with the Bolsheviks’ ruthless
methods, gave them an open path to leading Russian into becoming a
true Communist state.
Russia's industries were beginning to develop and the number of people living in towns was increasing. These people were the urban working class of Russia and they were not as eager to accept the poor wages and conditions as the peasants were.
As a dictator Stalin was very strict about his policies, especially working. For instance. Stalin had set quotas very high , as they were very unrealistic. The workers had very long days, and under the rule of Stalin most people worked many hours in overtime, and resulting in no pay. Stalin treated workers very, very harshly. Those who did not work were exiled to Siberia or killed. Some may say you got what you deserved in Stalin’s time. Those who worked very hard for Stalin sometimes got bonuses such as trips, or goods likes televisions and refrigerators. The workers had to conform to Stalin’s policies . Stalin’s harsh treatment of workers received a very unwelcoming response, but in fact the liberal amount of goods that the workers had made, had in fact
Revisionist historians have also benefited from the post-glasnost era and hence have both greater access to more sources as well as the advantage of hindsight. To understand the reasons for the collapse of the Provisional Government it is crucial to be aware of the events leading up to the October Revolution and the atmosphere politically and socio-economically at the time. The year 1917 was a turbulent year of strikes, bad harvests and inflation. ' Week by week food became scarcer'[1] and any that was available usually went to the soldiers. Russian agriculture was primitive and machinery was rarely used hence production was not efficient.
Even though there were other things that caused the February Revolution and the fall of the Romanovs the First World War is by far the most important. Without the war the country would be in this state of disappointment with their performance and the Tsar wouldn’t have had to take control and leave his wife in charge of the government. Without the war Russia wouldn’t have been in so much debt and wouldn’t have such terrible food shortages. Overall its clear to see that the War was the main cause for the fall of the Romanovs in 1917.
The Russian Revolution was a historical moment that had occurred during the 1900s. It all started when the Czar of Russia was overthrown from his throne and was executed. Ever since, Russia 's government, economy, and society has changed. Five texts were provided to portray whether the French Revolution was a success or a failure. This paper will only focus on three of the sources, including Animal Farm, by George Orwell, “Education, Literacy, and the Russian Revolution”, by Megan Behrent, and “the Reasons For The Failure of The Russian Revolution”. All of these texts provide information for either claim, but are also limited in providing further examples. As a result, the Russian Revolution was a failure because the peasants of Russia lacked
I recollect as a child how I cherished the way my mom took care of me and made all my executive decisions. I recall getting excited about my weekly allowances and about her picking out my clothes for school. However, when I became a teenager I wanted my independence. I know longer wanted her to buy my clothing and I wanted to financially support myself by getting a job. I was so tired of her telling me what to do and how to do it that I revolted. At first it was difficult trying to establish independence in my mother's house, but after a while it seemed as if I had won the battle. Unbeknownst to me that battle would be short-lived and ultimately my mom won the war. Basically, I had constructed my own crazy revolution against my mother. You see a revolution is “a fundamental change in political organization; especially: the overthrow or renunciation of one government or ruler and the substitution of another by the governed .Activity or movement designed to affect fundamental changes in the socioeconomic situation (Webster Dictionary).”One revolution that is said to have inspired communism was the Russian Revolutions of 1917.
In 1905 , Russia had a prerevolution that was put down of the Czar. Instead of learning from this prerevolution, Czar Nicholas II, made a very big mistake by in not introducing some reforms to correct the problems. So because of his actions, the situation grew worse. In 1917, the Russians were fighting in World War I. A good majority of the Russian people were weary and uncontent with the way the war was going and with the Czar's rule. This uncontent along with economic hardships caused riots and demonstrations to break out. The Czar called for the army to put down the revolution as they did in 1905. But the army joined the revolt and the Czar was kicked out of power soon afterwards. A temporary government was set up to decide on what kind of government Russia was gonna set up. Two political parties were set up. The Bolsheviks were one of the two. The leader of the Bolshevik party was a man named Lenin. Lenin was a firm believer of the theories and ideas of Karl Marx. So with his slogan of "Bread, Peace and Land", Lenin gained the support of the peasants and gained control of Russia and setup a communist state.
The French Revolution went on for ten years, beginning in 1789 and ending in 1799. Influencing life not only in Europe, but in other countries as well, the revolution began because of important factors. Some specific factors were abrupt but powerful, while others were continual. The causes were because of economic, political, and social aspects.
...l liberties, supreme monarch rule, and ultimately a poor quality of life. In the end, the political factor responsible for the revolution was the people's discontent with Tsar Nicholas II and the way he ruled, socially the factor responsible for revolution was the people's desire for basic civil liberties which had not been granted by the monarch rulers, and economically the people wished to improve the quality of their life, working conditions, and job output.
The discontentment of industrial workers in Russia was an important factor behind the 1905 revolution in Russia. The conditions in the factories left a lot of workers dissatisfied with how they were treat, with many factories completely forsaking anything resembling health and safety regulations and others making their employees work 11 hours a day throughout the week and 10 hours on a Saturday. However, there were several other important factors that led to the 1905 revolution such as the Russo Japanese war in 1904-1905, The policy of Russification and the events of Bloody Sunday. All of these factors will be discussed in the
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.
There were many events that lead up to the Bolshevik Revolution. First off, in 1848, Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels published a thought-provoking book. The Communist Manifesto expressed their support of a world in which there was no difference in class. A world in which the workers and commoners ran the show and there was no high and supreme ruler. Many intellectual Russians began to become aware of this pamphlet as well as the advanced state of the world compared to Russia. Other countries were going through an industrial revolution, while the Czars had made it clear that no industrial surge was about to happen in Russia. The popularity of the Czars further went down hill as Nicolas II’s poor military and political decisions caused mass losses in World War I. Eventually, the citizens could take no more and began a riot in St. Petersburg that led to the first Russian Revolution of 1917.
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.
An unrelenting series of war’s, Unnecessary hunger and famines and the selfish greed of the ruling elite. These are some of the many reasons, along with the Romanov family’s inability to lead either troops in modern warfare or the Russian population into a modern industrialised society that brought about the inevitability of the 1917 Russian revolution and thus, The USSR.
Lenin's Economic Policies in 1924 When the Bolsheviks seized power in October 1917 they inherited many of the problems faced by the old Tsarist regime as well as those of the Provisional Government after the Tsars abdication. Lenin, as leader of the Bolsheviks took many measures to try and solve these problems, each with varying degrees of success. This essay will, therefore, go on to look at and discuss the various measures that Lenin and the Bolshevik party took, and, whether these measures created more problems for Russia in the end or in fact made significant progress towards the communist society that Lenin had prophesised for Russia. In the early days of Bolshevik rule, there were many problems facing Lenin.