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The causes of bolshevik revolutions
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During 1917 to 1924 Russia was experiencing vast political, economic and social change that began with the Bolshevik revolution. The First World War had left Russia in a disastrous state where the nation, was facing alot of social unrest and facing a major uprising. During this time, the Bolsheviks who had just seized control, undertook several measures to establish their authority including the declaration of initial reforms ie the land decree marriage decree and the decree on workers, the signing of the treaty of Brest-Litovsk, fighting the Civil War, starting the ideologies of War Communism, starting the red terror and finally introducing the New Economic Policy NEP. All of these actions were each extremely significant in helping the …show more content…
Bolsheviks seize power by 1924. The year 1917 was the beginning of Russia’s struggle for power as the revolution started major social, political and economic changes. With the return of Lenin, the Bolsheviks had swept the nation with revolutionary ideology that would start their rise to power through his popular slogans of ‘Bread, Peace, Land’ and ‘all power to the Soviets’. Lenin’s ‘April Thesis’ in 1917 was a crucial step toward change as he called for a worldwide revolution, an end to the war and an end to the provisional government. The war with Germany was still happening but food production was plummeting and soon Russia was embraced by a devastating famine leading Russia to an economic crisis. As the Bolsheviks took control they immediately stopped all the freedoms that the proletariat had gained, as Lenin described Russia as “the freest country in the world.” This caused major uproar with opposing political parties and the Bolsheviks faced civil war. Russia official government became sovnarkhom or ‘The Council of People’s Commissars’. The peace decree was an important initial reform as Lenin aimed the war with Germany as he recognised the war to be the major cause for the variety of the nation’s problems after the provisional government had failed to end the war. Next was the Land Decree which attempted to solve the trouble in the countryside by granting the peasants the right to seize land and declaring that all land was to be owned collectively by the state the was essentially already occurring and lenin basically legalised it. Although the Bolshevik were reluctant to do this, it was a necessary reform as opposing the peasants’ demands would cause another revolution as they were simultaneously russias greatest strength and weakness. Other reforms for the people of Russia involved the improvement of working conditions as workers now controlled the factories where working hours were minimised. The armed forces were also under control of the Army Soviets and Soldiers Committees and had to be elected. These reforms however were not the end to Russia’s problems. The Bolsheviks tightened the control on other political parties that existed anyone who opposed the Bolsheviks was often considered an “enemy of the state” and was usually taken care of through the Cheka (Lenins Secret police). The Cheka created an atmosphere of terror and intimidation using the brutal measures to give the Bolsheviks power. Although some of these changes did not stay true to communist ideology, these initial reforms were essential to the Bolshevik consolidation of power as they extended Bolshevik control and influence in Russia. The signing of the treaty of Brest-Litovsk was on March 1918 was a vital measure taken by the Bolsheviks in their course of establishing their rule. Initially there was a political divide between what was to be done with the war. Trotsky called for neither going to war nor agreeing to peace, “neither war nor peace” however Lenin saw the threat the continuation of the war. War Communism was an essential aspect to the Bolsheviks consolidation of power as the victory in the civil war would have been impossible without these policies. War Communism refers to the series of policies introduced by Lenin at the start of the civil war in mid-1918 to deal with the disastrous economic and military situation that the Bolsheviks faced. It involved reinforcing extreme measures of state control and state terror. It was introduced to ensure the survival of the Bolsheviks. It would do this by solving the low food production due to the attiude of the conservative peasants, and the low factory output. One of the first changes it presented was the state control and nationalisation of all industry. This would address the industrial problems and ensure factory output was consistent to keep the army fighting. The Red Terror was also a key factor in the civil war that was crucial to the Bolshevik consolidation of power.
The Red Terror consisted of merciless arrest, torture and execution carried out by the Cheka to eliminate political enemies and anyone who opposed Bolshevik rule.
The New Economic Policy (NEP) was one of the final and most important measures taken by the Bolsheviks in order to consolidate power. The NEP was introduced almost as a direct result of the Kronstadt rebellion in 1921 where the Kronstadt sailors who were initially in favour of the Bolsheviks so their rebellion was very significant. Lenin described it as the flash in the pan that lit up reality most.
In conclusion the period of 1917 to 1924 was a time of great social, political and economic turbulence for Russia. The growing political tension and social unrest left Russia very unstable. It was necessary for the Bolshevik regime to take their hold on power and consolidate it to ensure their own survival. The initial reforms of 1917, the treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the civil war, the introduction of War Communism, the Red Terror and the NEP were all significant steps in the Bolsheviks drive for the consolidation of power. These measures were key for the Bolsheviks to seize
power.
The United States and The Soviet Union were originally joined together by the want to defeat The Nazi army, in 1941-1945. The alliance remained, and strengthened, among the two until the end of World War II. At the end of World War II, a rupture between the two occurred. The differences began earlier, but there was a straw that broke the camels back. The reason The United States and The Soviet Union’s alliance did not work out is because The Soviet Union and The United States were complete opposites, The Soviet Union proved to be faulty, and they were never truly allies.
During the 19th century, Russia was experiencing a series of changes with its entire nation and society overall. The government was trying to adapt themselves to them at the same time. It was not an easy time period for Russia whatsoever. Vladimir Lenin helped change this.
...ap between farmer’s income and industrial prices, as now farmers could not afford industrial equipment, so they therefore had fewer incentives to reproduce grain. The government’s response to this was to subsidise, so the peasant could now afford the machinery, but this then left an economic crisis has this meant they had less money to improve the economy. This indicated to Trotsky that the NEP solved some issue like famine, protests but the New Economic Policy was not capable of industrialising the economy.
The Seizure of Power by the Bolsheviks in 1917. How did the Bolsheviks seize power of the Russian Empire in 1917? They were able to do this as a result of taking advantage of the current political and social situations in the country at the time. Through such decisions as disbanding the army and siding with the majority. the peasants, through such promises as land, food, equality and peace.
lt of a variety of factors and reasons but the far-reaching effects of the war were to have devastating results in both social and economic quarters. Moreover, the war on help increase the opposition to the government and led to their downfall in October 1917. --------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] John Reed, Ten Days That Shook the World (1919) [2] Maxim Gorky, letter to his son (April, 1917) [3] E.H. Wilcox was very impressed with Kerensky and praised him in his book, Russia's Ruin (1919) [4] Morgan Philips Price, My Three Revolutions (1969) [5] Extract from an interview of Alexander Kerensky by Harold Williams [6] Extract from an interview of Alexander Kerensky by Harold Williams [7] Leon Trotsky, statement made to the Petrograd Soviet (24th October, 1917)
The Russian Revolution occured in two stages/times, February nd October of 1917. As cited in document 1, "Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown and a liberal democratic government came to power." What lead to the Febraury Revolution was the peasant agriculture to the Russian population, autocracy, and the outbreak of WW1. A long-term cause was the peasant agriculture to the Russian population. As said in document 1, "For all of its history before the 20th cwntury, 80-95% of the population were poor pasants, farmers just barely scratching a living form the land. For most of that history (between 1694-1861) the majority of these peasants were enserfed." to enserf means to be aprovd of liberty and personal rights. Before 1917 peasants recieved sympathy from
This played well with the workers and soldiers and made it difficult to criticise the new government. As a result, Lenin’s introduction of the Cheka (1917) and the emergence of the Red Terror (1918) ensured his rule was absolute not only within the party but across the Soviet Union. It is the accumulation of these factors that highlighted Lenin’s leadership and practicality following the seizing of power as well as changes to society with War Communism and the NEP and the use of terror which were all vital to consolidating Bolshevik power.
Part II of this chapter mainly focuses on how the Bolsheviks moved forward, obtained and revolutionised the way in which the world was in the times of revolution. For some the times of revolution was a time of grave concern, however the Bolsheviks had not this issue. As proven by Hobsbawm, stating that the Bolsheviks ‘grew from a small troop of a few thousand in March 1917 to a quarter of a million members by the early summer of that year’ (Hobsbawm, 1995, p. 61). The way they thrived in such a time was that they were not only efficient at recognising what the people wanted, but they were convincing in how they would give it to them, this is a main reason tha...
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 Russian revolution of February 1917 was a momentous event in the course of Russian history. The causes of the revolution were very critical and even today historians debate on what was the primary cause of the revolution. The revolution began in Petrograd as “a workers’ revolt” in response to bread shortages. It removed Russia from the war and brought about the transformation of the Russian Empire into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic, replacing Russia’s monarchy with the world’s first Communist state. The revolution opened the door for Russia to fully enter the industrial age. Before 1917, Russia was a mostly agrarian nation. The Russian working class had been for many years fed up with the ways they had to live and work and it was only a matter of time before they had to take a stand. Peasants worked many hours for low wages and no land, which caused many families to lose their lives. Some would argue that World War I led to the intense downfall of Russia, while others believe that the main cause was the peasant unrest because of harsh living conditions. Although World War I cost Russia many resources and much land, the primary cause of the Russian Revolution was the peasant unrest due to living conditions because even before the war began in Russia there were outbreaks from peasants due to the lack of food and land that were only going to get worse with time.
In 1917, when the Tsar fell, that’s when Russia ended their hostile actions against the Central Powers. Even though the Bolsheviks knew this negotiation with Germany would add a huge cost to Russia; they still negotiated the Treaty of Brest-Litovesk with Germany. It started that Bolshevik Russia ceded the Baltic States to Germany and its province of Kars Oblast in the South Caucasus to the Ottoman Empire. And it also gave the Ukraine independence, but all of this still couldn’t stop America from entering in 1918. This war gave the combata...
During the 1900’s the Russian Government made it extremely hard for the Bolsheviks to progress which made them revolt against the government making this a prime matter for the start of the Revolution. The Czarist government was ostracized by the common people of Russia so Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown by the Provisional Government, whom later on were overthrown by Lenin and shortly after the Bolsheviks took control over Russia. Russia was hard to develop because of the major leaders who had control; Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky. Almost overnight an entire society was destroyed and replaced with one of the most radical social experiments ever seen. Poverty, crime, privileged and class-divisions were to be eliminated, a new era of socialism promised peace, prosperity and equality for all the peoples of the world. But the social experiment failed, millions were killed, and within a generation almost one-third of the world’s population was living in the shadows of communism.
Another one of the changes that took place during this time period was the social change that came along with the Russian Revolution of 1917. The Russian Revolution of 1917 was inspired by Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto, which brought to the attention of its readers “the dark mood of the political and social landscape of Europe [and outlined the bases for a] socialist revolution” (The Rise of Socialism (Overview)). According to Nadis, this call was answered with the Russian Revolution of 1917 when “the imperial rule of the czars of the Romanov dynasty [was overturned by the working class] and [thus creating] the world’s first communist state.” (Russian Revolution (Overview)). This showed that the working class had a voice and that their perspective
Over the next few years, Russia went through a traumatic time of civil war and turmoil. The Bolsheviks’ Red Army fought the white army of farmers, etc. against Lenin and his ways. Lenin and the Bolsheviks won and began to wean Russia of non-conforming parties eventually banning all non-communist as well as removing an assembly elected shortly after the Bolshevik’s gain of power. Lenin’s strict government, however, was about to get a lot stricter with his death in 1924.