Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Impact on Russia during WW1
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Impact on Russia during WW1
The cost of World War One had a significant impact on Russian society. During the war Russia suffered great economic and military loses. This was the stepping-stone for revolutions that changed Russia into a Communist society. So it can be scene that World War One and its effects on Russian society helped bring about revolution.
In 1905 following a revolution, Tsar Nicholas II permitted the establishment of a national representative called the Duma. With this came political parties, elections, a freer press and a massive campaign to educate the Russian people. In January of 1905, the Japanese attacked, and Russia experienced a series of defeats that dissolved the tenuous support held by Nicholas' already unpopular government. The First World War, however, took place right on Russia's western doorstep. Unprepared militarily or industrially, the country suffered demoralizing defeats, suffered severe food shortages, and soon suffered an economic collapse. By February
…show more content…
Some of the long term causes was that Russia was concerned about the growing power of Germany. Germany had defeated France in a short war in 1870 and had a powerful army and strong industries; this scared Russia. Germany’s main ally was the Austria-Hungary. Austria-Hungary and Russia were rivals for control of the Balkans (a mountainous region on the borders of both powers). A Short Term Cause example was, in 1907 France, Russia, and Britain formed an alliance called the Triple Entente to deal with the German threat. Immediate causes included a teenage Serbian terrorist named Gavril Pincip who assassinated the heir to the Austrian-Hungarian throne on 28 June 1914. The Austrian-Hungarian empire declared war on Serbia, so Russia started mobilising its forces to protect Serbia, and on August 1 Germany declared war on Russia. By August 6, 1914 the two alliances (Germany and Austria-Hungary versus Britain, France and Russia) were at
Tensions in Russia in the Early 1900 In the early 1900, Russia faced various kinds of problems in terms of society and politics. Although the largest country in the world, Russia could only offer 5% of its land for farming. The rest was useless due to the extremely low temperatures throughout the year. The problem with land meant that peasants did not produce a sufficient amount of food, consequently resulting famine all over the country.
In June 1914, Archduke Ferinard of Austria-Hungary and his wife Sophie were assassinated in the small state of Serbia. Throughout June and July of 1914 tensions in Europe rose. When Austria-Hungary threatened Serbia, Russia promised to help the small country. A chain of events then involved each of the major European powers in the worsening situation. On August 1st, the French army was mobilized, and on August 3rd, the German army invaded Belgium. This attack brought in the British, who had promised to defend Belgium. World War One had begun.
On June 28, 1914, Franz Ferdinand and his wife were visiting Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, to inspect the army. At the same time, seven young Bosnian Serbs, part of a terrorist group known as the Black Hand, were putting their plan to assassinate Franz Ferdinand, into action. Franz Ferdinand and his wife were in the motorcade when one of the members threw a grenade at it. It missed and instead it it the car behind them. At this point, Franz Ferdinand decided to abandon the visit and return home via another route. However, no one informed the chauffeur and he ended up taking the wrong turn. He drove by Gavrilo Princip, one of the conspirators, who was at the time returning home thinking he had failed. When he saw the motorcade, he realized he still had a chance. Princip pulled out his revolver and shot at both Franz Ferdinand and his wife. They were dead within minutes. The Austrian government was looking for a reason to to send ultimatum to Serbia and they finally had a chance. Serbia refused to comply and Austria declared war. Europe's “long-smoldering feuds” had finally erupted into war.
Understanding the role Bolsheviks play in affecting Britain's soldiers and citizens during World War One first requires background information on both Russian interests and Russia's relationship to Germany. Russia entered World War One after Germany declared war against Russia due to an alliance system between Germany and Austria. The Russians had little success in repelling the Germans, illustrated by the disaster at Tannenberg where more than 30,000 Russians soldiers died (Sherow). Germany subsequently made large gains into Russian territories. Tsar Nicholas II had no choice but to abdicate the throne in March 1917, allowing the Bolsheviks to take power (Sherow). It is very important to note that the Germans allowed "prominent Bolsheviks like Lenin and Trotsky" to pass by rail through their country "to start a revolution and knock Russia out of the war" (Simpson). Due to the Bolshevik revolution not completely coming from a democratic mandate from the people, Britain shows extreme suspicion towards Russian motives henceforth.
Russia entered the war when Nazi Germany executed Operation Barbarossa. They missed their start date by 3 months and that would lead to one of the many problems Nazi Germany faced during the war on the Eastern front. Russia delivered Germany their biggest defeats including The Battle of Stalingrad and the battle of Kursk. Without these two battles Germany would not have had the significant personnel and supplies lost they faced for the final 3 years of the war.
The most important war in relation to political change of 1855 to 1964 would be the Civil War (1917 – 1922) because it directly led to the Bolsheviks taking power in Russia implanting new ideologies (communism) into the state as well as forming of the USSR and dismantling state religion. For example take this quote from the declaration of the rights of the people of Russia which was drafted by the first Bolshevik government in 1917 "resolve to establish as a basis for its activity in the question of nationalities the following principles will be applied: Equality and sovereignty of peoples of Russia, Right of peoples of Russia of a free self-determination, including secession and formation of a separate state and Abolition of all national and religious privileges and restrictions" This shows that there were political changes in Russian society that would never happen if not the Bolsheviks got in power. The dismantling of state religion shows that the new Bolshevik government were taking strides in replacing the old political structure of society which consisted of state religion and heavily autocratic state Duma with new Soviet administration's at every level of society including the military and at industrial level which ensured a secular Marxist state.
This feeling spread widely throughout Europe during the 19th and 10th centuries and caused many problems. The Slavic people of Bosnia and Herzegovina wanted to break away from Austria-Hungary and unify with other Slavic nations. Russia as a Slavic nation backed up the two countries in this matter, therefore causing tensions between Austria-Hungary and itself. Nationalism was also a source of anger between France and Germany as France resented its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). Alliances between European nations can also be considered an underlying cause of World War I. As a result of the Triple Alliance consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, the Triple Entente (understanding) was formed between France, Britain, and Russia.
The society could not support a long war. The First World War left no aspect of European civilization untouched as pre-war governments were transformed to fight total war. The war metamorphed Europe socially, politically, economically, and intellectually. European countries channeled all of their resources into total war, which resulted in enormous social change. The result of working together for a common goal seemed to be unifying European societies.
This turned into a revolt against Czar. By the year of 1917 lots of Russian citizens lost faith in their leader Czar Nicholas II. The citizens lost faith in Czar’s leadership due to the governments corruption, Russia’s economy, and Czar constantly affecting the success of the Duma ( the Russian legislative assembly established by Czar Nicholas II in 1905) .This impacted Russia in a disastrous way, which caused Czar Nicholas II to be overthrown. A few months later after Czar was overthrown, the new provisional government was overthrown by Bolsheviks.
France couldn't ally with Britain because Britain kept itself in "splendid isolation", so Russia was really the only real choice as they were the only other great power who was suspicious and disliked Germany.
In conclusion, the causes of World War One included many factors both long term and short term. Some factors go deeper and contributed to the tension and rivalry developing in the nineteenth century among the Great Powers stage. Such as things involving politics, cultures, economics and what I believe to be the most important, the alliance system; lots of other factors tie in with the complex web of alliances. There are many factors that lead on and link in with one another; this just explains a few of the well known factors. Most involve contributing to tension and rivalry. The Great War is considered to be one of the most significant events of the twentieth century.
However, the alliances themselves didn’t cause the war; we must also consider the roles of the other factors, i.e. Germany, Balkans, economic and domestic problems and nationalism/aggressive policies. In the years leading up to the war, many alliances were made. Firstly, Austria and Germany formed the Dual Alliance in 1879; they promised each other neutrality, it was also an anti-Russian alliance. The alliance suggests that they were anticipating future problems, possibly with Russia.
After a Serbian was arrested for the assassination Austria-Hungary pulled out of the peace talks and declared war on Serbia. Germany who was allied with Austria-Hungary also declared war on Serbia. Russia who was allied with Serbia had to declare war on Germany and Austria-Hungary. When Germany invaded France and Belgium, Great Britain declared war on Germany. World War 1 had begun. As the German Chancellor, Bethmann-Hollweg said, “Once the dice are cast nothing can stop them.” Indeed once the dice were cast on World War 1 nothing stopped them until 22 million people had died.
The effects of the war sped up the changes. It is an arguable fact, whether the war also had a liberating effect. If it did, it was greatly affected by the downfall of three empires, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Tsarist Russia and Keiser's Germany. In Russia the tsar abdicated and was replaced by the Provisional Government, but it only took 8 months and Russia moved from autocracy to communism.
In June 1914, the Austro-Hungarian heir to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were assassinated by Gavrilo Princip while on a royal visit to Savajevo, to settle the unrest from Serbia. It is to a significant extent that the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was a main cause of World War One, as it resulted in the July Crisis. However, other long-term factors did lead to the initiation of World War One like the Alliance System, as it divided Europe into the Triple Entrente and the Triple Alliance, which triggered the July Crisis where many other countries were involved. Furthermore, mitilitarism also was another long-term factor that contributed to starting World War One as many European countries had invested a lot of money to build up their military and weapons.