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Russian Revolution Dbq

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Research Question: Was the Russian Revolution a Successful Revolution?

The Russian Revolution of 1917 was unsuccessful because of how it did not accomplish the initial goal of establishing communism, internal social and economic issues within Russia, detrimental effects of rapid industrialisation and became the catalyst of a civil war. The defeat in war against Japan, in 1905, led to increased opposition to the Tsar, who was viewed as incompetent. The war was also important in intensifying and worsening longer term social and economic problems, as it caused food shortages, high prices and unemployment - the factors which motivated many to take part in the march on the Winter palace that resulted in Bloody Sunday (Document A). The Tsar was …show more content…

Urban workers and peasants followed suit and complained about how they are poor and hungry for more land. The First World War played a crucial role in bringing down the Tsardom regime in February because of their military failures, failure to make political reforms and the role of the Tsarina and Rasputin. The Ideological appeal of Lenin and Bolshevism, and role of Lenin (appeal of radical alternative, charismatic and dynamic leader, taking advantage of crisis situation in Russia in 1917. Lenin's political ideas attracted widespread support among the Russian people. On 16th of April 1917, Lenin held a speech called the April Theses. The speech called for a World wide socialist revolution, land reform to peasants, the immediate end to WW1 and the immediate end to cooperation with Provisional Government and urged Soviets to take power. Lenin also revised Karl Marx ideas, which claimed that Russia was not ready for a revolution. The ideas in the speech were made into simple but effective and radical slogans such as "all power to the soviets" or "bread, peace and Land". These slogans attracted a lot of support for the Bolsheviks, as they appealed to the workers. They provided …show more content…

Due to Russia’s sheer amount of citizens in the country, it resulted in a overcrowded society, poor housing along with poor living and working conditions (created by economic problems in Russia) led to social tension in cities. In terms of land and agriculture, the Russians had methods that were inefficient and backwards- as they still used wooden ploughs and very few animals and tools. With not enough land to go around (due to the controlling of private property), vast expansion of peasant population in the later half of the 19th century led to overcrowding and competition for land. The diverse people of Russia desperately needed a social reform. With peace established with Germany, the of lack of a compete control over the country then led to the civil war immediately after the Bolsheviks assumed power. The Reds (communists) and the Whites (anti-communists, Capitalists, western forces) fought a series of battles that resulted in countless deaths. The White forces received support from the Western Allies during the internal war. The United States, England and Canada had contingents of men inside of Russia initially to guard supplies they had sent during the war, but they were in a position to fight if their governments thought necessary. The Red Army was able to defeat the much larger White armies over the course of the three-year

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