Russian Revolution Causes

Initially, the general masses that were just days before striking and demonstrating for changes in working conditions now fell to their knees in support of their nation. What they did not know was just how woefully unprepared their country was to take action against the Central Powers. Guns and ammunition were in a vast shortage. In training, one gun was used by three recruits. More ammunition was being fired in a day than could be manufactured in a month. During battles, soldiers relied on using the guns of the killed or wounded. Combined with this lack of preparedness, the promotion system was based off of seniority or family ties, not skill. This led to many incompetent leaders that lacked the skills, training, or intelligence needed to make strategic decisions to ensure Russian victories. While the Russian army was able to secure victories against Austria-Hungary, the campaign against Germany went horribly wrong. The first real defeat was at Tannenberg, where Russian forces lost 300,000 men. Russia’s military force was far behind Germany’s, and when the Austro-Hungarian army was joined by German troops, Russia was effectively nothing more than cannon fodder to divert German forces away from the Western Front. The public support earlier mentioned was now non-existent. Public displays against war were common and usually brought down forcedly by the police. During

World War 1 was a major contributor to the revolutionary situation by February 1917. There were many areas within WW1 that suggest it become a major factor to causing the revolution in 1917 some of these include; social, economic and political unrest within the Russian people, Lacking leadership and the infiltration of socialist movements as well as Major losses and defeats throughout WW1. This eventually led to distrust in the tsarist regime, and offered the socialist party a platform for them to cause an uprising against autocratic power and the overthrow of the duma. It is important to discuss why Russia involved itself within the war? Russia was hoping to gain natural leadership of the Slav people and with Serbia increasing its expansion throughout Europe meant that Russia had a vested interest in their project.

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

‘The optimists believe that imperial Russia was ruined by the First World War. The pessimists maintain that the war provided merely the last mighty push to bring the whole rotten structure tumbling down.’ When Russia become engulfed in World War I, the Russian army mobilized 15.5 million men and suffered great casualties. This leads to the shortage of workers for the factories and farms and thus cause a widespread shortages of food and materials. As supply decreases and demand is increasing, this causes the prices of goods to increase dramatically, causing unrest among people, leading to revolt and labor riots. Soon, famine hit Russian cities. The worst of all is that Nicholas II held fast to his anachronistic political faith in unfettered

The lower class of Russia, which was composed of the working people felt misrepresented- or not represented at all.Nicholas II was the son of Alexander III of Russia, who was also the Emperor of Russia, before Nicholas. He was the heir of approximately 200 years of Czarist rule in Russia.Coming from a very rich family, Nicholas could hardly relate to the lower class. He had inherited Russia’s rule from his dad, and was not elected, which meant he was not necessarily qualified to correctly rule Russia, as he later proved through his actions.After he had angered the working class by slaughtering their own people, losing major battles in the war with Japan as well as in WWI, there was no way for him to amend for the mistakes he had made. Therefore, had the people been given the choice of taking down the Czar, they would have not hesitated.Their anger was represented through Lenin, with whom they felt they could connect to.Due to their dislike for the Czar, not many were dissatisfied when he was overthrown, and lated ordered to be executed by

The Russian Civil War started November 1917 October 1922 was a multiple party war in the old Russian Empire immediately after the Russian Revolutions of 1917. Many groups competed to determine Russia's political future. The two largest fighting groups were the Red Army , fighting for the Bolshevik form of socialism led by Vladimir Lenin and the loosely allied forces known as the White Army which included diverse interests favoring monarchism, capitalism and alternative forms of socialism, each with democratic and antidemocratic variants. In addition, rival militant socialists and non - ideological Green armies fought against both the Bolsheviks and the Whites. Eight foreign nations intervened against the Red Army, in particular the allied

Wendell Berry eminently alleged, “In a society in which nearly everybody is dominated by somebody else's mind or by a disembodied mind, it becomes increasingly difficult to learn the truth about the activities of governments and corporations, about the quality or value of products, or about the health of one's own place and economy” (“Quotes About Economy”). This, in fact, relates back to the Iranian Revolution. With these caveats in place, the Iranian economy may be designated as: oil-centered, state-ruled, imports-reliant, and stagnant. During 1970, Iran had attained remarkable industrialization and economic modernization based on an import-substitution model, supported by the international request for oil. Nevertheless, this affluence was surpassed by the many socio-economic failures of the Shah, Mohammad Reza, who was the monarch of Iran. Further, the pace of growth had slowed dramatically by 1978. Since the fall of the Shah, the economy has proven to be obscure due to a combination of factors, including intrusion in the economy and instabilities in the worldwide market. Economic activity was further disrupted by years of domestic political upheaval. Among the varying classes, there was much discontent with the socio-economic changes that the Shah was implementing because the redundancy rates were extraordinary. Despite the fact that the Shah modernized Iran by emerging a sturdy central government, the Iranian Revolution was not considered an achievement because the

The Russian Civil War (1918-1922) was a fight for political power between the Bolshevik Red Army, who fought for socialism, and the White Army. During this time, the Bolshevik’s secret Communist Police, the Cheka, conducted a series of military operations that became known as the Red Terror. The Red Terror was more than just a collection of mass arrests, tortures, and murders; it was systematic oppression that targeted an entire class. The Red Terror helped the Red Army win the Russian Civil War through any means necessary.

The Russian Revolution is a series of political events that occurred during the years 1905 to 1924. The February Revolution, in which overthrew the imperial government and the October Revolution, placed the Bolsheviks in power (britannica.com). The Russian Revolution happened because of discontentment of with the tsar, poverty in Russia, and lack of control over the government. During the In January of 1905, protesters were protesting in front of the winter palace because of extreme poverty and starvation due to peasants’ wages decreasing. The Russian workers and peasants wanted a better working and living conditions. More than 1000 protesters were killed and injured after the tsar, Nicholas the II, ordered his army to gun down the protesters. This incident, known as Bloody Sunday, led to the 1905 revolution. During the 1905 revolution, Russian Social Democratic Social Party split into two factions, the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks. Later in October of 1905, Nicholas the II issued the October Manifesto, which ended the Russian Revolution of 1905. In July of 1914, World War I begun which caused the Russians a lot of damage because four million Russian soldiers killed, wounded or captured. The Russian Soldiers refused the fight and people back in Russian were starving because of the lack of income from the war. World War I also caused the tsar to lose control of Russia as the war has caused chaos in Russia. Soon, continuous protests and revolts led to the March Revolution of

This demonstrates that since the stress of waging war was tremendous, it should be no surprise that the first war could be a primary cause of the Russian Revolution. Moreover, the major powers of Europe hurt Russia in World War I; yet, by 1917, all the combatants horrifically suffered from the strains of war economically, proving this to be a long-term cause. This was, to a great extent, considerable because the military defeats and social strains of World War I had created a crisis in Imperial Russia. Before, Russia had some military accomplishments and they were on their way to being successful. Nevertheless, their triumphs were not long-standing; hence, Russia was not able to be victorious due to the fact that Russia decreased in economy because of the limitations in Russia. Similarly, restraints included the shortage of food and the huge problems with getting the obligatory materials for the army during World War I, which shows that this was momentous. Along with Russia being defeated and having a scarcity of supplies, Russia also showed economic oppression due to the pressure in jobs workers faced.

Therefore, morale in Russia was not a reason why there was an outbreak of revolution in 1917. Nevertheless, the few military successes could not make up for the shocking casualty list revealed later on in wartime. Also, when the economic and military problems arose they could have been tolerable for the general public if they were encouraged by the people at the top such as the Tsar but no leadership was shown. Though this was a problem in Russia the morale in Russia was not too bad although people did begin to focus more on taking care of themselves because of the effects of the war on everyday life. On the other hand, the fact that central leadership was not being provided to the Russian public, criticisms began to be pointed directly at the Tsar. Nicholas failed in being commander-in-chief of the Russian armed services. He did not encourage war effort and did not prove to be the appropriate representative for the Russian people. In addition, the fact that he took on this important role meant that he was responsible for the wars consequences and the survival of Tsardom depended on military success. Due to the lack of success, Nicholas II was blamed and not his generals. This was a reason for the revolution in February 1917 to happen as it appeared to the citizens of Russia that they did not have a strong leader, also the tsarist system’s claim to the loyalty of the Russian people had been forfeited thus

Political movements, social movements, and economic movements all have a part in pushing colonists farther towards the Revolutionary War. What was the cause from these movements that pushed us to revolt though? Was it the strict laws Britain placed of America? Or was it the even stricter taxes placed on tea, and other items? Well there is only one way to find out. To keep reading this essay.

Russia had been an autocratic government for 300 years under the Romanov Dynasty before the revolution of 1917. When problems started in the early 1900’s most people were serfs that had been freed about 20 years before. In 1914 during World War One, Czar Nicholas II decided to stay in war with Germany despite what the rest of his country thought. Nicholas posed a distraction from the countries problems. His plan was to keep his soldiers minds off of the horrible living conditions of Russia by staying in war with Germany and starting a war with Japan in hope that he would lead his country to a victory; both wars were lost, giving Russian citizens more to be upset about. Russia’s Army was extremely weak, made mainly of peasants, and the cost

On July 17th 1918 Nicholas II of Russia was gunned down by communist revolutionists along with his family. The New York Times first heard of this event July 21st, 1918 when they printed the article that “Ex-Czar of Russia Killed by Order of Ural Soviet.” The russian government had announced the death of Nicholas Romanoff on July 20th at the same time claiming that the former Empress and Alexis Romanoff, the heir, were in a place of security. The Russian government claimed that a counter-revolutionary conspiracy was discovered which lead them to make the decision to execute the former ruler. In the following days a rumor spread that Alexis Romanoff had died of exposure after his father 's death, the russian government denied this claiming that “The family of Nicholas Romanoff is safe in a Siberian monastery in Abalak.”

For three centuries before the revolution, life in Russia was not peaceful. It was cold, hard, and bitter instead. “The end of serfdom was a major event in Russia; yet it just wasn 't enough.”, in 1861. Serfdom, under feudalism, is the the status of peasants in which they are bound to a lord, or master, works on their land, and can be sold like property. Despite serfs being given ‘freedom’, Russia was mostly ruled by the czar and nobles. The average person was, and stayed, poor. Therefore, World War I was not the main cause of the Russian revolution. This outdated feudal class structure, inability to modernize, lack of peace, and czars’ inept leaderships lead to the Russian Revolution.