Russian Revolution Dbq Essay

Russia reborn The Russian Revolution can be argued, that it was started for many different reasons but i believe it was caused by three main reasons that happened in Russia during this period of time. The three reasons are, the involvement of Russia in WWI, the autocratic government, and the poverty/non-industrial economy and agriculture. In Document 1 it says “ Before the twentieth-century, 80%-95% of the population were poor peasants”. Since economic struggles were country wide and the people were suffering, a change or a revolution was close to come.

In 1917, Tsar Nicholas ll is the current ruler of Russia. Russia’s economic growth is increased by the czar’s reforms of the production of more factories. Since, Russia desperately needed to keep up with the rest of Europe’s industry. This reform worked out perfectly, but the working conditions of these factories didn’t please factory workers. After the events of the Russo-Japenese War, “Bloody Sunday”, and WW1, all of Russia was in utter chaos under the czar’s ghastly leadership. With no signs of the czar’s attempt to solve the problems that kept coming up, all of Russia banded together and filled the streets with strikes and riots. A revolution was peaking among the peasants. The uprising brought Nicholas ll no choice but to abdicate

The Bolshevik Revolution exemplified the complexities and contradictions inherent in revolutionary transformation. From the 1830s to the 1920s, countries all over Europe were setting up revolutions to recreate European politics and society. Oppositions from without and divisions from within all set back and blunted these revolutions. Despite efforts put forth by monarchies, intellectual thinkers and even peasants, achieving a successful revolution was not an easy

The Russian Revolution led to many improvements in production and education, allowing industrialization, but at the cost of many Russian lives. Russia advanced rapidly during the revolution. The question is were the Russian people better off after the Russian revolution? I believe so because of the improvements in education and production. Without the deaths of the Russian people they wouldn’t of been able to do this.

From 1856 onwards the aim of turning Russia from a once agrarian, illiterate and backwards country and into a political superpower was set. A multitude of developments began with Nicholas II being a catalyst of change for the Russian people. Writers of Marxist Russia such as Joan Hasler1 however believe that the Tsars abdication merely prevented revolution happening for a few years. The significance of his abdication caused demands for a new and improved governmental structure to be in place in order to get Russia back on its feet after the devastating defeat in world war one. New political developments took place after the abdication of the Tsar including a new improved Duma who quickly realised they had little trust and loyalty to the tsar and decided to take it upon themselves to improves Russia on their own. Nearing the end of the Romanov dynasty there were 3 new political groups aiming to rule Russia, the duma, the Bolsheviks and the soviets which alone gives us significant evidence that the Tsars reign and abdication created a significant turning point in the political development 1856-1964.

Russia in the late 19th and early 20th century was riddled with social and economic hardships throughout the countryside and inner cities. The Russian peasant was faced with widespread poverty and poor living conditions throughout their entire life. The economic situation and the living conditions drove the peasants and working class to rebel and begin the Russian revolution that would change the face of the country and impact the world forever.

Another component of the Stalinist Revolution was the idea of Socialism in One Country. After the fall of all other socialist regimes in Europe, Stalin came to the conclusion that the Soviet Union must strengthen itself internally and must push towards communism alone until other countries were ready for the Socialist Revolution. This idea that Stalin supported so vehemently was a large contributor to Stalin’s ability to further exercise his control over the nation and influence the economic policy of the Soviet Union, with such measures as the Five Year Plans and the removal of the New Economic Policy .

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

It is clear that a lot of people did not want to put up with the constant down spiralling because of the autocracy, many people decided to rise against the situation. These people were split between the reformers and a smaller group of revolutionaries. The reformers, or Liberals, wanted to modernise Russia gradually.They wanted free elections, more education for the people and no censorship. The revolutionaries, on the other hand, wanted to throw out the whole tsarist system and build a different one.Revolutionaries were the ones waiting for the perfect moment to strike the match since the autocratic regime had caused a long term fatigue in the society - the long term situation let them was highly in favour of this group in terms of revolution, only a slight push to the angered people was needed to proceed.

So how successful was the revolution and what was the long term effects because of it? The success of the revolution can be measured in a couple of ways, one being the lasting effect on the people, progress made by the government in charge, as well as how long it has ruled for. Right at the gate the idea of a self run country of the communist experiment was threatened by the Russian Civil War between Revolutionary Socialists who were seen as a threat by Trotsky, and the Soviets who were in support of the Bolsheviks. The war lasted from 1918 to 1920 and marked the inharmonious start of the Soviet Government. One of the biggest changes and effects of the russian revolution was the rule of Stalin. After the death of Lenin in 1924 the position

The Russian Revolution of 1917 did not just suddenly happen overnight, just as there was no main reason why it happened. The Revolution was more like a virus or bad bacteria. At first you barely notice it, even though you know it is there, but soon it starts to multiply and take over your body and before you know it you have been diagnosed with a terminal illness. There are about 4 or 5 significant reasons why there was the revolution of 1917, with the Russian Tsar Nicolas II to be the blame for almost all of them.

In 1917 the Russian revolution had began, this was the biggest factor in the fall of the Romanov dynasty. The white Russians arrested the tsarist and abdicated him from his throne putting Nicholas and his family on house arrest and he was no longer known as the Tsar, replacing him with a Bolshevik government. The red Russians had captured Nicholas and his family causing a civil war between the white and red Russians. In July 1918 Lenin and his red Russian squad had won the civil war, and shot Nicholas and his family, leaving Russia a communist country until the 1990’s.

Although the Russian Revolution happened rather abruptly, the events leading up to the effort can be traced from the Russian monarchy becoming progressively weaker and increasingly aware of its own vulnerability in Europe. Because World War I was a total disaster for Russia, Nicholas II’s began using oppressive techniques towards those living in Russia to increase military equipment and supplied. These brutal acts of oppression forced him to make concessions after each incident, and from here Russia recognized the need for a parliamentary system, and a constitution. Soon thereafter, Vladimir Lenin rose to prominence as the most powerful figure in Russia. Lenin had lived in self-imposed exile in Europe since 1900

Once eliminating Trotsky, Stalin’s idea of, “socialism in our country,” inevitably meant that Russia needed strength. The productions in the USSR had almost reached pre-war levels by the mid-1920s, but the population of Russia had also increased by 20 million people. No matter, Stalin assured that maximum efforts and resources would be given to the expansion and strengthening of Russia herself rather than an effort to start a revolution elsewhere. This is explained in his famous 1931 speech, gaining power for himself. The people had nowhere else to turn to and needed a leader. Stalin was there and knew what to do to make the people interested in his ideas, thus acquired their trust and control. From these ideas, he created his first

In 1905 and 1917 Russia was tormented by chaotic revolutions. The workers and the intelligentsia had arrived at the point of hating the autocracy because they could no longer endure the suffering, hunger and repression that the tsarist policies brought with them. Years later Lenin referred to the revolution of 1905 as a “dress rehearsal for the October Revolution” of 1917. In 1905 tsardom nearly fell. Nicholas II succeeded in remaining in power, stabilizing the situation, only thanks to various concessions. However, his continuing to rule harshly and unwisely brought him to be forced to abdicate in the February of 1917, signing the end of the Russian monarchy.