The Russian Revolution
Zahra Khan
Factors
The Russian Revolution took place in 1917, during the final phase of World War I, in which the event brought the transformation of the Russian Empire and marked the end of the Romanov dynasty and centuries of Russian Imperial rule. In all, it abolished the Romanov dynasty and led to the establishment of the world's first communist/socialist government; ensuing the new Soviet Government announcement of its withdrawal from the First World War. In the years preceding the Russian Revolution, the country had a succession of wars, namely the Crimean War (1854-56), the Russo-Turkish War (1877-78), the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), and World War I (1914-18). The Bolsheviks, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and similarly referred to as 'Reds' during the Russian Revolution of 1917 apex, fought to overthrow the czar and establish communism. Led by leftist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, altogether seized power and destroyed the tradition of czarist rule, and would, in the near future, become the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
In 1809, Russia seized the Swedish-claimed Finland, which had been incorporated into the Russian Empire, where preceding, the Patriotic War with Napoleon commenced in the extended period of 1812, who seemingly declared himself as emperor of France. A campaign of the Russian army took place, which liberated the European countries from the domination of Napoleon, given the victory in the Patriotic War. Subsequently, revolutionary ideas that had penetrated into Russia in 1825 turned into a failed Decembrist uprising. Fearing the aforementioned uprisings, the state tightened control over the country's political, economic, and cultural life; hence, Russia was declared "The Gendarme of Europe." Following the Decembrist pioneered riot, Nicholas I did not account trust in the nobility, and accordingly, the officials became the ruling class. In the course of long wars with the mountaineers in the 19th century, Russia annexed the Caucasus (including territories of Central Asia). In 1861, serfdom was abolished in Russia under the rule of Emperor Alexander II; similarly, a number of liberal reforms accelerated the modernization of the country, radically changing society (called the "Revolution from Above"). The authorities dreaded the weakening of the foundations of autocracy - duly, the reforms were not completed, Bureaucratic centralism was preserved, the agrarian question was not resolved, the constitution was not adopted; there were no legislative power or political parties. The consequences for the remainder of the century occurred during various broadly spread, far-reaching events; Napoleon’s invasion, the Decembrist Revolt and the liberation of the serfs. It consequently enlivened Russian authors and artists to create the known term of the Golden Age of Russian culture. The century additionally observed the Russian Empire venture/expand into Finland, Poland, the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Far East and establish trading posts in Alaska and California.
Prior to the Triple Alliance, during the primary half of the nineteenth century, serfs were continuously treated as the property of their feudal masters and could be purchased/sold, though they obtained merely more rights than slaves, due to Western Europe viewing Russia as hopelessly reverse. Yet, the nobility of various Russian aristocrats voyaged broadly in Western Europe and embraced French as the true language of polite discourse. The reign of Alexander I was typified as "Russia At The Crossroads." Russia hence began to develop a culture which would be admired and emulated by the West. Accordingly, the Empire moved to the focal primitive of the European diplomacy arena, in which Russian educators, whom mirrored the ideals of renowned Voltaire, viewed public education as contribution to native virtues, local temperances, and leading of national progress. However, the given disposition altered after the Napoleonic wars when, in fear of revolution and insurgency, authorities saw the school system primarily as a means for inculcating obedience and Christian pietism. When the French threat was suppressed, Emperor Alexander I remitted to his plans of reforming Russia (was well known for his liberal views) and he toyed with the idea of emancipating the serfs and embracing a constitution for Russia. Be that as it may, these said plans were strongly opposed by the elite and thus, Alexander too strayed his awaited will, believing that the Russian society was not yet prepared for emancipation and a constitution. Hence, outside powers suppressed Russia.
Thereafter, the 70s of the nineteenth century were the period of the emergence of ideas regarding the severe revolutionary struggle. After the assassination of Alexander II, Alexander III ascended the throne, who during his reign did not direct a single war, for which he was called the "Peacemaker." Inevitably, his task was to reinforce the economy and the advancement of large industrial enterprises; developing a new course in all areas of public life, limiting the freedom of the press and the democratic nature of local self-government. Henceforth, the time period of 1881-1917 ignited the widespread of Marxism in Russia and formation of revolutionary parties: of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers Party (RSDLP) and the Socialist Revolutionary Party (SRs). The empire’s triple hunt was created in 1907 between Russian, France, and Great Britain (entente). After critical disagreement, the balance of power existed in Europe between this group and the Triple Alliance. Great Britain, France, and Russia formed the Triple Entente to counterbalance the threat posed by the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria and Italy, in which the countries in the alliances signed treaties agreeing to defend each other in times of war. However, the Triple Entente increased tension among European nations established two rival camps, and escalated reason for war. In all, to summarize what is alluded to as the First Russian Revolution, the mass political and social distress throughout the Empire, comprised of worker strikes, peasant unrest, and military mutinies, in which it was initially prodded by the Russian defeat in the Russo-Japanese War; instigating society of the need for reform. Economically, widespread inflation and food shortages in Russia contributed to the revolution.
Renowned Persons
Vladimir Lenin
Former Premier of the Soviet Union
A Marxist, Vladimir Lenin founded Leninism, a type of communist doctrine. Lenin's Bolshevik administration initially shared power with the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, elected soviets, and a multi-party Constituent Assembly, yet by 1918, power had been consolidated in the new Communist Party. His slogan was "peace, bread, and land," and he garnered the support of Russian proletariat and factory workers by promising and preaching the communist principles.
Tsar Alexander II
Emperor of Russia
Alexander abolished serfdom and established revolutionary substantial reforms in the Russian empire's legal and administrative structures. He eradicated various restrictions from universities, including mandatory uniforms and military discipline; ushering a new era of academic course content and reading lists. Renowned as the "czar liberator,” Alexander's reign was famous in Russian history, commonly referred to as the "era of great reforms."
Nicholas II of Russia
Former Emperor of all the Russias
Ruling from 1894-1917, Nicholas II was the final Russian tsar and monarch. An incompetent and inept leader whose avoidance of active involvement in administration provoked resentment among the Russian people, his animosity led to unrest in 1905, after assuming the trepidation with hesitation following the death of his father, Alexander III. He refused to accept any diminution of his overall influence. Preceding the February Revolution, Nicholas II abdicated in 1917.
Leon Trotsky
Former Member of the Russian Constituent Assembly
Leon Trotsky, born in 1879, fought alongside Vladimir Lenin in Russia's 1917 revolution. As commissar of war, he assisted in the defeat of anti-Bolshevik forces. He was involved in a power battle with Joseph Stalin, which resulted in his death. Trotsky identified as an orthodox Marxist, a revolutionary Marxist, and a Bolshevik–Leninist, a disciple of Marx, Engels, and the 3L: Lenin, Karl Liebknecht, and Rosa Luxemburg.
Victor Mikhailovich Chernov
Former Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation
Viktor Mikhailovich Chernov (1873–1952) was a Russian revolutionary, prime theoretician, and leader of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. He steered the Populist movements away from a platform of anarchism, violence, and despondency, and toward a better understanding of the new problems confronting Russia at the turn of the century: urbanization, Marxism, and industrialization. Chernov was the party's principal thinker and more of an analyst than a political leader.
Rosa Luxemburg
Economist
As a visionary woman, Luxemburg's prominence in the creation of theories of Marxist humanism thinking permitted the role of democracy and popular action to achieve international socialism as a Polish Marxist economist, anti-war activist, philosopher, and revolutionary socialist. As a martyr for her cause, she has been memorialized in popular culture.
Grigori Rasputin
Russian Peasant
Rasputin, a self-styled holy man, became a confidant of Russia's Tsar and Tsarina in the years preceding the Russian Revolution. Known primarily for his encounters with the Romanovs, he was born in a distant Siberian town to illiterate peasant parents. In 1908, Rasputin received the approval of Czar Nicholas II and Czarina Alexandra for his ability to halt the bleeding of their hemophiliac son, Alexei. Becoming engulfed in the events of the revolution, he was assassinated in 1916.
Alexander Kerensky
Former Minister-Chairman of the Provisional Government
Among the revolutionary leadership following the February Revolution, Alexander Kerensky, known for his devotion to the coalition government and Russia's continuing involvement in the war, became the Russian Revolution’s “first cult of personality.” By catering to the left wing, he attempted to entrench his power and attract support. Kerensky established essential civil liberties across Russia, including freedom of speech, press, assembly, religion, universal suffrage, and equal rights.
IMPACT
It can be concluded that, in sum, Lenin held up the Russian Communist Party, the only party that had made a successful revolution, as the archetype for Communist parties in all nations. A result of his policy was to induce a part in the world labour movement between the adherents of the two internationals. The development of revolutionary sentiment was adhered to Kerensky being the sole socialist to join the primary bureau of the Provisional Government, coming directly from the Provisional Committee of the State Duma. Moreover, due to Rasputin's impact over the Tsars and his inclusion in government decisions, he was consistently faulted for the very failures.
Causes
Outcomes
Due to the series of political events in Russia, necessitating the overthrow of the system of autocracy, and of the liberal Provisional Government (Duma), ensuing the establishment of the Soviet power under the control and heavily influenced by the Bolshevik party, the Russian Revolution, occurring between 1905 to 1917, led to the abolishment of traditional monarchy and Tsarist system. The upheaval consequences, too, were expansively far-reaching, in which the Communist Party, which formed to lead post-revolutionary Russia, remained in power until its dissolution in 1991. The Russian loss in the Russo-Japanese War (1905), widespread suffering under autocracy, poor working conditions and hazards of industrialization, new revolutionary movements (worker-run government should replace czarist rule), the Bloody Sunday massacre, and the weak leadership of Czar Nicholas II were the namely underlying factors that enabled the lack of a unifying culture, outward ramifications, and the inevitable transformation of the Russian Empire. In regards to the scilicet ideals, the short-term effects, or said consequences, comprised of the government of Russia being controlled by the Bolshevik Party, led by V. I. Lenin (later known as the Communist Party), farmland distribution among farmers, in which factories were given to workers, the nationalization of banks (national council assembled to run the economy), and the withdrawal of World War 1; signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and yielding much land to Germany.
Howbeit, the long-haul term repercussions of the revolution consist of the Russian Civil War between the Reds (the Bolsheviks) and the Whites (the anti-Bolsheviks) occurring between 1918-1920 and resulting in the death of fifteen million individuals due to the conflict and famine, the end of the Czarist rule (Nicholas II, his wife and five children are executed), the severe decrease in the Russian economy, industrial production, and cease of trade (causing skilled workers to flee the country), and the assertion of Lenin’s terrorizing control, the Gulang, by means of cruel methods to apply fear using brutal networks of prison camps for criminal and political prisoners. Further, the Cold War, which took place between 1947 and 1991, was mainly conducted against the Western World and the Communist World, driven by the Soviet Union; a continuous state of political and military tension.
The Russian Revolution of 1905 was suppressed, and czarist authority persisted for yet another twelve years. Truth be told, the revolutionary uprising provided the groundwork for the triumphant revolution of November 1917. The temporary setback of the 1905 Revolution and czarist repression led to massive emigrations from Russia and Poland, as reflected perceptively on the development of a revolution within and against the Russian empire. One can thus argue that, in many ways, the Russian Revolution is also part of the history of the United States.
Interview with Professor Ronald Suny
Interview with Professor Ian Thatcher
Main Research Question
The Russian Revolution, a periodic uproar of economic and social mutiny that occurred in the antecedent Russian Empire and initiated during the First World War, facilitated the journey of the ascent of communism and socialism as an influential political belief framework across the world. It set the stage for the rise of the Soviet Union as a dominant world power that would later directly encounter the United States amidst the Cold War. When compared, the French Revolution of 1787 to 1799 was a period of significant social commotion that sought to change the relationship between the rulers, those they administered, and to reevaluate the concept of political power. Regardless of the fact that the French and Russian revolutions transpired over a century apart, the two were influential, momentous events with striking similarities: sharing their incompetent leadership and poor economy failings (with varying motives), primarily affecting those who wished for justice and equality. During the French Revolution, the Third Estate obtained minimal measure of power, floundering the impossibility to acquire high political office as they were subject to the potencies of privilege that the nobility and clergy exercised. Notwithstanding the Third Estate’s expansive size and economic significance, the Clergy lived luxuriously and possessed virtually all land; hence, nothing to their names, the lowly beggars and laborers were susceptible to preferential taxation and were politically discounted by the social system of the Kingdom of France. In close parallel, while the First World War hindered a significant economic impact on the governmental collapse as a cause of the Russian Revolution, in which the assembled "State Duma of the Russian Empire" limited Czar Nicholas II's power (yet still retaining his hierarchy in a set of his own law; issuing the "Fundamental Laws"), citizens began to recognize that the allocated autocracy government was harming the political, economic, and cultural will of the people of Russia. The authorities dreaded the weakening of the foundations of autocracy - duly, the reforms were not completed, Bureaucratic centralism was preserved, the agrarian question was not resolved, the constitution was not adopted. The continuance of the Russian Revolution was unavoidable as long as Czar Nicholas II remained in power; hence in protest to his ineffectiveness in resolving the Russian Empire's economic and social problems, Czar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate. The social disparity in France due to the Estates-System, the immense taxation rate inferred on the lowly, the ideas set forth by namely Enlightenment philosophers, and the impactful monetary crisis impeded the strict end to the French monarchy and feudalism; taking political power from the Catholic church. The foundations of economic policies, debilitated administration, and exploitative political and social apparatuses greatly contributed to the French Revolution, in which the authoritarian monarchy, bankruptcy, and inefficient royal expenditures were among the legislative causes. In both revolutions, the middle class of France, commonly known as the bourgeoisie and barely existing in Russia until the introduction of socialism, was practically overlooked by King Louis XVI and Czar Nicholas of Russia; the refusal of acknowledgement inevitably resulted in an immense loss of life in the ruling class. King Louis XVI and his queen Marie Antoinette were together beheaded by guillotine and Tsar Nicholas II and the entire Romanov family were shot to death. In all, numerous lesser nobles and pro-government generals were killed in purges during the French and Russian Revolutions. In the two nations, the dramatical struggle regarding produce proceeded with an unfortunate string of terrible harvests, in turn forcing food to take a steep rise up in price. The French were facing a financial crisis with billions in debt to pay due to the involvement in the American Revolutionary War and the excessive expenditure of Louis XVI and his queen, Marie-Antoinette, while Russians were conflicted with bankruptcy due to the money used to pay for World War I expenses. Further, the French revolution was deeply rooted in the ideals of Enlightenment (Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen) and involved the overthrow of the causes of social class hierarchy and absolutism monarchy; aiming to abolish their previous totalitarian regime to have all opportunity to prosper and become rich in a capitalist 'free' state. The Russian revolution, on the other hand, valued communist principles and occurred due to the collapse of the government from above (Lenin); longing for the abolition of their prior totalitarian rule in order to obtain the essentials of life and live equally without the need for material acquisition. Though both revolutions had similar causes, different internal factors eventually led to varying results. Conversely, just as the Bolsheviks fought the Anti-Bolsheviks, the conflict between radical Jacobins and liberal Girondins, and thus the crucial Reign of Terror, played a key part in engendering and preserving the revolution. Additionally, the Estates-General staged a mass revolt against the King known as "The Storming of the Bastille," priorly designed in reference to a notion of security and order. Numerous Parisians despised the holding as a symbol of despotism and tyranny. When they would prepare for riot and upheaval, remembrance occurred of the absolute monarch who was inevitably the prime control of their actions. Recalling the plagued troubles of France, the estates quarreling, the inequitable afflictions of the lowly class, the taxation requirements, the rebellion was of due occurrence. The mass political and social distress throughout the Empire alluded to the First Russian Revolution, therefore consisting of worker strikes, peasant unrest, and military mutinies, initially prodded by the Russian defeat in the Russo-Japanese War; instigating society of the need for reform. The complex socioeconomic problem of a large multinational, multiethnic empire engaged in total war with all of Europe, ultimately coupled the development of revolutionary ideas and movements; defining the leading political, social, and economic impacts. The impoverished economy and the inadequate leadership allowed the lower-class to define politicians' responses to national challenges, such that they produced and dictated food supplies, armed and uniformed peasants served as soldiers and, as the majority of Russia's urban residents, they played key roles in uprisings.
