Russian Revolution – Concept, causes, development and consequences –

The Russian Revolution is one of the most important events of the 20th century, not only because of what it meant for the Russian Empire, which became the USSR, but also because it gave rise to the first socialist government in the world. Today in Sobrehistoria, all about the Russian Revolution – Concept, causes, development and consequences.

What is the Russian Revolution

It is called to Russian Revolution to the set of events that occurred between February and October 1917 and that led to the overthrow of the tsarist regime and the establishment of the first socialist government in the world.

The Russian Revolution had two stages. A first revolution in which the tsarist government is overthrown and a provisional government is imposed, and a second revolution in which this provisional government is eliminated to establish a communist government. To fully understand its causes, we must first see what the historical and social context was prior to the Russian Revolution.

The most important characters of the Russian Revolution

Lenin (1870-1924)

Known for various facets from politician to philosopher, through revolutionary and great activist of the russian communist movementto the point of being Bolshevik leader of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party. With the passage of time and thanks to his support for the movement, he became the leader of the USSR, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. His support was such that the Leninismwhere the contributions he made to Marx’s politics were collected.

Stalin (1878-1953)

Soviet politician and dictator; he joined the party of Lenin in pursuit of the Russian Revolution. In fact, he succeeded Lenin in the government after Trotsky’s exile, until his own death in 1953. Stalin stands out because he turned Russia into an economically and militarily strong power, so much so that this fortress brought him victory in the World War II. Of course, it cost the Soviet Union its due, because it meant torture for the population. Eastern Europe became communist thanks to Stalin, who we can consider as one of the most bloodthirsty leaders in history.

the ppopulation was subjected to a semi-feudal regime, with significant abuses by the regime, since they were exploited while working and living in subhuman conditions. The Russians, they worked piecework but had very few resources for their own survival, so people were sick and starving, tired and exhausted under the leadership of leaders who subjected them to constant abuse.

Stalin had no qualms about signing with whoever was necessary, including here Hitler and his Nazi Germany, but neither did Great Britain with its Prime Minister Winston Churchill, or US President D. Roosevelt. His influence became such that in Eastern Europe he established a whole chain of People’s Republics with communist regimes that were satellites of the USSR.

He took the opportunity to spread his communism to countries like Turkey, Greece, Korea and China. But he did not get on well with North America and those tensions generated the outbreak of the Cold Warwhich lasted until the death of the dictator.

Trotsky (1879-1940)

He is known for being one of the main people responsible for the outbreak of the October Revolution, where the Bolsheviks took control of Russia. The year was 1917 and this would open the way to a civil war in which Trotsky himself would also be in command as commissar for military affairs.

It is also to be attributed to Trotsky that Russia withdrew from the First World War, thanks to the Peace of Brest-Litovsk. He also created the powerful Red Army, thanks to which he was able to defeat no less than 14 foreign armies and also the white armies participating in the Russian civil war. These achievements earned him the recognition he was awarded with the Order of the Red Banner.

It must also be said that Trotsky was a rival of Stalin politically and ideologically. A well-known leftist, he came to founding the Fourth International in 1938 and to lead the leftist movements. All this led him to be exiled and assassinated, by order of Stalin.

Alexander Kerensky (1881 – 1970)

This lawyer managed to overthrow the tsarist regime and stood out for being the main figure of the provisional government that was in charge during the February Revolution, although he did not have the same success against the October Revolution, which, finally, did triumph.

As a lawyer he was magnificent as he won over the public with his perfect oratory, gaining followers as a representative of Russian moderate socialism. Such was his influence over the Petrograd Soviet that he was called upon to succeed Prince Lvov as head of the government. He tried to unite the political forces, but the liberals opposed his claims and so did the army.

In addition, the radical socialists feared that Kerensky would become an authoritarian leader and demanded economic and social measures from him that were never approved, which increased discontent. He wanted to suppress the Bolshevik Party, but he did not succeed and he had to add various discontents from the different political forces. He was finally arrested and imprisoned.

The leader ended up in exile in Paris and later went to the US He wanted to form political groups again, against the Bolsheviks. But he failed.

Nicholas II (1868 – 1918)

Was the last tsar of russia. Throughout his reign, the Russian Empire experienced a great economic and military crisis, and without having clear causes, it is said that he left many things in the hands of God. Due to some events that occurred during his time, such as the Khodynka tragedyled him to have the nickname of “Nicholas the Bloody”.

His end is not at all encouraging, since he ended his life being assassinated by the Bolsheviks. They say that he was not material for a leader, quite the contrary, as much as his father tried to teach him, he was never good at being a leader. Well, in fact, he lacked malice and personality. In addition, he always put family before his work as Head of State.

Historical context of the Russian Revolution

From the moment of his coronation in 1896which would have been the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas IIand the last exponent of the Romanov dynasty, for many years forced its population into one of the most dramatic periods in history: the european absolutisms. Furthermore, with the war waged against japan ( Russo-Japanese War ) and its Emperor Mutsuhito, who had recently come to power, launched an overtly imperial policy inaugurated in 1904 that led to the possession of Manchuria, a region of North East Asia.

The defeat that followed caused the weakening of tsarism and the growth of a series of internal conflicts more and more numerous. The most important was that of 1905, which went down in history as the «bloody sunday“, which is when the police killed a thousand people during a demonstration to present a petition to the Tsar.

Absolutism in Europe: history, meaning and characteristics

Presenting itself as an unexpected revolution at the beginning of the 20th century, many thought that the Tsar’s absolutist regime could not last long, but no one could imagine that the subsequent fall of the monarchy would lead to the Russian Revolution, the greatest revolutionary event that has occurred after the French revolution. An event that had at its roots the inability of autocracy to face the growing requests for political participation from the bourgeoisie and the liberal aristocracy and to resolve the social and agrarian question.

Russia to World War I

An attempt at change then takes place since between 1906 and 1914, Russia tries to acquire a kind of semi-representative regime, where some political and civil liberties were partially recognized. However, the tsarist regime proved unable to meet the growing demands of peasants and workers.

The already dramatic situation collapsed in 1914, with the start of the First World War. The Russian Empire went to war together with France and Great Britain , counting on a quick victory against Austria-Hungary allied with Germany. However, after some initial successes, the tsarist army demonstrated the same inadequacy that had led to its defeat by Japan ten years earlier. Meanwhile, however, the strain of the conflict was affecting not only the soldiers in the trenches, but also the masses of starving people in the cities.

In 1917, the catastrophic condition in which the economy of the entire country was affected, the famine that had already caused more than two million deaths and the vertiginous increase in the prices of goods. food, brought people back into the streets to express their exasperation through violent revolt. Since Petrograd, the square demonstrations of March 8 and 9, 1917 (February 23 and 24 according to the Orthodox calendar) spread throughout the country, overwhelming the tsarist regime. The workers had been joined by rebel military units who had, in the meantime, established a soviet.

The abdication of Nicholas II and the creation of a provisional government

Nicholas II abdicated, effectively decreeing the end of the long imperial history of the Romanov dynasty. After the fall of the tsar, the succession was taken over by a caretaker liberal government formed by members of the Duma and chaired by the aristocrat Georgij Lvov and Aleksandr Kerensky (minister of war) with the aim of continuing the war and the economic recovery of the country inspired by Western structures.

Causes of the Russian Revolution

The Russian Revolution it is one of the most virulent that has occurred in modern history, and that supposes the explosion of the discontent of an entire people with the situation that the country is experiencing. However, it also had too many internal struggles and discrepancies and led to consequences that, as we will see later, were not what the people expected.

As we have already mentioned before, one of the main Causes for the outbreak of the revolution was the discontent with Tsar Nicholas II, who exercised a despotic power and lived in the most absolute wealth, while the Russian people were starving and without resources the continuous lost battles against Germany during the First World War. The image of the tsar was deteriorated to the maximum by the life of opulence and despotic work of him at the head of the country. Furthermore, the oppression of the lower classes contrasted with the enormous power that some feudal lordswhich still held control of large tracts of land that were worked by peasants or mujiks.

Another cause of the Russian revolution was the inflow of foreign capital from the country, which dominated the factories and production centers of the Soviet Union. This gave rise to the appearance of the workers, who worked in subhuman conditions. Protests soon became more and more frequent, which later turned into strikes and ended in great riots. Many of these workers were grouped in union organizations known as Soviets.

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