Events That Occur In Russia From 1917 To 1920

The Russian Revolution of 1917 marked the end of the Romanov dynasty and centuries of Russian Imperial rule. During the Russian Revolution, the Bolsheviks, led by leftist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin seized power and destroyed the tradition of czarist rule. Civil War broke out in Russia between the Red and White Armies. The Red Army fought for the Lenin’s Bolshevik government. The White Army represented a large group of monarchists, capitalists and supporters of democratic socialism.

In the early nineteen hundreds, Russia was ruled by Czar Nicholas II. He was the last in line of a long line of monarchs called Romanovs. By 1915 , most of the Russian people had lost complete faith in the Czar. Many factors include the corruption of the Russian government, approximately 3 quarters of Russia was poverty stricken, substandard working conditions and wages, and the dreadful involvement in World War I. Russia’s political problems during the Russian Revolution caused a major shift in people’s lives government, and religion. In 1917, there were two revolutions that took place in March and October.

One man, Vladimir Lenin saw that Russia was spiraling downwards, having lost two battles in a row and having the highest death count out of all the European countries he saw that a change was needed. Lenin was the leader of the Bolsheviks who were a communist group that wanted to draw out of the war and over thrown Czar Nicholas II. Preaching peace, and food he wanted, ¨the offer of peace, the salvation of Petrograd, salvation from famine, and the transfer of land to the peasants who depended on them,¨ (Document 8). People were drawn into this and, ¨increasingly taken in by the propagandists of the united Socialist Party and their internationalis ideas,¨ (Document 9). This combined with high death rates, starvation, communist ideals started the overthrow of Russia and the end of the war.

Russian Revolution In 1922, as a result of the Russian Revolution, a new political party emerged: the USSR or the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was the world’s first communist state. Communism was a new political and economic model that was supposed to get rid of class distinction. From the beginning, communism opposed capitalism and capitalist countries like the United States. The Russian Revolution united the socialists against the capitalists, with the USSR, a communist country, siding with the socialists.

The Russian Revolution of 1917 marked one of the most radical turning points in the country’s 1,300-year history and established the Soviet Union as a Communist state. Russia in the 19th century was a massive empire stretching from Poland to the Pacific. Ruling such a massive country was quite the undertaking, especially because the long-term problems within Russia were approaching the surface. In 1917, these problems finally produced a revolution, which completely wiped the old system away. The Russian Revolution was a rebellion executed by the Russian people against the Russian elite.

This fuels discontent. Two factions of socialists seem to be the most popular parties among the Russian people, the Socialist Revolutionary Party and the Bolsheviks, but neither have much power in the Provisional government. There are constant strikes by starving workers and further mutinies by soldiers and sailors in the Russian military. 1917- October Revolution (actually occurred in November).

While every revolution oftentimes shares the same cause, discontentment towards the government and the desire for change, not all revolutions end similarly. Having dictated the rise and fall of numerous nations, revolution continues to happen all around the world. Some may call it rebellion and mutiny, others may refer to it as patriotic, an improvement, maybe even a new era; but, one idea remains certain, progress cannot happen without change. Revolutions during 1917 created a turning point for Russia from an illiterate, backwards empire to an educated, industrial superpower. Although the transition of the Russian Empire to the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic cost many lives and freedoms, the reasonable causes and socioeconomic progressions of this momentous revolution often go unheard under the din of the demonization of communism and socialism.

Lenin went into exile again during World War 1 and returned home in 1917 when Russia deposed the tsars. He launched the October Revolution which was followed by three years of civil war. He pushed to secured power through the Red Terror, a campaign Lenin operated to eliminate the civilian’s opposition. Even though he came out victorious, his vision of the country never came to fruition.

In 1917, the Russian Revolutions caused the end of Russia’s monarchy under the tsar, and the Bolsheviks were able to seize control of the country. The leader of the Bolsheviks, Vladimir Lenin, and the Politburo (the highest part of the new Soviet government that overlooked every other part of the government) planned to shape Russia (later changed to the Soviet Union (USSR)) into a communist country where everyone was equal. After Lenin’s death in 1924 there were inner conflicts over who would become the new leader of the USSR. Eventually, Joseph Stalin, one of the members of the Politburo, seized control of the Soviet government. With Stalin came a change in government policies that shaped the Soviet political landscape for years.

The Russian revolution resulted in the overthrow of the country’s monarchy and the establishment of the Soviet Union. It started off with many protests and strikes that forced Tsar Nicholas II out of power. As a result, a provisional government was put in place but it was weak and ineffective so the Bolsheviks took control and established a socialist government. The Bolshevik Revolution was caused by a combination of unstable and corrupt monarchies, unfair treatment of the populace, and a lagging industry, which eventually led to the creation of the USSR.

Since there was such a large peasant population it was easy for them to rebel and win. Many troops were just simply peasants in uniform and when the tsar order the soldiers to shoot the people rebelling they didn’t and the tsar had no power.(doc.2).These peasant were known as proletariats, the growing class of factory and railroad workers, miners, and urban wage earners.(doc.4).Lenin, the leader of the Bolshevik party spread the works of Karl Marx to many factory workers with other socialist.(doc.4).Lenin was profoundly affected by his older brother Alexander’s 1887 execution for being involved in a plot to assassinate the tsar.(doc.5).The peasants tried to make a petition to overthrow the tsar’s reign but he refused to meet with them.(doc.1)This gave the peasants almost no choice but to revolt. Finally, in March the tsar is overthrown and within about a day there were no signs of the tsar because the peasants had burned or taken down everything that even made you think of him. Little did the Russians know that it was more difficult to construct a government than to destroy

During the 20th century, Russia was experiencing turmoil in war and the country was deeply affected with Tsar Nicholas’s wrong decisions and lack of experience in politics. After the 1917 revolution in Russia, Lenin became the ruler of Russia and the USSR and proved to be the best Russian ruler of the 20th century. Before then, Tsarism dominated and Nicholas II was in power until he foresaw many revolutions against his methods of ruling. He remained as the supreme ruler and did not take actions for reforms. However, after the 1917 revolution, which Lenin masterminded, the Tsar was overthrown and the Bolsheviks established a stable government which took control in Russia.

Each of the factors mentioned above were reason for the revolt that took place at the end of February in 1917, however, many of the factors were similar to the conditions and causes of the revolt in 1905 which raises the question: why was the revolution of 1917 successful? One reason is that WWI worked as a catalyst, which facilitated the success of the revolution by assisting each factor in aligning at the same time and place. WWI was not the only catalyst as the events of liberal and free conscience was the second key which shaped the success of this particular revolt. The police, distraught and overcome with grief and guilt for their actions the day before when they were ordered to fire on innocent, peaceful masses, turned their weapons over and joined forces with the rebel forces. This forced Nicholas to call to the front to send back patriot soldiers in order to help stabilize the home front, but it was too

Russia’s defeat in the Russo-Japanese War from 1904-1905 caused numerous protests and rebellions as well as the establishment of the first soviet in Petrograd, a workers’ committee that initially directed strikes before later becoming a revolutionary council. The threat pressured Tsar Nicholas to transform the government from an autocracy to a

It forced major changes in the political system with the creation of the Duma, which was elected by all classes and had the right to approve all laws and the basic improvements in the lives of industrial workers were fulfilled. During 1800’s Russia found itself amid World War 1 and in the February revolution of 1917 Czar Nicholas 2 took over as a leader of Russia ending the nation’s imperial which was led by Lenin, after Napoleon’s defeat. On October 24th 1917 Lenin and his collaborators launched the full scale coup against provisional government and established a new government based on communism, Marxism, atheism and gender equality. Lenin’s rise to power didn’t ensure further success except increased agricultural production.