Why were there two Revolutions in Russia in 1917? Why did the Bolsheviks Triumphs?

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Michael Cuthell 12PT                        Page 1 of 1                                   February ‘03

                                                                                                

Why were there two Revolutions in Russia in 1917?

Why did the Bolsheviks Triumphs?

Throughout 1917 Russia, the country had suffered from many problems, firstly the issue of the two revolutions. The revolution of February 1917 was the first of the two. To most historians, it was referred to as the ‘popular’ revolution, or the ‘spontaneous’ revolution. This was due to the fact that most of the class representative parties wanted and indeed took part in the revolution. The representative parties did not endorse many of the Tsar’s decisions; many people of the Russian public also felt this way. With the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, meant that Russian living conditions were gradually fading in the most appalling conditions. The Tsar’s decisions pretty much isolated nearly every party of every class right the way across Russia. Many members within the social classes were losing faith in the leaders of their country, and also the members of the Duma realised their views and ideas wouldn’t been seen through by the Tsar, even if this meant restoring confidence and loyalty from the Russian public.

One of the major reasons for the downfall and breakdown of the Tsar and the Tsarist regime was down to the war. Many of the Russian troops were unable to provide sufficient support to hold of enemy soldiers because, those who were sent to the front were completely ill-equipped, usually one rifle between three, this lead to the lack of advances through enemy lines. By the turn of 1915 the number of defeats was stacking up and continually rising. The majority of the country no longer supported the war effort.

After this recent failure to achieve what the Tsar had hoped for, he realised that he had to be there, experience things first hand, to know what was going on and how he could avoid risky situations. The Tsar chose to intervene and join the soldiers at the Front. However this may have been a slight advantage in the battlefield because Tsar Nicholas could control his generals and make sure they followed his commands, but it also meant that he would be personally blamed for any more failures. While the Tsar was left at the Front commanding his armies, it left his wife, Tsarina Alexandra, and their family friend/ healer, the nomad preacher, Rasputin to rule Russia and to take control over the government. Throughout their time in charge, they dismissed many important ministers, while hiring others. The government was pushed to ruins within a few short months. Again the Tsar was being blamed for this, even though it was out of control. Many of the Russian public despised the Tsarina, due to the fact that she was German born. Countless numbers of people no longer trusted their current, rulers, they blamed the Tsar because they thought he was the Tsarina’s influence, however, today we all know that it was that of Rasputin, through greed and desire of power. Because of this Alexandra chose to live outside the city, away from publicity and out of sight of the public.

With the outbreak of the First World War, there were many resource shortages, such as food, fuel and money. Nearly all stocks lacked in supply and transportation. Inflation caused resource prices to rise, however, wages also increased, but not quite enough to support the increase of Inflation in resources. Russia’s crops grew efficiently but due to military take over due to short supply of transportation for troops it decreased the amount of transport for crops and extra resources. Also, with the losses at the front, the enemy were able to push through and take over some of the railway mainlines. In February 1917 quite a few factories were forced to closure. The peasants were the ‘common class’ who tended to the agricultural side of Russia, when they grew the crops, they could not transport them so they kept them for themselves, and they would not even sell the excess to the cities because they had felt they had been betrayed.

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At the beginning of the War many new organisations were set up to solve amongst the political front. As the political problems began to rise, many criticisms were made clear; it was obvious that the people of Russia were not happy. These parties became more known to voice their opinions and criticisms about the government; these parties included; The Central War Industries Committee, who organised and maintained war production, The All Russian Union of Towns, who provided relief for the wounded and supplies for the soldiers; The All Russian Union of Zemstva also supported these actions. These parties also supported ...

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