October Revolution 1917
Why were the Bolsheviks successful in October 1917? In October of 1917, the Bolsheviks took power within Russia. Although their party was small, it was dedicated to making Russia a powerful communist party. So how did the Bolsheviks take power, was it because of their strength, or because of the weaknesses and failures of the provisional government. Was it due to the strong leadership shown by Lenin, the policy of ending the very unpopular war or their radical policies which the workers and soldiers both agreed with. However, was it because the provisional government had very little power, the mistakes made by Kerensky, or the divisions within the government which often contradicted each other. Lenin was the leader of the Bolsheviks. His role in the October revolution was critical. He was a strong leader, who empowered his supporters. He was the key-stone to the Bolshevik bridge, and with his determined personality he could push through vital policies. Without Lenin it would have been unlikely for the October revolution to have happened. Lenin was the undisputed leader of the Bolsheviks, which is the complete opposite to the provisional government, who were all squabbling for power. This made the revolution easy to co-ordinate. The result of all of this was the revolution was successful, and soon Lenin was in charge of Russia. The Bolshevik party was the only party within
The February Revolution 1917.
The February Revolution 1917 From Source A I can learn that events in Petrograd in early 1917 were in a daunting state. It says the workers were on the "verge of despair" meaning that they were at boiling point and one; bad move by the Tsar would cause a massive eruption of angry protestors to start rebelling. People can't stand any of this nonsense any more. The Tsar had pushed everyone too much. This leaves the military men to have no other choice, but to join the protestors. This suggests that the Tsar's abdication is going to happen imminently. From this source we should think this information is accurate because it was written at the time of the event, also this is a non-biased source From sources B+C, I can see that there is a degree of support but they do this in different ways. Source B shows support for source A where it says "Now everything depends on the behaviour of the military units; if they do not join the working class, the movement will quickly subside" this linked in source B as the army general stops and tell the lady off for stealing bread, because he has not joined, the crowd smash his car up. But this is being unfair as the army general is being sympathetic only telling her off. But his sympathy isn't seen by the protestors. The woman has committed two crimes vandalism and theft but still she is let off very lightly. So from this evidence it shows that
Russia in Revolution, 1905-1917
Russia in Revolution, 1905-1917 a) Source 2 reveals that the attitudes of the workers and soldiers in the soviets towards the provisional government in April 1917 were positive and they were willing to work with them. However they were monitoring the provisional government to make sure that they did as the soviet wanted. "The all Russian conference of the soviets of workers and soldiers deputies recognizes that this program includes the basic political demands of Russian democracy" the statement later says " and that so far the provisional government has, on the whole and in general, been fulfilling the obligations which it assumed." b) In April 1917 Lenin returned to Russia, after 1896, when he was arrested and sentenced to three years internal exile in Siberia. On his release in 1900 Lenin decided to leave Russia, and moved to Geneva in Switzerland. When Lenin returned to Russia on 3rd April, 1917, he announced what became known as the April Theses. Lenin attacked Bolsheviks for supporting the Provisional Government. Instead, he argued, revolutionaries should be telling the people of Russia that they should take control of the country. In his speech, Lenin urged the peasants to take the land from the rich landlords and the industrial workers to seize the factories. The reason why Lenin decided to return to Russia was because whilst the tsar was away on the eastern front,
Post 1917 - Bolshevik Leadership
On the 25th October, 1917, the Bolshevik party finally gained official control over the entirety of Russia. Lenin and the Bolsheviks, having previously adapted the theory of Marxism to suit the bizarre, semi-feudal society of Russia, had many high hopes regarding the implementation of socialism, and the vast improvement of living standards for the lower classes. Unfortunately, however, Lenin was prevented from applying the majority of his proposed decrees due to the actions of counter-revolutionary groups, as well as the ill-informed actions of the increasingly political lower classes. The Bolshevik party inherited from the oppressive Tsarist regime a crippled country, pushed to the threshold of economic breakdown and famine by the basic nature of Tsarism, a method of government which ruthlessly manipulated the people, and thought little of providing comforts to the upper class at the bitter expense of the working classes. World War I added yet more pressure to the already strained economy, removing most of the able-bodied young men from the Russian workforce, and leaving the country without any skilled workers to maintain industrial and agricultural production. The idea that Lenin inherited an already damaged country is the view held by many Revisionist historians, and is in a stark contrast to the views presented by most Liberal Historian. One prominent example of the
The 1917 Revolution.
The 1917 Revolution At the beginning of the year 1914 there was no good reason to expect a new revolutionary upheaval in Russia in the near future. - The authority of the Tsarist state had been restored after the disturbances of 1905-05; - The break-up of the Russian Party had become a scandal in the international Socialist movement. Party fortune was at low ebb when Lenin in January 1912 assembled a small conference of his followers and sympathizers from Russia and from Western Europe in Prague. It appointed a new central committee and condemned as "liquidators" those who did not accept the Bolshevik policies of action; a new Bolshevik newspaper, the Pravda, was founded. In 16th July 1914, the Bureau of the Socialist International, (in the hope of reconciling the Bolsheviks, Mensheviks and separate organizations of Russian Polish and Russian Jewish Socialists) in order to reunite the Russian Social Democratic Party, called a conference in Brussels. The Bolsheviks, under Lenin's direction, maintained a completely intransigent attitude; but they were isolated. Lenin's influence had indeed begun to decline and with a few more years of international peace would probably have diminished further. The Outbreak of the First World War In 1914 the European governments went to war. Bolsheviks and Mensheviks, momentarily united in a common declaration on behalf of the whole Russian
The 1917 Russian Revolution Summarised
The 1917 Russian Revolution wasn’t well organised event in which Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown and Lenin and the Bolsheviks took power. It was a series of events that took place during 1917, which entailed two separate revolutions in February and October and which eventually plunged the country into Civil War before leading to the founding of the Communist State. The cruel treatment of peasants by the wealthy Poor working conditions experienced by city workers in the industrial economy Growing sense of political and social awareness of the lower orders in general By food shortages and military failures. In 1905 Russia experienced humiliating losses in the Russo-Japanese war In the same year of the war, Tsarist troops fired upon an unarmed crowd - further dividing Nicholas II from his people. Widespread strikes, riots and the famous mutiny on the Battleship Potemkin ensued. Such was the climate in 1905 in fact that Tsar Nicholas saw fit, against his will, to cede the people their wishes. In his October Manifesto, Nicholas created Russia's first constitution and the State Duma, an elected parliamentary body. However Nicholas's belief in his divine right to rule Russia meant that he spent much of the following years fighting to undermine or strip the Duma of its powers and to retain as much autocracy as possible. The Battle of Tannenberg, the Russian army was
Russian Revolution in March 1917.
Russian Revolution in March 1917 (1) There where many reasons that led to the fall of tsarism in march 1917. One of them was tsars' incompetence and the fact that he was incapable of finding effective ministers, or of supporting those he appointed. He listened not to the Duma's advises but to his wife, friends and favorites. One friend was particularly disliked, the unsavory Rasputin. His name was Gregory Efimovitch but most people called him Rasputin, "the immortal one", a Siberian peasant who claimed to be a Starets, a holy man of God. He was a wonderer whose uncouth appearance and outrageous behavior upset St. Petersburg society. Claiming mysterious powers of prophesy and healing, he convinced the Empress that he alone could control the painful and dangerous hemophilia of her young son Alexis, heir to the throne, through hypnotism. Alexandra, the tsarina, desperately grateful since she knew that she inherited her decease to her son, believed that Gregory was sent from God. From then on Rasputin was one of the most trusted members of the court. The Tsar and the Tsarina from now on they should follow this holy man's advice. Despite the rumors, Nicholas and Alexandra were told about Rasputin's wild behavior, (that Rasputin drank heavily and had affairs with many local women) they refused to listen, and continued to put all their trust in him. Rasputin began to give
The Russian Revolutions – 1917.
The Russian Revolutions - 1917 The Tsars government had been failing for a long time, people were changing but the Tsar wasn't. Steelworkers, women and other unhappy workers demanding bread and basic foods held strikes more frequently over the last few months of the Tsar's rule. Railways didn't have enough trains for armies and cities, so often food was left to rot at stations. The moral of the Russians was very low, the war wasn't going well for them, and in March 1917 things got worse, the Tsar was forced to abdicate. Some of the Reasons the Tsars Government went badly are: * impact of World War I * the character of the Tsar Nicholas II * the Tsarina and Rasputin * food shortages and strikes . Explain how each of the above reasons contributed to the collapse of the Tsar's government. What other reasons might there have been? The impact of World War I greatly contributed to the collapse of the Tsar's government. Russia entered the war in 1914, on the side of Britain, Belgium, France, Italy and Serbia, fighting Germany, Austria, Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria. At the beginning of Russia's involvement moral was high, the soldiers all felt they were helping their country. But by December 1914 over a million men out of 14 million had died. The army was in full retreat, the soldiers had one gun between three of them, and many had no boots. In September 1915 the Tsar decided
An analysis of the power structure in Russia between February 1917 and October 1917
An analysis of the power structure in Russia between February 1917 and October 1917 The February revolution in Russia in 1917 was a spontaneous event caused by rioting, which at the start, was for economic reasons, but soon developed and took on a political nature. The revolution was not planned by either the bourgeois politicians of the Duma or by the socialist parties in Russia at that time. Once the Tsar and the old autocratic system of government had been replaced there were two separate power bases set up in Russia. These were the Provisional Government, which was made up of the Duma politicians, and the Soviets of soldiers and workers deputies, set up by the people of Russia and headed by the socialist parties. It was because of this fact that the term "dual power" is used to describe this period of Russian history. It can be argued that dual power is an apt description of this period because of the nature of the February revolution there was no clear leader of Russia. The elites, such as the Duma politicians and the Generals wanted a bourgeois lead government and the people wanted their own style of government based on the Soviets. So therefore in to the vacuum of power two types of government emerged, neither of which had the appeal or resources to assume total control. This does not mean, however, that dual power was a workable option and that it could have lasted
The February Revolution 1917 - Sources Questions
The February Revolution 1917 By Maryam Shakiba 11N .Study source A. What can you learn about events in Petrograd in early 1917? By looking at source A, I can see that in early 1917, there was a lot of tension in Petrograd. People in Petrograd were mostly peasants and workers, and so very poor. Knowing that the cost of living had trebled means that the majority of people were living in poverty as they could not afford to live well. We also know that the people were having to queue hours for food. This means there were lots of food shortages in Petrograd which inevitably meant people were starving. There was a lot of hostility in Petrograd as well. We are sure about this as we are told that the 'slightest explosion' will cause riots. Military units had a very pivotal role, as everything depended on whether they sided with the Tsar or working class. Their choice would tell us if there was going to be a revolution or everything simply subside. Having the information that the protests began without any discussions first means that everything was unplanned and very spontaneous. It also meant there was no leader either. 2. Study sources A, B and C. Do sources B and C support the evidence given in source A about the situation in Petrograd in early 1917? Explain your answer with reference to each of the sources. Source B supports what we were
