Was the October Revolution inevitable

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                           Linsey Misik

Was the October Revolution inevitable?

By

Linsey Misik

The events leading up to the October revolution help give us insight into what the reasons for it were and why it was successful.  However to understand whether or not the revolution was inevitable we need to focus on the influence of the political activists. Other key pressures on Russia were the cultural and social climates at the time which closely link to Alexander II reforms in the nineteenth century.  Another important factor was Russia’s domestic policies at the time and the economic failures; highlighted with the wars Russia had pursued with disastrous effects. This will provide us with an in depth knowledge of the time before the revolution involving many of the historian’s viewpoints who have researched this time in Russian history. Other arguments involve the dichotomy of historical controversies that relate to this time period is the idea that Russia’s new found economic growth before 1914 could have modernised industrial society without the bad affects of WWI or the opposition that states that the Tsar system was too inflexible and corrupt. The interesting and varied opinions to the build up of the revolution will give us an opportunity to take a closer look at this time.  


Tsar-Martyr Nicholas IIRussia’s October Revolution occurred on ,  (, ) therefore it is necessary to look at the background leading to this event. Russia had been ruled by an aristocrat tsar since 1547, he had been supported by the religious belief that he had been chosen to reign by god; this was the commonly held belief by the majority of his royal subjects and of course by himself. During the reign of Alexander II (1855-81) there had been some advancement in the introduction of the Duma (parliament). It was introduced allowing some reformers to hope that that the future was in that of a constitutional monarchy. These hopes were dashed with the succession of Alexander the III as he publicly confessed to ‘uphold the principle of autocracy’. With the support of the powerful Romanov church he felt that his position was unmovable. He also had support from the peasants who loved the tsar as ‘their father’ and the ‘Rights’ and ‘Octobrists’ who supported him in the Duma. However he lost support when a peaceful demonstration to present a petition demanding better food and working conditions at the Tsar’s Winter Palace resulted in a massacre coined ‘Bloody Sunday’. Their had been considerable support (around 80,000 picketers) for this movement lead by George Gapon  who witness the massacre that ensued at the hands of the Tsar and wrote ‘a new chapter was opened in the book of history of our people’ which signalled the 1905 revolution. This had been a common theme in Russian history which had included various movements aimed at overthrowing the oppressive government, the most pertinent being the 1825 revolt and 1905 revolution.

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The opposition to the Tsardom and revolutionary movement in Russia began with the Decembrists in 1825. Many of the agitators were Jacobin in politics and avoided advocating constitutional aims with the majority remaining loyal to the Tsar and  Nicholas the II _                                      his government.  Further along we see the rise of                                                             the populist movement (Narodnichestvo) with inspiration from Herzen’s writings (1812-70), a leading revolutionary writer, and a ...

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