The Russian Revolution of 1917 stands to be one with a lot of significance in the 20th century. The revolution changed the outlook of the government and the general life of the Russian citizens. The events that marked the revolution came as a result of the conflict of the First World War in which Russia had to adopt a new strategy of remaining in the list of the powerful countries in the map of the world (Fitzpatrick, 2017). At the beginning of World War I, Russia got into the war with too much vigor. However, their enthusiasms could not hold long enough as they had lost artillery supplies and there were too many casualties in their army. Russia did not have a proper strategy to counter its losses, but more significantly it suffered poor leadership (Lentini 1996). At that point in time, Tsar Nicholas II had control over the army and the overall bureaucracy. He did not want to share power, and as a result, people began to question his leadership.
The key factor in the Russian Revolution was World War I because many of the Russian armies were killed in the war. This made the Russians vulnerable and as a result, opt for a revolution to awaken their presence in the world. Another cause for the revolution was the poor leadership and the mistakes that were made by Tsar who was widely blamed for the many defeats which befell Russian army under his power. The army got fed up and decided to leave him. On 8th March 1917, Russians took to the streets in Petrograd protesting against the war and the shortage of food (Lentini 1996). Tsar called unto the soldiers to go to Petrograd and stop the riots, but even the soldiers refused to stop the riots (Fitzpatrick, 2017). The political instability marred with poor leadership continued until Tsar was overthrown.
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Another cause of the Revolution was the spread of communism all across the world. This made Russia rethink of a way in which they could still have relevance in the world’s leadership. The division of the world into camps of capitalists and communists during the cold world war made the Russians place themselves on the front in the camps of communism (Figes, 2017). Finally, the complete transformation of the Russian government, economy, the general society and the subsequent end of the autocratic rule put Russia at a better place to handle the Revolution with much ease.
The events of the revolution brought significant impact not only to the Russian people but the whole world. The Soviet Union that came as a result of the revolution created great significance regarding the unity of powerful countries and how they would rule the entire world. The revolution led to a new way of thinking about the government, the economy and the society (Figes, 2017). The revolution led to a change in government from the autocratic rule to a more democratic one. Of more significance, it led to an end of a dynasty which had lasted for three hundred years. The Tsar got replaced with a Council of People’s Commissars. There was also an abolishment of the private ownership.
Lastly, the movement of the communists gradually spread throughout the world creating fear amongst the capitalist countries. However, Communism did pass the test of time as it finally collapsed. Even so, the existence of communism was enough proof that the Revolution was a major event for the Russian people in the twentieth century. Concerning economy, the revolution made the Russian people start engaging in a more robust way of improving the economy. This witnessed a gradual improvement of economic stability. Apart from the economy, Russia began to settle injustices which had come as a result of the differences in the social class.
References
Figes, O. (2017). A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891-1924 . Random House.
Fitzpatrick, S. (2017). The Russian Revolution . Oxford University Press.
Lentini, P. (1996). The rise of the Russian democrats: the causes and consequences of the elite revolution.
