Bolshevik Revolution Russia\'s 1917 Revolution

Bolshevik Revolution

Russia's 1917 Revolution was a regular continuation of Russian political and social crisis which was caused by two wars waged by Russian empire in the beginning of the 20th century (Russo-Japanese 1904-1905 and World War I 1914-1918).

Speaking about this great and at the same time tragic event we have remember that this revolution had a great impact on world history as it had formed absolutely new kind of a state which had unique political, social and economical structure. Sure, there are absolutely different points-of-view on this event but I would try to be as objective in this paper as possible as Russian Revolution is an extremely uneasy essay which could be considered neither simply positive nor negative.

To begin with we have to remember the main reasons of the first Russian Revolution (1905-1907), which "was the great school or in Lenin's phrase, "the dress rehearsal" of the Revolution of 1917" Leon Trotsky wrote (in Defense of the Russian Revolution). Russia's 1905 revolution was caused by the following reasons: Russian peasants and workers lived and worked in terrible conditions and nearly all of them were not satisfied with their living conditions. At the same time unpopular Russo-Japanese war strengthened social contradictions between the aristocracy and the majority of citizens. Moreover, the majority of Russians wanted to create a real democratic society and receive guaranteed civil liberties as they were convinced that outdated political system of Russian empire had an urgent need in democratic reforms in order to build civil state and provide effective domestic and foreign policy.

Czar Nicholas II was not an effective ruler and was not able to improve the situation as he didn't have political will, didn't have emperor's charisma and was short-eyed politician. His surrounding was unqualified men too and neither they nor he had a clear idea about the situation in the country as they lived in the world of luxury. Domestic and foreign policy caused nation's anger and disrespect both in the eyes of own people and foreigners. As a result, Russian defeats and casualties on the WWI battlefields became a culminating point of Russian troubled times - the March Revolution began. Ultimately, Czar's rule was replaced and two main powers appeared: Provisional Government which consisted of wealthy elite and local Soviets which represented the majority of population. As the matter of fact Russians got disappointed with Provisional Government for many reasons. First of all that government continued participating in WWI and did nothing to stop it while practically all citizens suffered wartime troubles and wished taking their state out of the absurd war. Also Provisional Government was weak and had no real support either among citizens or in the army, so when Bolsheviks attacked it there was nobody to defend it. Russians realized that Provisional Government provided the same policy Czar did and it became clear that March Revolution could not solve all problems of Russian society so social instability continued.