SA Russian Revolution by ÁFRICA AMOR

Introduction

4843902 — 2024-10-24 08:33:40 UTC

At the beginning of the 20th century Russia was a backward country, very unequal, with a large population very poor and a small part very rich. It suffered a deep economic crisis and was ruled by an absolutist monarchy (then led by Tsar Nicholas II) that was extremely unpopular.

It was also one of the most impoverished countries in Europe, with a huge peasant population and a growing minority of poor industrial workers. It was an essentially rural state (80% of the population lived in the countryside). There was a high percentage of landless peasants, impoverished and receptive to revolutionary ideas. Much of Western Europe considered Russia an underdeveloped and backward society.

Revolution of 1905

4843902 — 2024-10-24 08:34:00 UTC

This revolution was started by several factors, one of them being the economic crisis of 1902-1903 which caused many protests, and the most influential was the Russian defeat by Japan in 1904.

There were cases of terrorism, workers' strikes, peasant riots and military mutinies - no one was satisfied with the regime of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. The revolution led to the establishment of a limited constitutional monarchy and the Imperial Duma.

Some of the most important events of this revolution were: the Bloody Sunday massacre, the assassination of Grand Duke Sergei, the mutiny on the battleship Potemkin...

This revolution began on 9 January (22 according to the current calendar) 1905, a demonstration that was repressed by the Tsarist regime and was the ‘dress rehearsal’ for the Russian October Revolution of 1917.

World War I

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It all started because Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, which was an ally of Russia, causing Russia to enter World War I in support of Serbia.

During the war they won 22 out of 55 battles: some of them were: the Battle of Galicia, the Warsaw-Ivangorod operation, the battles in Mazuria and Prasnysh, the Brusilov Offensive, etc. Russia was loyal to its allies and usually helped its Triple Entente (initially Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy) partners.

In November 1917 the Bolsheviks took power in the October Revolution; in December they signed an armistice with the Central Empires, and in March 1918 they signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which ended Russia's participation in the war.

February Revolution of 1917

4843902 — 2024-10-24 08:34:13 UTC

On 24 February 1917 the February Revolution began in Russia in which the Russian people tried to free themselves from their Tsar and was characterised by uprisings and strikes by the workers and peasants. They formed the first organs of power independent of state control: the Soviets and, in particular, the St. Petersburg Soviet. The conflict caused a shortage of peasant labour, which led to food shortages and famine for most of the population.

This revolution caused the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, put an end to the Russian monarchy and led to the formation of a provisional government. Its victory led to the creation of the USSR, the first communist state in history. This revolution was a reaction to the Tsar's policies, his decision to refuse to grant liberalising political reforms and Russia's participation in World War I.

October Revolution of 1917

4843902 — 2024-10-24 08:34:24 UTC

The October Revolution was the second phase of the Russian Revolution of 1917, which ended czarism and brought the Bolsheviks to power. It also led to the civil war between communists and counter-revolutionaries, which ended with the birth of the USSR. The Provisional Government's insistence on continuing the war prevented the implementation of the far-reaching reforms demanded by the population. The economic crisis, which had worsened since the summer, the threat of the front for soldiers in the capital, disillusionment over the lack of government reforms and the support of most parties for the Provisional Government favoured the Bolsheviks. In the absence of reforms, the Bolshevik programme quickly gained supporters in the autumn of 1917.

Some consequences of this revolution were the fall of the Provisional Government, the creation of Soviet Russia, the beginning of the Russian civil war...

Russian Civil War

4843902 — 2024-10-24 08:34:33 UTC

The Russian Civil War was a multiple armed conflict that took place between 1917 and 1923 on the territory of the dissolved Russian Empire, between the new Bolshevik government and its Red Army and on the other side the military of the former Tsarist army, grouped in the so-called White Movement, composed of conservatives and liberals. All sides had temporary allies, the Red Army often with leftists and revolutionary groups, and the White Army forces with many foreign armies (mainly the United States, Japan, France and the British Empire).

The result was the victory of the Bolshevik side in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Transcaucasia, Central Asia, Tuva and Mongolia.

Some consequences were: the break-up of the Russian Empire, the birth of the Soviet Union, the Mongol revolution of 1921, the creation of the New Economic Policy.

Creation of the USSR (until 1927)

4843902 — 2024-10-24 08:34:40 UTC

The Soviet Union, officially called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was a federal socialist state spread across Eastern Europe and Northern Asia, composed of several Soviet Socialist Republics.

Through the use of terror, Lenin consolidated the rule of the Communist Party throughout Tsarist Russia and was able to officially found the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) on 30 December 1922. Nominally, it was a federation of different republics governed by soviets.

The creation of the USSR brought the population electricity and industrial development. In this way, the Soviet Union became the second largest economy in the world, after the United States. Its industrial output rose from 5.5 percent to 20 percent between 1913 and 1980.