The Russian Revolution: Causes and Key Turning Points

The Russian Revolution

1. Russia Before 1905 and the First Revolution

• In the early 1900s, Russia was one of the most impoverished countries in Europe, characterized by an enormous peasantry and a growing minority of poor industrial workers.
• Russia was an underdeveloped, backwards society. The Russian Empire practiced serfdom well into the 19th century, whereas it had disappeared in most of Western Europe by the end of the Middle Ages.
• In 1861, the Russian Empire finally abolished serfdom.
• Russia industrialized much later than Western Europe and the United States, leading to immense social and political changes.
• The populations of St. Petersburg and Moscow nearly doubled, resulting in destitute living conditions.
• A population boom at the end of the 19th century and a series of costly wars led to severe food shortages.
• Large protests by Russian workers against the monarchy led to the Bloody Sunday massacre of 1905, where hundreds of unarmed protesters were killed by the Tsar's troops.
• The massacre sparked the Russian Revolution of 1905.

2. The Tsar's Response After 1905

• After the bloodshed, Tsar Nicholas II promised the formation of the Duma.
• Russia entered World War I in August 1914, but their involvement soon proved disastrous.
• Russian casualties were the highest of any nation. Food and fuel shortages worsened as inflation increased, and the economy was disrupted by the war effort.
• Most Russians lost faith in the failed leadership of the Tsar. Government corruption was rampant, and Nicholas repeatedly dissolved the Duma whenever it opposed his will.

3. The February and Bolshevik Revolutions

The February Revolution

• Demonstrators demanding bread took to the streets of Petrograd. The protesters clashed with the police but refused to leave.
• The Duma formed a provisional government on March 12. A few days later, Tsar Nicholas abdicated the throne, ending centuries of Romanov rule.
• The leader of the provisional government established a liberal program of rights, including freedom of speech, equality before the law, and the right of unions to organize and strike.
• As Minister of War, Kerensky continued the Russian war effort, which exacerbated the country's problems.

The October Revolution

• Leftist revolutionaries led by Bolshevik Party leader Vladimir Lenin launched a coup d’état against the Duma's provisional government.
• The provisional government had been assembled by leaders from Russia’s bourgeois capitalist class. Lenin instead called for a Soviet government ruled directly by councils of soldiers, peasants, and workers.
• The Bolsheviks soon formed a new government with Lenin as its head. Lenin became the dictator of the world’s first communist state.