To What Extent Did Wwi Cause the Russian Revolution of 1917?

To What Extent did WWI cause The Russian Revolution of October 1917?

February 1917, Russia held a Revolution. Food shortage developed in Petrograd. This Revolution began among the vast food queues of the capital where once people were rioting, they ordered the factory workers to come out and join them. The mobs took control of public buildings and emptied the prisons. Provisional Government was formed with Alexander Kerensky joining it as Minister of War. The Tsar finally stood down asking his brother to take his place but he refused. This was a Revolution against the food shortage, autocracy and the War.

The October Revolution of 1917 happened by fait accompli. People were taken to join and support the military to help the Red Guards for the takeover. On the 25th October, the Red Guards had occupied points in the city and by the night they had advanced to the Winter Palace. By the early morning of the 26th, the members of the Provisional Government were arrested. The Moscow Soviets took control there on.

The October Revolution was only possible because of the February Revolution. This is due to a breakdown of authority. In the military, discipline began to disintegrate. In March, the Petrograd Soviet told the military to only obey orders from them and not from the Provisional Government. In April, Lenin returned from Switzerland, Germans hoping that he would cause much more disturbance in Russia. Lenin told the Bolsheviks to not help the Provisional Government and enforced a withdrawal from the War. Lenin asked workers, landowners and the military to join the Soviets and demanded the nationalization of banks. The Bolshevik committee rejected them, however it was published in a newspaper where at the all-Russian conference adopted this as its own idea. Disorder and violence spread across the country, officers were murdered and workers took over the factories and set up unions. Lenin decided that it was now time to seize power. These factors led up to the October Revolution.

Karl Marx predicted was to happen to Russia. He stated that in its medieval times of the 19th Centaury it would be Feudalism, this would lead to Capitalism, when that falls Socialism would take over then finally Communism. A Marxist believed that in order to achieve socialism, Russia would have to go through the bourgeois revolution and this would make a democratic republic then the development of Capitalism would take place and this would finally lead to a Proletarian Revolution.

A Long Term cause of the Revolution was Autocracy. The Short-term causes were the 1905 Crisis, WWI and the build up to 1917.

Because Russia was an Autocracy, it was just ruled by one man, Tsar Nicolas II. He stated that he was appointed from God to lead Russia. As the country was so backward in time with everyone else, in the 19th Centaury it was stated that it was the same as the 10th to the 14th Centaury Eastern Europe. The Tsar now abolished Serfdom in 1861 and designed a plan to bring forward Russia in time to catch up to the rest of Europe. The people segregated into three different categories; those who were for autocracy and just wanted to alter this to adapt it to the modern way of life, those who still liked autocracy but wanted to limit what power it had and adopt to the constitution, finally those who disliked autocracy and wished to get rid of it completely, these were the ideas of Karl Marx.

However, when the outbreak of the First World War came in, it brought the country more in unison. This strengthened the support for the monarchy. What was a big set back for Russia was when Turkey entered the war on the side of the Germans. The Spring Offensive of 1915 was also a disaster as Germany was able to capture Poland, which was part of Russia. The big mistake in which the Tsar made was in August 1915 when he announced that he was taking over the control of the army by himself. Now with this, any future failures of the war will be on his shoulders. It was also believed that his wife and Rasputin influenced this decision heavily. The Tsar made forbade the consumption of alcohol in Russia; this was a huge blow as Vodka was a huge source of revenue. The government made up for this by printing