The Russian Revolution: The Bolshevik Revolution

With the exception of the World Wars, the Russian Revolution was arguably the most important European incident of the 20th century. Catalysed by decades of political unrest, centuries of overall poverty, and the industrial revolution, the uprisings of 1905 and 1917 dissolved the Romanov dynasty and commenced Bolshevik rule.
Turmoil began long before Nicholas II, as unrest against the political injustices of the system had been an issue for much of the 19th century. The idea of democracy was distant to the Russian people, who were ruled over by Tsars that were likened to God. Eighty-five percent of the population was supported by agriculture. Peasants “env[ied] landowners more than anything else… [as] “capital” money [was] more precarious than

Their beliefs were inaccurate. George Gapon, an orthodox priest assassinated during Bloody Sunday had pleaded: “Sovereign, there are hundreds of thousands of us here; outwardly we resemble human beings, but in reality neither we nor the Russian people as a whole enjoy any human right, have any right to speak, to think, to assemble, to discuss our needs, or to take measures to improve our conditions.” (Gapon and Vasinov, 93) Undoubtedly, Bloody Sunday was the last large-scale attempt by Russians to bring about political change

The faith soldiers had in their generals paralleled civilians trust in the monarchy, as noted in an Army Intelligence Report from 1917: “The situation in the army has not changed and may be described as a complete lack of confidence in the officers and the higher commanding personnel.” (96) Though Lenin had just returned from exile, Bolsheviks capitalized on the mess the war had created advocating in their newspapers “the immediate cessation of war, the transfer of political and military power to the proletariat, the immediate socialization of land, and a merciless struggle against capitalists and the bourgeoisie.” (A.I.P,