What was the Russian Revolution?

Answer 1

There were actually three revolutions in Russia between 1905 and 1918. They started as protests against the repressive government of the Tsar (Emperor) and ultimately led to the formation of the Soviet Union, the world's first "communist" country.

The first was the 1905 Revolution. Russia had just lost a major war with Japan, even though Japan was considered the young underdog in that war. Additionally, Russia was a backwards country that was struggling to modernize, and it wasn't going smoothly. Protests became more frequent- and then one protest turned bloody when soldiers shot at a crowd of protestors that got too close to one of the Tsar's palaces. Protests and violence became more prevalent until the Tsar finally had to relent and allow changes to the government, like the formation of a legislature and a constitution. However, although the Tsar technically did follow through on his promises, the legislature proved to be weak and ineffective, and the new constitution was also considered insufficient by some groups. So nothing really changed.

In February 1917, the so-called February Revolution began. World War I was raging across Europe. While Russia was still suffering from a lot of the same problems they had in 1905, they were now also doing poorly in the war. The Russian Army kept losing major battles to the Germans, and the war also caused widespread shortages of food, fuel, and other resources. The Tsar decided to go to the front and command the army personally- but he was not a good commander and only made things worse. Additionally, his unpopular wife tried to run the government in his absence- but she did poorly at that too (it didn't help that she was originally from Germany, and a lot of Russians thought she was a German spy). Protests and strikes began again, and got larger. Eventually the Tsar ordered soldiers to shoot the protesters- but the soldiers joined the protests instead. With his government in chaos, the Tsar was forced to abdicate (quit) his position. A republic was set up in St. Petersburg, which was renamed Petrograd; the new government is commonly called the Provisional Government. At the same time, Communists and Socialists formed the Petrograd Soviet ("soviet" means "council") as a rival government; this led to the "dual power", where the Soviet and the Provisional governments struggled against each other to control all of Russia.

The third and final one was the October Revolution, sometimes called Red October, in early November 1917*. It was a very complicated affair, so this is just a short-ish summary: the Provisional Government had difficulty fixing the problems left by the Tsar, and, worse still, insisted on continuing fighting in World War I despite the war's widespread unpopularity with the Russian people. Bolshevik radicals led strikes against Provisional while also spreading their own influence in the Soviet. Over the summer, mass strikes and protests further weakened the Provisional. Then, in September, the Provisional made a critical mistake- in brief, a high-ranking military commander named Kornilov tried to eliminate the Soviet, against the advice of the Provisional's leader, Alexander Kerensky. Kerensky claimed that Kornilov was trying to overthrow the government and make himself dictator- so Kerensky asked the Bolsheviks to make an army and stop Kornilov. The Bolsheviks did, and were able to defeat Kornilov- but in so doing, also made themselves very popular and powerful, while Kerensky had alienated his own military, so that it no longer trusted him. Shortly thereafter, in the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks largely bloodlessly overthrew the Provisional Government and took control of the country. However, various groups arose to fight against the Bolsheviks, and some parts of the country tried to break away- starting the Russian Civil War, which would last about five years and end with victory for the Bolsheviks.

* At that time, Russia used an older style of calendar that most of the rest of the world stopped using in the 1700s. So while it was early November in the rest of the world, for Russia it was still the end of October.

Answer 2

There were actually three revolutions in Russia between 1905 and 1918. They started as protests against the repressive government of the Tsar (Emperor) and ultimately led to the formation of the Soviet Union, the world's first "communist" country.

The first was the 1905 Revolution. Russia had just lost a major war with Japan, even though Japan was considered the young underdog in that war. Additionally, Russia was a backwards country that was struggling to modernize, and it wasn't going smoothly. Protests became more frequent- and then one protest turned bloody when soldiers shot at a crowd of protestors that got too close to one of the Tsar's palaces. Protests and violence became more prevalent until the Tsar finally had to relent and allow changes to the government, like the formation of a legislature and a constitution. However, although the Tsar technically did follow through on his promises, the legislature proved to be weak and ineffective, and the new constitution was also considered insufficient by some groups. So nothing really changed.

In February 1917, the so-called February Revolution began. World War I was raging across Europe. While Russia was still suffering from a lot of the same problems they had in 1905, they were now also doing poorly in the war. The Russian Army kept losing major battles to the Germans, and the war also caused widespread shortages of food, fuel, and other resources. The Tsar decided to go to the front and command the army personally- but he was not a good commander and only made things worse. Additionally, his unpopular wife tried to run the government in his absence- but she did poorly at that too (it didn't help that she was originally from Germany, and a lot of Russians thought she was a German spy). Protests and strikes began again, and got larger. Eventually the Tsar ordered soldiers to shoot the protesters- but the soldiers joined the protests instead. With his government in chaos, the Tsar was forced to abdicate (quit) his position. A republic was set up in St. Petersburg, which was renamed Petrograd; the new government is commonly called the Provisional Government. At the same time, Communists and Socialists formed the Petrograd Soviet ("soviet" means "council") as a rival government; this led to the "dual power", where the Soviet and the Provisional governments struggled against each other to control all of Russia.

The third and final one was the October Revolution, sometimes called Red October, in early November 1917*. It was a very complicated affair, so this is just a short-ish summary: the Provisional Government had difficulty fixing the problems left by the Tsar, and, worse still, insisted on continuing fighting in World War I despite the war's widespread unpopularity with the Russian people. Bolshevik radicals led strikes against Provisional while also spreading their own influence in the Soviet. Over the summer, mass strikes and protests further weakened the Provisional. Then, in September, the Provisional made a critical mistake- in brief, a high-ranking military commander named Kornilov tried to eliminate the Soviet, against the advice of the Provisional's leader, Alexander Kerensky. Kerensky claimed that Kornilov was trying to overthrow the government and make himself dictator- so Kerensky asked the Bolsheviks to make an army and stop Kornilov. The Bolsheviks did, and were able to defeat Kornilov- but in so doing, also made themselves very popular and powerful, while Kerensky had alienated his own military, so that it no longer trusted him. Shortly thereafter, in the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks largely bloodlessly overthrew the Provisional Government and took control of the country. However, various groups arose to fight against the Bolsheviks, and some parts of the country tried to break away- starting the Russian Civil War, which would last about five years and end with victory for the Bolsheviks.

* At that time, Russia used an older style of calendar that most of the rest of the world stopped using in the 1700s. So while it was early November in the rest of the world, for Russia it was still the end of October.

Answer 3

The Russian Revolution was in 1917. Russia was the last European nation to have serfs. The people were discontented with the autocratic government and World War I drains on the economy was the last straw. Vladimir Lenin led a Revolution to overthrow the government. The Romanov family was captured and killed. Russia dropped out of World War I as the Communists took power and reorganized government.