Question

What was the Russian Revolutions with Czar Nicholas II?

Answer 1

The February revolution of 1917 and the events that followed were major causes of political change in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century.  From the 4th to the 12th of March there were strikes in Petrograd in places such as factories were their families demanded a wage increase because they could not afford food. In this situation the employers refused to pay the employees so the workers went on strike. On the 8th of March people were locked out from the factories they needed to work, this meant they could not afford to live. The people demanded change and this lead to many strikes. The Petrograd (They changed the city’s name from St Petersburg to Petrograd in 1914) workers started ripping down statues of the Tsar. Then the Tsar demands his army to kill the protestors but the army refuses and joins the protestors. The Romanovs are now in house arrest. The Duma which was created in the October Manifesto in 1905 to share power with the Tsar is now in complete control. From February 1917 to October 1917 the Duma (provisional government) was in charge of Russia. And then you have the corresponding soviets. These groups put influence on the provisional government to help the workers survive during these tough times.  There were various types of socialists; the main ones were the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks do not want to work with the provisional government. The leader of the Bolsheviks was Vladimir Lenin. The leader of the provisional government was Alexander Kerensky. Kerensky was a past member of the socialist group, the Mensheviks. The people of Russia are frustrated and are angry at the provisional government because there is still conscription and they’re still losing World War One. They have a terrible economy, the people of Russia are starving there are humongous strikes and riots taking place. Lenin who was exiled to Switzerland after the social democrats doesn’t fund the Bolsheviks, comes back in April 1917.The German’s fund him and get him back to Russia on a train. Initially the Germans love the idea of Bolshevism and Lenin because he represents the idea that Russia will get out of the war. In July, the workers of Petrograd took to the streets and demanded all power to the soviets. This was the chance for the Bolsheviks to take over but Lenin did not support it right away. He didn’t want a revolution. Lenin was then exiled to Finland and Trotsky was arrested. The first Bolshevik revolution was crushed. Then in August the military tries to take over the provisional government. Kerensky, the provisional leader falls back and gets the Bolsheviks to defend him. Many of the Bolsheviks were the soldiers, the navy officers, the workers. These people were called up to defend to city of Petrograd. Kerensky now owes the provisional government’s life to the Bolsheviks. So he releases Trotsky out of jail and then Lenin comes back from Finland. And then by September to near October the Bolsheviks see their chance. The October Revolution of 1917 was a major cause for political change in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. Leon Trotsky and Lenin planned this revolution. They took control of the soviets which were the majority in the major cities. They did this to overthrow the provisional government.  At the end of October 1917 the Soviet Union is created and the provisional government is overthrown and Lenin is the leader of the Soviet Union.