The Russian Revolution

The Russian Revolution took place in 1917. It was led by Vladimir Lenin. The word revolution means change so obviously the Russians had a revolution because they wanted a change in their nation. The Russian Revolution had taken place during World War I. It was Czar Nicholas II that brought Russia into the war. While the Russians were cold and starving in the years 1916-1917, Nicholas just kept sending troops to war. That is one reason for why people wanted a change in the government. They didn't want to keep starving. That wasn't the worst part. The Russian economy was going downhill at the time. With food shortages, the prices for food went up. This led workers to go on strike so that their wages would increase. In 1917, those who were on strike marched through the streets of Petrograd breaking shop windows and yelling out anti-war slogans. Peasants were also greatly affected because they were already poor.

While the Russians were starving at home, the troops were dying at war. Since Russians weren't equipped with the necessary supplies they needed to fight at war, many troops were dying, getting injured, and getting captured by the enemy. How were they supposed defeat the enemy if their military skills and equipment were lacking? The Russians probably had this in their heads during the Russian Revolution. I don't blame them for deciding to revolt. Nicholas II left the throne in February 1917. This tells us that a main cause of the revolution had to do with the way Russia's condition was politically. Their condition economically wasn't so great either. Vladimir Lenin created the slogan "Peace, Land, and Bread" because he promised Russia these three things. He promised them peace because the Russians weren't at rest. They were fighting World War I for a few years now. Lenin promised them land because having land back then allowed you to be successful. It was essential. Lenin promised Russia bread because, as I said before, they were in a famine, meaning there were food shortages. They were suffering through starvation.

Causes for WWI

World War I broke out in the year 1914. Like all other wars in history, there were reasons for why World War I started. One of those reasons was militarism. Militarism can be defined as the belief that a strong military force is beneficial. During the years before the war, some countries in Europe built large armies and navies and powerful military officers took charge of the civil authorities. The militaries of each country had also planned mobilization during this time as well. Because of these secret battle plans, other countries began to spy on. The results of this were that there was an increase in the hatred and the fear from one country to another. With countries organizing and preparing for war, of course other countries would start to fear you. They would also want to prepare themselves as well while also trying to make sure that their ways of preparing were better than the other country's ways of preparing for war.

Another cause of World War I was nationalism. Nationalism is loyalty and pride for one's own country. Many countries in Europe had a lot of pride in themselves. They believed that they were better than other countries. Germany was one of the countries that showed their pride by making nationalistic speeches and text. When the other countries in Europe heard about this, they wanted to show Germany that they were not better than them. They wanted Germany to lose the feeling of national superiority.

One of the other causes of World War I was the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand on June 28, 1914. He was assassinated during his visit to Sarajevo by a Serbian nationalist. This had angered the people of Austria-Hungary because Ferdinand was the heir to the Austrian throne. They considered the assassination an open attack from Serbia. Now Austria wanted to make sure that Serbia was no longer a threat to Austria, but they knew that if they were to start a war with Serbia, they would need the support of Germany. Germany agreed to help Austria because they believed that Austria was an ally of Germany.