* Lost terriorty in Poland & Western Russia – PG were blamed for losses just like the Tsar was when took charge. * War made finical problems – Inflation still a problem and food shortages were high. * Russia expected these things to be stored out – PG short-lived because they were full of empty promises. Promised land reform to the peasants ( made up a large amount of the population , Bolshevik priority was to keep them on their side) no action was taken * Couldn’t guarantee food supplies as because soviet controlled the railways. * Political reform also promised political reform in an attempt to stop the revolutionaries but no action was taken.
This meant that ordered were not issued promptly due to disagreements. The second White weakness was their army. It was not one collective unit but was split up all over Russia. This meant that no fast, powerful offensive could ever be mounted. The individual armies were nowhere near as strong as the Bolsheviks united army and therefore, in battles the whites would always loose.
This basic form of opposition was never truly effective as their actions were simply put down by the government partly due to their failure to unite and lack of ideology and political demands. This was, however, not the only internal opposition to Tsar Alexander II with the “Going to the People” movement emerging in 1874. Here young members of the Russia intelligentsia went to the peasants breaching to them about their ideas about how life should be lived. This proved unsuccessful, they failed to appeal to the peasantry and the regime managed to arrest members showing them to be ineffective at this point. However, the populist movement developed from here, eventually splitting into two groups; the Black Partition and the People’s Will.
There were a lot of different factors in 1917 which were not there in 1905 some of these factors strongly suggest why Tsarism was abolished in 1917 but not the years before. Some of the events that occurred where World War One which had a catastrophic impact on Russia at the time, the lack of Faith in the Tsar as he had lost one war before and was losing another, the lack of faith in reforms such as the October Manifesto as that was revoked after only a few years and the lack of military conduct as the Cossacks the Tsars most loyal and ruthless troops left him as they wanted change like everybody else. World War One was defiantly one of the main factors that caused the fall of the Tsar as it truly showed to everyone that he was a terrible Country leader as people were dying in the city’s, because they had no food, fuel in 1905 life never got that tough for the people as they had enough to survive but as all the transport links where being used for moving the military so food was left on the docks to rot, as the people in the city’s had no food people started to start Bread riots to try to get the Tsars attention as they really had no food and it was there last resort. Furthermore people had no clean Living and working conditions a lot worse than before. These Factors started to turn everyone against the Tsar as they could see how terrible he really was and how much he wasn’t helping the country or its people which finally lead the end of the Tsar.
Many historians have said Alexander II was considering the formation of a parliament in Russia. Furthermore, the assassination caused Alexander III to rule in reactionary nature in which many counter-reforms were created to limit the impact of the Great Reforms done by his father. This supports the view that the People’s Will were highly unsuccessful, even in the taking out of Alexander II. It can be said that the only example in this period of effective political opposition was the October 1917 revolution, where, unquestionably, the Bolsheviks took power and let their political vision be known. They were extremely successful in both the short term and the long term.
The lack of unity opposition possessed was a key factor in its failure throughout the period. Division in opinion and ideology were consistent problems for opposition, which only fully united in the February revolution. Even then there were still divisions in opinion, however there was one common cause to unite behind. Other attributing factors such as heavy repression by rulers, well timed reforms and the continuing use of military force ultimately meant that opposition to Russian Governments was rarely successful in the 1855-1964. The peasantry were consistent opponents of Russian Government throughout the period, yet were rarely successful in doing so.
As long as the tsar had his army he was unconquerable. For fighting in the First World War the tsar had to pay a high price for his army: Many soldiers got killed and the others soldiers were disappointed in the tsar and joined the group of the supporters of a revolution. During his absence in Russia, for he was taking the role as a general in the army, rumors spread that the tsarina, the tsar’s wife, had an affair with Rasputin, a mysterious man who was playing an important role in the royal family, and that Rasputin was involved in important political actions. For the Russian people it was antipathy. The power of the tsar collapsed and a man named Vladimir Ilich Lenin received the attention of the Russian people.
i) Lenin’s role in the Bolshevik consolidation of power. The Coalition government, that had been in place since the February Revolution of 1917, had to face more and more problems. The Kornilov Affair and the July Days did not go to their best interest, and their popularity was simply going down the sewer by October. It was exactly that month that Lenin thought the time to be right for a Bolshevik takeover. So in October 1917 the Bolsheviks replaced the Coalition Government.
It is without a doubt that the great war was a major factor for the outbreak of the February revolution in 1917, however many other factors have to be taken into consideration when dealing with a complex issue such as this. Issues such as the decisions made by Tsar Nicholas II whilst in power, the lack of political reform since the October manifesto was issued in 1905, the socio-economic position of the proletariat which was ever worsening and the fact that this revolution was much more organized than the 1905 revolution all contributed to the outbreak of the February revolution. When Russia mobilised against Germany on its western front, families were to each send a male who was capable of fighting to conscript in the Russian military. The Russian military at the time was poorly trained and equipped compared to that of Germany. Russian train infrastructure was relatively new and underdeveloped, when war broke out the rail lines were used to transport troops and supplies for war, food shortages in cities were afflicting the masses, this caused discontent at home.
Importance of Lenin in the Russian Revolution During 1917 way up north in the freezing cold Russia, there was a period of time in which the Russian politics and ideology were in chaos and the governmental power was unbalanced and disorganized. These period of time was known as the Russian Revolution. However besides this, the Russian Revolution itself was a series of revolutions that destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. Many leaders influenced the development of this revolution, however, in this occasion, I’m going to evaluate the importance of Lenin in the Russian Revolution. The Russian Revolution was divided into two other revolutions, The February Revolution and The October Revolution.