So in October 1917 the Bolsheviks replaced the Coalition Government. This is known as the October Revolution. However, all the problems the Coalition Government faced did not disappear and on top of that Lenin was facing huge opposition from the Soviets, which even became a civil war. The Bolsheviks overcame the struggles of the first 6 months after the October Revolution by simply giving in into the worker’s and peasant’s requests. This was one of the party’s policies that were based on Lenin’s April thesis.
These consist of firstly, his encouragement of the revolution in 1917 through his confidence in his theory and timing. He then, in January of 1918 supported Trotsky opposed to Lenin in the conscription of the Red Army rather than depending on volunteers and also dissolved his promised Constituent Assembly in his refusal to share power- crucial to succeed in their aim of dictatorship. In March of that year he, much to the rest of the country’s distaste due to the severe demands, insisted on the signing of the Treaty of Brest Litovsk on the back of their withdrawal from WW! ; knowing that peace was essential for their survival. Lenin then ensured their victory in the Civil War with his establishment of War Communism and the use of terror.
The Germans, who continued making territorial gains (marked 2), eventually began aiding the pro-Tsarist White Russian forces, attempting to stem the very revolt they had helped to foster. However the damage to the Russian infrastructure was too great, and the "White" Russians were eventually forced from power by the "Red" Communists. The treaty of Brest-Litovsk was finally concluded with the new Bolshevik government on March 3, 1918, stripping their country of all provinces west of the Ukraine. That treaty was annulled by the Armistice of November 11, and the new government in Moscow eventually re-established its presence in all of the previously held lands. Ironically, one of the lasting actions by the Bolsheviks was the attempted indoctrination of German prisoners-of-war.
Lenin was exiled by Tsar Nicholas as an extremist and only made his way back to liberate Russia due to the First World War, in which he managed to sneak through the German frontline to help lead the Bolshevik uprising. At this moment in time the Provisional Government had already taken control after the popular revolution that had led to Tsar Nicholas’ abdication from the throne and eventual murder. However upon his return the role of liberator was immediately taken up with his April Theses aimed to gain support of the populace and put more sway behind the Bolshevik party, timely named “Peace, Bread Land.” In which he addressed the major issues of the population and the Proletariat whom he which knew would be the ones to help reach the end of capitalism due to the Marxist guidelines to the life line of capitalist society. This stance on policies also managed to place partisanship into Russia through opposing the Provisional Government on anything that was said. As Maxim Gorky said then “Lenin is a gifted man who has all the qualities of a leader”.
The key defendants that were removed were Trotsky, Kamenev, Buhkarin, Yagoda and Zinoviev. This was significant in allowing Stalin to establish his personal dictatorship as they removed all of Stalin’s rivals from the 1920’s thus creating fear among the USSR showing that if you did anything that Stalin disliked, your life would be in danger, particularly because these people had been in positions of power therefore people obeyed all of Stalin’s orders. This lead to the wider terror among ordinary people. They were denounces, arrested and sent to Gulags by the NKVD. It is estimated that between 1934-8, 20 million Russians were sent to these gulags.
The peace of the mighty proved that to be wrong. The German Army in the field, although battered was still formidable in the eyes of the German leadership. They had gone to the peace table hoping for scraps and got the business end of the newspaper. The German Peace Delegation was forced to assume blame for the war, and then sit helplessly by as territories it felt were largely inhabited with Germans were made part of other states. The Germans had come to the table hoping to hear Wilson saying, “the equality of nations upon which peace much be founded on if it is to last must be an equality of rights..” (German Peace Delegation, p. 76) Instead they were hit with several Billion reichmarks in reparations, a reduced military and many other limitations politically, economically, militarily and territory wise (The Versailles Treaty, 1918).
During this time, Russian cities were dying because all the workers and peasants were focused on rebelling against the government and seizing the land of their landlords, instead of working in the factories and living the life of a peasant or urban worker. The Russian Revolution of 1905 only decreased the strength of the empire further but a positive outcome for the people of Russia was instituted. Sergei Witte suggested an elected legislative assembly and after the Revolution of 1905, The Duma, a parliamentary institution, was established. Although the Revolution was officially over, violence and tension continued,
A crucial quantity of Russians had lost their faith on Czar Nicholas II leadership, believing that ceding his command would lead them for more efficacious war outcomes. In January 9th, 1917, over 14,000 workers decided to strike in Petrograd, immortalizing the Bloody Sunday. The situation became worse in February 22nd, 1917, when more than 100 thousand workers decided to strike in the Petrograd, and the Duma reassemble, deciding to be in favor of the population and attack the government. It became known as the February Revolution, in behalf of more and more people joining the cause; in order to reorganize Russia to an enfranchised and fair
In reaction to this, he shut down the assembly in order to keep power for himself. In doing so it was one of the first actions he took which portrayed some similarities to that of the Tsar, but he defended his actions declaring Russia needed to be told what to do in order to live the communist ways, or as it was called ‘dictatorship of proletariat.’ However Lenin did manage to win some of the Russian approval. Another immediate effect of the revolution was on the 8th of November he made a speech in the hopes of gaining the support of masses throughout Russia in order to establish control everywhere. In his speech he promised the land was to be given to the peasants and seized from the rich. This pleased a lot of people as the population had 80% peasants.
The War also had massive social and economic impacts on Russia that resulted in a strike that ended with a revolution. The Tsar going to the front was the start of the clear path that lead to the revolution in February 1917; he had left his wife the Tsarina in charge of Russia and relied on her to tell him how things were going at home. While police reports in 1916 were saying that the country was in complete social unrest, on the brink of a revolution, while the Tsarina was sending letters to the Tsar saying that the unrest was merely some of the population acting like a bunch of teenagers and they would get over it. The Tsarist Autocratic system had managed to survive a revolution in 1905 but now that the Tsar did not really know what was happening it was doubtful that there wouldn’t be a revolution soon. The Brussolov offensive caused a major blow to Russia because the Tsarina advised the Tsar not to send any troops to the north as Rasputin had foreseen their failure in the north.