The Russian Civil War began in the wake of the collapse of the provisional government. The Russian Civil War (1917–23) was just beginning in 1918. Lenin and the Bolsheviks were seen to have taken control of Russia, and Lenin pulled Russia out of the war with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk signed in March 1918. This was a cruel treaty which the Russians had to sign. Trotsky was given the task of negotiating with the Germans.
To understand and identify the aspects of the totalitarian system in both countries it's important to consider both countries history. On November the 11th 1918 Germany agreed to signed the Armistice. After Germany was forced to accept Versailles agreement by accepting guilt for WW 1. As a consequence the German people were demotivated and had no confidence in the new liberal democratic Weimar government and international forces. This resulted in risings such as the Spartacist rising where communists fuelled by the success of the Russian revolution almost occupied nearly every major city in Germany.
Between 1917 and 1924, Russia experienced serious unrest, mistrust and a massive split amongst the people. In March 1918, Leon Trotsky had been sent to negotiate the terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. This eventually led to Russia surrendering ’62 million people (one sixth of the population), 27% of farm land (some of the best in Russia), 26% of Railways and 74% of Iron Ore and Coal’ (quote from Russia and the USSR 1905-19441 by Terry Fiehn). Furthermore, a 300 year dynasty of Romanov Tsars had come to an end when Tsar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate and later executed alongside his family. On top of that, Russia’s Provisional Government was overthrown by a minority party (the Bolsheviks) during the November Revolution of 1917 who in turn formed the world’s first ever Communist government.
However rather than greeting the Russian populace with warmth, Lenin immediately condemned the policies and ideologies of both the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet. In the days following his arrival, Lenin gave several speeches calling for the overthrow of the provisional government. On April 7, the Bolshevik newspaper Pravda ‘Truth’ published the ideas contained in Lenin’s speeches, which
In an attempt to increase their wages, industrial workers went on strike. The Tsar’s indecisiveness, the reality of him continuing the war against Germany although there were many thousands of casualties and the rest of Russia was starving due to the bad transportation systems, and the fact that he had broken his promises from the October Manifesto after the
The term Russian Revolution includes not only one event or even process but a sequence of disruptive and strongly violent happenings which occurred more or less at the same time. It started as a rebellion of the most conservative elements in Russian society, dissatisfied with the Royal family and their connection to the self-styled monk Rasputin and the mismanagement of the decision in the war. But the riots were soon spread to the liberals who feared that of the monarchy remained as it was, the revolution would become inescapable. The Romanov dynasty had lasted over 300 years but Nicholas II, who ascended the throne in 1894, turned out to be the last tsar of Russia. How did such an ancient monarchy collapse so dramatically?
The Tsar was desperate to get Russia back in control so in December the Tsar’s loyal army was used to demolish what was left of the working class strikers. This sent many of the revolutionaries in to exile. This restored order once again in the cities. What was a general
Others indicate that their rise to power and the overthrow of the Provisional Government was more influenced by the faults and failures of the Provisional Government. The Provisional Government was never in full control of Russia, their power was shared with the Soviets, thus when the Bolsheviks and the Soviets banded together; it shoved the Provisional Government on a rocky road downwards, while the Bolsheviks rose and seized power from them. The Soviets were a great influence in the Bolsheviks surge to power; their leader, Leon Trotsky, and the Bolshevik leader, Vladimir Lenin, began working together in 1917 after Lenin was appointed head of the Bolshevik party and together they drew the support away from Kerensky and the Mensheviks, and introduced his ideas of reform to the lower and middle classes. The class system worked to the Bolsheviks advantage because all of the lower classes needed help and Lenin's ideas for revolution all coincided with the peoples wants and needs, which in turn gained Lenin and the Bolsheviks the support of the lower classes. Trotsky worked to obtain the support by going to events and giving speeches, such as the one he gave on the 22nd of October in 1917, in which he
How far was the Provisional Government responsible for its own downfall? The Provisional Government was put in power as a temporary measure after the February Revolution of 1917, in which the Tsar abdicated his throne on behalf of himself and his son. However, the Government only lasted until October of the same year, where the Bolsheviks overthrew them. Their downfall was due to several factors, some of which the Provisional Government themselves were principally responsible for. Firstly, the most pivotal factor that led to the Provisional Government being ousted from power was the fact that, against the masses wishes, they did not withdraw from World War I.
Due to the lack of morale, war weariness and economic crisis the unrest was beginning to form a dangerous revolution. (J Hite & C Hinton. 2000) Fearing for his life and under the advice of his Supreme Commander General Ludendorff William II the Kaiser of Germany handed over his power to a civilian government thereby abdicating his throne. He then left Germany and went into exile in Holland, where he lived until 1941. The new regime headed by Prince Max, attempted some reforms but ultimately this was ineffective due to the discontent and anger within the population of the failed war.