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.
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.
Lenin was aware that it was the Provisional Government’s unwillingness or inability to act on questions of land and peace that contributed to its unpopularity and allowed the Bolsheviks to take power so easily in October. Lenin’s response to this is represented within the quote by Russian historian Dmitri Olkogonov: “The Russian revolutionaries, including Lenin, rightly exposed the age-old evils of human existence, the exploitation, inequality, lack of freedom”. In response to his Decree on Peace, Lenin created the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk that saw the Bolsheviks lose land but ultimately solve external issues with Germany and allowed Lenin to focus all of his efforts on Russia. By acting in ways that the people had demanded from the opposing
This is leads to a revolution as now the people are able to elect the government they think will be best for them and Germany. Moreover the Spartacist revolt in January 10th of 1919 which aim was to overthrow the Current Government and turn Germany into a Communist country. They have failed to
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
Not only this but Stalin used Lenin’s Legacy when he once again falsely claimed he was there at the beginning of the original Russian Revolution, when he was actually in exile. There is a picture, taken from the Eighth Bolshevik Party Congress in 1919 in which Trotsky was absent and Stalin took the opportunity to sit himself at Lenin’s right hand side, gaining him credit and showing his subtle ways of propaganda. However, Stalin’s win couldn’t just be down to what Lenin had done previous to the power struggle. To achieve and successfully get away with all of the above he would have had to have great skill as a politician – which he did. He had the ability to control Lenin’s funeral and turn it into his own campaign,
Lenin had also ended the war with Germany by signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. However, this was a humiliating treaty for Russia as the Germans had been extremely harsh and the treaty took land, industries and people from Russia. After the Reds’ victory in the civil war, Lenin set about creating the world’s first communist state. He introduced war communism whereby the people saw the rapid nationalization of all industries as well as the requisitioning of all surplus grain from the peasants. Even though this solved all the immediate needs of the communist state, the majority of the peasants were unhappy about the new policies and rebelled against the Bolsheviks.
Hitler gave the Nazi Party a figure of authority, determination, dignity and dominance. His coherent speeches appealed to everyone, he did not focus on intellectually challenging political lectures. He knew that the majority of his audience were working class and therefore focused on nationalist and issues close to them. The fact that Hitler knew his audience and used emotive language in the way he spoke, he gained major popularity. Indeed he was the ideal person to represent the Nazi Party in this way.
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.
Hitler was more active in the party early career than Stalin. Resigning from the army and becoming a politician, Hitler played a significant role in ensuring the German Workers’ Party the greatest support in Bavaria by announcing the 25 Point Programme demanding to abolish the Peace Treaties of Versailles, combined extreme nationalism and racism becoming a leader of the party in 1921. He also organized the Beer Hall putsch, when he wanted to overthrow the government but was nor supported by the Bavarian government and went to prison. Stalin played a minor role in the February and October revolution in Russia in 1917 and he was rather an able administrator. He gained popularity and position in party rather because he agreed with Lenin in the matter of self-determination of the nations – that all nations should decide whether they want to be a part of Russia or not.