From the start there was economic instability because of the cost of World War One and there was widespread disillusion within the German people. The public did not support the Weimar, and the administrative branch of the government, including the Judiciary, also teachers did not back it up either. Mass unemployment, damages to the infrastructure also from World War One, and the demand for reparation payments put lots of pressure on the inexperienced democracy. Not only in Germany, but all over Europe, fundamental and anti-democratic movements gained support. 2.
They had not yet brought in any form of democracy, however, with the country being 80% peasants, it was not yet possible. As the majority of the country are people who are being treated badly by their ruler, there was no way they would vote for the Tsar and therefore the country had to continue as they were, in an autocratic state. This was one of they key factors which labeled them as ‘backwards’, the country was ran in a way that was considered outdated and un-modern. The country’s education system was another factor that was continuously preventing them from moving forward into the modern day world. With 90% of the country being illiterate, there was no way for the country to industrialize (which would also go on to effect their economy), without people being able to read or write, it became even more difficult for the country to move forward.
The removal of these skilled and able members was detrimental for the Communist party, as it weakened them industrially and economically, and resulted in an endemic lack of experience across the party. In 1939, only 8 per cent of party members had been members in 1920. This made way for young beneficiaries of the Stalinist system, who ‘Stalin had reason to think he would find more dependable,’ as old revolutionaries were not as awed by Stalin as was the younger
This made it increasingly difficult as the harvest would suffer which would then cause a serious lack of food within the Kingdom itself, which in turn meant that the Fyrd would have very little supplies when called out and also affected all aspects of trade, and finances within the Kingdom. The Vikings could also simply retreat once the Fyrd had been called out. This had a devastating effect on the Saxon economy and harvest, as able bodied men were taken away from their jobs, while the Vikings had a constant supply of men and food from abroad. In comparison the Viking army were very well equipped and mobile. By the
Before the PG came into power, the already dire economic, agrarian and social problems were getting worse and worse as the war continued and as a result, the majority of Russians opposed the war effort. This meant that from the beginning of their reign, the PGs decision to carry on with the war made them unpopular as food shortages and the economy got worse and worse. For example, by 1917, the price of bread had doubled while the rations halved from their original figures in 1914. This discontent was proven as early as April the 20th as a riot broke onto the streets demanding that Milyukov, the head of Russian foreign affairs and key war minister, was sacked. This was significant as it meant that in the times of potential danger for the PG, they couldn’t rely on the people to support them.
When Alexander III became Tsar, he wanted to improve Russia after not really agreeing with his Fathers decisions. However, this didn’t really work and Alexander III inherited many of the problems which Russia had already been faced with; Backward economy, Subsistance agriculture and oversized population. In 1881, the reign was then moved over to Alexander III son, Nicolas II. As there was such an oversized population through out the whole of Russia, there was not enough space in the country. In fact, most of the population lived to the West side of the country because the eastern side, Siberia was not at all industrialized at this time.
This meant that the working and living conditions of the people couldn’t be helped as there was no money to send to the places that needed it. Again, with this humiliation and a knock on the economy of Russia, the people of Russia were losing assurance on the Tsar himself and believed that a change was
Competition of the United States was causing the Soviets to spend a lot of money (Miller, The U.S.S.R. in 1991). The communists began printing more money, causing inflation to increase (Miller, The U.S.S.R. in 1991). When consumers had money to buy food, they were not able to purchase any, because there was not much food for them to purchase (Miller, The U.S.S.R. in 1991). Reagan’s sabotages were also putting them deeper in debt during the
War Communism was radical and involved the militarisation of Labour which was disliked by the people and made people focus purely on the needs of the war. This contrasts greatly with the First World War (WW1) because the Tsar didn’t militarise Labour completely and so the demand for supplies in WW1 couldn’t be met by the factories. Starvation was nothing new in Russia and during WW1 the supplies couldn’t reach the troops on the front line and so many soldiers had little to eat. With War Communism the majority of the food would be taken from a household to feed an army and the result was that Russians starved, this time the household starved and there was little incentive to grow more. War Communism was introduced as the focus of Lenin was on the military and getting supplies to the soldiers of Russia quickly.
During the 80’s the Soviet economy began to collapse in upon itself. The country relied on inefficient factories and dated technology, while the people had to buy low-quality products and still suffered from little to no social freedoms. The Soviet people were becoming increasingly frustrated by this. Which led to Mikhail Gorbachev coming to power, and him promoting his policy of “ Glasnost “ or “ openness “. The fall of the Soviet Union didn’t go off without a hitch though.