Political and social unrest increased however, with the revolutionary Bolsheviks gaining widespread support. During the July Offensive, the Russian Army was soundly defeated by the German and Austro-Hungarians, leading to the collapse of the Eastern Front. The Russian Army was on the verge of mutiny and most soldiers had deserted the front lines. Kerensky's government was overthrown in October 1917, and the Bolsheviks assumed power. The Russian Civil War began in the wake of the collapse of the provisional government.
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. However, the Reichstag led by the SPD had stepped into a power that was left by the Kaiser, and as a result of this it had no real option but to accept the Versailles Treaty. The most irritating part for the German people was the to pay reparations to Britain and France. Germany's failure to pay her debt led to the invasion of the Ruhr, resulted in very little success for France but did succeed in the complete collapse of the German economy. This led to the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923 Hitler aided by General Lundendorff and a few hundred supporters marched on the Munich town hall as a pretext to a national revolution, unfortunately for Hitler this attempt failed and he was sent to prison.
During this time, East Germans became fed up with the oppressive policies of the Stazi, the antics of Honecker’s government, and the hated symbol of the Berlin Wall. They reacted against the only thing they could change and tore down the wall. Poland was another major country that disintegrated from communism. Under the lead of Lech Walesa, Poland was growing a rebellious strength. With Gorbachev as Russia’s leader, reforms were putin place as well as removing many USSR restrictions of satellite countries.
Without communist allies Russia needed necessities for modern warfare. This is when Stalin’s elite obsession for iron, steel and oil began. Which is ironic, as Stalin’s name in Russian is the equivalent to ‘Man of Steel.’ In his mind, without these raw materials, war would become a certain loss if it was to break out. Stalin described these materials as ‘Decisive branches of industry’ and in order for Russia to advance and industrialise these would be needed of vast quantities. He then intended for a mass increase in resource production to take place, which in fact did occur over the coming plans.
Stalin was able to eliminate all effective opposition through a series of purges. The Show Trials, which began in 1936, were designed to create an atmosphere of intimidation and paranoia. As the purges swept through the party, many highly prominent Bolsheviks were put on trial and accused of being part of a Trotsky counter-revolutionary bloc. During the first Show Trial, of 1936, Stalin eliminated Kamenev and Zinoviev, who forcibly confessed to being part of Trotsky’s conspiracy and were consequently executed. In 1937 Stalin began the purge of the military, accusing them of spying for Nazi Germany.
In 1904 where negotiations between Japanese and Russia broke down, Japan declared war on Russia and the Japanese Navy attacked the Russian Eastern fleet at Port Arthur. The Russian’s naval force was destroyed at Tsushima Bay and Russia’s only all year naval bases in Port Arthur were captured in January 1905. When news of these defeats reached back to Petrograd and Moscow, it stimulated the social unrest, which had already been present in Russia; a failed military campaign did look good for Nicholas II. The Russo-Japanese War was a disaster for Russia not just military but both socially and
But Germans blamed it for signing the Versailles treaty and for hunger and unemployment. Hitler set up a fascist style party called the Nazi party. Hitler wanted to tear up the Versailles treaty and unite all Germans so they could form a great German empire. He blamed the Jews and the communists for Germany’s troubles and wanted to destroy them. When the Great Depression 1929 forced many factories to close, desperate Germans voted for the Nazi party.
As anti-Bolshevik sentiment began to grow within Russia, particularly within the ‘White forces’, active protests against the Bolsheviks signalled the beginning of the Civil War. The Civil War occurred due to the resentment of the government restrictions, total control, pragmatic militaristic approach and the people’s loss of livelihood. To consolidate their power, the Bolsheviks had to contend with two sources of opposition – domestic and external. Domestic opposition stemmed from the Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks who had been excluded from power, whilst the external opposition included the US, British, French, Czech and Japanese soldiers who feared the spread of communism. Collectively known as the ‘Whites’, these interventionist forces fought the Bolshevik ‘Reds’ in the Civil War.
The war is seen as partly responsible for the start of the revolution because of the anger and humiliation it caused to the peoples of Russia. The war went very badly for the Russians
Stalin also used other people in his struggle for power. He joined forces with Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev to defeat Trotsky. Stalin, the Party Secretary, made sure all his supporters packed the congress. Trotsky lost the votes, along with his job as Commissar for the war. This meant that Trotsky no longer controlled the Red Army, and he could not use them to gain control.