To understand when there was a revolution in Russia, you need to look back at the era of the reign of Nicholas II. It was under the last emperor from the Romanov dynasty that the country was shocked by several social crises that caused the people to oppose the government. Historians distinguish the revolution of 1905-1907, the February revolution and the October revolution of 1917 .
Prerequisites for Revolution
Until 1905, the Russian Empire lived according to the laws of an absolute monarchy. The king was the sole autocrat. The adoption of important state decisions depended only on him. In the XIX century, such a conservative order of things did not suit a very small layer of society from intellectuals and marginals. These people were oriented to the West, where the Great French Revolution had long since taken place as an illustrative example. She destroyed the power of the Bourbons and gave the citizens of the country civil liberties.
Even before the first revolutions took place in Russia, society learned what political terror was. Radical proponents of change took up arms and organized assassination attempts against senior government officials to force the government to pay attention to their demands.
Tsar Alexander II ascended the throne during the Crimean War, which Russia lost due to a systematic economic lag behind the West. A bitter defeat forced the young monarch to embark on reforms. The main one was the abolition of serfdom in 1861. This was followed by Zemstvo, judicial, administrative and other reforms.
However, the radicals and terrorists were still unhappy. Many of them demanded a constitutional monarchy or even the destruction of royal power. The Narodnaya Volya made a dozen assassination attempts on Alexander II. In 1881 he was killed. Under his son, Alexander III, a reactionary campaign was launched. Terrorists and political activists were severely repressed. This calmed the situation for a while. But the first revolutions in Russia were still just around the corner.
Errors of Nicholas II
Alexander III died in 1894 in the Crimean residence, where he was recovering his shaky health. The monarch was relatively young (he was only 49 years old), and his death was a complete surprise for the country. Russia stood still. On the throne was the eldest son of Alexander III, Nicholas II. His rule (when there was a revolution in Russia) from the very beginning was overshadowed by unpleasant events.
Firstly, at one of the first public speeches, the king said that the desire of the progressive public for change is "meaningless dreams." For this phrase, Nikolai was criticized by all his opponents - from liberals to socialists. The monarch even inherited from the great writer Leo Tolstoy. The Earl ridiculed the absurd statement of the emperor in his article, written under the impression of what he heard.
Secondly, during the coronation ceremony of Nicholas II in Moscow, an accident occurred. The city authorities organized a festive event for the peasants and the poor. They were promised free "gifts" from the king. So on the Khodynsky field were thousands of people. At some point, a stampede began, which killed hundreds of passers-by. Later, when there was a revolution in Russia, many called these events symbolic allusions to future great misfortune.
The Russian revolutions had objective reasons. What were they? In 1904, Nicholas II got involved in the war against Japan. The conflict erupted due to the influence of two rival powers in the Far East. Inadequate preparation, lengthy communications, hatred attitude towards the enemy - all this caused the defeat of the Russian army in that war. On September 5, 1905, a peace treaty was signed. Russia gave Japan the southern part of Sakhalin Island, as well as rental rights to the strategically important South Manchurian Railway.
At the beginning of the war in the country there was a surge of patriotism and hostility to the next national enemies. Now, after the defeat, the revolution of 1905-1907 broke out with unprecedented power. in Russia. People wanted fundamental changes in the life of the state. Particularly discontent was felt among the workers and peasants, whose standard of living was extremely low.
Bloody sunday
The main reason for the start of the civil confrontation was the tragic events in St. Petersburg. On January 22, 1905, a delegation of workers from the Putilov factory went to the Winter Palace with a petition to the Tsar. The proletarians asked the monarch to improve their working conditions, increase salaries, etc. Political demands were voiced, the main of which was the convening of the Constituent Assembly - a national representation based on a Western parliamentary model.
The police dispersed the procession. A firearm was used. According to various estimates, from 140 to 200 people died. The tragedy became known as Bloody Sunday. When the event became known throughout the country, mass strikes began in Russia. The discontent of the workers was fueled by professional revolutionaries and agitators of leftist convictions, who had previously only carried out underground work. The liberal opposition also intensified.
The first Russian revolution
Strikes and strikes had different intensities depending on the region of the empire. The revolution of 1905-1907 in Russia, it raged especially strongly on the national outskirts of the state. For example, the Polish socialists managed to persuade about 400 thousand workers in the Kingdom of Poland not to go to work. Similar riots took place in the Baltic states and Georgia.
Radical political parties (Bolsheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries) decided that this was their last chance to seize power in the country with the help of an uprising of the masses. Agitators treated not only peasants and workers, but also ordinary soldiers. So began the armed demonstrations in the army. The most famous episode in this series is the revolt on the battleship Potemkin.
In October 1905, the united Petersburg Council of Workers' Deputies began its work, which coordinated the actions of strikers throughout the empire’s capital. The events of the revolution took on the most fierce character in December. In Moscow, an armed uprising led to the fighting on Presnya and other areas of the city.
Manifesto October 17
In the fall of 1905, Nicholas II realized that he had lost control of the situation. He could with the help of the army suppress numerous uprisings, but this would not help get rid of the deep contradictions between the government and society. The monarch began to discuss with approximate measures to achieve a compromise with the dissatisfied.
The result of his decision was the Manifesto on October 17, 1905. The development of the document was entrusted to a well-known official and diplomat Sergei Witte. Before that, he went to sign a peace with the Japanese. Now Witte needed to be in time to help his king. The situation was complicated by the fact that in October two million people were on strike. Strikes covered almost all industrial sectors. Rail transport was paralyzed.
The manifesto of October 17 introduced several fundamental changes in the political system of the Russian Empire. Nicholas II previously owned sole power. Now he transferred part of his legislative powers to a new body - the State Duma. She was to be elected by popular vote and become a real representative body of power.
It also established such social principles as freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, freedom of assembly, as well as personal integrity. These changes have become an important part of the basic state laws of the Russian Empire. So actually the first domestic constitution appeared.
Between revolutions
The publication of the Manifesto in 1905 (when the revolution was in Russia) helped the authorities take control of the situation. Most of the rebels calmed down. A temporary compromise was reached. The echo of the revolution was still heard in 1906, but now it was easier for the state repressive apparatus to cope with its most implacable opponents who refused to lay down their arms.
The so-called inter-revolutionary period began, when in 1906-1917. Russia was a constitutional monarchy. Now Nicholas needed to reckon with the opinion of the State Duma, which might not have passed its laws. The last Russian monarch was a conservative by nature. He did not believe in liberal ideas and believed that his sole authority was given to him by God. Nikolai made concessions only because he no longer had a way out.
The first two convocations of the State Duma did not work out the term laid down by it by law. The natural period of reaction has come when the monarchy took revenge. At this time, Prime Minister Peter Stolypin became the main associate of Nicholas II. His government could not come to an agreement with the Duma on some key political issues. Because of this conflict, on June 3, 1907, Nicholas II dissolved the representative assembly and introduced changes to the electoral system. The III and IV convocations in their composition were already less radical than the first two. A dialogue has begun between the Duma and the government.
World War I
The main reasons for the revolution in Russia were the monarch’s sole power, which prevented the country from developing. When the principle of autocracy remained in the past, the situation stabilized. Economic growth has begun. Stolypin 's agrarian reform helped the peasants create their own small private farms. A new social class has appeared. The country developed and grew rich before our eyes.
So why did subsequent revolutions take place in Russia? In short, Nikolai made a mistake by getting involved in the First World War in 1914. Several million men were mobilized. As with the Japanese campaign, the country first experienced a patriotic upsurge. When the bloodshed dragged on, and from the front began to receive reports of defeats, society again became worried. No one could say for sure how long the war would drag on. The revolution in Russia was approaching again.
February revolution
In historiography, the term "Great Russian Revolution" exists. Usually, this generic name refers to the events of 1917, when two coups took place in the country at once. The First World War painfully hit the country's economy. The impoverishment of the population continued. In the winter of 1917 in Petrograd (renamed due to anti-German sentiments), mass demonstrations of workers and townspeople dissatisfied with high bread prices began.
So the February Revolution took place in Russia. Events developed rapidly. Nicholas II at that time was at Headquarters in Mogilev, not far from the front. The king, learning about the unrest in the capital, took the train to return to Tsarskoye Selo. However, he was late. In Petrograd, the discontented army took the side of the rebels. The city was under the control of the rebels. On March 2, delegates went to the king, persuading him to sign the abdication. So the February revolution in Russia left the monarchist system in the past.
Restless 1917
After the beginning of the revolution was laid, a Provisional Government was formed in Petrograd. It included politicians formerly known by the State Duma. These were mainly liberals or moderate socialists. The head of the Provisional Government was Alexander Kerensky.
Anarchy in the country allowed other radical political forces like the Bolsheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries to become more active. The struggle for power began. Formally, the Provisional Government was supposed to exist until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly, when, by universal suffrage, the country could decide how to live on. However, the First World War was still going on, and the ministers did not want to refuse to help their Entente allies. This led to a sharp drop in the popularity of the Provisional Government in the army, as well as among workers and peasants.
In August 1917, General Lavr Kornilov attempted to organize a coup. He also opposed the Bolsheviks, considering them a radical leftist threat to Russia. The army was already marching to Petrograd. At this moment, the Provisional Government and supporters of Lenin briefly united. Bolshevik agitators destroyed the Kornilov army from the inside. The rebellion failed. The interim government survived, however, not for long.
Bolshevik coup
Of all the domestic revolutions, the Great October Socialist Revolution is best known. This is due to the fact that its date - November 7 (according to the new style) - has been a public holiday in the territory of the former Russian Empire for more than 70 years.
At the head of the next coup were Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky. The leaders of the Bolshevik party enlisted the support of the Petrograd garrison. On October 25, according to the old style, the armed detachments supporting the communists captured the key communication points in Petrograd — the telegraph, the post office, and the railway. The interim government was isolated in the Winter Palace. After a brief assault on the former royal residence, the ministers were arrested. A signal to the beginning of the decisive operation was a blank shot fired on the cruiser Aurora. Kerensky was not in the city, and later he managed to emigrate from Russia.
On the morning of October 26, the Bolsheviks were already masters of Petrograd. Soon the first decrees of the new government appeared - the Peace Decree and the Land Decree. The interim government was unpopular just because of its desire to continue the war with Kaiser Germany, while the Russian army was tired and demoralized.
Simple and understandable slogans of the Bolsheviks were popular among the people. The peasants finally waited for the destruction of the nobility and the deprivation of their landed property. The soldiers learned that the imperialist war was over. True, in Russia itself it was far from the world. The Civil War began. The Bolsheviks had another 4 years to fight against their opponents (whites) throughout the country to establish control over the territory of the former Russian Empire. In 1922, the USSR was formed. The Great October Socialist Revolution was an event that ushered in a new era in the history of not only Russia, but the whole world.
For the first time in the then history, the state authorities turned out to be radical communists. October 1917 surprised and frightened Western bourgeois society. The Bolsheviks hoped that Russia would become a springboard for the start of the world revolution and the destruction of capitalism. This did not happen.