WHAT WERE THE CAUSES OF THE RUSSIAN

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WHAT WERE THE CAUSES OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION Essay, Research Paper Before the war. Before the war, there were lots of problems which led up to the revolution and we call them the long term causes. The peasants working and living conditions were very bad but the government made it even worse by its own policies. Russia needed to develop its industries, so that it was a modern agricultural country instead of a backward one and also to remain in an important military power. To aid this dilemma the government invested in enormous amounts of money in improving Russia?s industries. Where did most of this money come from? From the pockets of the people in Russia! To do this, the peasants had to pay huge taxes not only on grain but on nearly all everyday items such as alcohol and

salt! Nevertheless, the workers? wages still stayed very low and did not increase much at all as the government wanted to squeeze the people for every penny they could get to put into industrial development. Soon later, all seemed well, iron and steel industries grew rapidly but then thousands of workers lost their jobs. This was a cause for strikes and rebellions against managers and the government. Also, things were not going very well in the country side. As if being taxed for all you were worth wasn?t enough, there were very bad harvests for a couple of years so now they were starving as well! To return the favour, the peasants became violent and started to burn landlords? houses. Then the Tzar went to war with Japan which he thought would make the public believe in the

government again. However, it backfired on him and caused all the same problems again but by a greater degree. That really infuriated the people! Leading up to the war the peasants and workers still had: *Inadequate clothing *Insufficient and unhealthy food *Long, hard hours at work *Inadequate housing/shelter *Self-made entertainment *Impoverished standard of life *Very low quality of life *Age of death-early 20’s-30’s. These were the huge differences in the quality of life between the rich and the poor as the rich had: *More than adequate clothing *More than adequate food *Lived on rising and unearned income *Entertainment was provided for them *Excellent standard of life *More than excellent quality of life *Age of death-late 50’s, 60’s and above In these years leading

up to the war, as you can see, the living standard of the peasants and workers did not improve as so they were forced to rise up against these massive inadequacies!! Politically, Russia was very unstable as the people had lost a lot of respect for the government and the Tzar. When the Tzar started to use the Dumas people began to wonder whether they would have any real power. By the Dumas first meeting it was clear. They could not pass laws, they could not appoint ministers and they could not control finance in such important areas as defence. Was there much point in them if the Tzar did not like what they were doing or proposing to do, he could dissolve them?? So, no. In my opinion the peoples views were not being heard through the Dumas. There are lots of opinions as whether

the Tzar was fit to rule Russia. In my opinion, the Tzar was not fit to rule Russia but this was by no means his own fault. He was taught as a soldier and he was not taught to act and behave like a king so it was his statesmanship that was at fault, not him himself!! The War. The war did not only effect the army but the people at home. Food was getting short, all the male peasants had to be taken off to the army so only women and invalids were left to tend the farms, shops .etc. All the working trains were being put to use for the war effort so food was not getting through from other places. Nearly all unnecessary factories in the cities were closed so that furthed in another massive unemployment. People were not getting coal and wood to burn because the coal industries were shut