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Essay on The Causes of the Russian Revolution in March 1917

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The Causes of the Russian Revolution in March 1917

There were many causes to explain the outbreak of the Russian Revolution in March 1917. Some of these can be defined as long term causes as their origin goes way back to pre-revolutionary times. Others are short-term reasons or even immediate effects, which act as the last spark, to bring the tense situation out of control. In this essay I will be looking at some of these long and short-term causes in more detail.

The long term causes lead back to the time between the end of the 1905 revolution and the beginning of the war. What they are can be summarized as the economic, social and political problems within Russia. Economic causes are …show more content…

It had major effects on the way people in Russia were thinking. The war was a very manipulating factor. If things went well, the atmosphere was good and support for the Tsar high. However when the Russians were loosing people's anger against the Tsar arose. Unfortunately, after the first strike of enthusiasm, the Russians went through one defeat after another. The backward economic condition of the country made it unable to sustain the war effort against powerful, industrialized Germany. This was partly due to the fact that Russian industry lacked the required equipment to arm some 15 million men who were sent into war.

Back at home people were facing problems too. Many peasants were sent into the war. Accordingly there was a lack of farm workers causing serious food shortages. In addition the railway system was used to supply the army at the front with essential goods and could therefore not send enough food into the cities. Owing to the lack of food prices went sky high and even a piece of bread became unaffordable for many workers. To make matters worse many factories closed down resulting high unemployment. The workers who kept their job were asked to work longer hours for lower wages. Due to the war working conditions were worse than ever and the moral of many people was very low. It seemed as though the longer

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