At that time, Russia was a monarchical dictatorship, and their rulers were known as tsars. The Tsar has all the rights, and no one can influence him. Nicholas II was the Tsar of the time. He did not know how to manage major affairs, nor did he have the ability to employ people. He also killed talented ministers for fear of his position being shaken, which is also severely polarized, with only 1.5 percent of the nobility owning 25 percent of the land. The living environment of ordinary farmers is particularly poor, and the population and backward technology have led to land scarcity. People need to analyze the condition of Russia to understand if the revolution happened in 1914, if the answer is in agreement, then the revolution is not influenced by World War I. Otherwise, it is part of the result of the war. Russia mostly going to have a revolution in 1914 because the majority of the population was in a difficult state of survival, but the upper class was powerless and indulged in entertainment and extravagance. There will be a power split, and most farmers want to revolt These are two reasons that support a revolution happening, increasing the growth of production of resources is the reason for it would not happen.
Many farmers, experiencing starvation and poverty, coupled with the Tsar's inaction, began to revolt in some places to make the tsar lose his power. Around 80 percent of Russia's population were peasants who lived in communes, and living and working conditions for most peasants were dreadful. The root cause of the extremely difficult life for farmers is inefficient production. The first reason is that peasants were still using an ancient farming technique. Second, there is not much land available for cultivation in Russia, and the scarce nobility controls a quarter of the arable land and the rapidly growing population in Russia. However, at this time, the hero of peasants appeared a man called Stolypin. Stolypin facilitated the kulaks, wealthier peasants, to purchase land outside the communes, leading to increased production and larger, more efficient farms. Unfortunately, this resulted in the murder of people who were both beneficial to farmers and helpful to the country, and the Tsar also dismissed him. Furthermore, farmers may feel that the nobles or Tsars have killed their heroes, so they must resist and demand revolution.
Workers in cities have a hard situation, too, but they are more knowledgeable, so they started to protest, strike, and try to have a revolution. These factory workers are the main force of the revolution, and their numbers increase with the growth of industry. These workers are also in a similar situation to peasants, both putting in a lot of effort but still living in a difficult environment. A wave of strikes and rebellions that culminated in a full-scale revolution nearly overthrew Russia in 1905. However, the troops opened fire on these people, which led to more strikes and protests in cities. This wave of reactionary forces represents that the workers already have a desire for revolution in their hearts, and they cannot tolerate such a country. The end of this revolution was due to the Tsar distributing some power to the other four parties and the people, which is known as the October Manifesto. This has led to the Tsar's power no longer being as great as before, and these four parties are the opposing forces of the Tsar. Such a power competition full of confrontation will inevitably lead to a revolution.
From 1890 to 1913, Russia continued to increase Agricultural and industrial production, which indicates that a revolution might not happened in 1914. When a region has enough resources for people, the probability of revolution occurring in this region is not high. The premise of revolution is that people cannot accept living in very difficult environments, and they want to change their lives, that's why they choose revolution. But if their lives are improved because resources are no longer scarce, they seem to have no reason for revolution to resist. After all, under acceptable circumstances, most people would choose a stable life rather than taking risks. And now, the country has a good way to make it more stable, which is the "carry and stick" policy proposed by Stolypin. In the first few years of implementation, the situation in Russia did indeed improve. Although Stolypin died later, his plans and policies continued rather than stopped.
Therefore, Russia was mostly going to have a revolution in 1914 because the living environment of the two major classes, peasants and workers, was too difficult. Nevertheless, there is still some possibility of not having a revolution due to the policies from Stolypin and increasing production. Analyzing Russia's situation to determine if the 1914 revolution occurred, it's possible it wasn't influenced by World War I or if it was a result of the war.
Comments