Assignment: Analyze the causes of the first revolution in Russia in 1917.
Thesis: While the existing problems with the Tsarist regime and the incompetent leadership of Tsar Nicholas II were key factors of the February Revolution of 1917, the disastrous consequences of Russia's involvement in the First World War in 1914 were what made the uprising inevitable.
Point of View - 1.
The first revolution of 1917 arose from the deeply rooted Tsarist regime, an inherently oppressive system that for centuries frustrated the peasants and set a highly volatile atmosphere in Russia.
Source - 1 - Lynch, Michael - "Autocracy to Communism: Russia 1894-1941" (London: Hodder Education, 2008. Print.).
The greatest land mass in the world, and home to tens of millions of people, Russia has been called a "world of its own." ".
Due to its extremely cold climate and rough, barren landscape, very little Russian land is actually arable and the soil that can be used for agriculture does not yield nearly enough to feed the population.
Fortunately, what Russia lacks in the ability to create a successful agricultural base, it makes up for with other resources. Its vast deposits of valuable minerals such as coal and manganese, as well as timber and oil, have allowed Russia to play a historically major role in trades.
This kind of economic system was destined to beget an oppressive political system, in which the poor, uneducated peasants would struggle to avoid starvation while the ruling classes would live in luxury. There has even been speculation that such categorical oppression combined with the coldness of the weather has made the Russian people hardy and insensitive, allowing them to continue on with their present conditions.
After the overthrow of the Mongol rule in Russia (which had been in place since 1237) in 1480, the Princes of Muscovy (originating in Moscow) became the rulers of Russia. The Mongol rule had left the nobility and the peasants so impoverished that they were completely at the mercy of the Princes.