The Fall of Russia

The Russian Revolution of 1917 and the fall of the Russian empire were a result of a government that was slow to change,  social and economic tensions, and a series of military defeats. At the start of the twentieth century , Russia remained as the only absolute monarchy in the western world, and without a national parliament, legal political parties, or any elections, its citizens lived under an oppressive government. Several political parties and movements were created in an effort to overthrow the tsar and demand change. The Russian’s defeat in the Sino-Japanese war and the consequences of World War I only added to the people's dissatisfaction with the government  and led to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the fall of an Imperial Russia.

    In Russia , change was slow and often initiated by the state in an effort to catch up with other European powers. Military defeat at the hands of the French and British in the Crimean war once again simulated change brought on by the Russian state with the abolition of Serfdom in 1861. The Emancipation Edict given by Alexander II abolished serfdom, but it did little good for the serfs themselves. The serfs were given small plots of land which they had to pay the government for, making it hard to improve on  their land. To many Russians, the country’s  economic and industrial backwardness held back the the country just as much as serfdom had, so the state began a program of industrial development. Many of the serfs who had had a difficult time headed to the cities in order to work in many of the developing industries. In the cities they also faced harsh conditions, such as ruthless discipline, disrespect from superiors, unsanitary conditions and long working hours, as the industrial reforms in other Western countries were slow to reach Russia. These harsh working conditions led to a shared sense of injustice among workers, and without any political parties or unions,their grievances were made known through large scale strikes.

As the country became more industrialized, its political system experienced more strain. A growing middle class of businessmen and professionals objected to the conservatism of  tsarist Russia, and wanted a greater role in politics, but at the same time, depended on the government for jobs, contracts, and suppressing the growing radicalism of  the workers. A small number of growing educated Russians turned to Marxist socialism as a way of understanding changes that they witnessed and hope for a revolutionary upheaval of workers. In 1898, they created the Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party illegally, and became involved in workers’ education, union organizing , and eventually became involved in revolutionary action. The government remained conservative as attempts were made by the lower class to gain more freedoms, and the inadequacies of the autocratic tsarist rule was becoming increasingly evident.

In an effort to unite the Russian people, the reigning tsar, Nicholas II, went to war with Japan over Manchuria in 1904. Both countries had been interested in dividing up China since the 1890s, but could not agree on who got control of which part. Russia had control over the Liaodong Peninsula, south of Manchuria, and Port Arthur at the end of the peninsula had been fortified as a major naval base and included a line of the Trans-Siberian Railway to carry supplies to the port. For the Japanese Port Arthur was a crucial point to control if they were to conduct operations in Manchuria. The Japanese sent an ultimatum to the Russians and broke off diplomatic relations before launching a surprise attack on Port Arthur. The Russians had gravely underestimated the Japanese naval force and were defeated in the Russo-Japanese war after a series of victories by Japan. The war did not have the effect on the people that Nicholas II had hoped for. Instead of uniting the people, it only helped to create more social unrest. The war was taking place hundreds of miles from the majority of the population, and many people would have felt removed from it. The political parties felt that there was no justification for the war; the Social Revolutionaries indulged in terrorism and the Social Democrats were staging strikes.

In an event that would come to be known as Bloody Sunday, moderates marched on the tsar’s palace in a protest in order to encourage him to enact Enlightened ideas, but Nicholas felt threatened and ordered his troops to fire on them. The 1905 revolution, although it was suppressed, forced the tsar’s regime to make more substantial reforms. It granted a constitution, legalized trade unions and political parties and permitted the election of a national assembly called the Duma. Censorship was eased and and industrial development continued at a rapid rate. The political reforms were granted with reluctance and failed to tame working class radicalism or bring social stability. The Duma was intended to represent the people, but every time the Duma was critical of the tsar, it was immediately disbanded. As a result people had a limited voice in politics and even the representatives of the upper classes had become so alienated that many felt that a revolution was inevitable. Revolutionary groups published pamphlets and newspapers, organized trade unions and spread their message among workers and peasants .

    World War I provided the perfect opportunity for the Russian Revolution. The Russian army suffered many defeats at the hands of Germany and the war proved to be a complete disaster. Many soldiers and civilians suffered and were looking for someone to blame. Nicholas II decided to take personal command of the army in 1915 in order to inspire his army, but he did not know about commanding and organizing large militaries and the army continued to be defeated. The Russians viewed his decision to take charge as having a personal responsibility for the military disaster. Nicholas II ‘s departure meant that the government came under the control of the Tsarina Alexandra, who influenced the appointment of ministers to the government. She didn’t want anyone to challenge the authority of her husband and as a result members of the government tended to be weak and ineffective. From the start of the war, Russia’s economy had been steadily growing worse. Russias industry suffered has raw materials could no longer reach Russia and the army faced a shortage of supplies and weapons. Many peasant farmers were conscripted into the army and led to a decline in agricultural production, shortage of food and the increase in the price of food. The infrastructure that russia had could not keep up with the demands. The railway system had to deal with moving troops and supplies to the battlefronts which made it more difficult to keep the cities supplied with food.

All of these issues sparked the Revolution of 1917. Rioting in the capital city of Petrograd (St. Petersburg) began in February and strikes and demonstrations took place and even the soldiers began to join in. The tsar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate, and his brother Michael declined the throne, bringing an end to the Romanov dynasty. A provisional government led by liberals and moderate socialists was established under Alexander Kerensky, but was ineffectual because it shared power with the local councils called soviets, who represented the interests of workers, peasants, and soldiers. The provisional government wanted to continue war against Germany so that Russia could secure its borders and become a liberal democracy. Soviets did not support a defensive war because they wanted to end the conflict through general peace. The soviets rallied behind a socialist party called the Bolsheviks and Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the party mobilized the support of the workers and soldiers. The Bolsheviks were able to overthrow Kerensky and take power.

The fall of the Russian empire was caused by a government that was stuck in the past and changed slowly. The people had a small voice when it came to politics and were not pleased with the government at all and wanted change. They slowly made their voice heard through protests, political parties, and reforms. The government tried to change and catch up to other countries when it realized it was falling behind, but change came too late. World War I provided the Russians with a window of opportunity for change and they took it, overthrowing the government and eventually bringing the Bolsheviks into power. 

Russian and Mexican Industrialization

Industrialization became popular in both Mexico and Russia during the 1800’s. Both countries used tactics of removing outdated institutions, establishing new institutions, and removing the social hierarchy that anchored both countries to industrialize and modernize themselves in order to match the standards set by the western empires. The creation of the Trans-Siberian railroad in Russia and the reforms of Porfirio Diaz in  Mexico are attempts to reach the levels of more modern countries, but may not take them the full way because of problems in Russia and Mexico such as sub-par industrialization speed and a struggle to achieve stable political or economic reform.

Both Mexico and Russia do a fair job at removing the institutions from the colonial era that are holding them back. Mexico successfully attempts to eliminate state monopolies and abolish privileges that were originally set by the Spanish for important members of military and the Church. In Russia, the tsar lightened the taxation on the peasants in order to give them the ability to buy industrialized goods produced by Russia and own property. These examples both portray that industrialization is slowly removing the gaps between the pyramid of social hierarchy and is establishing equal opportunity among all people of the communities. When Porfirio Diaz took power in Latin America, a different approach had been taken. Diaz slowly removed the power of the privatized industries by threatening to abolish them if the institutions were not surrendered. With the surrendering of these old institutions, Diaz was essentially buying them off in order to morph them into new institutions that would benefit the current economy and social structure as well as the new political structure.

Russia’s creation of the Trans-Siberian railroad was intended to make transporting goods and products easier while at the same time allowing peasants to find a simple way to move out into Siberia. Porfirio Diaz industrialized Mexico by investing in new institutions and infrastructure to jump-start Mexico’s economy with its social structure not far behind. Two-thirds of Diaz’s investment was in railways. This investment was intended to pave way for other future institutions that were planned to develop. With the transportation complete, other institutions could more easily form leading to an up to par infrastructure. The other one-third of investment went into agricultural innovation. Russia’s Trans-Siberian railroad was a vital part of Russia’s economy, but was not a major player in the uprising of new industries until some time later. During the 20th century, Russia became a major producer of steel and oil, only topped by The United States and Great Britain. Count Witte pushed Russia into the western scene by implementing banking and heavy manufacturing. Diaz also pushed Mexico in similar ways. Banking was improved, the oil industry improved, but the arrival of mining was different from other industrialized countries. One of the problems with Mexico’s industrialization was that it relied heavily upon U.S. investment. The industrialization of Mexico and Russia was a very good short time investment but began to falter long term.

Mexico and Russia attempted to reform their social structures by removing the hierarchy that separates the people of the community. Russia removed the serfs that were bound to the land and the Trans-Siberian Railroad as well as well as the clutter of new industries gave the former serfs the ability to become wealthy landowners with profitable jobs. The former serfs were slowly given steps to achieve political power and become equal to the landlords from the previous era. Benito Juarez tried a different approach in Mexico. He limited the power of landlords and members of the church while offering new opportunities to the lower classes. At first, Juarez did not threaten to confiscate the land owned by the church or the clergy, but over time as the power of the clergy began to grow out of control, he took up their land and established it as public property. Only places of worship and education stayed in the hands of the powerful clergy. The power and influence of the church declined over time leading to the separation of church and state. Throughout all of these movements to establish equal power amongst all people of the community, Russia and Mexico stayed fairly patriarchal. The rights of women had very slightly changed as this became a problem in the long term effects of the Russian and Mexican industrialization.

With the emergence of political, social, and economic freedom, opposing viewpoints also emerged. In Russia and in Mexico, the political structures started to wobble. They were unstable due to the loose ends that were never tied up during the stage of industrialization. Distrust slowly began to fester in the minds of the people as they started to form their own opinions of where the country should be going. In Mexico the land reforms were failing, while the conservatives of the Catholic Church and original landlords wanted to rebel against the reform. The radicals were the ones who wanted to strengthen the already existing reform. They wanted to find their way to an equal opportunity democracy. A similar event happened in Russia as some of the tsars and landowners wanted Russia to stay the way it was before the industrialization and reform. Liberals and Radicals arose as they sought to push Russia in a new direction. The battle between these groups eventually led to the the fall of these empires and the uprising of the empires of today.