Turning Point - Russian Revolution
Causes
Throughout the 19th century, Russian Czars attempted to westernize and industrialize, without also importing French Revolution liberal ideas. They were mostly unsuccessful, and many Russian liberals called for reform. In response, the Czars became harsh and oppressive. A rigid social class system added to this problem by denying the majority peasant class most basic rights. The peasant class, composed of both farmers and urban workers, were mostly poor, overworked, and hungry, which would lead them to support liberal ideas that promised better living conditions.
Revolution
A small revolution in 1905 forced Czar Nicholas II to enact some minor reforms, however, these did not last. Finally, as Russia suffered through many defeats during World War I, and the country faced shortages in food, fuel and housing, the people began to revolt.
The czar was forced from power in March of 1917, and a provisional government was setup. In November, after this government had been slow in reacting to the country's problems, a group known as the Bolsheviks, took control of the country. This is known as the Bolshevik or Communist Revolution, as the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, later renamed themselves Communists.
Effects
Russia became the first country to base its government on the writings of Karl Marx. By 1922, Lenin and the Communists had retaken most of the old Russian Empire and renamed it the Soviet Union. Initially, the Communists fulfilled their revolutionary promises by improving basic living conditions, and ending Russia's involvement in World War I, but ultimately failed to provide a government of equal rights and participation.
The two systems of capitalism (free market supply & demand) and communism (state controlled command economy) would become the competing economic systems that countries all over the world would align themselves with up until the Fall of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union would last until 1991 and a parliamentary democracy would emerge and they would rename their country Russia once again.
