1917 Revolution Dbq

During the 20th century, Russia was experiencing turmoil in war and the country was deeply affected with Tsar Nicholas’s wrong decisions and lack of experience in politics. After the 1917 revolution in Russia, Lenin became the ruler of Russia and the USSR and proved to be the best Russian ruler of the 20th century. Before then, Tsarism dominated and Nicholas II was in power until he foresaw many revolutions against his methods of ruling. He remained as the supreme ruler and did not take actions for reforms. However, after the 1917 revolution, which Lenin masterminded, the Tsar was overthrown and the Bolsheviks established a stable government which took control in Russia. 20th Century Russia had a massive transformation from being an Autocracy

As a matter of fact, Lenin was able to perceive the massive defeat and the consequences they would have to pay later on, so he brought it to a stop with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Unlike the Tsar who just ordered army troops to the battlefront, not caring if the army troops died, Lenin waged both choices: lose support from France and Britain or watch Russia get overrun by another power. This lead to Lenin knowing it was over for Russia and started having peace talks with Germany at Brest-Litovsk, a German border. Lenin had to get a plan ready because the German army were entering Russia at 100 miles every 4 days, so he sent Leon Trotsky, Russia’s Commissar, near the German border to sign the Brest-Litovsk Treaty. He dragged out talks for as long as he could hoping that the 2 countries would make a fair deal, but this didn’t happen. This treaty was one of the important treaties signed in Russian history, as it would mean that the war between Russia and Germany would come to a stop. Germany decided to turn down taking over the country, hence leading Lenin to pay a high price. Germany had high demands from Russia. Nonetheless, Lenin knew he had to save Russia from mass murders he decided to sign the treaty at any cost. Russia gave away 74% of iron ore and coal, 26% of railways, 27% of farmland, and 26% of the

Nicholas II was not the one fully to blame for his lack of experience and bad judgement. His father, Alexander III, thought his son was too immature to train for becoming a leader. Here is a quote by Alexander III being recited: “Nicholas is young and strong although he is too immature to handle the rigorous training needed to become the next ruler.” Due to no training being applied to Nicholas, he rose to power after taking over his father’s power in 1894 as a very inexperienced ruler. He also did not make a good impression on the people of Russia as his wife, Princess Alix of Hesse was German, and she was not accepted amongst the Russian people. Furthermore, Nicholas allowed his country to enter two wars, the Russo-Japanese war and WWI, Russia being ill-prepared for the wars both times. The battles did not go well in either of the wars and his actions dealt great suffering to the people of Russia, especially the minority, or lower class. Although his country was in peril and he knew it, he refused to implement reforms. Tsar Nicholas II truly wanted to aid his country although his inexperience did not allow him to do so. Hence, this led to the murder of his family and the end of 3 centuries of Romanov ruling when the Bolsheviks took power of Russia. Unlike Lenin, Tsar Nicholas II did not have any experience in any of the governmental fields thus making him