How Did Lenin Contribute To War In Russia

Russian losses during World War I exceeded 3 million people and caused great hardship. In 1917, in the middle of the War, Russia experienced two revolutions that were a reaction to over 300 years of monocratic rule. The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin came to power during the second revolution in October 1917 and promised to end Russia’s involvement in World War I. They signed a peace treaty with Germany in 1918 but continued to face incursions by Allied forces, especially Polish forces and then they signed a peace treaty with Poland in 1921 ceding parts of the Ukraine and Belarus to Poland. Conditions in Russia continued to deteriorate. At least 5 million Russians died of starvation and disease during the famine of 1921 and the Bolsheviks had no choice but to accept foreign assistance. Three million Russians fled their native land between 1919 and 1929. In 1921, “Lenin’s answer to the crisis was the New Economic Policy which represented a retreat from socialist economics. The peasants were given greater freedom, and private trade and private ownership of small businesses were again legalized” Donaldson et al, 51).

He believed that Russia would lead a worldwide movement of liberation from the oppression of bourgeois capitalism. Lenin’s death in 1924 resulted in a divisive power struggle with Joseph Stalin emerging as the leader, he would rule from 1929-1953. He immediately began to collectivize agricultural lands creating large state-run farms, expand industrial output, repressed religion and closed churches. He purged all opposition. It is estimated that as many as 10 million people died during the man-made famine of 1932-34, and an additional 7 million people were killed and 8-12 million arrested during the purges of