Russian War Research Paper

War causes many problems for countries. However its effects are felt mostly by ordinary people, not the people deciding to go to war. While war is deeply ingrained in European history, World War I was unlike any other. Bitterness in Russia and France ultimately led them to aggression. Russia had been humiliated by the Japanese in the Russo-Japanese War. This was the first loss of a European power to an Asian power, leading to the emergence of Japan as the main power in Asia. This was the beginning of the true decline of Tsarist Russia. This loss, coupled with Bloody Sunday (The 1905 revolt in Russia), undermined any faith the people had left in Russia. Russia also lost its international esteem, with the powers in Europe regarding them now as

This was due to the Russian government, which had stopped caring about the people of Russia, deciding to finance the war by would printing money. This made subsistence farming return in rural areas of Russia, as it was more economically feasible for farmers. This created immensely high costs of living, and workers who were already angry with the system demanded better wages. Communist propaganda and covert German activity led to some of the largest strikes Russia had ever seen. This led Russian people to flock to radical parties as they were promised better wages and living conditions. While Mensheviks supported the war and felt that the war had to end before change could happen in Russia, the Bolsheviks and Vladimir Lenin felt that the war was the perfect time for a revolution in Russia to occur, as the Germans would be open to the closing of the Eastern Front and would likely adjust their demands accordingly. Lenin is quoted as saying, "from the standpoint of the working class and of the labouring masses from the lesser evil would be the defeat of the Tsarist Monarchy.” This implies that Germany is the lesser of evils and that the Tsarist Monarchy is the true