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Wednesday, January 13, 2010

The Russian Revolution

The Russian Revolution had many reasons as to why it happened. Only a country with a troubled economy and disorderly political system would go to war with itself. The whole war was based around one word and that was communism. Communism was first introduced by Karl Marx during the Industrial Revolution time period. As you can see history seems to repeat itself since it made its way to Europe. Basically communism is where the people work and everyone gets the same amount of pay no matter what profession. A doctor would make the same amount of money as that of a factory worker. Before it would be a boss or a big titled person leading the actual workers who made less money than them.

During this time Russia would be ruled by king like figures known as Czars. These kinds of rulers were self-centered and would only consider themselves important. They would have a selfish attitude towards other people like a king would. This is more of a capitalistic attitude if you were to replace a Czar with a factory owner and the peasants/people as factory workers. Changes needed to be made to this just like they were during the industrial revolution. In fact just like the Industrial Revolution time period people would go on strikes spreading communism and people in Russia did just that.

On top of all the politics and royal issues, Russia had more physical conditions such as diseases spreading (people getting sick), starvation, and a crazy Czar who kept sending troops into war only to get injured and die. Russia as well didn't have a stable financial system so they were not able to supply the soldiers with proper weaponry for war. World War One was one of the biggest obstacles for Russia. They were up against the likes of Germans who had very advanced weapons and technology and battle plans.

Soon the revolts the people had made caused the Czar to leave his throne following that changes were finally made to Russia's political system. A group called the Bolsheviks, which was led by Vladimir Lenin, took over Russia. He led his small group into a revolution against the temporary government made after the Czar had left his throne. The phrase/slogan "Peace, land, and bread" showed the changes that would be brought to Russia. Peace meaning ending the war that seems to keep going on. Land as in getting the land back from the factory owners and such and give them to the commoners like farmers/people who needed it. Bread is the obvious one due to the fact that Russia's people were starving. A new change was that people would be fed unlike before.

After the Bolsheviks won and defeated the temporary government and gave what they promised in that quote. Russia soon left World War One because of its own internal reasons rather than the external war itself. Sure that took a toll on the people and such but their own problems were far larger than that of World War One's. Lenin ruled over Russia after taking over the Government and forming his own kind with ideas from Karl Marx's communism. Russia became the first ever communist country. In this case Revolution really did mean change since many changes were made after Lenin took power.  



Monday, January 11, 2010

Causes for WW I

World War One maybe if not considered one of "The Most Important Wars" of human kind. This war had many causes just like any war but this was the first war that you will hear of where technology was advanced amongst both sides rather than one towering over the other.

One of the reasons was nationalism. Nationalism is basically ones pride and respect for their country. The general statement gets way out of hand for it causes the war due to the egos of the countries getting the best of them. One's pride for their country is good for that country alone but when it comes to bragging it can lead to some very bad things such as being one of the causes for World War One. Nationalistic behavior led to hanging up posters and such showing but probably isn't and wasn't the best idea for it was like saying "my country is better than yours."

A big factor in war is military and how efficient the soldiers are at war. Militarism played a part as one of the causes because it tested a countries military and strength at war. It portrays how ready the country is at all times for war. The size of a countries military and naval fleet could make another country in fear for that country could attack at anytime. They would even plan things out before hand and then attack this would leave other countries in fear and wondering what they could b up to. The overall reason militarism played a huge role in the war is because having a military battle ready at all times could prove to be a good thing. It will shake up the minds of the bordering countries and also help you form a good defensive move as well as offensive.

Probably the biggest cause of the war which led to the spark that let others know that it was time for happened on June 28th, 1914. It was the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand. The killing was done by a Serbian nationalist who killed the Archduke on his trip to Sarajevo. This led to Austria blaming the Serbians for this incident and pulled this into the brink of war. One after another countries started to defend one another. Germany considered Austria to be on the same side as them so they would be able to help them out in war. Soon other countries decided to join saying if they declare war on Serbia then they declare war on the opposing country. One after another, led to the beginning of World War One. The overall statement in this cause is that the assassination was the switch and the declaration of war was the trigger.