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Was Russia on the brink of Revolution in 1914?

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﻿After the Bloody Sunday in 1905, revolution seemed inevitable. Yet, thanks to October Manifesto issued to appease middle class and peasants, Tsar Nicholas managed to survive. If it hadn?t been for the World War II, revolution might have been avoided. Russia was moving politically forward. Introduction of parliament was a huge step forward. In countries with autocratic leaders in Western Europe changed in industrial system were followed by revolutions. However, in Great Britain, where the monarch hadn?t been the autocratic power, things went much smoother . Once the parliament was established things were on track to change. Incrementally, people could have been given more rights and privileges and Russia could have moved forward without revolution. At the outbreak of The Great War there were strong patriotic feelings, people joined the army and wanted to fight for their country.Tsar was treated as people?s ?little father?. ...read more.


Along with the growth in population, there was an increase in production output (between 1890 and 1913 the production of coal increased six times, the one of pig iron 4 times, the one of oil more than doubled as did the one of grain in European Russia. Apart from the political reforms, there were agricultural ones introduced as well. The stolypin?s ?wager on the strong? encouraged entrepreneurial peasants to take their life in their hands, to borrow money, buy more land and, eventually employ other peasants. This was to create another social class - ?kulaks?. The third and fourth Dumas were much more promising than the previous ones. The tsar finally managed to pass the agricultural reform. ...read more.


Stolypin?s agricultural reform wasn?t very successful either. In fact, only few peasants managed to become kulaks. Most of the ordinary people were distrustful towards reforms and therefore, didn?t gain much on it. Their land might have been taken from them and they might have been forced to work for others, more successful peasants. The thing that remained entirely the same and was presumably preventing Russia from further political changes was repression. People could still go to prisons or into exile without trials, just for belonging to a political group. Although much was to be done, Russia was moving forward and, in my opinion, if it hadn?t been for the outbreak of The Great War, the revolution would have been prevented. Introduction of parliament and civil rights was a huge step forward. Russia was still lagging behind the rest of Europe but she was on her way to democracy. ...read more.

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