"The Essential Difference Between The Outcome Of T

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" The essential difference between the outcome of the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917 was the extent of military defeat." (Discuss) There were many serious causes and extremely important results of the 1905 "revolution". However I believe that the essential difference between the outcomes of the two revolutions lay not with the extent of military defeat, but with the fact that the convulsions of 1905 never posed any real threat to the Russian autocracy. They did not bring about any real devolution of power, which still rested in the hands of a pusillanimous emperor and his personally chosen ministers: there was no redistribution of wealth or property; society was not restructured; and the powers of the bureaucracy, military and police remained unaltered. The nature of the relationship between Russia's involvement in the First World War and the 1917 revolution is a topic that has been mulled over by historians ever since the events took place.

Put very simply, the question boils down to this: did the military situation generate the domestic crisis that brought about the disintegration of the tsarist regime; or were the pressures and contradictions within the social and political system already of such a refractory nature as to make revolution in any case inevitable? In my opinion the First World War acted as a catalyst, merely accelerating the revolution. The domestic situation before August 1914 was already reaching crisis point. The widespread industrial unrest following the Lena Goldfield shootings, the deteriorating relations between the government and the Duma, the political disaffection of the middle classes, the repercussions of the Rasputin affair, and the unresolved agrarian problems - all suggested that state and society were once more lurching towards some kind of dramatic confrontation.

The defeats suffered by the Russians prior to 1905 in the Russo-Japanese war...