The Russian Revolution

From the mid-1700s to sometime after the second World War revolutions were a part of society. Most of the times the revolutions were as a result of the people trying to voice out their grievances to whoever is concerned. A revolution means taking a turning point on some perspective or a certain analogy. In the context of this text a revolution is defined as a change in the political power or governmental structures. The revolutions are always conducted by the by the general public and in most cases, the middle class are considered to be orchestrators of the revolutions. Revolutions cam be against a leadership or a culture that the people believe to be outdated. Revolutions have been there throughout human history but some of the earliest recordings of revolutions have been dated to Europe.

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Revolutions in Europe were some of the largest to be recorded in history. In most of the revolutions in Europe the reasons were almost the same (Riasanovsky & Steinberg, 2005). The major characteristic of revolutions in Europe as from 1750 to after the 1920s were as a result of the general public getting tired of the monarchy or were not satisfied with the amount of resources that were availed to them. While these facts were common in all the revolutions, there was a difference when it came to the Russian revolutions (Riasanovsky & Steinberg, 2005). The Russian revolutions was affected by some other factors that were not common to all the other revolutions like the French and the American. Some of the factors will be discussed below.

The French and the America revolution were mostly affected by the fact that there was a wide gap between the rich and the poor (Doyle, 2002). In Russia the difference was that yes, there was the gap but, there was Russification too. The Russification policy was formed by Czar Alexander the third where all policies and protocols were to made Russian in a way (Rana, 2015). Through the policy there was a declaration that there was only one church, one Russia and one Czar. The policy was a declaration that the only language that was to be spoken was Russian and the only religion was to be a Christian catholic. The policy was extended to all states that were dominated by the Russian government at the time (Rana, 2015). Through the Russification policy there was unrest all over the Russia and the countries that it dominated.

The Russian revolution was also different due to the different factors that led to the uprising and hence the revolution. In the French revolution some of the factors that sparked the fire of the revolution were factors like the guillotine, the monarchial rule and communism just to name nut a few. In the context of Russia cases were different because Nihilism was one of the factors that fueled the revolution in Russia (Rana, 2015). In 1917 Nihilism was considered to be one of the factors that led to the Russian revolution. Due to the Russification policy religion was one fact that the people are away serious about. The quest to fight for ones religion and faith led to the growth of a revolutions that changed the course of a nation. The preachers of Nihilism were focused on three goals, to destroy the existing society, rule and faith in order to create a new world. All of these goals were anchored on the presumed destruction of Czars rule in Russia. Through the organization they influenced the people to move against the government and hence fueling the start of a revolution. It can be said that Nihilism created a conducive atmosphere for the Russian revolution to brew. In conclusion can be said that the Russian revolution was a whole lot different than the American and French revolution. Most of the difference is frim the factors that fueled the Russian revolution against the ones that fueled the other two revolutions.

Question Four

The End of the Cold War

The cold war is assumed to have begun after the second World War. The cold war was characterized by a state of political and military tension among nations that were involved in the World War 2. The tension was both military and political between the Soviet Union (Eastern bloc) against the united states and its allies from NATO or commonly known as the western bloc (Sailus, 2003). The war was termed cold because there was no actual or direct confrontation between the major sides. It was also called the cold war because there were other regional wars that were ongoing and either side funded the wars. The funding was in ones favor to win the cold war. Most of the conflict was because of the major political and economic difference that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union. The cold war officially ended in 1991 but the question is, what are the factors that led to the end of the cold war? Discussed below are some of the factors that led to the end of the cold war.

One factor that was among the earliest to contribute to the end of the cold war was the lack of resources to finance the war (Sailus, 2003). In the period after the war the Soviet Union was still a strong political and economic power. It had the military and the backup of the Nazi empire. After the sometime the Nazis lest and the Soviet Union stood alone against a democratic and capitalist United States. This meant that the Soviet Union was not as strong as it was together with the Nazi. Without an actual war to fight there was no organization in the funds due to the socialist economy that the Soviet Union had adopted. The collapse of industries, infrastructure and technology demanded more money than the need to fuel a pointless war. These factors in the economy of the Soviet Union facilitated the end of the of the cold war (Sailus, 2003). The other factor that inevitably led to the end of the cold war is economic globalization. Most economies were moving forward with capitalist economies and advancing in technology. At this time only 8% of the Soviet Union was competitive in world standard. This fact pushed for the Soviet Union to end the cold war and focus on development (Sailus, 2003).

Mikhail Gorbachev has been considered to among one of the main reasons that led to the end of the cold war (Nye, 2011). Gorbachev was a politician that had worked his way up to become the premier for the Soviet Union. In his term he was focused on making sure that the huge expenditures on military operation were cut down so that the state of the nation can be salvaged. Gorbachev was focused on the development of the nation and the people as well. The socialist system as well as the government structure did not allow for the two to happen. Gorbachev then put up a plan to help the people and the nation which in turn helped in ending the cold war (Nye, 2011). The plan was to initiate two policies, the glasnost and the perestroika. The glasnost allowed for voting to take place and hence the concept of diplomacy and not socialism. The perestroika allowed for investment from outsiders and also allowed for private industries to be constructed. Through this developments socialism was to die slowly eradicating the ideological difference the west and east had o ideas.

Question five

The Collapse of the Weimar Republic

Weimer Republic is the unofficial name that is given to the German state that operated from 1918 to 1933. The name was because of the name of the city where the first constitutional assembly was held. After 1933 the Weimar republic ceased to exist it was afterwards called Germany. The contents of this write up seek to find out what was the main factor that actually led to the collapse of the Weimar republic.

The main event that led to the collapse of the Weimar republic was the great depression. Between 1929 and 1932 more than a third of the German population was jobless resulting to uprisings in the society (J. Llewellyn, 2014). The protests of the people led them away to other groups that wanted to run the government. This was in the hope that they will help reduce the effects of the depression. The distrust in the Weimer administration made the people vote more for the NSDAP with Hitler at its head. Between 1930 and 1932 the NSDAP has gained popularity among the people leading to its increase in the Reichstag seats (J. Llewellyn, 2014). With the peoples back up and a good number in the Reichstag seats the Weimar republic was considered obsolete by the NSDAP.

The Weimar constitution also helped in the buildup for its destruction. The constitution had created a president with executive powers to override any governmental decisions (J. Llewellyn, 2014). It meant that even if a new member was elected to be in the Reichstag the sitting president could override the decision and still claim the seat. It also meant that there were difficulties in the electorate system of the country that was not addressed. This led to displeasure among other political parties that sought to eject the Weimar administrators. It is the political divisions from this constitutional difference that led to the birth of parties like NSDAP (Saji, 2000). The deviant parties developed hostility towards the Weimar political system and planned to sabotage it. The parties increased their numbers on the government and decided to damage it from within by propaganda (Saji, 2000). All this factors coupled up with the great depression gave the right push for the people to act and support new ideas most of which were against the Weimar administration.

References

Doyle, W. (2002). The Oxford history of the French Revolution (2nd ed. ed.). Oxford University Press.

J. Llewellyn. (2014). Why the Weimar Republic failed?. Retrieved from Alpha History: http://alphahistory.com/weimarrepublic/why-the-weimar-republic-failed/.

Nye, J. (2011). Who Caused the End of the Cold War? Havard university.

Rana, V. (2015). Causes of the Russian revolution. Retrieved from http://www.historydiscussion.net/history/history-of-russia/top-5-causes-of-the-russian-revolution-explained/1889

Riasanovsky, N. V., & Steinberg, M. D. (2005). A History of Russia. Oxford University Press.

Sailus, C. (2003). Fall of the Soviet Union and End of the Cold War: Causes & Timeline. Demand Media.

Saji, M. (2000). Analyze the political and economic causes of the failure of parliamentary democracy in the Weimar Republic. Demand Media. Retrieved from http://www.johndclare.net/Weimar3_Saji.html