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172-457: The Russian Revolution of November 1917 ushered in a period of civil war and economic dislocation, in which the ruling All-Union Communist Party (bolsheviks) (VKP) made use of forced grain requisitions ( Russian: prodrazvyorstka ), trading to the peasantry currency with little purchasing power for an underdeveloped consumer goods market. Viewed by most Soviet contemporaries as a temporary wartime expedient, this system of " War Communism "

344-638: A new program of mass industrialization that would modernize the largely peasant country. Although NEP was seen at the time as a permanent structure throughout 1927, the 15th Congress of the VKP(b) , held in Moscow in December 1927, acceded to this sentiment, approving a new program for the industrialization of the USSR — an acceleration which would ultimately prove incompatible with a small peasantry freely exchanging

516-461: A German chemical works. Bismarck stubbornly refused to listen to Georg Herbert Münster , ambassador to France, who reported back that the French were not seeking a revanchist war and were desperate for peace at all costs. Bismarck and most of his contemporaries were conservative-minded and focused their foreign policy attention on Germany's neighboring states. In 1914, 60% of German foreign investment

688-626: A citywide council to unite these deputies with representatives of the socialist parties. On 27 February, socialist Duma deputies, mainly Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries, took the lead in organizing a citywide council. The Petrograd Soviet met in the Tauride Palace , room 13, permitted by the Provisional Government. The leaders of the Petrograd Soviet believed that they represented particular classes of

860-471: A comparatively small fraction of its production in the marketplace. Collectivization of agriculture was held by the Communists to be the essential corollary of any successful industrial campaign, it being faithfully maintained that collective organization would eliminate the inefficiencies inherent in capitalist agriculture, thereby expanding production and making a greater quantity of grain available to

1032-472: A constituent assembly, and so on). They met in the same building as the emerging Provisional Government not to compete with the Duma Committee for state power, but to best exert pressure on the new government, to act, in other words, as a popular democratic lobby. The relationship between these two major powers was complex from the beginning and would shape the politics of 1917. The representatives of

1204-584: A degree, still exist in Germany today. Bismarck's paternalistic programs won the support of German industry because its goals were to win the support of the working classes for the Empire and reduce the outflow of immigrants to America, where wages were higher but welfare did not exist. Bismarck further won the support of both industry and skilled workers by his high tariff policies, which protected profits and wages from American competition, although they alienated

1376-516: A democratically elected parliament (the State Duma ). Although the Tsar accepted the 1906 Fundamental State Laws one year later, he subsequently dismissed the first two Dumas when they proved uncooperative. Unfulfilled hopes of democracy fueled revolutionary ideas and violent outbursts targeted at the monarchy. One of the Tsar's principal rationales for risking war in 1914 was his desire to restore

1548-474: A disproportionate number of comparatively well-to-do peasants — a social group, party and non-party, which dominated local administration. This persistent strength of so-called " kulaks " in the Soviet countryside further contributed to the dissatisfaction with the economic status quo on the part of many members of the largely urban Communist Party. From the end of 1926 demand among planners and party activists for

1720-528: A firm belief that his power to rule was granted by Divine Right , Nicholas assumed that the Russian people were devoted to him with unquestioning loyalty. This ironclad belief rendered Nicholas unwilling to allow the progressive reforms that might have alleviated the suffering of the Russian people. Even after the 1905 Revolution spurred the Tsar to decree limited civil rights and democratic representation, he worked to limit even these liberties in order to preserve

1892-430: A food tax ( Russian: prodnalog ) was implemented which necessitated peasant households providing a limited portion of their production to the state, after which households would be free to sell its remaining surplus not needed for household survival on the open market. By 1924 this system of prodnalog had been replaced by a money tax, with Soviet state grain requisitions accomplished via buying and selling. Although

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2064-463: A foreign war would mitigate the social unrest over the persistent issues of poverty, inequality, and inhumane working conditions. Instead of restoring Russia's political and military standing, World War I led to the slaughter of Russian troops and military defeats that undermined both the monarchy and Russian society to the point of collapse. The outbreak of war in August 1914 initially served to quiet

2236-517: A government body controlled by Protestants. Nearly all German bishops, clergy, and laymen rejected the legality of the new laws, and were defiant in the face of heavier and heavier penalties and imprisonments imposed by Bismarck's government. By 1876, all the Prussian bishops were imprisoned or in exile, and a third of the Catholic parishes were without a priest. In the face of systematic defiance,

2408-525: A great hero to German conservatives, who erected many monuments to his memory and tried to emulate his policies. Bismarck's post-1871 foreign policy was conservative and sought to preserve the balance of power in Europe. British historian Eric Hobsbawm concludes that he "remained undisputed world champion at the game of multilateral diplomatic chess for almost twenty years after 1871, [devoting] himself exclusively, and successfully, to maintaining peace between

2580-488: A higher cost of living, but with little increase in income. As a result, they tended to hoard their grain and to revert to subsistence farming . Thus the cities were constantly short of food. At the same time, rising prices led to demands for higher wages in the factories, and in January and February 1916, revolutionary propaganda , in part aided by German funds, led to widespread strikes. This resulted in growing criticism of

2752-474: A multi-ethnic Empire with a considerable German-speaking population, would remain outside of the German nation state. Bismarck's policy was to pursue a solution diplomatically. The effective alliance between Germany and Austria played a major role in Germany's decision to enter World War I in 1914. Bismarck announced there would be no more territorial additions to Germany in Europe, and his diplomacy after 1871

2924-526: A possibility, the war made it logistically difficult. Eventually, German officials arranged for Lenin to pass through their territory, hoping that his activities would weaken Russia or even – if the Bolsheviks came to power – lead to Russia's withdrawal from the war. Lenin and his associates, however, had to agree to travel to Russia in a sealed train : Germany would not take the chance that he would foment revolution in Germany. After passing through

3096-407: A post-revolutionary record harvest of 76.8 million tons resulted in a state procurement of 10.6 million tons at stable prices. No upward price adjustment had been necessary owing to the massive size of the harvest, which resulted in a supply glut . Expectations for the coming year were raised accordingly, with planned procurement for the coming economic year 1927/28 exceeding quantities obtained during

3268-400: A problem especially in the capital, St. Petersburg , where distance from supplies and poor transportation networks made matters particularly worse. Shops closed early or entirely for lack of bread, sugar, meat, and other provisions, and lines lengthened massively for what remained. Conditions became increasingly difficult to afford food and physically obtain it. Strikes increased steadily from

3440-429: A raising in the level of taxation of the largely rural population, or some combination of these factors. Communist Party penetration of the countryside remained weak, amounting to an average of 1 rural Communist for every 6 village soviets — a mere 0.52% of the rural population vs. 1.78% of the total population in 1927. Moreover, these rural Communists, who took leading roles in village soviets and cooperatives, included

3612-501: A relatively smooth economic and political revolution from above that pushed them along the way towards becoming the world's leading industrial power of the time. Bismarck's "revolutionary conservatism" was a conservative state-building strategy designed to make ordinary Germans—not just the Junker elite—more loyal to the throne and empire. According to Kees van Kersbergen and Barbara Vis, his strategy was: granting social rights to enhance

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3784-458: A sense of moderation, to skip over necessary stages" on the slow and measured path to industrial development. Stalin and the rapid industrializers retained effective control over the VKP(b), controlling 6 of 9 seats of the party's Political Bureau , which handled matters of day-to-day governance, with Bukharin able to muster the support of Alexei Rykov and Mikhail Tomsky in favor of a moderate pace of industrialization and social peace. Behind

3956-465: A source of comfort and reassurance in the face of difficult conditions and as a means of political authority exercised through the clergy. Perhaps more than any other modern monarch, Nicholas II attached his fate and the future of his dynasty to the notion of the ruler as a saintly and infallible father to his people. This vision of the Romanov monarchy left him unaware of the state of his country. With

4128-540: A split of the top leadership of the Communist Party, with a majority of party activists rallying around Stalin, who had now begun vigorously espousing the virtues of rapid industrialization previously associated with Trotsky and the Left Opposition . Only a minority supported Bukharin and his call for continued social peace between the state and the peasantry and his criticism of those who would "neglect

4300-548: A terrible disaster would grip the country unless a constitutional form of government was put in place. Nicholas ignored these warnings and Russia's Tsarist regime collapsed a few months later during the February Revolution of 1917. One year later, the Tsar and his entire family were executed. At the beginning of February, Petrograd workers began several strikes and demonstrations. On 7 March [ O.S. 22 February], Putilov , Petrograd's largest industrial plant

4472-423: A total of nearly 5,000,000 men. These staggering losses played a definite role in the mutinies and revolts that began to occur. In 1916, reports of fraternizing with the enemy began to circulate. Soldiers went hungry, lacked shoes, munitions, and even weapons. Rampant discontent lowered morale, which was further undermined by a series of military defeats. Casualty rates were the most vivid sign of this disaster. By

4644-502: A violently anti-German stand, while Alexander Parvus supported the German war effort as the best means of ensuring a revolution in Russia. The Mensheviks largely maintained that Russia had the right to defend herself against Germany, although Julius Martov (a prominent Menshevik), now on the left of his group, demanded an end to the war and a settlement on the basis of national self-determination, with no annexations or indemnities. It

4816-456: The Bundesrat , the federal council of deputies from the 27 states. Executive power was vested in the emperor, or Kaiser , who was assisted by a chancellor responsible only to him. The emperor was given extensive powers by the constitution. He alone appointed and dismissed the chancellor (so in practice, the emperor ruled the empire through the chancellor), was supreme commander-in-chief of

4988-596: The Austrian Empire and its allies on one side and Prussia and its allies on the other. The war resulted in the partial replacement of the Confederation in 1867 by a North German Confederation , comprising the 22 states north of the river Main . The patriotic fervor generated by the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 overwhelmed the remaining opposition to a unified Germany (aside from Austria) in

5160-421: The Franco-Prussian War . The German Empire consisted of 25 states , each with its own nobility , four constituent kingdoms , six grand duchies , five duchies (six before 1876), seven principalities , three free Hanseatic cities , and one imperial territory . While Prussia was one of four kingdoms in the realm, it contained about two-thirds of the Empire's population and territory, and Prussian dominance

5332-672: The Great Depression , as well as humiliation and outrage experienced by the German population are considered leading factors in the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazism . The German Confederation had been created by an act of the Congress of Vienna on 8 June 1815 as a result of the Napoleonic Wars , after being alluded to in Article 6 of the 1814 Treaty of Paris . The liberal Revolutions of 1848 were crushed after

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5504-609: The Romanov family . A short wave of patriotic nationalism ended in the face of defeats and poor conditions on the Eastern Front of World War I . The Tsar made the situation worse by taking personal control of the Imperial Russian Army in 1915, a challenge far beyond his skills. He was now held personally responsible for Russia's continuing defeats and losses. In addition, Tsarina Alexandra , left to rule while

5676-779: The Russian Civil War concluded with the defeat of the White Army and most separatist factions, leading to mass emigration from Russia . The victorious Bolshevik Party reconstituted itself into the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and would remain in power for the following 69 years. The Russian Revolution of 1905 was a major factor contributing to the cause of the Revolutions of 1917. The events of Bloody Sunday triggered nationwide protests and soldier mutinies . A council of workers called

5848-597: The Russian Empire . The RSFSR initially focused its efforts on the newly independent republics of Armenia , Azerbaijan , Belarus , Georgia , and Ukraine . Wartime cohesion and intervention from foreign powers prompted the RSFSR to begin unifying these nations under one flag and created the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Historians generally consider the end of the revolutionary period to be in 1922, when

6020-539: The Social-Democrats or Mensheviks , Social Revolutionaries , and Anarchists , as well as the Bolsheviks , a far-left party led by Vladimir Lenin . Initially the Bolsheviks were a marginal faction; however, they won popularity with their program promising peace, land, and bread : cease war with Germany, give land to the peasantry, and end the wartime famine. Despite the virtually universal hatred of

6192-628: The St. Petersburg Soviet was created in this chaos. While the 1905 Revolution was ultimately crushed, and the leaders of the St. Petersburg Soviet were arrested, this laid the groundwork for the later Petrograd Soviet and other revolutionary movements during the leadup to 1917. The 1905 Revolution also led to the creation of a Duma (parliament) that would later form the Provisional Government following February 1917. Russia's poor performance in 1914–1915 prompted growing complaints directed at Tsar Nicholas II and

6364-637: The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk . The German declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 contributed to bringing the United States into the war. In October 1918, after the failed Spring Offensive , the German armies were in retreat , allies Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire had collapsed, and Bulgaria had surrendered. The empire collapsed in the November 1918 Revolution with

6536-819: The Triple Alliance (1882) , would exist up until 1915, when Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary. Despite Germany, and especially Austria's, lack of faith in the Russian alliance, the Reinsurance Treaty would be first signed in 1887, and renewed up until 1890, when the Bismarckian system collapsed upon Bismarck's resignation. Meanwhile, the chancellor remained wary of any foreign policy developments that looked even remotely warlike. In 1886, he moved to stop an attempted sale of horses to France because they might be used for cavalry and also ordered an investigation into large Russian purchases of medicine from

6708-635: The Tsarevich . Nicholas nominated his brother, the Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich , to succeed him. But the Grand Duke realised that he would have little support as ruler, so he declined the crown on 16 March [ O.S. 3 March], stating that he would take it only if that was the consensus of democratic action. Six days later, Nicholas, no longer Tsar and addressed with contempt by the sentries as "Nicholas Romanov",

6880-712: The new constitution came into force on 16 April, changing the name of the federal state to the German Empire and introducing the title of German Emperor for Wilhelm I , King of Prussia from the House of Hohenzollern . Berlin remained its capital, and Otto von Bismarck , Minister President of Prussia , became chancellor , the head of government. As these events occurred, the Prussian -led North German Confederation and its southern German allies, such as Baden , Bavaria , Württemberg , and Hesse , were still engaged in

7052-416: The poor railway system , workers abandoned the cities in droves seeking food. Finally, the soldiers themselves, who suffered from a lack of equipment and protection from the elements, began to turn against the Tsar. This was mainly because, as the war progressed, many of the officers who were loyal to the Tsar were killed, being replaced by discontented conscripts from the major cities who had little loyalty to

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7224-513: The welfare state . German workers enjoyed health, accident and maternity benefits, canteens, changing rooms, and a national pension scheme. Industrialisation progressed dynamically in Germany, and German manufacturers began to capture domestic markets from British imports, and also to compete with British industry abroad, particularly in the U.S. The German textile and metal industries had by 1870 surpassed those of Britain in organisation and technical efficiency and superseded British manufacturers in

7396-563: The Baghdad Railway was resolved in June 1914. Many consider Bismarck's foreign policy as a coherent system and partly responsible for the preservation of Europe's stability. It was also marked by the need to balance circumspect defensiveness and the desire to be free from the constraints of its position as a major European power. Bismarck's successors did not pursue his foreign policy legacy. For instance, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who dismissed

7568-522: The Bismarck government increased the penalties and its attacks, and were challenged in 1875 when a papal encyclical declared the whole ecclesiastical legislation of Prussia was invalid, and threatened to excommunicate any Catholic who obeyed. There was no violence, but the Catholics mobilized their support, set up numerous civic organizations, raised money to pay fines, and rallied behind their church and

7740-612: The Bolshevik commissar Leon Trotsky began organizing workers' militias loyal to the Bolsheviks into the Red Army . While key events occurred in Moscow and Petrograd, every city in the empire was convulsed, including the provinces of national minorities, and in the rural areas peasants took over and redistributed land. As the war progressed, the RSFSR began to establish Soviet power in the newly independent republics that seceded from

7912-607: The Catholic section of the Prussian Ministry of ecclesiastical and educational affairs, depriving Catholics of their voice at the highest level. The system of strict government supervision of schools was applied only in Catholic areas; the Protestant schools were left alone. Much more serious were the May laws of 1873. One made the appointment of any priest dependent on his attendance at a German university, as opposed to

8084-499: The Central War Industries Committee about a possible coup to force the abdication of the Tsar. In December, a small group of nobles assassinated Rasputin , and in January 1917 the Tsar's cousin, Grand Duke Nicholas , was asked indirectly by Prince Lvov whether he would be prepared to take over the throne from his nephew, Tsar Nicholas II. None of these incidents were in themselves the immediate cause of

8256-664: The Centre Party showed signs of gaining support among dissident elements such as the Polish Catholics in Silesia . A powerful intellectual force of the time was anti-Catholicism , led by the liberal intellectuals who formed a vital part of Bismarck's coalition. They saw the Catholic Church as a powerful force of reaction and anti-modernity, especially after the proclamation of papal infallibility in 1870, and

8428-514: The Centre Party. The "Old Catholic Church", which rejected the First Vatican Council, attracted only a few thousand members. Bismarck, a devout pietistic Protestant, realized his Kulturkampf was backfiring when secular and socialist elements used the opportunity to attack all religion. In the long run, the most significant result was the mobilization of the Catholic voters, and their insistence on protecting their religious identity. In

8600-524: The Communist Party decided to address the disparity by lowering the selling prices of industrial goods by approximately 10%. Although this pricing decision was meant to undercut the high prices charged by private traders, in practice it only exacerbated the miserable supply situation as goods were snapped up from the market, leaving the inventories of state supply agents barren. Those goods which were available tended to be committed to larger towns, located along railway lines, rather than to smaller villages deep in

8772-465: The Duma that morning, leaving it with no legal authority to act. The response of the Duma, urged on by the liberal bloc, was to establish a Temporary Committee to restore law and order; meanwhile, the socialist parties established the Petrograd Soviet to represent workers and soldiers. The remaining loyal units switched allegiance the next day. The Tsar directed the royal train back towards Petrograd, which

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8944-635: The Eastern Front. The superior German Army  – better led, better trained, and better supplied – was quite effective against the ill-equipped Russian forces, driving the Russians out of Galicia, as well as Russian Poland during the Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive campaign. By the end of October 1916, Russia had lost between 1,600,000 and 1,800,000 soldiers, with an additional 2,000,000 prisoners of war and 1,000,000 missing, all making up

9116-554: The February Revolution, but they do help to explain why the monarchy survived only a few days after it had broken out. Meanwhile, Socialist Revolutionary leaders in exile, many of them living in Switzerland , had been the glum spectators of the collapse of international socialist solidarity. French and German Social Democrats had voted in favour of their respective governments' war efforts. Georgi Plekhanov in Paris had adopted

9288-518: The French lacked the strength to defeat Germany by themselves, they sought an alliance with Russia, or perhaps even the newly reformed empire of Austria-Hungary, which would envelope Germany completely. Bismarck wanted to prevent this at all costs and maintain friendly relations with the Austrians and the Russians, signing the Dual Alliance (1879) with Austria-Hungary in 1879. The Dual Aliance

9460-493: The German Empire became an industrial, technological, and scientific power in Europe, and by 1913, Germany was the largest economy in continental Europe and the third-largest in the world. Germany also became a great power , building the longest railway network of Europe, the world's strongest army, and a fast-growing industrial base. Starting very small in 1871, in a decade, the navy became second only to Britain 's Royal Navy . From 1871 to 1890, Otto von Bismarck's tenure as

9632-506: The German steel and pig iron output reached one quarter of total global production. German factories were larger and more modern than their British and French counterparts. By 1913, the German electricity production was higher than the combined electricity production of Britain, France, Italy and Sweden. By 1900, the German chemical industry dominated the world market for synthetic dyes . The three major firms BASF , Bayer and Hoechst produced several hundred different dyes, along with

9804-893: The Pacific ( Jiaozhou Bay and Tianjin in China, the Marianas , the Caroline Islands , Samoa) led to frictions with the UK, Russia, Japan, and the US. The largest colonial enterprises were in Africa, where the Herero Wars in what is now Namibia in 1906–1907 resulted in the Herero and Nama genocide . By 1900, Germany became the largest economy in continental Europe and the third-largest in

9976-455: The Provisional Government agreed to "take into account the opinions of the Soviet of Workers' Deputies", though they were also determined to prevent interference which would create an unacceptable situation of dual power. In fact, this was precisely what was being created, though this "dual power" (dvoyevlastiye) was the result less of the actions or attitudes of the leaders of these two institutions than of actions outside their control, especially

10148-428: The Provisional Government, including Lev Kamenev . With Lenin's arrival, the popularity of the Bolsheviks increased steadily. Over the course of the spring, public dissatisfaction with the Provisional Government and the war, in particular among workers, soldiers and peasants, pushed these groups to radical parties. Despite growing support for the Bolsheviks, buoyed by maxims that called most famously for "all power to

10320-507: The Provisional Government, transferring all its authority to the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks, acting in the framework of the soviet councils, established their own government and later proclaimed the establishment of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). Under pressure from German military offensives, the Bolsheviks soon relocated the national capital to Moscow . The RSFSR began

10492-445: The Provisional Government. As minister of war and later Prime Minister, Kerensky promoted freedom of speech , released thousands of political prisoners , continued the war effort, even organizing another offensive (which, however, was no more successful than its predecessors). Nevertheless, Kerensky still faced several great challenges, highlighted by the soldiers, urban workers, and peasants, who claimed that they had gained nothing by

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10664-550: The Romanov monarchy openly well before the turmoil of World War I. Dissatisfaction with Russian autocracy culminated in the huge national upheaval that followed the Bloody Sunday massacre of January 1905, in which hundreds of unarmed protesters were shot by the Tsar's troops. Workers responded to the massacre with a crippling general strike, forcing Nicholas to put forth the October Manifesto , which established

10836-421: The Russian nation, because of its climate, its desert, and its frugality, and having but one frontier to defend", and because it would leave Germany with another bitter, resentful neighbor. Despite this, another alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy would be signed in 1882, preying on the fears of the German and Austro-Hungarian militaries of the untrustworthiness of Russia itself. This alliance, named

11008-404: The Soviets", the party held very little real power in the moderate-dominated Petrograd Soviet. In fact, historians such as Sheila Fitzpatrick have asserted that Lenin's exhortations for the Soviet Council to take power were intended to arouse indignation both with the Provisional Government, whose policies were viewed as conservative, and the Soviets themselves, which were viewed as subservients to

11180-438: The St. Petersburg branch of the security police, the Okhrana , in October 1916, warned bluntly of "the possibility in the near future of riots by the lower classes of the empire enraged by the burdens of daily existence." Tsar Nicholas was blamed for all of these crises, and what little support he had left began to crumble. As discontent grew, the State Duma issued a warning to Nicholas in November 1916, stating that, inevitably,

11352-433: The Tsar commanded at the front, was German born, leading to suspicion of collusion, only to be exacerbated by rumors relating to her relationship with the controversial mystic Grigori Rasputin . Rasputin's influence led to disastrous ministerial appointments and corruption, resulting in a worsening of conditions within Russia. After the entry of the Ottoman Empire on the side of the Central Powers in October 1914, Russia

11524-426: The Tsar or the government. Russia's first major battle of the war was a disaster; in the 1914 Battle of Tannenberg , over 30,000 Russian troops were killed or wounded and 90,000 captured, while Germany suffered just 12,000 casualties. However, Austro-Hungarian forces allied to Germany were driven back deep into the Galicia region by the end of the year. In the autumn of 1915, Nicholas had taken direct command of

11696-430: The Tsar ordered the army to suppress the rioting by force, troops began to revolt. Although few actively joined the rioting, many officers were either shot or went into hiding; the ability of the garrison to hold back the protests was all but nullified, symbols of the Tsarist regime were rapidly torn down around the city, and governmental authority in the capital collapsed – not helped by the fact that Nicholas had prorogued

11868-415: The Tsar. Many sections of the country had reason to be dissatisfied with the existing autocracy. Nicholas II was a deeply conservative ruler and maintained a strict authoritarian system. Individuals and society in general were expected to show self-restraint, devotion to community, deference to the social hierarchy and a sense of duty to the country. Religious faith helped bind all of these tenets together as

12040-429: The US, 1914, the figures were 18%, 47% and 35% respectively). World War I added to the chaos. Conscription across Russia resulted in unwilling citizens being sent off to war. The vast demand for factory production of war supplies and workers resulted in many more labor riots and strikes. Conscription stripped skilled workers from the cities, who had to be replaced with unskilled peasants. When famine began to hit due to

12212-483: The abdication of Wilhelm II, which left the post-war federal republic to govern a devastated populace. The Treaty of Versailles imposed post-war reparation costs of 132 billion gold marks (around US$ 269 billion or €240 billion in 2019, or roughly US$ 32 billion in 1921), as well as limiting the army to 100,000 men and disallowing conscription, armored vehicles, submarines, aircraft, and more than six battleships. The consequential economic devastation, later exacerbated by

12384-546: The alliance and the Ottoman Empire formally allied with Germany . In the First World War, German plans to capture Paris quickly in the autumn of 1914 failed, and the war on the Western Front became a stalemate. The Allied naval blockade caused severe shortages of food and supplements. However, Imperial Germany had success on the Eastern Front ; it occupied a large amount of territory to its east following

12556-557: The armed forces, and final arbiter of all foreign affairs, and could also disband the Reichstag to call for new elections. Officially, the chancellor was a one-man cabinet and was responsible for the conduct of all state affairs; in practice, the State Secretaries (top bureaucratic officials in charge of such fields as finance, war, foreign affairs, etc.) functioned much like ministers in other monarchies. The Reichstag had

12728-470: The army, personally overseeing Russia's main theatre of war and leaving his ambitious but incapable wife Alexandra in charge of the government. Reports of corruption and incompetence in the Imperial government began to emerge, and the growing influence of Grigori Rasputin in the Imperial family was widely resented. In 1915, things took a critical turn for the worse when Germany shifted its focus of attack to

12900-618: The authority of an institution that claimed to represent the will of workers and soldiers and could, in fact, mobilize and control these groups during the early months of the revolution – the Petrograd Soviet Council of Workers' Deputies. The model for the Soviets were workers' councils that had been established in scores of Russian cities during the 1905 Revolution. In February 1917, striking workers elected deputies to represent them and socialist activists began organizing

13072-522: The authority of the Provisional Government but also of the moderate socialist leaders of the Soviets. Although the Soviet leadership initially refused to participate in the "bourgeois" Provisional Government, Alexander Kerensky , a young, popular lawyer and a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party (SRP), agreed to join the new cabinet, and became an increasingly central figure in the government, eventually taking leadership of

13244-477: The autumn of 1914, he had insisted that "from the standpoint of the working class and of the labouring masses the lesser evil would be the defeat of the Tsarist Monarchy"; the war must be turned into a civil war of the proletarian soldiers against their own governments, and if a proletarian victory should emerge from this in Russia, then their duty would be to wage a revolutionary war for the liberation of

13416-524: The basis for conservative modernization in Imperial Japan under Emperor Meiji and the preservation of an authoritarian political structure under the tsars in the Russian Empire . One factor in the social anatomy of these governments was the retention of a very substantial share in political power by the landed elite , the Junkers , resulting from the absence of a revolutionary breakthrough by

13588-399: The basis of the modern European welfare state . He came to realize that this sort of policy was very appealing, since it bound workers to the state, and also fit in very well with his authoritarian nature. The social security systems installed by Bismarck (health care in 1883, accident insurance in 1884, invalidity and old-age insurance in 1889) at the time were the largest in the world and, to

13760-409: The battlefields. The soldiers did not feel as if they were valuable, rather they felt as if they were expendable. By the spring of 1915, the army was in steady retreat, which was not always orderly; desertion , plundering , and chaotic flight were not uncommon. By 1916, however, the situation had improved in many respects. Russian troops stopped retreating, and there were even some modest successes in

13932-497: The chancellor in 1890, let the treaty with Russia lapse in favor of Germany's alliance with Austria, which finally led to a stronger coalition-building between Russia and France. Germans had dreamed of colonial imperialism since 1848. Although Bismarck had little interest in acquiring overseas possessions, most Germans were enthusiastic, and by 1884 he had acquired German New Guinea . By the 1890s, German colonial expansion in Asia and

14104-505: The cities, owing to a lack of food in response to the disruption of agriculture. Food scarcity had become a considerable problem in Russia, but the cause of this did not lie in any failure of the harvests , which had not been significantly altered during wartime. The indirect reason was that the government, in order to finance the war, printed millions of rouble notes, and by 1917, inflation had made prices increase up to four times what they had been in 1914. Farmers were consequently faced with

14276-480: The conservative government. By some other historians' accounts, Lenin and his followers were unprepared for how their groundswell of support, especially among influential worker and soldier groups, would translate into real power in the summer of 1917. German empire The German Empire (German: Deutsches Reich ), also referred to as Imperial Germany , the Second Reich or simply Germany ,

14448-516: The cost of living). At the same time, urban industrial life had its benefits, though these could be just as dangerous (in terms of social and political stability) as the hardships. There were many encouragements to expect more from life. Acquiring new skills gave many workers a sense of self-respect and confidence, heightening expectations and desires. Living in cities, workers encountered material goods they had never seen in villages. Most importantly, workers living in cities were exposed to new ideas about

14620-582: The country's population. The imperial crown was hereditary in the ruling house of Prussia, the House of Hohenzollern . With the exception of 1872–1873 and 1892–1894, the chancellor was always simultaneously the prime minister of Prussia. With 17 out of 58 votes in the Bundesrat , Berlin needed only a few votes from the smaller states to exercise effective control. The other states retained their own governments but had only limited aspects of sovereignty. For example, both postage stamps and currency were issued for

14792-416: The countryside. The net result of this situation was a goods famine that provided an inadequate incentive for peasants to participate in grain sales to state grain purchasing agents, who had little of practical value to offer the peasantry in exchange. The Soviet economic year (October 1 to September 30) 1925/26 had generated state grain procurement of 8.4 million tons. This was far exceeded in 1926/27, when

14964-413: The domestic market. Germany became the dominant economic power on the continent and was the second-largest exporting nation after Britain. Technological progress during German industrialisation occurred in four waves: the railway wave (1877–1886), the dye wave (1887–1896), the chemical wave (1897–1902), and the wave of electrical engineering (1903–1918). Since Germany industrialised later than Britain, it

15136-606: The elections of 1874, the Centre party doubled its popular vote, and became the second-largest party in the national parliament—and remained a powerful force for the next 60 years, so that after Bismarck it became difficult to form a government without their support. Bismarck built on a tradition of welfare programs in Prussia and Saxony that began as early as in the 1840s. In the 1880s he introduced old-age pensions, accident insurance, medical care and unemployment insurance that formed

15308-403: The emerging Social Democratic Party . Prussia in 1871 included 16,000,000 Protestants, both Reformed and Lutheran, and 8,000,000 Catholics. Most people were generally segregated into their own religious worlds, living in rural districts or city neighbourhoods that were overwhelmingly of the same religion, and sending their children to separate public schools where their religion was taught. There

15480-417: The empire as a whole. Coins through one mark were also minted in the name of the empire, while higher-valued pieces were issued by the states. However, these larger gold and silver issues were virtually commemorative coins and had limited circulation. While the states issued their own decorations and some had their own armies, the military forces of the smaller ones were put under Prussian control. Those of

15652-437: The end of 1914, only five months into the war, around 390,000 Russian men had lost their lives and nearly 1,000,000 were injured. Far sooner than expected, inadequately trained recruits were called for active duty, a process repeated throughout the war as staggering losses continued to mount. The officer class also saw remarkable changes, especially within the lower echelons, which were quickly filled with soldiers rising up through

15824-567: The first and to this day longest-serving chancellor was marked by relative liberalism at its start, but in time grew more conservative. Broad reforms, the anti-Catholic Kulturkampf and systematic repression of Polish people marked his period in the office. Despite his hatred of liberalism and socialism – he called liberals and socialists "enemies of the Reich" – social programs introduced by Bismarck included old-age pensions, accident insurance, medical care and unemployment insurance, all aspects of

15996-582: The five smaller firms. Imperial Germany built up the world's largest chemical industry, the production of German chemical industry was 60% higher than that of the United States. In 1913, these eight firms produced almost 90% of the world supply of dyestuffs and sold about 80% of their production abroad. The three major firms had also integrated upstream into the production of essential raw materials and they began to expand into other areas of chemistry such as pharmaceuticals , photographic film , agricultural chemicals and electrochemicals . Top-level decision-making

16168-764: The four states south of the Main, and during November 1870, they joined the North German Confederation by treaty. On 10 December 1870, the North German Confederation Reichstag renamed the Confederation the "German Empire" and gave the title of German Emperor to William I , the King of Prussia , as Bundespräsidium of the Confederation. The new constitution ( Constitution of the German Confederation ) and

16340-573: The front, he arrived in Petrograd in April 1917. On the way to Russia, Lenin prepared the April Theses , which outlined central Bolshevik policies. These included that the Soviets take power (as seen in the slogan "all power to the Soviets") and denouncing the liberals and social revolutionaries in the Provisional Government, forbidding co-operation with it. Many Bolsheviks, however, had supported

16512-571: The government, including an increased participation of workers in revolutionary parties. Liberal parties too had an increased platform to voice their complaints, as the initial fervor of the war resulted in the Tsarist government creating a variety of political organizations. In July 1915, a Central War Industries Committee was established under the chairmanship of a prominent Octobrist , Alexander Guchkov (1862–1936), including ten workers' representatives. The Petrograd Mensheviks agreed to join despite

16684-421: The integration of a hierarchical society, to forge a bond between workers and the state so as to strengthen the latter, to maintain traditional relations of authority between social and status groups, and to provide a countervailing power against the modernist forces of liberalism and socialism. Bismarck created the modern welfare state in Germany in the 1880s and enacted universal male suffrage in 1871. He became

16856-666: The interests of other European powers, especially the British Empire. During its colonial expansion, the German Empire committed the Herero and Nama genocide . After the resignation of Otto von Bismarck in 1890, and Wilhelm II 's refusal to recall him to office, the empire embarked on Weltpolitik ("world politics") – a bellicose new course that ultimately contributed to the outbreak of World War I. Bismarck's successors were incapable of maintaining their predecessor's complex, shifting, and overlapping alliances which had kept Germany from being diplomatically isolated. This period

17028-509: The larger states, such as the Kingdoms of Bavaria and Saxony, were coordinated along Prussian principles and would, in wartime, be controlled by the federal government. The evolution of the German Empire is somewhat in line with parallel developments in Italy, which became a united nation-state a decade earlier. Some key elements of the German Empire's authoritarian political structure were also

17200-566: The liberal intellectuals who wanted free trade. As it was throughout Europe at the time, antisemitism was endemic in Germany during the period. Before Napoleon 's decrees ended the ghettos in Confederation of the Rhine , it had been religiously motivated, but by the 19th century, it was a factor in German nationalism . In the popular mind, Jews became a symbol of capitalism and wealth. On

17372-406: The major ports of Hamburg and Bremen . By 1880, Germany had 9,400 locomotives pulling 43,000 passengers and 30,000 tons of freight, and forged ahead of France. The total length of German railroad tracks expanded from 21,000 km (13,000 mi) in 1871 to 63,000 km (39,000 mi) by 1913, establishing the largest rail network in the world after the United States. The German rail network

17544-414: The masses throughout Europe. An elementary theory of property , believed by many peasants, was that land should belong to those who work on it. At the same time, peasant life and culture was changing constantly. Change was facilitated by the physical movement of growing numbers of peasant villagers who migrated to and from industrial and urban environments, but also by the introduction of city culture into

17716-500: The middle 1920s, with an explicit criticism levied in a September 1927 program of a "frank and open drift to the Right," to accommodation with the most wealthy segment of the peasantry to the detriment of national industrialization and further development of a socialist economy. This demand was easy to ignore when grain was readily available to the state on the market and unused factory capacity remained to be restarted. However, late in 1927

17888-468: The middle of 1915, and so did crime, but, for the most part, people suffered and endured, scouring the city for food. Working-class women in St. Petersburg reportedly spent about forty hours a week in food lines, begging, turning to prostitution or crime, tearing down wooden fences to keep stoves heated for warmth, and continued to resent the rich. Government officials responsible for public order worried about how long people's patience would last. A report by

18060-523: The military needs of the state in the war against the German empire . The Bolshevik regime had never been able to catch up with pent up demand, and state and cooperative supplies remained spotty, while the prices demanded by private traders remained high. A so-called Scissors Crisis had developed in the early years of the New Economic Policy as prices of consumer goods escalated while market prices of agricultural products fell. Early in 1927

18232-596: The modern European welfare state . Late in Bismarck's chancellorship and in spite of his earlier personal opposition, Germany became involved in colonialism . Claiming much of the leftover territory that was not yet conquered by Europeans in the Scramble for Africa , it managed to build the third-largest colonial empire at the time, after the British and the French ones. As a colonial state, it sometimes clashed with

18404-426: The network of Soviets held more power concerning domestic affairs. Critically, the Soviets held the allegiance of the working class , as well as the growing urban middle class. During this chaotic period, there were frequent mutinies, protests and strikes. Many socialist and other leftist political organizations were struggling for influence within the Provisional Government and the Soviets. Notable factions included

18576-515: The now united Germany became predominantly urban. The success of German industrialization manifested itself in two ways in the early 20th century; German factories were often larger and more modern than many of their British and French counterparts, but the preindustrial sector was more backward. The success of the German Empire in the natural sciences, especially in physics and chemistry, was such that one-third of all Nobel Prizes went to German inventors and researchers. During its 47 years of existence,

18748-531: The objections of their leaders abroad. All this activity gave renewed encouragement to political ambitions, and in September 1915, a combination of Octobrists and Kadets in the Duma demanded the forming of a responsible government, which the Tsar rejected. All these factors had given rise to a sharp loss of confidence in the regime, even within the ruling class, growing throughout the war. Early in 1916, Guchkov discussed with senior army officers and members of

18920-428: The offensives that were staged that year, albeit at great loss of life. Also, the problem of shortages was largely solved by a major effort to increase domestic production. Nevertheless, by the end of 1916, morale among soldiers was even worse than it had been during the great retreat of 1915 . The fortunes of war may have improved, but the fact of war remained which continually took Russian lives. The crisis in morale (as

19092-461: The ongoing social movement taking place on the streets of Russia's cities, factories, shops, barracks, villages, and in the trenches. A series of political crises – see the chronology below – in the relationship between population and government and between the Provisional Government and the Soviets (which developed into a nationwide movement with a national leadership). The All-Russian Central Executive Committee of Soviets (VTsIK) undermined

19264-400: The peasants in combination with urban areas. Although authoritarian in many respects, the empire had some democratic features. Besides universal manhood suffrage, it permitted the development of political parties. Bismarck intended to create a constitutional façade that would mask the continuation of authoritarian policies. However, in the process, he created a system with a serious flaw. There

19436-765: The people " in campaigns called the Red Terror , consciously modeled on those of the French Revolution . Although the Bolsheviks held large support in urban areas, they had many foreign and domestic enemies that refused to recognize their government. Russia erupted into a bloody civil war , which pitted the Reds (Bolsheviks), against their enemies, collectively referred to as the White Army . The White Army comprised independence movements , monarchists , liberals , and anti-Bolshevik socialist parties. In response,

19608-510: The pervasive optimism associated with the boom period of NEP began to dissipate. A severe slump in state grain collections began in October 1927, following the new harvest of wheat and rye. This trend continued in November and December, with planned total procurements for the quarter of 7 million tons missed by a massive 2.1 million tons. This quantity was not only insufficient for creation of

19780-486: The planned grain reserve and the meeting of export targets, but was viewed by planners as insufficient for the feeding of the nation's cities and the members of the Red Army . Reasons for the decline set off a fierce debate in the ranks of the VKP(b). Party leader Joseph Stalin depicted the shortfall as political in nature, the result of "sabotage" by the rich peasantry in an effort to force the state to raise grain procurement prices. This Stalin likened to blackmail — forcing

19952-507: The population of the capital, Saint Petersburg, nearly doubled from 1,033,600 to 1,905,600, with Moscow experiencing similar growth. This created a new 'proletariat' which, due to being crowded together in the cities, was much more likely to protest and go on strike than the peasantry had been in previous times. One 1904 survey found that an average of 16 people shared each apartment in Saint Petersburg, with six people per room. There

20124-410: The population, not the whole nation. They also believed Russia was not ready for socialism. They viewed their role as limited to pressuring hesitant " bourgeoisie " to rule and to introduce extensive democratic reforms in Russia (the replacement of the monarchy by a republic, guaranteed civil rights, a democratic police and army, abolition of religious and ethnic discrimination, preparation of elections to

20296-435: The power to pass, amend, or reject bills and to initiate legislation. However, as mentioned above, in practice, the real power was vested in the emperor, who exercised it through his chancellor. Although nominally a federal empire and league of equals, in practice, the empire was dominated by the largest and most powerful state, Prussia. It stretched across the northern two-thirds of the new Reich and contained three-fifths of

20468-402: The powers". This was a departure from his adventurous foreign policy for Prussia, where he favored strength and expansion, punctuating this by saying, "The great questions of the age are not settled by speeches and majority votes – this was the error of 1848–49 – but by iron and blood." Bismarck's chief concern was that France would plot revenge after its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War . As

20640-491: The prestige that Russia had lost amid the debacles of the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905). Nicholas also sought to foster a greater sense of national unity with a war against a common and old enemy. The Russian Empire was an agglomeration of diverse ethnicities that had demonstrated significant signs of disunity in the years before the First World War. Nicholas believed in part that the shared peril and tribulation of

20812-503: The prevalent social and political protests, focusing hostilities against a common external enemy, but this patriotic unity did not last long. As the war dragged on inconclusively, war-weariness gradually took its toll. Although many ordinary Russians joined anti-German demonstrations in the first few weeks of the war, hostility toward the Kaiser and the desire to defend their land and their lives did not necessarily translate into enthusiasm for

20984-571: The previous year of record harvest. In addition to planned establishment of a new state grain reserve of 819,000 tons, economic planners sought increased quantities of grain for export to the European market as a means of generating the foreign currency needed for purchase of capital goods from abroad. Calls for an official policy of centrally-planned industrialization had emanated from the Left Opposition headed by Leon Trotsky throughout

21156-627: The process of reorganizing the former empire into the world's first socialist state , to practice soviet democracy on a national and international scale. Their promise to end Russia's participation in the First World War was fulfilled when the Bolshevik leaders signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany in March 1918. To secure the new state, the Bolsheviks established the Cheka , a secret police and revolutionary security service working to uncover, punish, and eliminate those considered to be " enemies of

21328-400: The ranks. These men, usually of peasant or working-class backgrounds, were to play a large role in the politicization of the troops in 1917. The army quickly ran short of rifles and ammunition (as well as uniforms and food), and by mid-1915, men were being sent to the front bearing no arms. It was hoped that they could equip themselves with arms recovered from fallen soldiers, of both sides, on

21500-418: The relations between the educated, well-off middle-class liberals and the urban artisans broke down; Otto von Bismarck 's pragmatic Realpolitik , which appealed to peasants as well as the aristocracy, took its place. Bismarck sought to extend Hohenzollern hegemony throughout the German states; to do so meant unification of the German states and the exclusion of Prussia 's main German rival, Austria , from

21672-430: The return to the market system in agriculture was ideologically problematic for many Bolsheviks, the years from 1922 to 1926 were successful in practical terms, with total agricultural production by the peasant-based economy fully returning to pre-revolutionary levels. Production of cereal grains approximated pre-war figures, potato production greatly exceeded such figures, and livestock populations, gravely affected during

21844-508: The revolution: The political group that proved most troublesome for Kerensky, and would eventually overthrow him, was the Bolshevik Party , led by Vladimir Lenin . Lenin had been living in exile in neutral Switzerland and, due to democratization of politics after the February Revolution, which legalized formerly banned political parties , he perceived the opportunity for his Marxist revolution. Although return to Russia had become

22016-455: The same. The empire had a parliament called the Reichstag , which was elected by universal male suffrage . However, the original constituencies drawn in 1871 were never redrawn to reflect the growth of urban areas. As a result, by the time of the great expansion of German cities in the 1890s and 1900s, rural areas were grossly over-represented . The legislation also required the consent of

22188-421: The scenes Stalin organized diligently, obliquely criticizing moderates in speeches to groups of party activists and with his new right-hand man, Viacheslav Molotov maintaining effective control of the official party daily newspaper, Pravda , and efforts being made to take over editorial control of the party's monthly theoretical magazine, Bolshevik . Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution

22360-419: The second half of the 1920s. Further growth of the economy and improvement of living conditions, it was felt by Soviet planners, would require new investment in factory facilities and capital goods. With access to world capital markets severely restricted to the revolutionary Soviet regime, these funds that would need to be generated by the state either through a loosening of the backing of the gold-based currency,

22532-461: The seminaries that the Catholics typically used. Furthermore, all candidates for the ministry had to pass an examination in German culture before a state board which weeded out intransigent Catholics. Another provision gave the government a veto power over most church activities. A second law abolished the jurisdiction of the Vatican over the Catholic Church in Prussia; its authority was transferred to

22704-535: The social and political order. The social causes of the Russian Revolution can be derived from centuries of oppression of the lower classes by the Tsarist regime and Nicholas's failures in World War I. While rural agrarian peasants had been emancipated from serfdom in 1861, they still resented paying redemption payments to the state, and demanded communal tender of the land they worked. The problem

22876-402: The state for conversion to capital goods. Throughout the early years of the Russian revolution the peasantry faced a shortage of basic farm and household items, including agricultural implements, construction material, cloth, and finished consumer goods. This marked a continuation of the wartime situation, in which industrial production had been moved from a consumer orientation to fulfillment of

23048-515: The state to abandon its industrialization plans in favor of filling their own pockets with the proceeds of sales to the market. Stalin's joint leader of the party during previous years, Nikolai Bukharin , regarded this perspective as a "fairy tale," instead arguing that rather than hoarding and speculation the cause of grain supply difficulties was a poor harvest, combined with insufficiently attractive procurement prices that deterred sales to state grain collectors. The crisis in grain collections caused

23220-581: The subsequent German Empire. He envisioned a conservative, Prussian-dominated Germany. The Second Schleswig War against Denmark in 1864, the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, and the Franco-Prussian War in 1870–1871 sparked a growing pan-German ideal and contributed to the formation of the German state. The German Confederation ended as a result of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 between the constituent Confederation entities of

23392-466: The synthesis of materials that were subject to import restrictions and for chemical weapons and war supplies. Lacking a technological base at first, the Germans imported their engineering and hardware from Britain but quickly learned the skills needed to operate and expand the railways. In many cities, the new railway shops were the centers of technological awareness and training, so that by 1850, Germany

23564-466: The tightening control of the Vatican over the local bishops. The Kulturkampf launched by Bismarck 1871–1880 affected Prussia; although there were similar movements in Baden and Hesse, the rest of Germany was not affected. According to the new imperial constitution, the states were in charge of religious and educational affairs; they funded the Protestant and Catholic schools. In July 1871 Bismarck abolished

23736-624: The title Emperor came into effect on 1 January 1871. During the siege of Paris on 18 January 1871, William was proclaimed Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles . The second German Constitution , adopted by the Reichstag on 14 April 1871 and proclaimed by the Emperor on 16 April, was substantially based upon Bismarck's North German Constitution . The political system remained

23908-593: The ultimate authority of the crown. Despite constant oppression, the desire of the people for democratic participation in government decisions was strong. Since the Age of Enlightenment , Russian intellectuals had promoted Enlightenment ideals such as the dignity of the individual and the rectitude of democratic representation. These ideals were championed most vociferously by Russia's liberals, although populists, Marxists, and anarchists also claimed to support democratic reforms. A growing opposition movement had begun to challenge

24080-593: The unrest would subside. Nicholas agreed and stepped down, ushering in a new provisional government led by the Russian Duma (the parliament). During the civil unrest, soviet councils were formed by the locals in Petrograd that initially did not oppose the new Provisional Government; however, the Soviets did insist on their influence in the government and control over various militias. By March, Russia had two rival governments . The Provisional Government held state power in military and international affairs, whereas

24252-536: The village through material goods, the press, and word of mouth. Workers also had good reasons for discontent: overcrowded housing with often deplorable sanitary conditions, long hours at work (on the eve of the war, a 10-hour workday six days a week was the average and many were working 11–12 hours a day by 1916), constant risk of injury and death from poor safety and sanitary conditions, harsh discipline (not only rules and fines, but foremen's fists), and inadequate wages (made worse after 1914 by steep wartime increases in

24424-417: The war, returned to normalcy for pigs and sheep while the count of horses was slowly and steadily restored. The period of War Communism saw Soviet cities largely depopulated when former peasants returned en masse to their native villages amidst the ongoing economic collapse. This trend was reversed under NEP and industrial facilities were restored and restarted, approaching the pre-war levels of output during

24596-604: The war, the Provisional Government chose to continue fighting to support its allies , giving the Bolsheviks and other socialist factions a justification to advance the revolution further. The Bolsheviks merged various workers' militias loyal to them into the Red Guards , which would be strong enough to seize power. The volatile situation reached its climax with the October Revolution , a Bolshevik armed insurrection by workers and soldiers in Petrograd that overthrew

24768-441: The workers in the streets and at public meetings. To quell the riots, the Tsar looked to the army. At least 180,000 troops were available in the capital, but most were either untrained or injured. Historian Ian Beckett suggests around 12,000 could be regarded as reliable, but even these proved reluctant to move in on the crowd, since it included so many women. It was for this reason that on 11 March [ O.S. 26 February], when

24940-545: The world behind the United States and the British Empire , which were also its main economic rivals. Throughout its existence, it experienced economic growth and modernization led by heavy industry. In 1871, it had a largely rural population of 41 million, while by 1913, this had increased to a predominantly urban population of 68 million. For 30 years, Germany struggled against Britain to be Europe's leading industrial power. Representative of Germany's industry

25112-668: Was a defensive alliance that was established against Russia, and by association France, in the event alliance did not work out with the state. However, an alliance with Russia would come not long after the signing of the Dual Alliance with Austria, the Dreikaiserbund (League of Three Emperors), in 1881. During this period, individuals within the German military were advocating a preemptive strike against Russia, but Bismarck knew that such ideas were foolhardy. He once wrote that "the most brilliant victories would not avail against

25284-523: Was a period of political and social change in Russia , starting in 1917. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government following two successive revolutions and a civil war . It can also be seen as the precursor for the other revolutions that occurred in the aftermath of World War I , such as the German Revolution of 1918–1919 . The Russian Revolution

25456-473: Was a significant disparity between the Prussian and German electoral systems. Prussia used a three-class voting system which weighted votes based on the amount of taxes paid, all but assuring a conservative majority. The king and (with two exceptions) the prime minister of Prussia were also the emperor and chancellor of the empire – meaning that the same rulers had to seek majorities from legislatures elected from completely different franchises. Universal suffrage

25628-436: Was able to make more efficient use of capital. Germany was not weighted down with an expensive worldwide empire that needed defense. Following Germany's annexation of Alsace-Lorraine in 1871, it absorbed parts of what had been France's industrial base. Germany overtook British steel production in 1893 and pig iron production in 1903. The German steel and pig iron production continued its rapid expansion: Between 1911 and 1913,

25800-556: Was able to model its factories after those of Britain, thus making more efficient use of its capital and avoiding legacy methods in its leap to the envelope of technology. Germany invested more heavily than the British in research, especially in chemistry, ICE engines and electricity. Germany's dominance in physics and chemistry was such that one-third of all Nobel Prizes went to German inventors and researchers. The German cartel system (known as Konzerne ), being significantly concentrated,

25972-539: Was also constitutionally established, since the King of Prussia was also the German Emperor ( Deutscher Kaiser ). After 1850, the states of Germany had rapidly become industrialized, with particular strengths in coal, iron (and later steel), chemicals, and railways. In 1871, Germany had a population of 41 million people; by 1913, this had increased to 68 million. A heavily rural collection of states in 1815,

26144-515: Was also no running water, and piles of human waste were a threat to the health of the workers. The poor conditions only aggravated the situation, with the number of strikes and incidents of public disorder rapidly increasing in the years shortly before World War I. Because of late industrialization, Russia's workers were highly concentrated. By 1914, 40% of Russian workers were employed in factories of 1,000+ workers (32% in 1901). 42% worked in 100–1,000 worker enterprises, 18% in 1–100 worker businesses (in

26316-622: Was argued by Allan Wildman, a leading historian of the Russian army in war and revolution) "was rooted fundamentally in the feeling of utter despair that the slaughter would ever end and that anything resembling victory could be achieved." The war did not only devastate soldiers. By the end of 1915, there were manifold signs that the economy was breaking down under the heightened strain of wartime demand. The main problems were food shortages and rising prices. Inflation dragged incomes down at an alarmingly rapid rate, and shortages made it difficult for an individual to sustain oneself. These shortages were

26488-658: Was closed by a workers' strike. The next day, a series of meetings and rallies were held for International Women's Day , which gradually turned into economic and political gatherings. Demonstrations were organised to demand bread, and these were supported by the industrial working force who considered them a reason for continuing the strikes. The women workers marched to nearby factories bringing out over 50,000 workers on strike. By 10 March [ O.S. 25 February], virtually every industrial enterprise in Petrograd had been shut down, together with many commercial and service enterprises. Students, white-collar workers, and teachers joined

26660-491: Was deprived of a major trade route to the Mediterranean Sea , which worsened the economic crisis and the munitions shortages. Meanwhile, Germany was able to produce great amounts of munitions whilst constantly fighting on two major battlefronts. The conditions during the war resulted in a devastating loss of morale within the Russian army and the general population of Russia itself. This was particularly apparent in

26832-472: Was extremely unpopular with Russia's grain-producing peasantry and the cause of a massive wave of unrest and revolts that threatened to fatally destabilize the government. This force-based system of War Communism was abandoned in the spring of 1921 with the adoption of the so-called " New Economic Policy " (NEP), under which a stable, gold-based currency was restored and a return made to the market system. Instead of forced requisitions of all marketable surpluses,

27004-514: Was focused on stabilizing the European system and preventing any wars. He succeeded, and only after his departure from office in 1890 did the diplomatic tensions start rising again. After achieving formal unification in 1871, Bismarck devoted much of his attention to the cause of national unity. He opposed Catholic civil rights and emancipation, especially the influence of the Vatican under Pope Pius IX , and working-class radicalism, represented by

27176-569: Was followed by Austria-Hungary (43,280 km; 26,890 mi), France (40,770 km; 25,330 mi), the United Kingdom (32,623 km; 20,271 mi), Italy (18,873 km; 11,727 mi) and Spain (15,088 km; 9,375 mi). The creation of the Empire under Prussian leadership was a victory for the concept of Kleindeutschland (Smaller Germany) over the Großdeutschland concept. This meant that Austria-Hungary,

27348-551: Was further compounded by the failure of Sergei Witte 's land reforms of the early 20th century. Increasing peasant disturbances and sometimes actual revolts occurred, with the goal of securing ownership of the land they worked. Russia consisted mainly of poor farming peasants and substantial inequality of land ownership, with 1.5% of the population owning 25% of the land. The rapid industrialization of Russia also resulted in urban overcrowding and poor conditions for urban industrial workers (as mentioned above). Between 1890 and 1910,

27520-564: Was in Europe, as opposed to just 5% of British investment. Most of the money went to developing nations such as Russia that lacked the capital or technical knowledge to industrialize on their own. The construction of the Berlin–Baghdad railway , financed by German banks, was designed to eventually connect Germany with the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Gulf , but it also collided with British and Russian geopolitical interests. Conflict over

27692-468: Was in the hands of professional salaried managers; leading Chandler to call the German dye companies "the world's first truly managerial industrial enterprises". There were many spinoffs from research—such as the pharmaceutical industry, which emerged from chemical research. By the start of World War I (1914–1918), German industry switched to war production. The heaviest demands were on coal and steel for artillery and shell production, and on chemicals for

27864-555: Was initially chaired by a liberal aristocrat, Prince Georgy Yevgenievich Lvov , a member of the Constitutional Democratic Party (KD). The socialists had formed their rival body, the Petrograd Soviet (or workers' council) four days earlier. The Petrograd Soviet and the Provisional Government competed for power over Russia. The effective power of the Provisional Government was challenged by

28036-589: Was little interaction or intermarriage. On the whole, the Protestants had a higher social status, and the Catholics were more likely to be peasant farmers or unskilled or semiskilled industrial workers. In 1870, the Catholics formed their own political party, the Centre Party , which generally supported unification and most of Bismarck's policies. However, Bismarck distrusted parliamentary democracy in general and opposition parties in particular, especially when

28208-506: Was marked by increased oppression of Polish people and various factors influencing the Emperor's decisions, which were often perceived as contradictory or unpredictable by the public. In 1879, the German Empire consolidated the Dual Alliance with Austria-Hungary , followed by the Triple Alliance with Italy in 1882. It also retained strong diplomatic ties to the Ottoman Empire . When the great crisis of 1914 arrived, Italy left

28380-656: Was one of the key events of the 20th century . The Russian Revolution was inaugurated with the February Revolution in early 1917, in the midst of World War I . With the German Empire dealing major defeats on the war front, and increasing logistical problems in the rear causing shortages of bread and grain, the Russian Army was steadily losing morale, with large scale mutiny looming. High officials were convinced that if Tsar Nicholas II abdicated,

28552-476: Was reunited with his family at the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo . He was placed under house arrest with his family by the Provisional Government. The immediate effect of the February Revolution was a widespread atmosphere of elation and excitement in Petrograd. On 16 March [ O.S. 3 March], a provisional government was announced. The center-left was well represented, and the government

28724-556: Was self-sufficient in meeting the demands of railroad construction, and the railways were a major impetus for the growth of the new steel industry. German unification in 1870 stimulated consolidation, nationalisation into state-owned companies, and further rapid growth. Unlike the situation in France, the goal was support of industrialisation, and so heavy lines crisscrossed the Ruhr and other industrial districts and provided good connections to

28896-577: Was significantly diluted by gross over-representation of rural areas from the 1890s onward. By the turn of the century, the urban-rural population balance was completely reversed from 1871; more than two-thirds of the empire's people lived in cities and towns. Bismarck's domestic policies played an important role in forging the authoritarian political culture of the Kaiserreich . Less preoccupied with continental power politics following unification in 1871, Germany's semi-parliamentary government carried out

29068-490: Was stopped on 14 March [ O.S. 1 March], by a group of revolutionaries at Malaya Vishera . When the Tsar finally arrived at Pskov , the Army Chief Nikolai Ruzsky , and the Duma deputies Alexander Guchkov and Vasily Shulgin suggested in unison that he abdicate the throne. He did so on 15 March [ O.S. 2 March], on behalf of himself, and then, having taken advice on behalf of his son,

29240-700: Was the period of the German Reich from the unification of Germany in 1871 until the November Revolution in 1918, when the German Reich changed its form of government from a monarchy to a republic . The empire was founded on 18 January 1871 at the Palace of Versailles , outside Paris , France , where the south German states, except for Austria and Liechtenstein , joined the North German Confederation and

29412-477: Was the steel giant Krupp , whose first factory was built in Essen . By 1902, the factory alone became "A great city with its own streets, its own police force, fire department and traffic laws. There are 150 kilometers of rail, 60 different factory buildings, 8,500 machine tools, seven electrical stations, 140 kilometers of underground cable, and 46 overhead." Under Bismarck, Germany was a world innovator in building

29584-411: Was these views of Martov that predominated in a manifesto drawn up by Leon Trotsky (at the time a Menshevik) at a conference in Zimmerwald , attended by 35 Socialist leaders in September 1915. Inevitably, Vladimir Lenin supported by Zinoviev and Radek , strongly contested them. Their attitudes became known as the Zimmerwald Left . Lenin rejected both the defence of Russia and the cry for peace. Since

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