February revolution of 1917: background and character

The February Revolution of 1917 is one of the most battered topics in Russian historiography. At the same time, it can not be said that it does not deserve so much attention that was paid to it both in the Soviet era and in our days. No matter how much talk about its preparedness, profitability to third parties and foreign financial injections, the February 1917 revolution had objective reasons and assumptions that had been growing for many years. It is about them and the nature of the revolution that will be discussed in this article.

The causes of the 1917 revolution

This event in fact did not become for the Russian Empire the first revolutionary shock. The obvious need for a large-scale reorganization of the social, political and economic structure began to manifest itself from the middle of the nineteenth century. Even the Crimean War of 1853-56 demonstrated the backwardness of Russia in comparison with the advanced states of that time - England and France. Certain measures were actually taken, but the large-scale reforms of the 1860s did not lead to sufficient results. Features of the law on the elimination of serfdom and did not allow the peasants to breathe a full breast, "catching up" the modernization of production and remained "catching up" to the beginning of the XX century. The beginning of a new century is becoming a period of constant public ferment for Russia. In the country one after another arise and form political parties of various kinds. Many of them call for the most decisive action. The main pressing issues are Time was the necessary democratization of public life, easing the fate of the choking peasant class, creating labor legislation and resolving the contradictions between the rapidly growing working class and the capitalists. Neither the revolution of 1905-1907, nor the Stolypin reforms (primarily agrarian, undertaken as an attempt to solve the main problem of social contradictions-the peasant one) did not lead to anything significant. And the First World War, which began in 1914, further exacerbated the state of affairs in the country, bringing it ruin and economic collapse. Although the events of 1905-1907 did not lead to the desired results, they served as a kind of preparatory stage for the progressive forces. Therefore, the events of 1917 were in their own way a continuation of the revolution of 1905-1907. Since the last straw was the adversity of war, the revolution of 1917 began with anti-war Demonstrations, demands to conclude peace immediately and, of course, to resolve the above-mentioned social problems that reached their apogee in this period. Among the reasons for any revolution, it is also always important to call factors that did not occur earlier, but which enabled it to happen at some point. In our case, we should note a sharp drop in the authority of the Romanov family. If in the second half of the nineteenth century the peasants believed in a "good tsar" who simply did not know about their troubles and were ready to go on putting their lives for the "All-Russian priest," like the epic Ivan Susanin, then the spread of bourgeois-democratic and socialist ideas already at the beginning XX century undermined this blind obedience.

Results of the 1917 Revolution

However, February also did not bring a solution to all problems. The rapidly developing events have indeed led to the fall of the monarchical regime and the democratization of the political system. It was finally proclaimed civil equality and inviolability of the person. However, the country has become even more unstable. The peculiar result of the revolution was the dual power that arose in Russia-the Soviets of Soldiers 'and Workers' Deputies on the ground and the Provisional Government in the center. The subsequent months of political and social stagnation raised the question of the necessary continuation of the reforms that had begun. This was the continuation of the October Revolution of 1917.