Russian Revolutions of 1917 & World War II: Causes and Development
The Russian Revolutions (1917)
The February Revolution: Russia entered World War I as a contender for diplomatic and imperialistic reasons, primarily the desire to control the Balkan area. The war was a cataclysm for Russia. After an extreme demonstration where women chanted cries for “Peace and Bread,” the autocracy fell. Soviets (assemblies) were quickly built in the cities. A provisional government, supported by the bourgeoisie, controlled Russia, and it became a parliamentary republic.
Lenin arrived in the capital in 1917 and published his famous April Theses, advocating for the proletariat and peasantry to conquer power through the Soviets.
The Bolshevik Revolution: The timing coincided with the 2nd Congress of Soviets across Russia. Under the slogan of “All power to the Soviets,” Lenin presided over the first government of People’s Commissars, formed by workers and peasants, along with Trotsky. This led to the imminent civil war.
The first measures taken by the revolutionary Republic of Soviets were:
- Negotiation of peace with Germany.
- Confiscation of property from the crown, nobility, and church.
- Recognition of the right to independence for the different peoples of Russia.
- Establishment of workers’ control over enterprises and nationalization.
Cause and Development of World War II
National Socialist Germany implemented a national economic policy, driven by its powerful industrial and financial class, which demanded a redistribution of colonial control. Germanic ambitions became the trigger for World War II, as its expansionist plans were incompatible with the European equilibrium.
In World War II, we can distinguish three phases:
- Axis Victory:
On September 1, 1939, Hitler invaded Poland. The German army, using the tactics of “blitzkrieg,” quickly took control of the country. The new order in Poland included closing colleges and universities and the extermination of intellectuals. Days later, Russia invaded eastern Poland, establishing a line of separation between Germany and Russia, fulfilling the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact signed in September. In November, the Russian Red Army invaded Finland. In the spring of 1940, the Germans occupied Denmark and Norway with almost no resistance, ensuring a supply of iron and gaining a strategic point for the naval war against England. In May 1940, it was France’s turn. Germany began with the occupation of Holland and Belgium. The Germans entered Paris in June, and Petain requested an armistice that cost the division of France into two areas.
- Balance of Power
- Victory of the Allies
German Nazism
The origins of Nazism can be found in post-war Germany. The small republican party, NSDAP (National Socialist Party of German Workers), gradually gained more affiliates. Germany had great material and economic losses, and the nationalists were discredited after the Ruhr occupation by France. In 1924, Germany began to emerge from the crisis; therefore, nationalism entered a phase of denigration and neglect. The 1929 stock market crash in New York caused an international crisis, and Germany was one of the most affected countries, with 6 million unemployed. Between 1927 and 1939, Stalin was in power in the USSR, and there was fear of the extension of Bolshevism. In 1933, Hitler legally became Chancellor of the Weimar Republic. After a fire in the Reichstag, a state of emergency was declared, and power fell to Hitler.